Graduation Day!

NCOA Graduation

Way back on August 2nd Shelby started NCO Academy. Since most of you probably don’t know what NCO Academy is, let me break it down for you :) NCO refers to the grade of rank Shelby holds, all Staff Sergeants and Technical Sergeants are considered NCOs. All Tech Sergeants must attend NCO Academy at some point before they can sew on the next rank of Master Sergeant. It just so happens that the NCOA for Europe is here at one of the local bases, so Shelby didn’t have to travel to attend. This had its perks and its drawbacks for sure. The people attending his class were from all over Europe and were temporarily assigned here for the 6 week duration of the course. Anyone not living in the local area was given a dorm room on base and had to stay there, away from their families. We were fortunate that Shelby didn’t have to leave us for 6 weeks, however the school is very demanding and time consuming and we didn’t get to see very much of him for the period.

The Academy isn’t quite as bad as going back to basic training, but it’s a lot like being back in technical school. Think mandatory study groups, service projects, extracurricular participation, organized physical fitness, fitness evaluations, uniform inspections and loads of tests and homework. Shelby was miserable most of the time, and I can’t say I blame him. Finally it was all over and we got to attend the graduation ceremony. Sometimes these things can really drag but this one wasn’t all that bad. The guest speaker was the 5th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, Robert Gaylor. He was hysterical, he had the crowd laughing the whole time and Shelby said he was by far the best guest speaker he’s seen in his 11 year career. On top of that Shelby got an award (imagine that! Lol) so that made the night better. The top 10% of the class is recognized for their academic achievements with a Distinguished Graduate Award. Shelby’s class had 140 people in it, so 14 were given the DG award for having the highest overall grade average. The recipients are not revealed until the graduation ceremony so Shelby did not know if he had made the cut until his name was called that evening. Hopefully it will come in handy down the career path. The next rank Shel will hold is Master Sergeant, and that one is obtained by scoring high enough on a test. However, the two ranks above Master are not earned by testing, they are awarded to deserving candidates after board review and interviews. So earning this DG Award will look very nice on those board packages in the future. After graduation Shelby has 4 days off before he has to report back to work in the tower (for the first time in over 2 months!) so we will be doing some long awaited family catch up time. Congrats Shelby!