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Show THURSDAY, July 1, 2010 7 AWARD SUPPLEMENT TO THE HILLTOP TIMES Promotions COMMAND RECOGNITION 388th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron: Master Sgt. Earl Lancaster, Master Sgt. Matthew Newson, Tech. Sgt. David Manske, Tech. Sgt. Robert Schwemmer, Staff Sgt. Kenneth Keele, Staff Sgt. Kirk McDougal, Staff Sgt. Joshua Patterson, Staff Sgt. Philip Smith, Staff Sgt. John Wheatley, Staff Sgt. Raymond Williams, Senior Airman Logan Reine 388th Component Maintenance Squadron: Capt. Kathleen OConnor, Tech. Sgt. Daniel Baracosa, Tech. Sgt. Pablo Palacios, Staff Sgt. Daniel Kaufmann, Staff Sgt. Huynh Lam, Staff Sgt. Matthew Snider, Senior Airman Shea Cain, Senior Airman Jordan Orr, Airman 1st Class Rachel Scott, Airman 1st Class Jeremy Walczak Above left, Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, Air Force Global Strike Command commander, coins Joseph Murray, 2nd Combat Camera Squadron producer and director, for the production of the Global Strike Command introduction video June 16. The Global Strike Command introduction video gives an overview of the newly formed command. Above, Don Broadhead, 2nd CTCS chief of video and production, is also coined for the production of the Global Strike Command introduction video. Left, Trevor Wood, 2nd CTCS 3D motion and graphics technician, gets his coin. 388th Equipment Maintenance Squadron: Master Sgt. Matthew Leavitt, Tech. Sgt. Michael Krappitz, Tech. Sgt. Rennel Sangria, Staff Sgt. Nicholas Craven, Staff Sgt. Derek Lowe, Staff Sgt. Nathan Myyra, Staff Sgt. Glen Vart, Senior Airman Phillip Alexander, Senior Airman Brian Carmichael, Senior Airman Justin Carruth, AIRMAN 1ST CLASS STACI MILLER/U.S. Air Force ' :: See PROMOTIONS I page 8 LEADER From page 2 WWI if J»ou take fee easy path o£-saying6it's impossible. ; 2) Your Airmen will rise to the level ' where you set the expectation. . ;• 3) Success and morale are synergistic and powerful and winning is just plain fun. Direction not invitation Throughout a two year tour with Tech. Sgt. Geidner, our phase dock team deployed together, played football, basketball and softball together, lifted weights together and went out on the town together. During a deployment to Turkey he made us all tackle powerlifting. I've never liked lifting weights (apparent to this day), but after a month under his whip I dead-lifted 385 pounds. Maybe that's not a lot to many, but it was more than I ever dreamed I could lift. We also went out to the "Wagonwheel" as a crew. We all had to go, we all had a good time, and he got us all back safely as a crew. •••'> After a couple of months of working there, Tech. Sgt. Geidner called me in Take the court one day and directed (notice I did not : say "invited") me to come to his house One weekend we went and played the next Saturday at 0600. He gave no hoops in the Incirlik fitness center. We reason. He spent the entire day with were just shooting around when the . me, tearing the headbase team came in for a er off my $450 Opel's practice. Tech. Sgt. Gei"By the end of the dner got that cocky smirk, engine, cleaning parts and putting on a new day I had a fixed car, looked about two feet up gasket kit he had at one of their players, but more importantly fought in advance. I and stated they had to Tech. Sgt Geidner. beat us to take the court. : met his wife and chil- dren and they fed me knew a lot about me: Now Tech. Sgt. Geidner is the last person you'd think breakfast, lunch and where. I came from, played hoops, just by lookdinner. He did not ask what I liked, what ing at him, but naturally ' me questions directly about my life, but made me tick and he turned out to be quite a point guard and led a just engaged in genwhat I wanted in life." bunch of aircraft maineral conversation. tainers from a single work By the end of the section to beat down that base team. " day I had a fixed car, but more imporWe way outplayed our normal abilitantly Tech. Sgt. Geidner knew a lot ties. Tech. Sgt. Geidner just seemed about me: where I came from, what to bring the best out of us all at every•I liked, what made me tick and what thing. I wanted in life. From that day on he -went out of his way to help me become Back at Hahn he had us all doing ; an Air Force officer. And I was comPT together all the time. And he broke ' pletely loyal to thSt leader for spendit up with all kinds of sports, depending his Saturday with me. I don't reing on the season and the weather. We ' member how he knew my engine had capped every year with December • a leaky header. Maybe he overheard NCOs vs. Airmen full tackle, no pads me talking about it. How many NCOs football games in the German snow. ' these days do this for each Airman The Airmen never won. We never even 'assigned to them? How many NCOs got close. know their Airmen as well as Tech. Overall, he kept us all so busy and ,"Sgt. Geidner knew his? so together that none