Attitude is crucial for mission success, command chief says

  • Published
  • By Airman Madelyn Ottem
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Command Chief Master Sgt. John Evalle has been in the Air Force for 27 years and took the position of senior enlisted leader at Travis in July 2011.

Air Force Instruction 36-2618, The Enlisted Force Structure, states that the Command Chief Master Sergeant is responsible for advising commanders on mission effectiveness, professional development, military readiness, training, utilization, health, morale and welfare of the enlisted Airmen and takes action to address shortfalls or challenges.

With the responsibility for nearly every aspect regarding the enlisted force under the 60th Air Mobility Wing, Evalle has offered his thoughts on key points to help ensure all Airmen and their families assigned to Travis are warmly welcomed, genuinely cared for and remain sharply focused on executing our demanding mission. To achieve this, he focuses on personal attitudes and unit culture.

Evalle firmly believes Airmen and their families will absolutely love a duty location or unfortunately hate a duty location based on two specific things - first, the attitudes of the Airmen they work with and second, how they feel treated by their unit's supervision and leadership.

According to Evalle, welcoming new members into our Travis Family from day one is key. He describes two situations in which attitudes and culture make all the difference for newly arriving Airmen.

In the first scenario the Airman is warmly welcomed by his supervisor and begins to build rapport with his coworkers. He is feedback and expectations of how to meet and exceed performance standards. His training builds his confidence and his supervisor is great at explaining how daily duties are tied directly to our Global Reach mission. There seems to be a huge sense of pride in all coworkers for being a part of this squadron and the mission they perform. The Airman truly enjoys coming to work and interacting with his co-workers, which have become his best friends, and many squadron social events are highly attended by all members and their families. Finally, he has come to admire and respect his unit's leadership for their professionalism, dedication to the mission, and genuine concern for the development and welfare of the squadron's Airmen and their families.

The alternative situation is one where the Airman arrives at the new duty station and does not walk into a welcoming, helpful or caring shop; instead he meets a supervisor who pays him no attention except to bark orders about getting his training and work done. Leadership is not approachable or open to new ideas, and there seems to be a culture of doing as little as possible to avoid getting into trouble. Morale is very low and no one attends any unit social event unless it is deemed mandatory. Coworkers seem to be miserable and the new Airmen dreads going to work daily.

An Airmen arriving into this poor unit culture does not start off with a poor attitude, but will soon start feeling like "this place is awful," said Evalle. The Airman will go from feeling the shop is awful, to Travis is awful and eventually that the entire Air Force is awful. For a newly arriving Airman, if his first experience is negative then that Airman will associate the entire Air Force with the poor culture and attitudes of that first unit.

It is the supervisor's responsibility to introduce new Airmen to the Air Force in a proper way with a positive outlook and eagerness to help. This supervisor will be the strongest determining factor in whether an Airman decides to re-enlist or not because of how he and his family are treated, Evalle said.

"Everybody has the responsibility of keeping a good attitude, because no matter who you are it ends up affecting the people around you," the command chief said. "If I'm a grumpy, miserable chief master sergeant, no Airman would look at me and want to stay in the Air Force for 20 years to be miserable like me. That's important for leadership at every level. No leader can fix a problem that they don't know about," he said.

The disposition of new Airmen plays just as vital a role as the highest ranking leaders.

"Attitudes are contagious," Evalle said. "Some people wake up and are angry for no good reason. The attitude of the lowest tier is important because Airmen will surround themselves with other Airmen and their opinions will begin to rub off on one another, positive or negative."

In addition to keeping morale high, Evalle requests that new Airmen be wary of becoming involved with negative influences.

"Sometimes Airmen associate themselves with criminals," he said. "When a large group of people are huddled together, statistically there are going to be a few criminals. In the Air Force they're like cancer, they need to be detected early on and cut out before they infect, damage and spread throughout."

We all graduated basic training and were proud to show what we had accomplished, said Evalle. It's unfortunate that some Airmen will lose that sense of pride and get off track.
As a representative of the Travis enlisted force, Evalle wants the enlisted personnel to truly enjoy serving their country everyday and to be proud of everything they accomplish.

"If you have the desire to create a new standard of excellence instead of following the status quo, you're going to distinguish yourself immediately and raise the unit's entire performance," Evalle said.

For the Command Chief, he finds the most gratification in communicating with young Airmen who will shape the future of the Air Force.

"The most rewarding part of this job is being able to ensure that young Airmen know that what they're a part of is awesome," Evalle said. "Everyday is not going to be awesome, but the Air Force is incredible. As much as you invest yourself into the Air Force, the Air Force will return 100 fold with a sense of pride and a sense of purpose."