Team Kadena pays homage to newest chiefs

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jason Lake
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Nearly 250 friends, family and coworkers celebrated the achievement of a dozen senior NCOs who recently reached the Air Force's top enlisted rank during a chief recognition ceremony at the Rocker NCO Club Jan. 23. The event also honored Chief Master Sgt. Noboru Sato from the Japan Air Self Defense Force who also reached the top enlisted rank of his country's service.

"It feels great being selected for chief," explained Senior Master Sgt. David Duncan who was among those selected for promotion to chief last November. "I can tell you though that anyone of us would be a fool to think we made it here by ourselves. We all had support from our families, friends, supervisors, co-workers and mentors."

The ceremony, which is organized by Kadena's chiefs who were promoted the previous year, included a symbolic candle lighting ceremony, a cake cutting ceremony and speech from 5th Air Force's new command chief master sergeant, Chief Master Sgt. Richard Kaiser, encouraging the new chiefs to "earn their stripes."

"Each of us has been trusted to be in positions where we were able to flourish and help others to flourish," said Chief Duncan, who serves as director of education at the Erwin Professional Military Education Center here at Kadena. "As Chief Kaiser said that night, this is one of only four times that it is about us, the rest of the time it is about our Airmen and taking care of them and their families' needs. The trick now, as we see it, is to remember where we came from and to not forget what got us here."

Chief Master Sgt. Michael Warner, 18th Wing command chief master sergeant, said the event marked the tradition of honoring the Air Force's top one percent of the enlisted corps since the rank's creation in 1958.

"It's a significant event and it's a traditional event to honor and celebrate those Airmen who have achieved the top enlisted rank in our United States Air Force," explained 18th Wing Command Chief Master Sgt. Michael Warner. "When they joined the Air Force over 20 years ago, they were told that only 1 out of every 100 Airmen that enters the gateway to our Air Force will achieve the top enlisted rank. They all traveled different functional paths, but did the same great things to earn [that] rank."

Chief Warner added that the new chiefs also have the responsibility of shaping today's Airmen for the challenges of future generations.

"This traditional ceremony was about recognizing their accomplishments while at the same time reinforcing to them that they are not done yet," he said. "The Air Force selected them for [chief] because of their potential for more energized leadership to ensure we remain the best Air Force in the world, and continue to develop future Airmen to take over for them."