Career paths to roadmaps

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Angela Stebbins
  • Public Affairs
157 Air National Guard Base, Portsmouth, New Hampshire --  Sunday of the January drill brought start to a new process for officers to help gauge their career progressions in order to know where they should be and what they should focus on at any given point in their career paths.

Maj. Gen. William N. Reddel III, Brig. Gen. Carol Protzmann, and Brig. Gen. Deborah Carter spoke to a group of company grade officers to introduce this concept of a force development roadmap to assist in career progression.

Although it was the first meeting of its kind here, it will be something the officer corps will hear a lot about in the future. The development program will eventually be rolled out to the senior enlisted force as well.

This is an initiative that came out of the strategic planning system (SPS). The SPS is chartered by Lt. Gen. Harry Wyatt, the director of the Air National Guard (ANG), along with a group of ANG general officers, two per state, that serve as his strategic advisors through a representation of combined 'field' interests and perspectives.

Together they have several priorities, but the first is force development, making sure the ANG has the right people, at the right place, with the right skills.

Protzmann and Carter serve as SPS advisors for the state of New Hampshire.

A force development template was created from the SPS collaborative process, designed to shape the ANG's future through its Airmen. This deliberate planning is to ensure the ANG continues to adapt to the strategic federal and domestic environments, both home and abroad, while simultaneously expanding the pool of future leaders.

In order for the ANG to maintain credibility, it requires experienced and educated guardsmen who are in line with their active duty counterparts. This force development plan prepares Airmen for both current and future challenges through a deliberate and individualized development process to proactively shape the future of each individual, and ultimately the future of the ANG.

"This is clearly one of Gen. Protzmann's priorities and for good reason," said Brig. Gen. Deb Carter, Chief of Staff, N.H. Air National Guard. "What we are doing now and what we have had to do to become senior officers is going to be completely different for our junior officers when they get there."

"While this is the first meeting to introduce this new force development structure, it is not anything new, we are just trying to put it all into a system where people can think about and plan toward their own career development in a logical way focusing on different aspects of their careers at the different stages on their careers," said Brig. Gen. Carol Protzmann, Commander New Hampshire Air National Guard.

"So this is really just trying to set the stage for development," Protzmann continued. "This process will guide folks to focus on things that are important at each stage of their career. We know everything important, but not all is important at the same time."

"The advice I give to Airmen is to own their own careers. In the past, most, myself included, looked to leadership to tell us what, where, and when to train and to move, and what we really want is for our members to have a conversation with their supervisor to tell them what, where, and when they would like to train and move."

Protzmann finished by saying, "This program outlines how to take charge of your career and have a voice, and lets you know the landscape along the way. It is a roadmap for your career."

For more information on the SPS and the ANG force development plan, follow this link http://www.ang.af.mil/careers/forcedevelopment/index.asp.