LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
The new Air Force Basic Military Training commander has a unique perspective when it comes to leading the Airmen in his group.
According to archive research conducted by the 37th Training Wing Office of History, Lt. Col. Glenn Palmer is the first BMT commander who has also served in the enlisted corps.
Palmer was in Air Force Special Operations for 16 years, becoming a master sergeant as a combat controller before entering Officer Training School.
He was commissioned in 1993, and will be promoted to colonel Aug. 31.
"When you come to a fork in the road, you take it," Palmer said his decision to leave the enlisted corps. "The fork presented itself and I took one of the forks; I went left instead of right.
"I try to take the insight from being enlisted and apply it to situations at hand or at least
guide me. It certainly guides my life and the way I lead."
He laughingly calls the whole scenario "wild." "You come through here 35 years ago and say 'I'm doing four years and then I'm out,'" said Palmer, who assumed command of the 737th Training Group from Col. Shane Courville July 1.
"Sixteen years later you decide to become an officer. Nineteen years after that, you're sitting (at Lackland) as the group commander where you started.
"It's just wild. I certainly never thought I was going to make colonel, and certainly never even considered I'd be the BMT group commander."
He said BMT has evolved since he came through a six-week program in 1976. Most noticeable are the concentration on building warrior skills, the Basic Expeditionary Airman Skills Training course and improvised explosive device training.
"The camaraderie and spirit de corps that's created by those things is amazing," Palmer said. "When I came through you did the confidence course, you pressed on, and graduated in six weeks.
"Chief Williams (Chief Master Sgt. Kenneth Williams, BMT superintendent) and I talk about it all the time. When we graduated, there might be a few parents here. Now 3,000-4,000 people are here for graduation.
That's truly amazing to me." Sometime next spring, Palmer will oversee the start of a historic transition in BMT when the first of four new Airman Training Complexes opens followed by a new dining/classroom facility.
It's a time the new commander anxiously awaits.
"We'll get these fine men and women out of these old, dilapidated dorms," Palmer said. "I walked back through my old squadron and it's just exactly the same. It's 'Groundhog Day'; nothing has changed in 35 years.
"The dorms (the Recruiting Training and Housing facilities built in the 1960s) all look the same.
We need to get the trainees into some decent quarters. Once they're in the ATCs, we'll have less transit time to march from point A to point B and more time to focus on some of the basic skills," he added.
Palmer said he wants to continue the professional development program for military training instructors begun by his predecessor. His goal is to make sure MTIs are better prepared for career advancement from their four-year special duty assignment at BMT.
"It's an outstanding opportunity and challenge to be here," Palmer said. "It's an honor to command the flagship of the Air Force because I truly believe this is where it all begins.
"You don't build warrior airmen of character without having a program like this. I'm glad to be back in this environment, to see if there are some things we can do to sharpen the most lethal weapon in the Air Force inventory: today's Airmen."