JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
Two NCOs from the 437th Maintenance Group were awarded the First Sergeants Council Diamond Sharp Award here July 21.
Staff Sgt. Wade Griffith and Staff Sgt. Matthew Graziano, 437th MXG C-17 Globemaster III maintenance instructors, are charged with the initial training of every maintainer assigned to Joint Base Charleston. They were selected for their above and beyond performance in training younger Airmen in maintenance career fields.
Certain Air Force instructions require the teaching of maintenance specific tasks. However, Griffith and Graziano have incorporated a Consolidated Advanced Leadership and Enhancement Binder into their classes.
Griffith and Graziano created the binder after noticing Airmen could be better prepared for flightline operations after completing the Phase II training. The information the binder provides Airmen in training with operating procedures and instructions designed to increase effectiveness and productivity. By using innovation, these sergeants developed an effective way to teach Phase II portions of their curriculum.
The binder was designed to fill shortfalls between Phase II training including 5-level core tasks.
“Staff Sgt. Griffith and Staff Sgt. Graziano have a broad impact on the development of Airmen,” said Master Sgt. Jessy Martin, 437th MXG development and instructor section chief. “They constantly innovate and strive for improvements to ensure they set their students up for success in their jobs as maintainers, but also as successful and professional Airmen. They don’t just instruct, they mentor.”
These NCOs teach Airmen on topics ranging from the Thrift Savings Plan, tuition assistance to financial readiness. They also help maintainers attain a flightline driver’s license, an initiative Griffith and Graziano conceived while carpooling back and forth to work.
Airmen are selected for and awarded the Diamond Sharp Award by Joint Base Charleston’s first sergeants. The award is one way leadership strives to recognize top performing Airmen.