Chief keeps troops aware of changes Published Jan. 6, 2006 By Greg Allen CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M -- When Chief Master Sgt. Geoffrey Preudhomme arrived to the United States from the Caribbean island of Grenada in 1979, he came with a burning desire to make a difference and to succeed in life. The Air Force provided him the avenue to accomplish both goals. Chief Preudhomme has risen from an airman basic chaplain assistant to the executive to the Air Combat Command Chaplain, at Langley Air Force Base, Langley, Va. He provides training guidance and mentoring to chaplain assistants, and keeps them abreast on changes in the career field. “There’s a lot of changes for chaplain assistants,” said the chief during a staff visit to Cannon Dec. 14 through 16. The chaplain assistant field is small, said Chief Preudhomme, numbering only about 448 throughout the Air Force, but there are numerous vacancies at the ACC senior level. “Right now we are getting first sergeants to retrain because of their leadership skills.” The chief said the field soon will close to first-term enlistees. “The primary accession will be from the senior airmen to staff sergeant ranks. “We’re also getting more of an expeditionary mindset as we work with chaplains to nurture the force, wherever they are.” “We must not forget that we are all involved in a global war on terror.”