ARPC Airman to train with Coast Guard

  • Published
  • By Mike Molina
  • Editor
DENVER --  Master Sgt. Jerry Dowdy, MS, is joining the Coast Guard - as a student at their senior enlisted academy. 

Sergeant Dowdy, the superintendent of the commander's support staff at the Air Reserve Personnel Center, will be one of several Airmen to represent the Air Force at the Coast Guard's Chief Petty Officer Academy in Petaluma, Calif., beginning April 19. 

"I think this will be a good experience because it's a joint environment," he said. "A lot of the leadership principles are basically the same as the Air Force, but it's an opportunity to learn another perspective on leadership and management." 

Every year, the Coast Guard provides the Air Force with a limited number of spaces to send eligible Airmen to the Chief Petty Officer Academy. 

Before arriving at ARPC in June 2007, Sergeant Dowdy was randomly selected from eligible Air Force master sergeants to attend the Coast Guard's version of the Senior NCO Academy. Completing the CPO Academy satisfies the Air Force's SNCO Academy requirement for promotion. 

During the last promotion cycle, where Airmen must attain a certain amount of points based on board and test scores, decorations, evaluations and length of service, Sergeant Dowdy missed the cutoff for promotion to senior master sergeant by less than two points. 

"The Air Force saves a few of these spaces for highly competitive Airmen who are up for promotion to senior master sergeant," said Sergeant Dowdy, who is also ARPC's unit training manager. 

This will be the first time in his 23-year career as an Air Force personnelist that Sergeant Dowdy has attended training provided by another service. But he said he's already been studying some of the six-week long academy's curriculum, and he is looking forward to some of the differences. 

"The course exercises are performed by teams of eight people, and there's only one individual assignment," he said. "That's a little different from the Air Force, which requires more individual performance. But I like the team concept." 

Sergeant Dowdy is scheduled to graduate May 21.