Three Years Serving as a First Sergeant - Motivated, Dedicated, and Fired UP!!!

Today marks 3 wonderful years serving as a First Sergeant in the world’s greatest Air Force and it has gone by fast as I have almost 2 more years to go. They say graduation day is all about you and then the day after and until you retire it is all about your Airmen. I have done my best to honor that motto (and the position of being a First Sergeant) as it has truly been the best job in the Air Force. To date, I have served as a Shirt for 6 different units, at 3 different bases, advising 9 different Commanders, serving roughly 1500 Airmen in over 30 different career fields and pilots from almost every aircraft in the Air Force inventory to include our enlisted pilots. I have had the privilege and honor of being there for Airmen and their families in the best and worst times of their life. Even in the darkest of times, I, like all First Sergeants, love helping those get to better days. I have prided myself on being at my best to help them through their worst.

I have seen with every tragedy and obstacle that God can throw at a unit or individual, how resilient, strong willed, and compassionate people truly are at their core as they rally around those in need to comfort and support each other through whatever challenge they were facing. I have seen people go far out of their way to help others in their time of need and in time of celebration. I have seen Airmen on the verge of giving up and throwing in the towel, turn things around simply because someone said, “I care, I believe in you, and we will get through this together”. It is that moment when all hope seems to be lost and all odds are against them, that I witness some of the most amazing acts of human kindness, compassion, and teamwork resulting in success stories. Those are moments I can’t always share on social media but is something I am truly proud to be a part of.  

I have had the privilege of witnessing Air Force and world history as it unfolds and it has been truly inspiring. Whether it has been serving with the first batch of enlisted pilots in the 9th Operations Group as they volunteered to break the mold, supporting U2 pilots as they saved the Dragon Lady from extinction, defending the base here at Davis Monthan AFB and across the world with our deployed Defenders, helping other bases recover from catastrophic damages occurred from natural disasters, and ensuring we were ready at a moment’s notice for a possible war in Korea with the Legendary Red Devils and Wolf Pack just to name a few moments and it has truly been amazing.

You have been watching my journey through social media and to be honest, I am a private and quiet individual as I personally enjoy being behind the scenes and keeping to myself. I share my First Sergeant adventure because at my first ALS graduation, one of my Airmen and his wife were both dressed up and when he received his diploma, they needed to leave immediately because they had kids to get back too. I offered to take a photo of that moment so they could have it for the rest of their life. They weren’t even thinking about it at the time and looking back, they now have that photo and memory keepsake to hold on to forever as they grabbed it from my Facebook page. It’s the little things that mean the most to me. As I began getting to know everyone in my units, I just started taking more and more photos of some of the great things our Airmen were up to and the easiest way was to share it was through social media and let them grab it. I was having a blast and it eventually it turned into what you see today, so thank you for your support. I really enjoy bragging on my Airmen, as I serve some of the humblest heroes of today’s generation. I will admit that some of my most memorable and favorite moments as a Shirt are moments that will never be posted on social media and for good reasons.

For the past 3 years, I have met and served many, lost and will always remember a few, heard amazing stories, lived side-by-side, shared everything with, broke and served many meals, bread, cookies, and other treats, delivered hundreds of care packages, endured hard times, shared great times, supported, encouraged, been encouraged, inspired, been inspired, laughed, cried, poked fun at, been picked on, celebrated success, rallied during setbacks, cheered on, empathized, motivated, worked hard, made an impact, been impacted, grew, endured crazy hours, lost sleep and a few hairs, recognized, passed tough feedback, received tough feedback, grew leaders, made tough calls, learned in public, learned from the best and worst, worked outside my comfort zone, fixed a lot of issues, built life-long relationships, took feedback and ideas for improvement for action, held the bar high, served as big-brother to all, mentored and learned from what I believe to be some of the most intelligent and amazing people in the world.

Thank you for sharing this journey with me, it has impacted me more than you will ever know. This has been my gift during my time a First Sergeant over the past 3 years, and it has been a blessing, so thank you. Thank you for the opportunity and honor of being a First Sergeant and to be able to work alongside and serve some of the most amazing Airmen in the world, serving something bigger than myself.

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