Vance Airman STEP promoted

  • Published
  • By Capt. Tony Wickman
  • Public Affairs
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  A Vance Airman was recently rewarded for superior performance when he received an on-the-spot promotion through the Stripes for Exceptional Performers program.

Staff Sgt. Peter Abernethy, a 71st Communication Squadron airfield systems craftsman, was promoted to technical sergeant March 14.

The STEP program is a highly visible promotion recognition program used by commanders at all levels to recognize the outstanding contributions and accomplishments of senior airmen, staff sergeants and technical sergeants who work hard and are clearly a "cut above the rest."

According to Senior Master Sgt. Douglas Pitts, 71st Communications Squadron superintendent, Sergeant Abernethy exemplified the type of Airman who deserves a STEP promotion.

"The STEP promotion program is for individuals who exceed expected work performance by going above and beyond to get the mission done. It is used to promote individuals who don't promote through the normal way - either because of testing setbacks, not testing well or other reasons - but are performing at a higher level," Sergeant Pitts said. "With Sergeant Abernethy, I looked at him and wondered why he wasn't a technical or master sergeant."

Looking into his background, Sergeant Pitts discovered that Sergeant Abernethy was an active-duty Airman who separated and joined the Missouri Air National Guard. While a member of the Guard, he made promotion to technical sergeant, but a condition for his entry back in to active duty was he had to revert to the rank of staff sergeant with a time-in-grade reset to zero.

"Sergeant Abernethy has all kinds of experience and breadth and depth of knowledge. When I went out on a job with him, I watched how he did his work and interacted with the Airmen, and I came away thinking he should be a technical sergeant and started the paperwork to get him a STEP promotion," the senior master sergeant said. "It's a good thing this went through because I sent him a note on Friday morning apologizing that I couldn't get him promoted before I retire April 1 because I hadn't heard anything and assumed he didn't make it. Later, we got the message from Colonel (Richard) Klumpp that he made it, and we went out to present it to him."

Keeping with STEP promotion tradition, Lt. Col. David Stewart, 71st Communications Squadron commander, Capt. Larry Fiala, Sergeant Pitts and Tech. Sgt. Joseph Henson, Sergeant Abernethy's supervisor, went to the sergeant's house to surprise him with the stripe.

"Earlier in the day, I was out doing work at a high school and Colonel Stewart called my house to talk to me about an outage we had earlier in the week. He talked to my wife, and she gave my cell phone number to him so he could call me," Sergeant Abernethy said. "I didn't think too much about it other than it was the commander getting information, but when they showed up at my house at 6:30 p.m. I turned to my wife and jokingly asked her what she said to the colonel to have all my leadership coming to my doorstep.

"Colonel Stewart brought up our earlier conversation and said it wasn't good enough from a staff sergeant and proceeded to give me my stripe," he said. "It is still sinking in that I got the promotion."

Although Sergeant Abernethy earned an extra stripe, he readily acknowledged the hard work of his fellow Airmen, civilians and contractors who help carry out the Vance mission each and every day.

"It is still business as usual. I'm really glad to have the stripe because it validates the work I do and recognition is always nice, but I got it because of the effort of the entire shop," he said. "We are a behind the scenes work center and maybe not as well known as other agencies, so I think this is recognition for the whole shop."

While personal accomplishments are considered during the STEP process, nominated Airmen are largely viewed through the whole person concept. STEP recipients do not earn an extra stripe simply for what they've done in the past but because they show a promising future as an Airman.