Tulsa ANG actively looks to develop leaders

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Preston Chasteen
  • 138th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
Tulsa Air National Guard Base, Okla. --  Officers, Senior Non Commissioned Officers and leaders from around the 138th Fighter Wing (FW) participate in leadership meetings every Wednesday following their monthly unit training assembly.

The meetings that began in August 2014 bring together various leadership perspectives, and encourage open and honest communication while learning from each other.

Senior Master Sgt. Bryan Hilbert, 138th FW Inspector General Superintendent and wing professional military education facilitator, was the driving force behind starting the leadership meetings, and facilitates the events under the direction of Col. David Burgy, 138th FW commander.

"The real goal is to foster communication in order to help build relationships and strengthen trust across organizational leaders on base," stated Hilbert.  "Leadership is not a one-time event, it has to be fostered and it has to be developed."

The monthly leadership sessions are taught by volunteers from around the base who want to offer perspective and share their experiences with other leaders on base.

Lt. Col. Martin Keiner, 138th Civil Engineer, taught the March 2015 class utilizing fun and informative methods.

"I needed to cover some leadership principles, and at the core of that is troop leading procedures.  They form the foundation of all the various orders we may encounter.  These principles hold true not just in military planning, but also with simple things in daily life," stated Keiner.  "The exercise today was a fun environment with low stress that simply forces people who may never have the opportunity to talk to each other, to talk to each other.  And they learn it in a fun way, without actually realizing that they're learning it."

"Just the increased communication in the room from the first meeting to the most recent is tangible evidence that the program is working," said Hilbert. 

As opportunities present themselves, future meetings will potentially see guest speakers from Oklahoma Joint Force Headquarters or possibly the National Guard Bureau.