57th Wing welcomes new command chief master sergeant Published May 30, 2007 By Airman 1st Class Oleksandra G. Manko Nellis Public Affairs NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- The 57th Wing welcomed its new command chief master sergeant April 9. Command Chief Master Sergeant Jack Adams reported to Nellis from Misawa Air Base, Japan. "I'm very happy to be here at Nellis and looking forward to getting to know the community, getting to know all the squadrons on base and the 57th Wing. If I haven't seen you yet, it is my plan and my job to do so," said the chief. Chief Adams' duty assignments ranged from Texas to Alaska and from Italy to Japan. He has held various leadership positions from aircraft maintenance unit noncommissioned officer in charge to group superintendent. Even though he has been a senior NCO for more than a decade, he is still proficient in his specialty. "I may or may not retire as a command chief, but I'll always be a weapons troop," said Chief Adams. "Master your job, maintain your proficiency. To be a well rounded NCO you have to have a lot of diverse skills, but you still have to maintain that solid foundation of technical expertise. I think that we are getting a little soft on that part. If you are an NCO, we all expect you to maintain your technical proficiency until the day you retire." Taking care of Airmen so that they can take care of the mission, maintaining base's functionality through the coming changes and continuing the development of the 57th Wing as the hub of warfare training are among Chief Adam's top priorities. "I have good leaders who know how to get the job done," said the chief. As for the Airmen, he said he will help show them that the wing leadership cares about them. "I am available. I may not be able to fix everything, but I can't fix it unless I know about it," he said. The chief will be hitting his 25-year enlistment mark this year. He said he never consciously made a decision to stay in that long. He was simply focused on what he was doing at the time and his supervisors and coworkers helped him along the way. He has a word of advice for those who are planning to make Air Force a career: "Don't worry about getting promoted. Focus on the mission, trust your supervisors and leaders," said Chief Adams. "If you are not having fun at your job, you need to rethink your decision. And if your family isn't happy about your job, you need to rethink your decision. "It does no good to be a chief and retire if you are alone. People aren't meant to be alone, family is important," he added. The chief is married with three sons ages 17, 19 and 26. The oldest one is a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force and is currently stationed at Kadena Air Base, Japan. Chief said that his expectations for the Airmen boil down to the Air Force core values: Integrity first, service before self, excellence in all we do. "You may not be going down range as often, but what we produce at Nellis is combat potential for this and future wars. What we do is vitally important. We save lives," he said. With the tasks Nellis has, people assigned here can't afford to evade personal responsibility or waste time, which are two of the chief's pet peeves. "Own up to it, get past it. People make mistakes. We can't be afraid to make decisions; we don't have time for that," he said. "There are young men and women here today, who will sacrifice time with their family, their own personal wealth, whatever [it takes], to get the job done. As long as we keep recruiting and retaining people like that, the Air Force will be a great place." Chief Adams replaced Chief Master Sergeant James MacKinley, who is now the 1st Fighter Wing command chief at Langley AFB, Va.
