Command chief settles into her new position

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Joe Davidson
  • 452 AMW Public Affairs
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. --  Command Chief Master Sgt. Ericka Kelly's office was in disarray. Her new desk was cluttered and her conference table was covered with books, binders and paper. Airmen from the wing, who volunteered to help her move in, were trying to guess where she would want to place things. Only the plant in the window left to her by her predecessor, Chief Master Sgt. Agustin Huerta, seemed to have a place of prominence.

Chief Kelly was 12 years old when she emigrated with her family from Guatemala to the United States. Around this time, her dreams of being in the military developed. The U.S. military had a much different role than the military in Guatemala, where soldiers were considered police and they caused pain and suffering to the people. In the U.S., the military provided help and protection to civilians.

When she was seventeen, she decided she wanted to join the Marine Corps, but her mother told her she couldn't. Her plans to be a member of the military would have to wait.

After coming to the United States, she and her family lived briefly in California but then settled in Las Vegas. After graduating from high school, she began college at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and found a job as an office manager at a doctor's office.

It was while she was going to school full time and working full time that she saw an advertisement about the Air Force Reserve on television. It was the encouragement she needed to complete her education and fulfill her dream of joining the military. She enlisted in the Air Force Reserve in 1987.

The chief has had numerous assignments during her 23-year career, including several deployments. She says each has given her opportunities for personal growth and the chance to pass on to others what she has learned.

"Every assignment taught me a different way of dealing with different situations," said the chief. "What I learned in Somalia, for example, helped me when I was deployed to Iraq."

And what the chief learned in Iraq helped her train new Airmen in aeromedical evacuation squadrons at Travis Air Force Base and here at March. Her training prepared them to be ready for deployments, "so there are no surprises when they deploy and they see the real world."

The chief says she likes to fly and loves the feel of adrenaline coursing through her veins when she is in a unique, mission-related situation. During deployments, she took advantage of working outside her Air Force Specialty Code by supporting a Marine Corps Counter-Intelligence unit and being a medic for an Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit in Somalia.

In 1993, the chief moved from the aeromedical staging squadron at Luke Air Force Base to the air evacuation squadron at Travis, which gave her the opportunity to conduct a mission within two different areas of focus.

"AES is a different mission," she said. "It's a body of folks who belong in two worlds. They belong in the medical world and they belong in the operational world. Sometimes, those two worlds had different languages but I loved it."

"I loved taking care of the wounded warriors when they were coming home," she continued. "And that's something that is going to stay with me for the rest of my life. There's no greater honor than to help a person who definitely put their life on the front line to keep our country free."

Chief Kelly has been in leadership positions for a number of years, but she predicts stepping into the Air Force's highest ranking enlisted position at March will have its challenges.

The chief says she will depend on a good working relationship with the other chiefs and first sergeants to help her fulfill her duty of advising the wing commander on matters that influence the health, welfare and morale of the 452nd Air Mobility Wing Airmen. Equally important, she says, is input and feedback from the officer corps and knowing the pulse of the junior enlisted members.

"I have always had an open door policy," she said. "I say that with the understanding that whoever is seeking my advice or my input has already used their chain of command. If a situation dictates that someone needs to come in and talk to me, then my time is their time."

As March's highest noncommissioned officer, the chief's top priority is mission accomplishment. She says there's no substitution for hard work.

"When I say that something needs to be done, my expectation is that we are going to do it," she said. "So I don't believe in excuses for not accomplishing something. We should just do it."

As busy as the position of command chief promises to keep her, Chief Kelly still has a personal life to maintain. In her civilian job, she works in the law enforcement.

The chief enjoys staying fit and has done so all of her life. When she was younger; she competed in power lifting and, for a time, held Nevada state records for her weight class. She has encouraged her sons to be active in sports, too. Her 14-year-old enjoys wrestling; her 11-year-old plays football. Both sons participate in Kenpo Karate.

From the perspective of command chief, she says this is the perfect time to "work toward all the goals we set in the past and accomplish all the things we have been asking for as enlisted." She says this ability is something the 452nd Air Mobility Wing Commander, Col. Karl McGregor, has made possible.

"We have an absolutely outstanding wing commander. He is a driving force toward our enlisted force," she said. "He is going to give us the resources we as the enlisted force need to develop and take care of our future."

Chief Kelly's priorities will be awards, Fit-To-Fight and improving the enlisted performance report process. She looks forward to making March a great place to work and a fine example of excellence for Air Force Reserve Command.

Over the course of two weeks, the disarray in Chief Kelly's office has disappeared. The walls, which were once a stark white, are now a shade of warm beige, with a bold, crimson accent wall. Now, the office of the wing's new command chief is open and ready for business.