Sep 25, 2026 · 52 min · 11 segments
“Be deliberate; focus on impact.” — SMSgt Philip B. Barry From counting aircraft parts in England to empowering Airmen across the enterprise, SMSgt Philip B. Barry’s journey shows how an Airman can…
Philip BarryGuestIanHostDanHost
Barry, how many years have you been in the Air Force again? 17 and a half years.
Okay, copy that.
And you've seen a lot of change throughout the innovation community.
We say all the time, change is the one constant that you can always count on.
Everything will change.
You talked a little bit about empowerment there.
And then you also mentioned earlier how you were empowered when you had your time earlier and jumping into DAU and getting certain certifications and things.
How did you get involved in the Air Force innovation ecosystem? And then how have you seen that ecosystem change over the course of
Something I say a lot is if it's not illegal, immoral, or unethical, why aren't we doing it if it's going to make something better, if it's going to make our environment better or make another airman better? And there might be caveats to that, but generally speaking, approaching something while I was an NCO or in the field is— and realizing, hey, I have the capability or I work with an airman who has the capability to do something, make this a little bit better so it's less time or we're saving money or we're getting things somewhere faster, safer.
Why aren't we doing that? And I remember being in an argument as a tech sergeant with a senior master sergeant years ago about how industries automated a lot of their warehouses and a lot of their supply infrastructure.
And at the time, I maybe had a little chip on my shoulder and I said, why can't we do that? Looking back now and seeing how industry does operate and seeing that, I realize we can't automate everything.
And also understanding the fact that, again, to my point earlier, every airman has capabilities that we have not yet seen or not yet tapped.
Why would I want to eliminate airmen from those roles that could change the game on how we operate and how we deploy and mobilize? I
think that's important,
talk about like...
Being an airman over being a maintainer or being specifically like for myself, a C-17 crew chief, right? You zoom out, you are an airman first, and you have a lot of capability that is outside of just being whatever your career field is.
It's important to, as a leader, and we can get into how you've done that later, but to empower those airmen to use those capabilities aren't specifically what their career field says they are.
But yeah, let's roll back into sort of your experience in the innovation ecosystem.
So Fort Meade opened the door and having the opportunity to do those contracting facility roles with the infrastructure of the facility I was with.
Barry, how many years have you been in the Air Force again? 17 and a half years.
Okay, copy that.
And you've seen a lot of change throughout the innovation community.
We say all the time, change is the one constant that you can always count on.
Everything will change.
You talked a little bit about empowerment there.
And then you also mentioned earlier how you were empowered when you had your time earlier and jumping into DAU and getting certain certifications and things.
How did you get involved in the Air Force innovation ecosystem? And then how have you seen that ecosystem change over the course of
Something I say a lot is if it's not illegal, immoral, or unethical, why aren't we doing it if it's going to make something better, if it's going to make our environment better or make another airman better? And there might be caveats to that, but generally speaking, approaching something while I was an NCO or in the field is— and realizing, hey, I have the capability or I work with an airman who has the capability to do something, make this a little bit better so it's less time or we're saving money or we're getting things somewhere faster, safer.
Why aren't we doing that? And I remember being in an argument as a tech sergeant with a senior master sergeant years ago about how industries automated a lot of their warehouses and a lot of their supply infrastructure.
And at the time, I maybe had a little chip on my shoulder and I said, why can't we do that? Looking back now and seeing how industry does operate and seeing that, I realize we can't automate everything.
And also understanding the fact that, again, to my point earlier, every airman has capabilities that we have not yet seen or not yet tapped.
Why would I want to eliminate airmen from those roles that could change the game on how we operate and how we deploy and mobilize? I
think that's important,
talk about like...
Being an airman over being a maintainer or being specifically like for myself, a C-17 crew chief, right? You zoom out, you are an airman first, and you have a lot of capability that is outside of just being whatever your career field is.
It's important to, as a leader, and we can get into how you've done that later, but to empower those airmen to use those capabilities aren't specifically what their career field says they are.
But yeah, let's roll back into sort of your experience in the innovation ecosystem.
So Fort Meade opened the door and having the opportunity to do those contracting facility roles with the infrastructure of the facility I was with.
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