COMMENTARY: Take care of your career

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. James Mills
  • 100th Comptroller Squadron first sergeant
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  You never know what the future brings.

In my 19 years of service, I've been privileged to hold many different duty titles at bases throughout the world. Although my physical location changed, I always seemed to find Airmen who had everything figured out as far as their careers were concerned.

I've seen Airmen who were so positive they were going to get out; they made a conscious choice to not take care of their own careers because it wasn't going to matter anyway. I speak from personal experience.

I was certain I would serve 20 years and retire. There was no way I was staying in more than 20 years. I was certain I wasn't going to get promoted again. It didn't matter I had a decoration that was "lost" in the system due to one of my permanent change of stations. It was worth only three points. It wasn't a big deal, I didn't need it.

My chief master sergeant supervisor at the time told me repeatedly to pursue the decoration because she knew it could make a difference in the future. I knew better, I was going to retire in a few years. I thought I was good.

Don't get me wrong, I did make several attempts to find my decoration - but to no avail, and quite honestly I gave up after a while.

I thought I was good until promotion statistics came out. I missed the cut off by less than three points. The decoration I thought I didn't need would have put me over the cutoff. Maybe I should have heeded what the 20-plus-year chief was telling me?

Luckily for me though, I had some outstanding leadership who knew my tale of woe and encouraged me to try and find that decoration. I did manage to get the decoration added to my record and was promoted but it was a lot of work on my part tracking down all the players and getting it approved and re-signed.

My story is similar to the dozens of Airmen I've seen not taking care of their careers.

I've seen NCOs who were sure they were getting out. They decided not to get their Community College of the Air Force degree or complete their professional military education. Then something in their life changed - a pregnancy, an illness in the family or other similar things and they decided the best place for them was to remain in the Air Force.

Since their plans changed, their decisions left them behind the power curve and now they had to try and catch up with their peers. Sometimes, to catch up to their peers, it added a lot of extra effort and time to an already stressful situation.

As an Airman, it's your responsibility to stay on top of the important things, the things that could affect your career regardless of what you think your future is. Whether it's making sure your records are correct, completing the required PME with your grade or setting yourself up for the future. You are responsible for your career.

For some, my advice will fall on deaf ears, especially to those Airmen who are sure they will separate or retire, and that's fine. I thought the same thing and then life happened ...