15th CMSAF Returns to Sheppard

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt.Brittany Curry
  • 82 TRW

Retired Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Rodney McKinley engaged and interacted with airmen during visit to Sheppard Sept. 29-30.

Throughout his visit, McKinley spoke at both the Airmen Leadership School graduation and Senior Noncommissioned Officer Induction ceremony, in addition to visiting the 82nd Medical Group and various schoolhouses such as 362nd and 363rd Training Squadrons.

Like many Airmen, McKinley’s military career started with his technical training at Sheppard after completing Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas – 42 years ago to be exact. McKinley came to Sheppard for training in the medical career field, and after a four and a half year separation from the Air Force, he returned to Sheppard for training as a crew chief on both the F-4 Phantom II and A-10 Warthog.

“This is where I started,” McKinley said. “I have some great memories of being right here at Sheppard.”

A Charge to the Airmen

Throughout McKinley’s visit, he offered Airmen of all ranks mentorship, inspiration and tools to guide them as they develop into leaders.

“Keep your eyes wide open and observe the people that you admire who you think are good leaders,” McKinley said. “Look at how they lead, how they go about leading, how they treat people, how they listen to people – just be observant. For me, everybody was my mentor. I take the good and the bad from everybody I watched, and I developed that into how I lead.”

McKinley also charged Airmen with the task of having all of the facts and weighing all of the options before choosing to leave the service.

“There are so many benefits of being in the Air Force, or the military in general, and you don’t realize that they are there until you don’t have them. I never looked at the true benefits of what I was losing in the air force when I separated in 1977,” McKinley said. “Before you make a decision to stay in or get out, you need to weigh all of the factors. And I didn’t do that – I just got out.”

Finally, McKinley spoke on how attitude can affect one’s perception and outlook on life – stating that everything is what you make of it.

“I chose to do the very best at the current job I had,” McKinley said. “And I never looked at one base as better than the other. My favorite base was always where my boots were.”

A Piece of Heritage

McKinley often spoke of heritage when engaging with Airmen, but what many may not know is that he is a part of Air Force heritage he speaks of.

Prior to 2008, the Air Force did not have an official creed that was endorsed or created to be the sole creed of the branch.

While serving as CMSAF and personal advisor the Air Force Chief of Staff at the time, Gen. Michael Moseley, McKinley and the Air Force A1 at the time, Gen. Roger Brady, were tasked to come up with an Airman’s Creed that all Airmen would be proud of that also embodied our Warrior ethos.

Together the two reached out to Airmen across the service, seeking inputs for our new creed, McKinley stated.

“Tremendous input was provided from throughout the Air Force,” McKinley said.

Not too long after his search began, McKinley visited all bases in Europe, holding an all call at the end of each. He would finish by reciting the most liked version of the Airman's Creed, seeking feedback from the Airmen.

Upon his return to the Pentagon, McKinley spoke to Moseley and relayed that the feedback was extremely positive and was ready for the Air Force to see, recite and hear its unified, official creed.

Moseley called McKinley into his office the following day, along with a reporter for the Air Force Times.

Mosely asked McKinley one last time if he felt the creed was ready, to which he replied with a resounding yes, and the general turned to the reporter and asked him to run the creed in the paper, McKinley said.

On that day in 2008, the Airmen’s Creed was born.

“All in all, people say, ‘Who wrote the Airman’s Creed?’” McKinley said. “Airmen wrote the Airman’s Creed. The Airman’s Creed belongs to all Airmen. And that will always be my answer.”

Biography and Background

Following after Sheppard, McKinley was stationed at various installations to include bases in North Carolina, South Carolina, the Philippines, Italy, Germany, Alaska, Hawaii, Oklahoma and Washington D.C.

Before becoming the 15th CMSAF, McKinley held various positions throughout his 30 years of service to include emergency room technician, maintenance inspector, crew chief, eight first sergeant positions and four command chief positions.

To see McKinley’s full biography, go to http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/Biographies/Display/tabid/225/Article/107955/chief-master-sergeant-of-the-air-force-rodney-j-mckinley.aspx