AETC command chief visits Eglin's future

  • Published
  • By Ashley M. Wright
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  The command chief master sergeant of Air Education and Training Command visited the 33rd Fighter Wing here recently for the first time to tour the future F-35 training campus and visit the joint enlisted personnel who are putting it all together.

"I have been impressed by everybody I have met so far," Chief Master Sgt. Robert Tappana said. "It is neat to be the people who start a mission and do something no one else has done. You get to put together a great team of professionals and lay the foundation of 50 years or more of F-35 training, and it will happen right here."

Those "great team of professionals" includes members of the Air Force, Navy and Marines. Eventually, coalition partners also hope to send their students to the Florida panhandle  to learn from 33rd FW personnel.

Chief Tappana admitted joint environments can be tricky to navigate, but the basics never change.

"Leading American military professionals is not markedly different based on the uniform," he said. "The main differences are small and cultural."

Those cultural differences can be a simple as terminology.

"[For example,] we have doors and hatches here," Chief Tappana said, "because the Air Force has doors, but the Navy and Marines have hatches. Learning the terminology and the cultures will be a bit of a challenge. Then, we will have the additional challenge of training for other nations as well. But, the basics of leadership are the same no matter what uniform the person is wearing. The basics of a chief's job are going to be exactly the same. They are just caring for people who wear different uniforms than us."

Chief Tappana toured the dorms where enlisted personnel will be living, received a tour of facilities and addressed issues at a joint enlisted call.

"I'm absolutely jealous of your assignments here," he told the more than 40 Airmen, Sailors and Marines in the crowd. "You have the opportunity to establish a completely new unit. You will keep the heritage of the 33rd because it's one of the oldest units in the Air Force, but the mission is brand new. The 33rd will be training people to fly this plane in 2059. You guys are going to set it up and figure out how to make it work."

Members of the audience found the chief's perspective to be both humorous and full of sound advice.

"It was pretty informative," said Master Sgt. Joel Acang, 33rd FW executive support superintendant. "He nailed the point of getting with the other services and learning from each other."

The final stop on the Chief Tappana's visit to Eglin was speaking to the 47 new graduates of Airmen Leadership School.

"He was probably one of the best speakers we have heard," said Tech. Sgt. Damian Sotelo, ALS instructor.

Chief Tappana expanded on one of the most popular questions he has been asked during his 10 years of being a chief.

"One of the most common questions command chiefs get asked, normally in ALS classes, is how do I become a chief? And the answer I give everybody is the same," Chief Tappana said. "The first thing you need to do is focus on being very good at what you are. Too often people focus two or three jobs downstream, and the real secret to success in the Air Force is to bloom where you are planted. If you thrive, we will pick you up and transplant you to a bigger, better garden. "

Chief Tappana spoke in length about the quality of our Airmen and the meaning of oath of enlistment and the Airmen's creed before citing Queen Latifah and Dr. Suess, as a unique attention grabber. The students were commenting on the speech well after the graduation ceremonies ended.