Mission Monday: Military Corrections

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  • AFIMSC Public Affairs

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – It’s Mission Monday. Tech. Sgt. Scott Butte is a member of the Air Force Security Forces Center’s Detachment 2. He is a Naval Corrections Specialist instructor at the Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads in Virginia.

In this role, he teaches administrative, operational and supervisory roles and responsibilities within military correctional facilities (MCFs) and brigs. 
We asked Butte to tell us a little more about him and what he delivers for the Department of the Air Force.

What do you love about your job? 
Receiving students with little to no confinement experience and sending them to their MCFs or brigs capable of performing prisoner security, supervision and administration duties upon arrival. 

When it comes to your job, what keeps you motivated? 
Knowing that if I teach my students correctly, I can prevent them from going to their MCFs or brigs and making mistakes that I’ve seen other specialists make while I was working at a brig.

Why are you and your team important to the Air Force enterprise and your customers? 
We’re similar to a technical school for prison guards. Each year, we provide 300 trained corrections specialists to all Navy MCFs and brigs. We also provide 94 Defenders a year with training and experience that they otherwise might not ever receive, which can aid in their selection as corrections specialists or corrections specialist instructors and give them a better understanding of the results of the police work they do and why effectively performing that police work is so important. 

Describe a project/event you and your team worked on recently that gave you a great sense of accomplishment: 
Tech. Sgt. Curtis Kapp and I are the first Airmen to instruct at the Naval Corrections Specialist Course. We are in the Air Force, teaching at a Navy school. I got to write the job hire announcement and key duties and responsibilities for the position. We also get to set the standard for future Airmen instructing this course and sending trained specialists to MCFs, brigs and security forces squadrons all over the world. 

How does what you do support AFIMSC’s strategic priorities?  
Pursuing organizational excellence … as previously stated I have experience working in a brig and have seen what can be taught better in our course. I can use my experience from working at a brig, focus a little more in certain areas and help prevent new corrections specialists from making mistakes I’ve seen before.