The Unexpected Rewards of Just Doing Your Job

Anyone who knew me when I was growing up knew, as did I, that I was destined to join the military. I grew up listening to my father telling sea stories about his time in the Navy; my favorite Hallowe'en costumes were a Confederate soldier's uniform and a USMC uniform. My attitude about things was always serious and duty-minded, and I took to military history and affairs like a duck takes to water. This became even more true when I joined the Civil Air Patrol in 1971, getting my first taste of what life would be like in the military. All it did was cement in my mind that I was born to wear a uniform, and in 1975 I made that happen when I joined the US Air Force.

Once in the Air Force I was always more serious and duty-minded than my peers, more dedicated and devoted to following the military way of life than most around me. It was only natural, therefore, that when I re-enlisted in 1979 I would turn my attention towards making the most out of my attitude and abilities. Once I returned from the year-long remote tour to Korea that the Air Force gave me three days after I re-enlisted (another story for another time), I decided that I wanted to become a Military Training Instructor. My MTIs when I went through Air Force Basic Military Training, Staff Sergeant James R. Schraeder and Staff Sergeant Stephen Bong, taught me things about duty, honor, and dedication that made an impression on me and would stay with me throughout my Air Force career. In 1980 I became the founding Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of the Installation Correctional Custody Facility at Seymour Johnson AFB, NC, and being involved with the retraining of errant airmen proved to me that the place I needed to be was Lackland AFB, Texas. I wanted to be a part of the training of the airmen joining my Air Force, so I started the application process in the spring of 1982 and in August of that year received notification that I had been accepted for MTI duty and was to report to the 3711th Basic Military Training Squadron, 3700th Basic Military Training School at Lackland AFB, Texas in October.

I spent four years at Lackland, transforming approximately 2,600 civilians into Airmen in the United States Air Force along the way. I won't say I loved every minute of it because there were a few things about life in BMTS that I didn't care for, but I will say that it was without a doubt the best and most rewarding time of my 23 year long Air Force career. Everyone who serves in the military for a career will always have one assignment, one base, one post or one ship, that they call their "home," the one place that they seemed to "fit" and loved the most, and BMTS was mine. BMTS fit me like a glove, because Lackland AFB was a by-God MILITARY BASE, a place where they did things the right way, the military way, the AIR FORCE WAY, and I was proud to be a part of it.

I took my duties as an MTI just as seriously as I did everything else prior to that, and along the way got taught some very important lessons by a little fireball of an MTI by the name of Staff Sergeant Patricia D. Barrett. SSgt Barrett was my trainer when I graduated from the MTI School, and she taught me the right way to train a flight - BY THE BOOK, PERIOD. "Do things by the book," she once told me, "and you'll never have to answer to anyone as to why you did it this way!" Sage words of advice that I follow and preach to this day.

She also taught me that my main purpose for being there was to teach, not just strut around wearing the trademark campaign hat and yelling at every trainee in sight just to hear the sound of my own voice. "There will come a time in the training of every flight when yelling won't work anymore, and you have to know when that time comes or you're screwed," she told me. She was right, and I molded a lot of how I trained the trainees along those lines. I set high standards for the trainees in my flights, and then I trained them to meet and maintain those standards. I can honestly say that with the exception of the first seven to ten days of training (depending on how fast the flight picked up on things), I never raised my voice to yell at a trainee unless the trainee did something to deserve it. I knew plenty of MTIs in my unit who would yell at a trainee just for the hell of it, and I'm proud to say that I wasn't one of them. I was there for a purpose, that purpose being to turn civilians into airmen and make them a viable, productive, disciplined part of the United States Air Force, and I like to think that I did just that and was at least moderately successful at it.

Simply put, I was just doing my job.

Well, I must have been more than just moderately successful at my job because now, 28 years after I left BMTS, I'm still being sought out and contacted by my former trainees. That in and of itself is touching enough, but what really touches my heart is that they all have told me what a big impact I made on them and what a positive role I played in their lives, and they've all thanked me for doing what I did and helping to make them the person they are today.

Honestly, when I went into BMTS so very long ago I knew I was going to impact people's lives, but I had no idea of the depth and length of that impact. Sure, my MTIs impacted my life much in the same way that I later impacted the lives of my trainees, but in my youth and naivete I can honestly say that I never put two and two together. It really didn't become clear to me until the advent of Facebook and my former trainees began finding me through that medium. So far I've been contacted by six of my former trainees, and I have a feeling that more will come out of the woodwork as time goes by. Of those six former trainees, four stayed in the Air Force for a career with three having attained the rank of Chief Master Sergeant, the highest enlisted rank. And these are just the ones I know of.

All of this is a very much unexpected reward of just doing my job, but I must say that it impresses, flatters, and humbles me to no end. It is indeed gratifying to know that I played such a positive role in their lives, and I am most appreciative that they took the time to contact me. It means more to me than I think anyone could possibly know.

So to any of my former trainees that may be reading these words, let me just say this: I'm proud of each and every one of you, and it was my honor to have been your Military Training Instructor and have served with you.

Carry on.

IHC