Brian Adams watched military jets fly over his childhood home in Littleton, Colorado, and dreamed about becoming a pilot. But Adams’s full commitment to the US Air Force wouldn’t come until he tried out the Brigham Young University Air Force ROTC program, in which Adams says he learned to see new and uncomfortable situations as opportunities to grow.
“I found out that I could start ROTC without necessarily committing to the air force right away,” Adams says. So, he tried it for a semester and fell in love with the culture. “I just really grew to love the values and found they resonated with my personality and what I stand for.”
That commitment led Adams to more new experiences, like joining the Air Force ROTC honor guard—through which he and other cadets represent the Air Force ROTC program and values at community gatherings such as ceremonies and sporting events. With time, Adams was assigned the position of honor guard commander. “At face value, it may seem a little strange harping on the distance between steps or how far we swing our arms, but it taught me to be detail-oriented, to work as a team, and to care about the little things,” Adams explains.
After serving as honor guard commander, Adams was reassigned to serve in a completely new position as cadet wing commander. “The cadet wing commander position really pushed me outside my comfort zone,” Adams says. “If anything fell apart in the cadet wing, it ultimately came down to me.” As wing commander, Adams was responsible for bridging the gap between active-duty officers and the Air Force ROTC, he explains. He helped oversee cadet activities and ensured cadets reached specific training objectives for the year.
The range of responsibilities can be overwhelming for one person, says Adams, who admits that delegating doesn’t come naturally to him. “I eventually had to let people working underneath me help and I had to trust that they were going to do their job,” he says. “Learning to be hands-off while still presiding, guiding, and reaffirming was a valuable lesson for me as a wing commander.”
He brought that leadership style to his reassignment as deputy flight commander, where he worked with a group of 15 cadets to prepare them for summer training. “It was fun developing personal relationships with the cadets and connecting as a group,” Adams says. But as much as he loved leading the cadets, he says he also wanted to give them space to grow. “There were times I needed to be nitpicky, but there were also times when I wanted to step back and just let them learn, try things, and figure it out.”
Stepping back is a practice Adams continues to implement as he moves into his final year at BYU and is reassigned to a support role—a transition that Adams says provides newer cadets more opportunities to lead. “I’m a firm believer that everyone has something to learn no matter how experienced they are,” Adams says, reflecting on lessons he’s already observed from the new wing commander. “I appreciate being able to take a bird’s-eye perspective and notice things I could do better in the future.”
As Adams looks to his future, becoming an air force pilot is no longer his dream—it’s his reality. And preparation for this brand-new experience in pilot training leads Adams to reflect on how he wants to approach the uncharted skies ahead. “I want to take the culmination of lessons I’ve learned in ROTC and carry those forward into my family and future career.”