of us ever got in >•;•'. The lessons: any kind of trouble. We worked hard ; '•• 1) One Saturday per Airman gained and played hard — as a team. We had an NCO the complete and permanent clean Personnel Information Files. loyalty of his Airmen. And we all were successful while hav';" 2) We were motivated to serve him ing a great time. ; .Especially because he learned our Clear lessons: ; goals and helped us achieve them. 1) Get and stay involved with'your ' • 3) He knew I had a problem with my Airmen and you'll have 3 lot of fun. :car — he paid attention — and he not 2) Get and stay involved with your - xinly did something to help, but used Airmen and they won't end up with it as an opportunity to take our work DUIs, Article 15s, discharges or * relationship to the highest level. worse. 3) Work hard and play hard as a team and there is no limit to what you can accomplish "on or off the court." Tidy Friday barbecue all we needed to stay on track. The lessons here are universal: 1) Address discipline issues at your level quickly and firmly and they won't get to the poiirtSoMeeehttg^orranander level involvement. You are actually protectingMffltM&VtyV&hg tough on them when appropriate. 2) Punish in private. He always took us aside for the wall-to-wall counseling. Anything public was praising or just in fun jibing. 3) When your Airmen know you care (remember the Saturday story), they won't want to disappoint you and so will stay on the straight and narrow. Another thing we did throughout that tour was tidy Friday and barbe- ' cue. Every Friday some of us finished up the jet and "sold it back to the flight line," some of us helped wash the entire hangar (Tech. Sgt. Geidner said every Friday morning at roll call, "get the whooliboogers out from behind the lockers"), and some of us completely dismantled our composite tool kits, cleaned and inspected every tool in them, and cut new foam for the Give out recognition drawers. Wow! Clean is an understatement. My training instructor from The last example I'll relate has to Basic Military Training School would do with taking the extra time to recoghave been proud. Also, the spouses all nize and push your Airmen. Tech. Sgt. started trickling in through the hangar Geidner submitted one of us in every and to the break room at about noon. award category every time possible, By 1400 our mouths were watering so we won a lot of awards. He got sevfrom the smell of pot luck. So every eral of us promoted to senior Airman Friday afternoon was a picnic with all Below-The-Zone, and for me in particthe families. In our work section, Tech. ular, he wrote flattering letters recSgt. Geidner had us wanting to get it ommending me for a commissioning all done not to leave, but to be part of program. I just cannot see what more the picnic. / he could have done for us. The lessons, again, are clear: Lessons: 1) Take care of your people and 1) Homemade food is a positive and they'll take care of the mission. powerful motivater ... far better than 2) The extra distance you go to take guilt trips or "get it done or else." care of your Airmen 2) A clean, orderly, sharp work environment "We did not get into will have career- andlife-long positive imcontributed to that "Top 1 commander-level troupacts. Percent" attitude throughble in my two years 3) That extra time out our team. pushing and recog3) Having all the famithere because we got nizing your Airmen lies in the work center NCOIevel tough coun- just adds that much every week kept "work" a seling when needed." more to the synergy part of their lives, too, so and great morale of they understood what we the work environdid and fully supported ment. what we did at work. We Airmen felt . Okay. There it is. I've finally put in the support of those families, even writing most of these simple yet efthose of us that were single. Just one fective living examples of great front more important ingredient in achievline leadership, planted in the lives of ing a high morale and a high performa dozen Airmen in 1988 and continuing team. ing to ripple through generations of Dished out discipline Airmen still today. I cannot help but strive to achieve in every leadership It wasn't pure roses. We did not get role the Air Force entrusts me to that into commander-level trouble in my proud, successful, fun work environtwo years there because we got NCOment Tech. Sgt. Jeff Geidner created level tough counseling when needed. I for us in Phase Dock 2, Hahn Air Base myself got a Letter of Counseling for a Germany. I challenge all leaders to do mistake I made in Checking out a vehiall these tmngs for Airmen at all levcle for use. Tech. Sgt. Geidner minced els, but especially junior NCOs at that no words in taking one of us aside and critical front line level of leadership giving us strong course correction. of our most valuable resource:%Gur But we admired him so much and did young Airmen. ; not want to disappoint himjhat that's |