Are you proficient or merely qualified at your work?

  • Published
  • By Maj. Matthew G. Butler
  • 571st Global Mobility Readiness Squadron commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  I love the Air Force Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon. You "fire expert" once and are recognized for shooting prowess for the rest of your life, albeit while standing still and firing at a stationary target.

Are you proficient with the M9 pistol or M4/M16 rifles? Can you successfully engage a mobile enemy at variable distances while your heart is pounding and wearing full battle rattle? I know that would put a few extra stressors on my performance even if I am considered "qualified."

Qualification is an administrative action en route to proficiency. We, as Airmen, qualify on a great variety of tasks. One can be qualified to operate a fairly robust vehicle and not drive it for a year. One can qualify to be a communication system technician but have no ability to troubleshoot once all technical orders are exhausted. One can qualify to be a squadron commander and completely fail to further any sort of mission or vision.

None of the above examples demonstrate proficiency.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines "proficient" as being "well advanced in an art, occupation or branch of knowledge."

We need to reassess our qualifications and proficiency. Does that one-hour foreign language computer-based training, completed six months prior to your deployment, make you proficient? Or does it merely qualify you to deploy? Will you remember a single word once boots hit the ground? Are you "well advanced?"

A proficient Airman can see beyond the technical orders, driving innovation while leading vertically and horizontally. A qualified Airman is merely a checked box awaiting direction.

For example, our unit deploys communications teams, including the Small Package Initial Communications Element - Medium Communications Package, to austere locations with little or no local support upon arrival. These contingency response Airmen repeatedly prove their technical expertise while elevating troubleshooting to an art. Their training records, an administrative tool, note them as qualified, but their ability to critically problem-solve in complex environments proves their proficiency. Our Airmen can "plumb" into multiple communications networks from anywhere on the planet.

All units should program time in order to sharpen core skills. Frontline supervisors need to formulate and test new ideas, transforming units into battle labs of excellence. Enable enlisted members and junior officers to challenge themselves and our Air Force. In a wartime environment, in which we should still be immersed, proficiency will always defeat qualifications. It is not hyperbole to state that the United States Air Force and our national defense demands proficiency.

Please ask yourself and poll your units: Are you proficient or merely qualified?