#IAMIMSC: Coben Scott
Duty title and unit: Fire & Emergency Services Program Manager, AFIMSC Detachment 6, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
Primary duty responsibilities: My primary duties are to provide fire and emergency service subject matter expertise to other AFIMSC departments and higher headquarters as it pertains to Air Force Materiel Command. I support and advocate for firefighting equities including manpower and equipment across AFMC. Additionally, I assist our departments with policy interpretation and keep Detachment 6 leadership briefed on any issue or policy negatively affecting fire capabilities. Finally, I work closely with the AFMC Inspector General in the inspection process and with our labor relations specialists as they work with the local firefighters’ union within master labor and command labor agreements.
What’s the best part of your job?
No question … the people I get to work with. From the Air Force Civil Engineer Center staff to our smallest government-owned or contractor-operated fire chief, each person I work with brings their own sense of humor and experience to the team. Seeing the passion our folks have for their jobs and functions is inspiring.
Why are you and your job important to the Air Force and AFMC?
It’s important that leadership and decision-makers understand fire protection capabilities and limitations during all facets of planning. Contingency planning, exercise planning and community response planning to natural and man-made disasters all require fire involvement. It’s my job to ensure our fire departments are outfitted to meet plan requirements safely and effectively, operate within established directives, and that leadership is well aware of mission impacting issues.
What’s a recent project that gave you a great sense of accomplishment?
It was my honor to be the chief enlisted manager for U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa A4 until January of this year. Being part of the personnel administration process for 232 Airmen was truly an incredible experience. Seeing our engineers, logisticians, maintainers, security forces and contracting Airmen promoted to our top three enlisted grades gave me immense satisfaction, and I was grateful to play a small part in the machine.
Any claims to fame?
Nothing in particular comes to mind, especially any accomplishment reaching those levels. Just supporting Airmen throughout my career is my personal claim to fame ... Writing a performance report leading to a promotion down the line, or crafting an award-winning annual package was always something important to me.
Do you follow any mantra?
No single mantra, but 27 years ago, as a young senior airman, I met a chief master sergeant who offered his three career-making tenets:
- be on time,
- give an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, and
- surround yourself with good people.
Unfortunately, I don’t recall his name, but his philosophy stuck. It’s worked pretty well so far.
Which AFIMSC value do you identify with the most and why?
A key value in fire service is responsiveness. After all, one of our career field’s goals is to get to an emergency quickly and safely. I most value responsiveness out of the six selected to define AFIMSC.
To me, however, these values are linked to each other. Being responsive and transparent builds trust. By empowering our co-workers or subordinates (and being empowered, in turn) creates trust in our teams. Our teams leverage their diverse experiences and innovations to successfully collaborate on our issues.