New command chief a 'servant' leader

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jason Schaap
  • 931st ARG Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  There was not a stripe on Sean Martin's sleeve when he decided that he wanted eight of them.

That's how many filled the chevrons of a chief master sergeant who got the attention of Martin more than 20 years ago, at Air Force Basic Military Training.

"He must have been a training instructor," Martin remembered. "He was sharp. He was a leader and people listened."

Chief Master Sergeant Sean Martin earned his eighth and final stripe two decades of Air Force service later. "I never thought about not making (the Air Force) a career," he said, but not because he wanted more stripes than everybody else. And not because he wanted to bark orders at people like a training instructor.

"It was never about being a chief," he said. "The people who know me can tell you that."

One of those people is Col. Edsel "Archie" Frye Jr., commander of the 931st Air Refueling Group, who plans to introduce Chief Martin to Group members this weekend as his new command chief.

What made Chief Martin "simply the best chief available in Air Force Reserve Command" for the job, Colonel Frye said, has a whole lot to do with "ELE," the colonel's oft-used acronym for his everybody-love-everybody philosophy.

To Chief Martin, his packed chevron doesn't make him a chief of Airmen. It makes him a chief for Airmen.

"I believe in servant leadership," he said. "I believe in Colonel Frye's ELE ... We make the Air Force better by taking care of each other."

Colonel Frye, a KC-135 Stratotanker pilot, and Chief Martin, a KC-135 boom operator, worked together for two years at the 916th Air Refueling Wing in North Carolina. They went to an Operational Readiness Inspection together. They got to know each other.

In his 33-year Air Force career, Colonel Frye said, few Airmen have left an impression upon the colonel the way Chief Martin has. He's a straight shooter and he cares about people, especially enlisted Airmen. Colonel Frye, whose career started when he enlisted, appreciates that.

"I expect him to take me behind a closed door when I'm not serving the enlisted force," Colonel Frye said.

Chief Martin has been a boom operator his entire career, to include 12 years as an air reserve technician. Before he was an ART, he was a "professional Reservist" accepting all the military orders he could get.

He is now a test boom for Boeing in Wichita, Kan., and has been a traditional Reservist since 2007.

"Two years of being a true Reservist has been extremely enlightening," Chief Martin said. "It's not easy."

Being a traditional also gives him more opportunities to "make AFRC a better place for enlisted" Airmen, he said, and it lets him avoid any perception that he's an aviator first and an enlisted man second.

"I never embraced that (mentality)," he said. "I've embraced the enlisted force as a whole."

Chief Martin's servant-style leadership has been taught by James C. Hunter for 28 years. Hunter, a regular speaker at Air Force leadership schools and events, teaches what Chief Martin preaches.

"Servant leadership," says Hunter's Web site, "simply is about doing the right thing--being patient, demonstrating self control, being kind, showing appreciation to offering encouragement, holding people accountable, being honest, practicing humility, etc.--whether a leader feels like it or not."

Chief Martin put an emphasis on the word "big" when he said he was a "big believer" in Air Force core values, customs and courtesies. "We should all be proud members of the Air Force," he said. "I believe in respect for each other. I believe in noncommissioned officers, senior NCOs and Airmen mentoring each other, in both directions."

Leading, Chief Martin learned long ago, is not about yelling at people. It's about pride. Sadly, he said, some Airmen have lost that. They've lost their faith in the system. One of Chief Martin's main goals, he told Colonel Frye, is to restore that faith and to redevelop pride through servant leadership.

"If you take care of people, if you train them," he said, "they will do more for you than they will ever do by being directed."

Taking care of people isn't limited to Airmen. Chief Martin is a family man. He and his wife, Donna, have a son, Brian, in college. Supporting families is also high on the chief's priority list. "They can call me 24 hours a day, because I'm going to be there to support them," he said.

The many accomplishments of the 931st family are something talked about throughout AFRC, he said, "especially within the last year ... I look forward to getting to know the folks in the unit and continuing the success of the 931st."


Read More
Click here to see Chief Martin in the Spirit Spotlight.

Click here to a read a Q&A with James Hunter recommended by Chief Martin.