New initiative to improve junior officer leadership engagement, mission effectiveness

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LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. --  Air Combat Command will begin testing a new initiative designed to improve junior officer leadership engagement and mission effectiveness, and to take better care of Airmen and their families in the short term while helping develop leaders for the out years.

The Command Opportunities for Lieutenants initiative will begin testing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, NC, Mountain Home AFB, ID, and Whiteman AFB, MO, on Aug. 16. The program will task lieutenants currently in non-supervisory technically oriented jobs to also command element-size units.

ACC continues to experience high operations tempos and continued AEF deployments. This operating environment places great demands on our chain of command and requires high standards of ethics and professionalism founded on our core values. While our NCOs provide the majority of leadership for younger enlisted airmen, and this is one of our greatest strengths, we can use the additional leadership engagement from our junior officers.

In addition to leadership development, this program will enhance the care of our Airmen and their families. A review of recent trends in ground fatalities and suicides showed more than two-thirds of them involved Airmen in the ranks of E-4 and below. Placing a lieutenant in an element or flight-commander position where he or she can apply face-to-face mentoring gives the young officer an opportunity to develop their leadership skills and will provide more care for our enlisted Airmen.

General Hal Hornburg, Commander, Air Combat Command, has asked us to look at more lieutenant command opportunities and engagementand establish or re-establish lieutenant section or element commander positions in ACC, said Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright, ACC vice commander. We need a relook to ensure were yielding as much leadership potential as possible from our Air Force junior officers.

By dual hatting some of our lieutenants in jobs where they are focusing only on the technical aspects of their responsibilities and tasking them to command and team with NCOs to lead airmen, we feel we can help our younger enlisted folks now while developing a better officer corps for the future, said Lt. Col. Ken Keskel, chief of ACCs manpower, programs and organization branch.

The plan will focus primarily on the expeditionary combat support units within the mission support and maintenance groups. It will create flight, section or element commander positions for lieutenants, bringing the junior officers in closer contact with Airmen and providing officer oversight much earlier in the chain of command.

As part of the plans and programs team charged with implementing the plan, Lt. Col. Keskel noted the key role seasoned NCOs will play in making this program a success.

Our first consideration in this process is that were not diluting the authority or responsibility of our NCO corps. In fact, its just the opposite. We are relying on the professionalism of our NCO corps to help develop these future Air Force leaders through mentoring up and teaching our lieutenants about effective leadership, he said.

The program has complete buy-in from the commands senior enlisted advisor, who sees it as an opportunity to help ensure the safety and welfare of young enlisted members, take some of the burden off an over-tasked NCO corps, and give junior lieutenants an up close and personal perspective on leading the enlisted corps.

The benefits to this program are obvious. Young officers under the tutelage of senior NCOs will gain invaluable leadership lessons and be much more engaged in the mission and leadership of the Airmen in their unit. At the same time, our younger enlisted Airmen and their families will have the benefit of junior officers being more accessible and helpful within the chain-of-command. Its a win-win situation all the way around, said ACC Command Chief Master Sergeant, Chief Master Sgt. Rodney Ellison. For it to work, we will need our senior NCO corps to be fully engaged in helping teach our younger, less-experienced officers how to be better, exemplary leaders and our junior enlisted how to be more professional, mission-focused, and supportive Airmen.