Positive growth: Team 56 reinforces strong NCOs

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Joanna M. Kresge
  • 2d Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  For more than 10 years the Barksdale noncommissioned officers have been participating in Team 56.

Team 56 is an organization made up of staff sergeant selects, staff sergeants and technical sergeants who support the base and local community through volunteering, acting as a voice for the collective front-line supervisor and acquiring and disseminating knowledge through mentorship.

The organization helps prepare Airmen for leadership positions and improve the skills of seasoned NCOs.

"The organization's purpose is to provide professional development for NCOs," said Staff Sgt. LaQuettia Butler, 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron NCO-in-charge of knowledge operations and Team 56 president. "Being part of this team channels growth, it helps the NCO to become a better leader and it helps the new Airmen to follow the trail of those who have led before us."

One of the missions of Team 56 is volunteerism within the base and local community. Recent events have included: administering Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, assisting with an elementary school field day, Commissary bagging and packing care packages for deployed Airmen.

"We help to better the base and local area by having activities NCOs can be a part of, whether its team building or volunteering," said Sergeant Butler. "We demonstrate through these activities that we, as NCOs, are the backbone of the Air Force."

Many Team 56 members find the volunteer opportunities to be the most rewarding part of the organization.

"I originally joined Team 56 because I was always on the outside looking in," said Team 56 member Tech. Sgt. Robert Calhoun, 2d Logistics Readiness Squadron vehicle management and analysis. "I wanted to be a sparkplug in the organization - to be bigger than myself. I feel the greatest benefit to the organization is volunteering - at the end of the day what we give back to the community as a whole is fulfilling."

Team 56 also helps provide mentorship to NCOs through guest speakers and informative luncheons.

"I taught a class when I was stationed in Korea called 'You Have Two for a Reason,'" said Sergeant Butler. "It was about the listening and communication problems we face in the Air Force. Everyone really loved it and kept asking me when we are going to do it again and I'm trying to find a time where we can do it here."

Sergeant Calhoun says that he learns not only from these experiences but also from his fellow NCOs.

"The camaraderie provides positive growth as an NCO," he said. "Meeting with other NCOs around the base and learning from their experiences is a positive way to learn how to be an NCO."

NCOs and selects who are interested in joining Team 56 must first attend three meetings and pay an annual membership fee of $10.

For more information on Team 56 contact Sergeant Butler at 456-7265 or attend a Team 56 meeting held on the first Wednesday of every month at 3:30 p.m. in the First Term Airman Center classroom at Hoban Hall.