Celebrating Air Force retirement is about appreciating the hard work, career achievements, and challenges that have been overcome. It’s also time to focus on what comes next. Chief Master Sergeant Kenneth Broughman, 91st Security Forces Group Senior Enlisted Leader is preparing to hang up his uniform for a final time and make plans for his family’s future away from the military. But before moving on to the next chapter, Chief Broughman took a few minutes to reflect on his last assignment.

When asked what challenging situations really stood out while he was stationed at Minot AFB, Chief Broughman stated that the misconceptions of being stationed here seemed to plague those inbound to the base. Many Airmen already had many doubts about this base from all the negative stereotypes associated with Minot. Chief Broughman would like for new Airmen to keep an open mind on all the good things Minot AFB can offer as there is more here than meets the eye.

Chief Broughman mentioned his best memories of being at Minot AFB were in the interactions he had with individuals at work on a more personal basis. He stated, “anytime that we get a chance to help an individual out with an assignment, a career path that they want to do, or a promotion, those were always the best memories to draw back on.” Chief Broughman further explained that being able to guide Airmen towards achieving some of the goals they set out to reach and seeing them succeed in those efforts was pivotal to sustaining a great work environment.

When asked what he was looking forward to the most about retirement, Chief Broughman stated he was looking forward to “the stability and being able to reconnect with my kids and some of the things I missed over the years.” He mentioned he missed a lot of birthdays and anniversaries due to being deployed or on remote assignments. What is most important to him now is “being present for all the things” and being able to disconnect from work after he clocks out. Broughman clarified that when he oversees a large group of people, there is always something going on or someone who has questions outside of normal work hours. This is a necessary part of the job, but he is looking forward to not needing his second work cell phone and being able to keep work at work instead of being on call 24/7.

Chief Broughman will miss many things about Minot. Specifically, he shared how much he would miss the camaraderie here the most. Since Minot is a smaller town and base, it creates closer relationships between people. Chief Broughman went on to say that he will really miss the people he served with and the close relationships he had built over the years.

The decision to retire after 26 years in the military was a family decision. Chief Broughman, his wife Aurora, and their children Isabelle and Dutch all felt that it was the right time to retire. The family is looking forward to gaining more stability and having more time together as a family. With two and half decades under his belt, the last six years as a Chief and moving almost every year and a half, everyone is ready to find their forever place. Chief Broughman stated,

“Retiring out of the SFG is a little bit like winning the Super Bowl and going out on top.”

– Cheif Broughman

He also mentioned that Minot was “a phenomenal assignment, by far the best in [his] career” so he couldn’t imagine a more perfect time to retire.

The Broughman family plans to retire near Anchorage, Alaska. His wife Aurora and daughter Isabelle moved up there in advance to get things settled and for Aurora to begin working. She now works as an assistant nurse manager position in the ICU in Anchorage. With the timing of that hospital position opening, and with the family always having had plans to go back to Alaska, it seemed to be the perfect time to set things in motion to retire.

Although the family is excited for the move back to Alaska, there are some mixed emotions on moving back. They know from experience that it’s always a little difficult to move and leave behind friends. Chief Broughman’s son Dutch is

staying until the end of July to finish up his soccer club season before joining the rest of the family in Alaska.
After he retires, Chief Broughman plans to work for a company called Long Building Technologies as their business manager. Broughman plans to draw back from his Air Force leadership skills in this position but was ultimately excited to be able to learn new and different skills too.

Chief Broughman concluded with, “Minot’s been great, the town is awesome, people are super friendly and so it’s the happiest place I could be to close out my career.”

Let’s congratulate Chief Master Sergeant Broughman on his retirement and wish him and his family the best.