Over the past four weeks the 5th Civil Engineer Squadron, otherwise known as the WarBulls, conducted a series of training, activities and instructions to welcome their newest members of the Senior Non-commissioned Officer promotions. The SNCO Select Development is a 21-day deliberate development course which culminated with a Final Day of intense physical & mental training on Friday, July 22nd. The standing squadron SNCOs wanted to find a way to induct the new members of this elite group with pride and a little military camaraderie, so they put together the Final Day training in which the inductees traveled 21 miles – beginning at 4 am – and ended with obstacles designed to honor six Medal of Honor recipients. In one scenario, the SNCO team honored A1C John Levitow, a loadmaster serving in Vietnam in 1969 onboard an AC-47 “Spooky” gunship, recreating the heroic scene hurling a flare through a cargo door ultimately saving the crew.
The Master Sergeants and Master Sergeant Selects who completed the training are MSgt Jason Lawyer, TSgt Dominic Garcia, MSgt Timothy Bennett, TSgt Paul Rudolph, TSgt Matthew Chandler and MSgt Oscar Perez. Although MSgt Lawyer and MSgt Perez were unable to attend the Final Day events, all six now can stand proudly and say they are officially WarBull Senior Non Commissioned Officers, which is no small task. MSgt Austin Henrichsen and SMSgt Jeffrey Brown and all the other WarBull SNCOs put in a lot of work to make sure this event would be helpful and memorable to all their new comrades.
“Leaders take direct action, not just say words – this development course embodied intentionality on all fronts to mold, inspire, and cultivate a better Air Force SNCO Striker Warrior.
-MSgt Henrichsen
