EVERYONE is Valuable!

It was graduation day at the March Air Force Base Noncommissioned Officer Academy at which I was the Commandant. Graduation day was always exciting. Families would attend the ceremonies for their wives, husbands, dads, and other loved ones who had completed the course of instruction. As my Director of Operations, Senior Master Sergeant Ted Schwab, and I headed toward the parade field, an about-to-graduate Technical Sergeant approached us, more excited than we. He couldn’t stop gushing about what a great experience the past six weeks had been and how much he’d learned and grown. Interested in what we’d done to help him grow, I asked him what, specifically, had we done for him.

He reminded me that at the start of the course he and a couple of other Technical Sergeants had come to my office complaining about having to room with someone. Their argument was that they were “almost-senior-NCOs.” I remember asking them “What’s an almost-senior-NCO?” Their reply was “A Technical Sergeant.” I reminded them that, according to the book, Technical Sergeants room together. They shut up and left my office.

“You MADE me room with someone, Chief. And that someone was a COP! I hated COPs but you insisted that I live with him for the past six weeks.” He noticed that I was a bit bumfoozled as he went on. “When I first arrived here, Chief, I hated COPs but I’d never known or met one. I hated them because my supervisor and other leaders back at my based told me how despicable they were and that they were not to be trusted. Throughout the past six weeks I’ve learned that my buddy, the COP, is just like me. We have different jobs and come from different cultures, but we have the same basic values, our families, our work, our country. I’m a much better person having lived with him. Thank you for helping me grow.” He went off to join his peers.

Ted and I just shared a smile and an un-voiced pat-on-the-back. Sometimes all it takes is to get people to live with each other to give them the other’s perspective. You always hope that that will empower both to accept each other as valued and valuable. Everyone is valuable!

HEIRPOWER!

bob vásquez!