JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- The top tier of Air Force and Army senior enlisted members got together Sept. 29, at Heritage Hill on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. for an early-morning physical training session.
JBLM chief master sergeants and sergeant majors get together once a month for leadership training and mentorship across service branches and across the base. They also get together once a quarter to PT together.
Command Sgt. Major Michael Grinston, 1st Corps Headquarters, said that when he arrived at JBLM nearly a year ago, he reached out to Chief Master Sgt. Tico Mazid, 62nd Airlift Wing Command Chief, and proposed the idea of this joint interaction.
“[It is] team building and physical fitness all built-in together,” said Grinston. “We’re joint, so we get together to do some physical fitness, that keeps us fit and we’re never going to fight alone so it’s important to know about each other’s service.”
Some of the training they have done involves how each branch evaluates their enlisted member i.e. the Enlisted Performance Report for the Air Force.
“It really brings us together, because sometimes the Army rates an Air Force member and vice versa,” said Grinston. “I thought it was something we need to do, because I think sometimes we don’t always get together, even though were in close proximity. It’s a great program.”
And although the group of senior enlisted have worked out together before, this was the first time the Air Force chief master sergeants have hosted it.
“There’s always misconceptions about each other,” said Grinston. “So, it’s always good to get to know more.”
Mazid said he thought it went phenomenally well.
“The sergeant majors were a little surprised that we put on a great PT session, because there’s all these myths about the Air Force,” said Mazid. “Staying physically fit is a part of what we do in the military. It’s important to bring the team together, but most importantly to educate each other about how we operate.”
Mazid said we [service members] should all, regardless of rank, find opportunities to work together and with each other.
“At the end of the day, we work together as a team,” said Mazid.