Photo By Staff Sgt. Alexandra Huettner | U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Holly Pratt, commander support staff supervisor assigned to...... read more read more
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Meet U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Holly Pratt, commander support staff supervisor assigned to the 175th Wing, Maryland Air National Guard. Pratt is currently working with the 31st Mission Support Group at Aviano Air Base, Italy, as the lead on a team of three full-time and two traditional guardsmen from the MDANG on temporary deployment for their annual training.
“Our job is to be a conduit between the commander and the personnel in the squadron or group,” said Pratt. “We operate as an extension of the Force Support Squadron because we can fulfill that role within a squadron without having to overload the FSS.”
The commander support staff operates at the group level, functioning under the Mission Support Group which encompasses the communications flight, the logistics readiness squadron, the security forces squadron, civil engineering, the FSS and the MSG group staff. The two most important things handled by the CSS are the organization of manpower and handling orders, both of which are mission essential. The organization of manpower allows for there to be equal distribution of ranks in each shop which makes mentorship and training possible. Handling orders consists of writing the orders, modifying the orders, and ensuring that members have their orders when working to secure their payment and coverage in an active duty status. Overall, the CSS is responsible for providing service to the personnel within the squadron to alleviate some of the workload FSS might have and to organize and translate their programs to the commander.
“This trip is so important, especially for the traditional guardsmen because there is not much opportunity for training on a regular drill weekend,” said Pratt. “Here I have the ability to give them that attention and show them the importance of their role. I want to give them the tools to succeed at their job because it is so important in this job to have confidence in your answers and knowledge. It took a long time for me to develop that confidence for myself and I want to be able to instill that into my team.”
As the supervisor in her shop, Pratt not only does the job herself, but also ensures her team is prepared with the knowledge to fulfill the role. During this annual training she hopes that her team can learn the significance of their positions by functioning in an active duty status.
“Working under Master. Sgt. Pratt I've learned to really focus on having a schedule and the organization skills to come in with a direct gameplan on what to accomplish for the day,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Bradley Lowrey, a commander support staff administrator for the 175th Wing, Maryland Air National Guard. “Master Sgt. Pratt leads by example, she's a very hard worker so it definitely motivates me to look at my day-to-day tasks and push forward.”
| Date Taken: | 07.21.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 07.25.2022 12:02 |
| Story ID: | 425714 |
| Location: | IT |
| Web Views: | 186 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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