Photo By Master Sgt. Wendy Kuhn | U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Joshua Wiener, Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central)...... read more read more
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SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- Chief Master Sgt. Joshua Wiener, who was promoted to the position of Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) command chief at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, in July 2024, challenges the next generation of Airmen in personal and professional development.
As senior enlisted advisor to the AFCENT commander, Wiener maintains oversight of all enlisted matters to include readiness, training and morale, while echoing the priorities of the AFCENT commander to further leadership development and operational execution.
“All of the things I’m passionate about fall under those priorities,” said Wiener. “I want to ensure our organization, both in the AFCENT area of responsibility (AOR) and at Shaw AFB, has a positive culture that enables everyone to be their best. I want to ensure our force is educated, empowered, and engaged to execute the mission. And I want to ensure our enlisted leaders are visible and accessible to the Airmen to help make that happen.”
Wiener’s Air Force career began in September of 1998 when he enlisted in the Air Force as an Aerospace Propulsion apprentice. His mother had urged him to attend college, but he wanted something more.
“I decided to enlist after speaking with a recruiter with the intent of just serving my four-year enlistment. But after 9/11 happened, I had a different want and need to serve,” said Wiener. “Then I received orders to Germany … 26 years later, here I am.”
As an aircraft maintainer, Wiener developed working knowledge of 15 types of military airframes, from cargo planes to fighter jets to bombers. He has led and followed at multiple levels of responsibility and served three times in support of combatant commanders in the Middle East. Despite his steady rise through the ranks and increased realm of responsibility, as a junior Airman, he never imagined achieving the rank of chief master sergeant, let alone being elevated to a command chief.
“I think I was a good maintainer, but not necessarily a good noncommissioned officer (NCO) and definitely not a great leader,” said Wiener. “I was so focused on fixing airplanes that I wasn’t trying to develop the Airmen around me.”
Wiener’s leadership style is inspired by those NCOs and Senior NCOs who saw his potential and pushed him to be more than just a good maintainer – not only opening doors to opportunities, but at times, pushing him through them.
“It opened my eyes to see it wasn’t just about me being good at my job – it was about developing the people around me to accomplish the mission together,” said Wiener.
It was then Wiener also saw the value of not only developing his Airmen but also developing himself. Instead of avoiding opportunities for enrichment and education, he started seeking them out.
“Not wanting to pursue more education was the reason I joined the Air Force,” said Wiener, who holds multiple educational degrees and certifications. “It took my leaders deliberately pushing me to understand it was another opportunity for me to grow, learn, and compete against myself to be better every day.”
Good leaders strive to find the positive aspects of a situation, even in difficult conversations or interactions. They help people on not only their best days but also on their worst days. They show someone who has stumbled that it is not the end of their career, but an opportunity to learn and grow, said Wiener.
“After my first command chief job, I didn’t get selected as a command chief for the next job … it was disappointing, frustrating and embarrassing,” said Wiener. “However, it ended up being exactly what my family and I needed. It allowed me to reconnect with them as well as reset and recenter myself. A short year later, I was back in a command chief position leading Airmen spread across Africa and Europe.”
To be a good leader, individuals need to be visible and accessible to the people they are leading, said Wiener, who is torn between areas of responsibility on two continents and multiple time zones.
“My job as the command chief is to have a pulse on the organization, a pulse on the culture, a pulse on the Airmen, and to help our leaders meet AFCENT’s mission as well as our global national security strategy,” said Wiener. “By visiting Airmen around the AFCENT AOR and Shaw and by talking with our service members, it helps me to understand the effects of our decisions and our mission on those people.”
Lastly, leaders should be engaged and prepared to respond and act on the issues brought to them. This can include helping Airmen tackle the daily issues that stack up, advocating for their professional and personal development, or even just taking time to get to know who they are and what they’re passionate about, said Wiener.
“When an Airman brings an issue to my attention, it is important to be engaged in not only pursuing a resolution but also circling back with an answer to provide them closure,” said Wiener. “The deliberate development, engagement and the positive perspective of [good] leaders throughout my career is what got me to where I am, and it’s what has driven my leadership mantra. These individuals were positive, visible, and engaged, and that’s what I strive to be.”
Prior to this assignment, Wiener served as the 435th Air Ground Operations Wing command chief at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
| Date Taken: | 01.10.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 01.10.2025 10:55 |
| Story ID: | 488895 |
| Location: | SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, SOUTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 15 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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