An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Article Display

18 AF command chief: Earn the privilege to serve

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Danielle Johnson
  • Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  Chief Master Sgt. Jim Cody, 18th Air Force command chief, shared his philosophy on how front line supervisors can connect with their Airmen and urged all Airmen to strive for excellence and honor in service during an Enlisted Call Monday at the McGuire Theater.

"How do you establish trust?" Cody asked the Airmen, who ranged in rank from airman basic to chief master sergeant. "Listening is a huge, huge part of building trust and listening is so hard to do. As you get older, you stop listening as much because you think you've heard it all before."

Cody continued to say that respect for Airmen as "human beings" is fundamental to trust and advised everyone to use the "90-second rule." He explained that supervisors can learn a lot about the Airmen in their unit by simply spending about 90 seconds talking with them each day.

Joint base Airmen took the opportunity to ask the command chief questions on a number of topics, including the new physical fitness test standards, Air Force social media engagement, Air Force manning and deployments.

Cody emphasized that all Airmen should be proud to serve, do their best to live up to the high standards of the Air Force and enforce those standards when rating subordinates.

"It absolutely is a privilege to serve in our Air Force," he said. "There are over 8,000 people willing to wait a year and a half to come into our Air Force for the privilege to wear this uniform and serve their nation. Each and every one of you have that privilege every day."

"But," he continued, "we have standards we have to meet; if you don't meet those standards, then you haven't earned the privilege."

Cody emphasized the importance of fitness both physical and mental health, explaining how the confidence a servicemember feels when physically fit directly affects their confidence on the job and enhances their ability to make tough decisions quickly.

When asked his thoughts on the Air Force's role in social media and if sites like Facebook will be used "as a trap" to find Airmen spending too much time socializing online during duty hours, the chief said "absolutely not."

"The fact is, social networking is very much a part of our society and how we communicate and the Air Force is trying to capitalize on that," Cody said. "We will embrace this social media and capitalize on it the best we can to keep our Airmen connected."

"The rules still apply though," Cody continued. "It's an honor system. No, we're not trying to catch you doing something wrong, but if we do catch you doing something wrong you're going to be held accountable."

Airmen at the Enlisted Call also expressed concern over manning and deployment issues, asking how they can be expected to continue the mission with less people.

The chief explained that the Air Force is not simply cutting people but rather managing the force to meet mandatory end-strength requirements, taking people from over-manned career fields and retraining some into critically-manned career fields. However, he said all Airmen should learn to adapt to the changing dynamics and take advantage of new technology.

"Just because we're doing things differently, doesn't mean we're doing more with less or working harder; it means we're more efficient," he said. "You figure out how to be efficient - because you're the experts, you know everything there is to know about [your job] far beyond what we do - our job is to make sure we give you the right directions so you're effective."

In closing, Cody encouraged all Airmen to keep up their hard work and continue doing great things.

"You are extremely important to our Air Force, remember this," he said. "The things that you say do matter and the things that you do, do matter.