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On 10/8/2009 2:58:30 PM Senior Master Sergeant Jim Downey, 17th Air Force wrote
Meeting with Pioneering Botswana Leaders Produces Goose Bumps
This past week I had the honor of sitting on a Senior NCO-NCO panel, consisting of 17th Air Force professionals and five very inspirational and courageous Botswana leaders: Major Jenamiso Mountain, 2nd Lieutenant Lesedi Kelesitse, Military Command Sergeant Major Mogakolodi Sebego, Warrant Officer I Seboloko Mosimanyana and Warrant Officer II Bernard Bimbo.
The panel was brought together to discuss Professional Military Education (PME) and more than anything to exchange our personnel PME experiences with the Botswana leaders. The overall purpose of the Botswana Forces visit to 17th (Air Forces Africa) was to learn more about how we develop our enlisted force.
CMSgt Farrin, the 101st Air Refueling Wing Command Chief, (who was in the course of returning from a deployment with the 449th Air Expeditionary Group at Camp Le Monier, Djibouti and was invited to take part in the visit) suggested opening the one hour panel discussion with personal introductions.
As the Botswana leaders went around the table introducing their selves, goose bumps began to form on my arms. In those introductions we learned that we were sitting with the first Command Sergeant Major of the Botswana Defense Force, Sergeant Major Sebego and even equally (if not more) impressive, we learned we were sitting with one (out of 30) of the first women in the Botswana Defense Force (20,000 strong): Lieutenant Kelesitse. Wow! It made me think about our AF's equivalents, Chief Master Sergeant Paul Airey and Staff Sergeant Esther Blake. Then it made me think about other transformational firsts: The Women's Auxiliary Air Force, The Tuskegee Airmen, The Women's Armed Services Act of 1948 and President Harry S. Truman's Executive Order 9981, which ended segregation in the armed services.
I was "Awed" by Lieutenant Kelesitse's courage and Sergeant Major Sebego's leadership in the face of the challenges that may come with breaking these barriers.
I asked Major Mountain how they (Botswana Leaders) prepared to deal with the challenges of women in the BDF. Major Mountain's answer was prompt and direct.
"This change came from our government and our leadership embraced it and made everyone aware of the introduction of women into the BDF Officer core before it actually happened," he said.
All five of the Botswana leaders echoed Major Mountain's response. Warrant Office Bimbo, compared it to "Change Management" that we learn at our Senior NCO Academy.
"Our leadership did the unfreezing stage well and now we are in the freezing stage," he exclaimed proudly. I should mention that Warrant Officer Bimbo is a graduate of our USAF SNCOA.
The 17 AF panel answered questions ranging from upgrade training and PME to our experience on the continent of Africa. Additionally, the Botswana delegation taught us that referring to someone from Botswana as a "Botswanian" is wrong. People from Botswana are called Batswana, regardless of ethnicity. Furthermore, it was interesting to learn how the BDF is currently drafting a Professional Military Education program that they [five present BDF leaders] feel will mirror our four-tiered process (ALS, NCOA, SNCOA and the Chief's Course).
Major Mountain shared with us that his BDF leadership was impressed with the U.S. enlisted core after working with them on several exercises. He stated, that they [BDF leadership] were useed to dealing with Officers on these same positions/issues when dealing with other nations.
The panel was one hour of a four-day Botswana familiarization event hosted here at Ramstein by our personnel directorate (A1). Master Sergeant Deb Madden and her A1 team did an "Outstanding" job! What I learned from this one hour will be shared with our Airmen for years to come. Thanks for the opportunity!
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