Proportion and success for the whole Airman concept

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Windy Cox
  • 9th Force Support Squadron first sergeant
BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  With Force Shaping upon us, how can I assure my Airman that he or she will continue to have a future in the Air Force? The fact of the matter is that I can't. What I can do is give my Airmen the tools that will make them highly competitive; let's face it, with EPR quotas and Master Sgt. boards on the horizon the Air Force is more competitive than ever.

As an institution we should never accept mediocrity from our Airmen and reward it with high ratings. We also should not accept Airmen that only excel in one facet of their career while failing to rise to others and reward them with the same ratings. Airmen that lack the "Whole Person Concept" are missing key requirements to maintain competitiveness in today's Air Force.

There are four components that we as Airmen must maintain to be successful. They are job performance, physical fitness, education and self-improvement, and base/community involvement. Here is the catch, they are not equal components, and yet we have seen the Airman that spends all their time in the gym or that is involved with every base organization. Our Airmen need to learn what truly will set them apart and how to balance it all.

One component should not lack due to another nor should the primary component of your job be out shined by the other three. It really is a simple formula to follow:
 
Fifty percent of one's effort should be job performance. Your rank will determine what that effort entails.

Twenty five percent should go toward education and self improvement that helps benefit the AFSC, Squadron and even the Air Force. It will not serve the Air Force if you are an HVAC technician but you are studying to be a sushi chef.

The last twenty five percent should be divided evenly between physical fitness and base/community involvement. Not only do we need to pass our fitness assessment but we need to maintain our health to better maintain ops tempo and deployment rates. In addition our effort to the base and community should be imprinted but not at the expense of our duty.

We should find one or two causes that we are passionate about so we can excel in those causes instead of accomplishing several minor volunteer efforts. If we as Airmen follow this formula not only will it keep us competitive throughout our career but it will continue to strengthen our Air Force with men and women of the highest caliber.