PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- The senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spent his first trip outside of the National Capital Region getting an up-close look at the military commands responsible for the Department of Defense?s homeland defense mission.
Command Sgt. Maj. William J. Gainey, who became the first senior enlisted advisor to Marine Gen. Peter Pace Sept. 30, visited the North American Aerospace Defense Command and United States Northern Command Nov. 7-8 to "better understand" how the two commands do their job.
Gainey made NORAD-USNORTHCOM his first stop because he wanted "to fully understand what NORAD and USNORTHCOM did in relationship with defending the homeland."
"USNORTHCOM has been providing front line support to the Gulf Coast region" following Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, Gainey said. "With our own people requiring much-needed help, it was only fitting that I visit the command and lend my support to our troops."
USNORTHCOM was created in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States to serve as the Department of Defense's lead for homeland defense and defense support to civil authorities. NORAD is charged with providing comprehensive, integrated aerospace defense of North America.
During his visit to Colorado Springs, Gainey attended NORAD-USNORTHCOM command briefings and tours of the NORAD Air Warning Center inside Cheyenne Mountain and the USNORTHCOM Joint Operations Center. His visit concluded with a dinner with senior enlisted leaders from nearby Fort Carson.
While he found it "really rewarding" to understand what the two commands do to defend the homeland and its territories, the command sergeant major said the highlight of the trip was presenting chief master sergeant stripes to Senior Master Sgt. Brad Shirley the day Shirley was selected for promotion to the Air Force's highest enlisted grade.
"I was given the great honor of giving a chief master sergeant [select] his stripes," Gainey said. "I got to share the moment with a service member."
Gainey said he's "honored and humbled" to serve as the advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on matters of professional development of enlisted personnel working in a joint environment.
"It's a position that I take very serious because there?s a lot of quality senior enlisted leaders out there that were considered for the position," he said. "I have an obligation to [the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard] to do what I can to make service members' lives better."
The former command sergeant major for Multi-National Force-Iraq has a leadership philosophy based on four principles: responsibility, authority, accountability and assistance.
"Once we give [service members] responsibility, the next thing they ask of us is to give them the authority to be responsible," Gainey said. He noted giving someone responsibility without the authority to make decisions "is not giving them anything."
In addition, he said troops want to be held accountable for their actions, both good and bad, and they want leaders to assist them when they stumble.
"Everyone's going to stumble in their career," Gainey said. "What I would ask leaders to do when [their troops] stumble is to pick 'em up, shake 'em off, get them back in the right direction and tell them they've done a good job."
The trip to Colorado Springs was Gainey's first step in fulfilling his initial goal of visiting all nine combatant command senior enlisted advisors so he could "better understand' how he can be their voice to the chairman.
"I have to get out and really understand what I can do to make their jobs easier," Gainey said, "because by making their jobs easier, I'm taking care of our service members."