Rebooted Special Duties Assignments Moving Forward

The Air Force is changing how it “evolves and develops” noncommissioned officers, especially in education and instruction assignments, CMSAF James Cody told the Daily Report. These developmental initiatives are moving forward in the enlisted force even as USAF looks to shrink its overall endstrength. “There is uncertainty, but there’s a lot of goodness going on,” Cody said during an interview in the Pentagon Tuesday. Developmental special duties, which previously relied mostly on volunteers, is now a nominative process at the major command level. Cody said USAF has focused on 10 such special duties, including military training instructors, recruiters, first sergeants, professional military education instructors, among others. “All these positions have a broad reach,” Cody said. USAF already has completed the first round of nominations in which some 1,000 airmen were selected. The second call for nominations will go out by the end of the month, Cody said. Adjustments are being made to the “process,” but the effort has been successful so far. The system ensures the right NCO is in the right billet at the right time, and makes sure these critical roles are filled across the service, Cody added.