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Sergeant earns top honors at SNCO academy

  • Published
  • By Nicole Turner
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Senior Master Sgt. Rickie Gress returned to Tinker recently from the Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy as a distinguished graduate. He placed in the top 10 percent of his class of more than 400 students.

"I was shocked," said Sergeant Gress, expeditionary depot maintenance flight superintendent in the 76th Aircraft Maintenance Group. "I knew my scores and I was testing well. I had a great flight, but I didn't really think my scores would be high enough. There were just so many smart people there. I was amazed and very, very humbled."

He spent nearly seven weeks training at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. While there, he learned crucial information and gained knowledge that will help him as a future leader in the Air Force.

"I learned a lot, I knew I would learn a lot," he said. "It kind of makes you reflect on what you have been doing for so long. You kind of see what you're doing right, and what you're doing wrong. So it really helped me refocus my supervisory skills."

To be selected as a distinguished graduate, Sergeant Gress had to be recommended by his instructor and his classmates.

"So not only do you have to perform academically, but you have to stand out amongst your peers in your flight as well," Sergeant Gress said.

He said the curriculum was rigorous and everyone going through the academy stayed very busy as they were obtaining a deeper understanding of the Air Force. He was required to take affirmative and assumptive tests, write a position paper and give speeches regularly. This covered topics like problem solving, team building and introducing change into a unit.

"It's pretty much non-stop. You don't ever get to relax, but all of the hard work paid off. It was all worth it," Sergeant Gress said.

Sergeant Gress has shown achievements in other areas as well. He won the General Leo Marquez Award, SCNO of the Year and the Lance P. Sijan Award in 2009.

Chief Master Sgt. Karen Perkins works professionally with Sergeant Gress each day in the 76th AMXG. She said Sergeant Gress is very dedicated to whatever goal he sets, and that it is a crucial part of why he's a successful leader.

"He won't ask his folks to do anything he hasn't already done himself," Chief Perkins said. "He has come out of the academy with a broader view of leadership styles and more understanding on how his style effects the people and the accomplishment of the mission."

Sergeant Gress said he will utilize his experiences in the Academy for the rest of his life. He encourages those who go to the Academy to have a positive outlook and to take the most out of the time they attend.

"Everybody goes in to the Senior NCO Academy not really wanting to be there," Sergeant Gress said. "Everybody goes in with that attitude, and I might have gone in a little hesitant. But the people that you meet, the camaraderie that is there and the things that you learn are vital. I would go back again in a heartbeat."