Westhampton Beach, N.Y. -- Westhampton Beach, N.Y. – Senior noncommissioned officers assigned to the New York National Guard’s, 106th Rescue Wing, attended the first 106th Senior NCO Development Course, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5350 in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., Dec. 8.
The workshop hosted 20 senior NCOs, sergeants who hold the rank of Master Sgt., Senior Master Sgt. and Chief Master Sgt., from a variety of sections around the unit.
The goal being to gain deeper knowledge of assorted processes, procedures and policies, and to help sharpen essential leadership skills.
“Our title for the whole day was kind of strengthening the foundations,” said Senior Master Sgt. Lindy Ross , the Civil Engineering Squadron operations superintendent and a key event planner.
“It's taking us back to what, as Master Sgts. and Senior Master Sgts., we should be doing at the wing, what should we be doing in our organizations, and what should we be doing holistically for the wing at our level.”
The workshop included presentations from key sections like finance and the inspector general, an interactive exercise to sharpen public speaking and briefing presentation skills, and question-and-answer opportunities with the Command Chief Master Sgt. of the New York Air National Guard, Michael Hewson and the 106th senior enlisted leader, Command Chief Master Sgt. Edward Rittberg.
For a Master Sgt. it’s a downward view to make sure Airmen are taken care of, they're trained, they're qualified, and they're ready to go, explained Master Sgt. Benjamin Contreras, the 106th Communication Squadron radio section supervisor.
The workshop helped change that perspective to an upward view, helping to see how and why decisions are made at the Chief MSgt. level and throughout the Air Force, he added.
The presentations explained more than just the decision-making processes behind policies.
“I came away with a lot of knowledge, a lot of stuff that I didn't know, a lot of inspiration by the command chiefs,” said Contreras. “It was actually more meat and potatoes stuff that we actually need to push our sections forward.”
Senior NCOs from civil engineering, maintenance, communications and operations, to list a few, were present at the workshop.
Having a variety of sections was important to the course planners, to broaden familiarity between members of the unit.
Networking was a significant component of the course, Ross explained.
“At our level we should be able to pick up the phone and try to solve problems, not through e-mails, pinging back and forth,” said Ross. “We're trying to bridge that, so senior NCOs have that networking ability at the wing level.”
Interest in attending the course was high and with the success of the first one more will follow.
“We had to turn people away, we had that many people wanting to attend,” said Rittberg.
“So there will be future courses throughout the next year and I urge Senior NCOs to attend it to get those sharpening skills that they may need to succeed in the future.”
The 106th Rescue Wing, based at Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton Beach, New York, operates and maintains the HC-130J Combat King II search and rescue aircraft, and the HH-60W Jolly Green II search and rescue helicopter. The 106th Rescue Wing is home to a special warfare squadron with pararescuemen and combat rescue officers, specializing in rescue and recovery, and deploys for domestic and overseas operations.