MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- Maxwell-Gunter senior leaders hosted a senior noncommissioned officer mentorship session at the Ritchey Center here Friday.
Reserve and active duty SNCOs from across the area were invited to join together and participate in team building activities and take part in an opportunity to receive mentorship.
“Senior NCOs do a lot of mentoring. They mentor Airmen, they mentor younger NCOs and they mentor younger students, and a lot of the time we don’t take time to get our own mentors,” said Senior Master Sgt. William Simonson, event committee chair. “That was the driving factor behind this, giving senior NCOs an opportunity to be mentored and get some of the mentorship we’re always trying to give out.”
The day’s events started with opening remarks from Maj. Gen. Timothy Leahy, Curtis E. LeMay Center for Doctrine Development and Education commander and Air University vice commander. He shared his past experiences with SNCOs and their impact on the careers of officers.
Leahy said Most of your young officers are surrounded by NCOs and very few other officers.
“So the mentorship often comes from the NCO corps for those young officers,” he said. “Almost all the lessons I’ve learned of value, I learned from NCOs who taught me to be a better leader.”
Morning presentations included overcoming personality differences and bias and discussing generational differences within the Air Force.
The SNCOs ended the day with team building at Air University’s Project X reaction course, a series of obstacles designed to promote team building and critical thinking.
Simonson explained the need for SNCOs to collaborate and why even the top of the enlisted corps still needs mentoring.
“The importance of it is to keep us fresh, to keep us well rounded, keep us driving forward and excited to stay in the Air Force and be able to mentor our younger NCOs and Airmen, but at the same time knowing there are still opportunities for us to learn,” he said. “Really, we never stop learning. We never stop growing as senior NCOs. There’s always room for improvement and always opportunities to grow.”