CMSgt Nicole M. Shininger is the Senior Enlisted Leader for the USAF Band of Mid-America, Headquarters Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. The unit is comprised of sixty-one personnel and five flights including operations, publicity, resources, readiness, and administrative support. Additionally, the unit maintains ten performance teams that execute more than four hundred missions each year in support of Department of Defense and the Air Force’s strategic communication initiatives, Presidential support, civic outreach, international partnership building, recruiting, and troop support across a ten-state region and at deployed locations around the world. As Chief Enlisted Manager, CMSgt Shininger merges her subordinates’ talents, skills and resources with other teams’ functions to most effectively accomplish the mission and implement the Commander’s vision of “world class musical performance teams capable of delivering strategic effects with global impact.”
CMSgt Shininger enlisted in the United States Air Force in April 1996 after graduating with a Master’s Degree in Woodwind pedagogy. She has been serving on active duty for twenty-five years. Prior to her current position, CMSgt Shininger served as the Superintendent for the Band of Mid-America at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.
EDUCATION
1993 Bachelor of Music Education, State University of New York, Potsdam, the Crane School of Music
1996 Master of Music, Woodwind Specialist, Michigan State University, East Lansing
1999 Airman Leadership School, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska
1999 Airman Leadership School
2007 Noncommissioned Officer’s Academy, Tyndall AFB, Florida
2007 Associates of Music, Community College of the Air Force
2010 Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy, Course 14, Non-Residence
2011 Senior Enlisted Joint Professional Military Education
2011 Professional Manager’s Certification
2011 General LeMay Air Power Course
2012 Professional Manager's Certification, Community College of the Air Force
2018 Senior Enlisted Joint Professional Military Education II
ASSIGNMENTS
April 1996 - May 1996, Trainee, Basic Military Training, Lackland Air Force Base (AFB), Texas
May 1996 - November 2010, Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge (NCOIC) of Publicity, USAF Heartland of America Band, Offutt AFB, Nebraska
November 2010 - July 2013, NCOIC of Supply, USAF Band of Flight, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio
July 2013 - November 2016, Additional Duty First Sergeant, USAF Band of Mid-America, Scott AFB, Illinois
November 2016 - November 2018, Superintendent USAFE Band, Ramstein Air Base, Germany
November 2018 - July 2020, Superintendent, USAF Band of Mid-America, Scott AFB, Illinois
July 2020 - Present, Chief Enlisted Manager, USAF Band of Mid-America, Scott AFB, Illinois
MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
Air Force Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters
Air Force Commendation Medal with four oak leaf clusters
EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION
Airman First Class April 3, 1996
Senior Airman April 3, 1998
Staff Sergeant Aug. 1, 2000
Technical Sergeant April 1, 2005
Master Sergeant June 1, 2009
Senior Master Sergeant April 1, 2017
Chief Master Sergeant July 1, 2020