CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
Have you ever wondered why your squadron senior-enlisted leadership is made up of both chief master sergeants and first sergeants? Why do we have "squadron supers" and squadron "shirts?" What's the difference in their roles and responsibilities?
To better understand why we need two people doing a seemingly similar job, we have to look at leadership. Air Force Pamphlet 35-49, Air Force Leadership, defines leadership as "the art of influencing and directing people to accomplish the mission." It asserts an effective leader must keep in mind two fundamental elements: mission and people.
AFP 35-49 further states:
The primary task of a military organization is to perform its mission. This is
paramount and everything else must be subordinate to this objective. Thus, the leader's primary responsibility is to lead people to carry out the unit's mission successfully. Yet, a leader must never forget the importance of the unit's personnel.
People perform the mission. They are the heart of the organization and without their support a unit will fail. A leader's responsibilities include the care and support of the unit's personnel. Successful leaders have continually ensured that the needs of the people in their unit are met promptly and properly.
For your commander to be the most effective leader he or she can be, they make the chief (and sometimes senior) master sergeant responsible for ensuring mission accomplishment, and the first sergeant (master, senior or chief) responsible for meeting the needs of the people.
Does this mean that each of these important roles is carried out independently? Absolutely not! These senior NCOs must develop a relationship of inter-dependence. Each has a unique job to do, but both are dependent on the other to carry out their specific tasks.
Picture it like a three-lane highway. Lane one is "employments and productivity;" that's the chief's lane. The chief ensures the right Airmen are placed in the right duty positions to carry out the mission. Lane three is "good order and discipline;" that's the first sergeant's lane. The chief ensures any outside influences and barriers are dealt with so the Airmen can focus on their tasks. Lane two, the middle lane, is "morale and education;" this is the shared lane. Both the chief and the first sergeant are responsible for ensuring our Airmen are trained (in both Air Force Specialty Code-specific and Professional Military Education areas) and rewarded for going above and beyond.
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In this age of shrinking resources, we don't have time to run from office to office to get the help we need. So we need to be aware of who can help with our questions. Generally speaking, if it's career-field specific, ask the chief. If it's a family, quality of life or discipline issue, ask the first sergeant. If it deals with enlisted performance reports or decorations, either can help.
Remember, AFI 36-2618, The Enlisted Force Structure, says our supervisor should be our first stop when we need help. But it's good to know we have a leadership team that can come to our rescue as well. That team is your chief and your first sergeant.