“No one has ever been successful without failure.”

Master Sgt. Jahara Brown, 78^th Security Forces Squadron Plans and Programs superintendent and one of the 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2019, informed Team Robins Airmen of this as he doled out advice alongside his friend and mentor, Master Sgt. Nathan Jackson, Mission Support superintendent, Air Force Office of Special Investigations 3 Field Investigation Region out of Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, Sept. 23.

“Team No Breaks,” formed by Brown and Jackson, hosted what they hope will be the first of many candid, yet motivational, talks with Airmen Sept. 23 at Robins Air Force Base.

“Last year, [Jackson] and I got together and one of the things we figured out is why do we want to talk to Airmen,” Brown said. “It’s because Airmen have a lot of questions. They’re not getting answers.  And the questions are consistent no matter where you go. So our logic is to take a lot of that information we’ve learned and actually be transparent and speak it to the masses. That’s why we did it. Because everyone has questions, and we’ve got answers.”

Jackson said Brown had been pushing him to do this for a couple of years now and, at first, it was a little hard to believe, but he was ready to jump right on board as it came together.

“Our adventure goes back from when we were deployed together for six and a half months in 2018, and he kept approaching me about this initiative,” Jackson said. “He kept saying, ‘This is what our senior NCO tier needs. We need to develop, mentor, mold, etc.’ I didn’t believe him, at first. But, next thing you know, we got together, it came into fruition, and here we are right now. So when he called me up and he told me he was selected as 12 OAY, it was truly a blessing and so when he wanted to do something like this, I said just tell me the date and time and I’ll make it happen.”

His advice to Airmen is to step up and own their personal power.

“Cultivate an environment that gets your Airmen to believe in you and in the mission,” Jackson said to Team Robins Airmen. “You want to connect with your Airmen…you want to connect with your team, show me that personal power. Show me that credibility that you have. Show me that authenticity and leadership, that genuine effect that I need, moving forward. That’s how you’re able to move a crowd. And if you’re in a position right now where you’re not utilizing your personal power right now, you’re failing.”

And when it comes to resiliency, Brown had many things to say to Airmen during their presentation to Team Robins.

“You will have challenges,” he said, “and when those challenges come, you will have to tighten these boots up. You’ll have to say to yourself, ‘hey, listen man, it’s time to go to work.’

“Expose yourself. There’s nothing wrong with that. Why? Because we’re supposed to be family. I’ll expose myself to you so I don’t have to expose myself to an enemy.”

Expanding on family, Brown stresses that success isn’t a one-man game.

“Success isn’t just you,” he told Robins Airmen. “You’re not successful alone…You have to work with people. You have to be able to say, ‘hey listen, I need your help. I need your assistance. Can you help me do a thing?’ That is what taking responsibility is.”

Team No Breaks won’t stop here at Robins, either. Brown and Jackson have an ultimate goal in mind.

“The ultimate goal is to be able to hit every single Air Force base with this message…It will never just be [Jackson] and me,” Brown said. “We’re just starting. We take absolutely no breaks. We come at a thing and own 24 hours of our time. So as others start to see this and we start to develop relationships, we’re going to bring more people into this process. The concept is to take this information we all have and bring those who are genuinely passionate about growing our Air Force and growing our Airmen onto the team. Those are the ones that are going to be most impactful.”