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First sergeants and Eagle Flag: Training that cares, prepares Airmen

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Stephen Musal
  • 17th Training Wing Public Affairs
NAVAL AIR ENGINEERING STATION LAKEHURST, N.J. --  Master Sgt. Robin Young, 99th Civil Engineer Squadron first sergeant from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., describes the job of a first sergeant as "facilitating Airmen success." 

In Air Force Exercise Eagle Flag, facilitating success of Airmen, and caring for them, is never an easy task for a first sergeant. Every exercise, one first sergeant takes on a job which ultimately means supporting nearly 400 Airmen in the exercise. 

"Eagle Flag provides an environment completely foreign to most first sergeants," said Master Sgt. Jack Smith, U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center first sergeant at Fort Dix, N.J., and the lead cadre for first sergeants during Eagle Flag. "Working in the kind of austere location we provide for the exercise can be overwhelming for a first shirt when he realizes that even the most basic services may not be in place for a few days. Caring for the troops in these conditions requires a first sergeant to be out in the bunkers talking face-to-face with the Airmen making sure their needs are met." 

During Eagle Flag 08-1 in late October, Sergeant Young said working in the exercise was by no means easy, but added being a first sergeant is never easy - even at home station. 

"When I deployed to Balad Air Base, Iraq, I had the luxury of going with many of my Airmen," Sergeant Young said. "Thankfully, I was able to have that same luxury here with Eagle Flag." 

That meant, Sergeant Young said, he had time to prepare his Airmen for both deployments, and to develop a rapport that was very necessary in the field. For Eagle Flag, that meant deploying into Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst and building a base from the ground up. 

"I was able to get them in the right mindset well before we got here," Sergeant Young said. "You've got to let the Airmen know what you expect, let them know when they're not meeting that expectation and keep them focused on meeting that expectation." 

He added that the key was paying attention to the little details. 

"Obviously, you can't prepare for everything," he said, "and when issues come up, you take care of them." 

Eagle Flag 08-1 had quite a few "out-of-the-ordinary" challenges for these Airmen, Sergeant Young said. It ranged from manning defensive fighting positions to building the base. 

"We rolled in on an open field," Sergeant Young said. "It required everybody to be doing the physical part, and as a first shirt, I needed to make sure that people are taken care of as well. Stress is tough out here - not like Balad, getting live fire, but stressful here because we work our people long hours in tough conditions." 

Sergeant Smith said when he's evaluating first sergeants at Eagle Flag, he doesn't spend a lot of time following the deployed first sergeant's footsteps. Rather, he said, he looks at the overall picture and sees how the Airmen are being cared for. 

"I find I can tell a whole lot more about the kind of job a shirt is doing by looking at other indicators," Sergeant Smith said. "For instance, if morale is good and troops know what they're supposed to be doing, and the enlisted force has a clear understanding of the commander's vision, then I know a good first sergeant is taking care of business." 

For Sergeant Young in the most recent Eagle Flag, he said managing stress that might have followed an Airman from home station was also a priority. 

"If an Airman is worried about something going on back at home, he can't focus on what we need him to be focusing on here," Sergeant Young said. "Still, it was more base-building here and less people-leading than anywhere else." 

Even with the difficult tasks of Eagle Flag and being a first sergeant in general, Sergeant Young said that being a first sergeant was the "best job in the world." 

"From about a year into the Air Force, I knew I was going to be a first sergeant," Sergeant Young said. Sergeant Young encourages other motivated Airmen to think about being a first sergeant as well. 

Sergeant Smith added that first sergeants are important in any situation. 

"In the deployed environment, the Airmen must be able to focus on doing their primary mission," Sergeant Smith said. "The first sergeant is key to making sure the hundred other things that an Airman worries about are taken care of. In the deployed environment, that can be everything from helping with tent building and working out the shower tent schedule to handling emergency leave cases and advising the commander on discipline issues. It's all in a day's work for a deployed first sergeant." 

In Eagle Flag 08-1, students successfully built a forward operating base from the ground up. Airmen from career fields across the Air Force made that happen, Sergeant Young said. Those Airmen balanced time between their normal jobs with duties outside their specialty - such as with tent-building and security. 

"We accomplished a lot more than others might have due to our planning," Sergeant Young said. 

Sergeant Young added that his great team of Airmen made his job much easier. "We really tasked our Airmen hard, and they stepped up." 

The success Sergeant Young saw during the exercise is in no small part due to the first sergeant being an effective leader, Sergeant Smith said. 

Still, Sergeant Young said he wasn't surprised by the success of his Airmen in the exercise. 

"It's inherent in the Air Force," he said. "We don't fail." 

Air Force Exercise Eagle Flag is the service's only flag level expeditionary combat support exercise for Airmen to practice bare-base build-up and operations. Operated by the USAF EC's 421st Combat Training Squadron, the goal of Eagle Flag is to provide Airmen with an environment to exercise the knowledge and skills required to open and establish an air base and achieve initial operating capability, for any type of forward operation, in any environment, regardless of mission or aircraft type. 

(Note: Airman Musal deployed to Eagle Flag 08-1 from Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas.)