Writing in the Air Force, a personal experience.
In my Twenty plus years in the United States Air Force I had numerous unique experiences. From spending years serving my country overseas to serving in the United State. One of the most important things I had to accomplish was to write performance reports, feedbacks and award certificates for my “troops”.
Writing in the United States Air Force is critical for promotions, training, communications and morale of superiors and subordinates.
After spending six years in the Air Force and being a young recently promoted Staff Sergeant, I had never had any subordinates directly under my supervision. Then, Air Force assignments sent me to Germany for a four year tour. I was excited to be heading to the country where most of my ancestors came to the United States from. I arrived at Sembach Air Base, outside of Kaiserslaurtern Germany, on Friday the 10th of January 1991. Billeting gave me a two bedroom apartment to reside in until I could find a house off base.
Sembach Air Base is located on a hill with views of the beautiful German countryside for miles in all directions. The next Monday I drove to work from my apartment and could not stop looking all around to see all the gorgeous sights off the hill. I arrived to my shop and reported directly to my supervisor, Master Sergeant Roger Williams. A tall, good natured and balding man with over seventeen years of service in the Air Force. He gave me a tour of the entire operation of our organization. We arrived at the office where I was going to work; I noticed that there were two German civilians, three Airmen and one older Technical Sergeant. After my tour of the shop I was then released to in-process the base at the personnel office for the rest of the day.
On Tuesday I went directly to my duty section. Master Sergeant Roger Williams and Technical Sergeant Ed Lowe were already there. That morning they informed me that I was going to have one civilian, Fraulein Jenny Eckstein, and two Airmen working directly for me. I introduced myself to all the people in the office and relayed to them my background and experiences from my six years in. The two Airmen, Senior Airman Greg Champagne and Senior Airman Matthew Goebbels, and I went and got a cup of coffee then had a long conversation to get to know each other. I was very lucky to have these two working for me, they were self-motivated workers and very intelligent.
After four months I found out that Senior Airman Greg Champagne would be transferring back to the States in two months. He was heading to Myrtle Beach, Air Force Base in South Carolina, lucky him I thought. He was from that area of the country and was excited to be going back near his family. The same day I received two packages informing me that I had to write a current Enlisted Performance Report (EPR) and an Award Package for an Air Force Achievement Medal for Senior Airman Champagne.
In six years I had not had to write these for anyone. I researched how to perform this task. There are many sources to learn from. Air Force regulations, and Air Force “Pen and Quill” writing style guide. After reading I felt intimidated and nervous about what I had to do and what the chain of command expected. Intimidated and nervous with little experience doesn’t always produce the best work.
Three rough drafts later I sent the packages to my supervisor, Master Sergeant Roger Williams. I thought he was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard. I felt about as big as an ant. Once he got his composure back he set me down to get some hands on experience with his help. Master Sergeant Williams pulled a folder out of his desk and told me to go all the way to the back of it and read. It was all the writing he had done since he had first supervised. I read the one he wanted me to read and about fell out of my chair laughing. It was worse than mine. I continued to read more and more of them and noticed that the farther I went the better written they were. Master Sergeant Williams told me that it is all about experience and practice. He had his problems at first and got better with time and he knew that the same would happen for me. We both shared a good laugh that day.
With my new found confidence after talking to Master Sergeant Williams, I applied myself wholeheartedly into the work. Consequently, after twenty tries for each package they were both approved and submitted to Senior Airman Champagne’s permanent records. I found out six months later that because of the Award and the outstanding Performance report that I wrote Senior Airman Champagne, he had been promoted to Staff Sergeant.
Twenty years later I look back on this and laugh. Good writing from myself was critical for Greg to move ahead in his career and it had also been good for me. When I retired I was proud of my service, but I was prouder of all the subordinates that I helped progress in their careers due to applying myself and learning to write effectively.