Nellis holds first NCO induction ceremony

by Airman 1st Class Mikaley Kline
99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

9/24/2015 - NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- The first NCO induction ceremony at Nellis AFB was held recently at the Thunderbird hangar here Sept. 18.

There were approximately 380 staff sergeant selects in attendance, not including Airmen assigned to Creech Air Force Base.

"When I first got to Nellis AFB I found out that we didn't do (NCO induction ceremonies). We do Senior NCO induction ceremonies, but there wasn't anything for the new staff sergeants selects," said Tech. Sgt. Robert Yarnes, 328th Weapons Squadron NCO in charge of space operations. "When I took over as the president of the Nellis 5/6, I decided that creating an NCO induction ceremony would be one of my initiatives."

The day prior to the ceremony, the inductees participated in seminars with various briefings to help guide them onto the path to becoming successful NCOs.

"We developed a course with the career assistance advisors to highlight topics and get Airmen talking and listening," said Yarnes.  "Courses ranged from professional relations to a followership group exercise to a career progression brief."

An important part of the transition is for NCOs to learn how to professionally handle the close ties they may have with the Airmen they work with.

"The transition from the Airman to NCO tier is an important step in their careers," said Tech. Sgt. Tyler Meyenburg, 99th Medical Group NCOIC of nutritional medicine. "They need to know how to go about managing those relationships and what changes are going to happen when you put on that one extra stripe."

Meyenburg and Yarnes agreed, the transition from Airman to NCO is an important milestone in an Airman's career.

"There is the transition from being an NCO to being a Senior NCO, but at that point you're going from being a leader of a few to being a leader of many. So that change might be a little easier," said Yarnes. "You're going from being a follower to all of a sudden being in charge of other Airmen and ensuring that the mission gets done. That can be a hard change for a lot of people to make."

Yarnes hopes that those participating in the NCO induction seminar and the ceremony take away that they are becoming an NCO so they need to be ready to take on increased responsibilities and need to know what people will expect from them as NCOs.

"The rewarding part is helping these new NCOs learn the roles and responsibilities of becoming an NCO," said Meyenburg. "As soon as you get that stripe or go through Airman Leadership School, you're going to be somebody's supervisor.