Train to fight, fight to win

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Teresa Whitmyer
  • Academy Education and Training functional manager
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  When most civilians think of the Air Force, I'd bet the first image that comes to their mind is a fighter jet hurtling through the sky at Mach 3, no doubt piloted by a chiseled officer with movie-star looks who goes by the call-sign "Caveman", "Razor", or "Swamp Thing."

This is to be expected -- we are after all the "Air" Force, so the last thing that should come to anyone's mind is the mental image of a supervisor sitting behind a desk for hours at a stretch documenting their subordinates' training records. If this were the case, we'd certainly have some serious recruitment issues.

Training Airmen might not stir our heart or imagination as much as the image of that jet zooming through the great blue yonder, but its value cannot be underestimated. Training is at the core of everything we do as Airmen; it provides the foundation for our career progression and teaches us those critical skills vital to completing our mission. And yet, training is often placed on the back burner or worse, neglected altogether.

We all have excuses for not meeting our responsibilities, but these excuses don't translate to reasons.

Simply put, there's no reason for us not to accomplish our responsibilities, and training is certainly one of them. As we may all know and may have experienced, failing to stay up-to-speed on training can result in wasted time and resources or a less than favorable rating on a unit's Combined Unit Inspection. At worse, lack of training and disregard of standards can result in members being relieved of duty or even the loss of life.

We must make the time to create a firm training foundation with which to train our personnel. Supervisors, trainers, and certifiers play a critical role in carrying out the section's training plan. If not actively engaged, the training program could potentially fail along with our opportunity to grow experts and prepare our replacements for the future.
Consider the nuclear weapons incident that occurred at Minot Air Force Base, ND in August 2007, when nuclear warheads were inadvertently loaded on a B-52 and flown to Barksdale AFB Base, La. In the aftermath of this widely-reported nuclear incident, four commanders were relieved of duty and many Airmen were disciplined and decertified on the duties they were trained and qualified to perform. The Air Force has since issued new guidance to prevent this event from occurring.

In general, we tend to be on top of training but still have our issues. One of those issues is that on-the-job training often takes a back seat to the Academy's broader mission of educating and training new officers. We have unique opportunities here, but along with that, unique challenges. A loss of focus on training can easily lead supervisors at all levels to neglect to follow-up on ancillary and upgrade training or annotate their Airmen's Career Field Education Training Plan or On-the-Job Training Record Continuation Sheet.
A common excuse for this is "I don't have time." This may very well be the case, but it's our duty to make time, take care of our Airmen and secure the confidence of our civilian supporters that we can get the job done.

Training should be a priority at every level of leadership. While our mission here is without a doubt unique, an assignment to the Academy is actually a training windfall as we have three other military bases in the Colorado Springs area that offer a wealth of training opportunities. All we have to do is make the time to take advantage of that training.

For good reason, the Air Force's fleet provides some of our most iconic images but we should all remember that pilot would never have gotten off the ground if not for his or her training, the training of the air crew, and the training of all other Airmen that allows us to fly, fight and win.