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Hurry: Producing highly qualified, skilled Airmen key to AF logistics mission

  • Published
  • By John Ingle
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs

SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas – The Air Force needs Airmen to be more agile, able to think on their feet and perform different types of tasks for the situation or environment they’re in.

That process begins with the technical training provided by the 82nd Training Wing, said Brig. Gen. Linda Hurry, Director of Logistics for the Air Force, Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection at the Pentagon. The general, who is responsible for organizing, training and equipping the Air Force’s logisticians who maintain and support missions, visited Sheppard AFB March 5, 2020.

 “When we deploy to different environments, we’re going to be tasked with bringing smaller packages. We’re going to be asked to find new ways to operate with less,” she said. “Folks are going to be able to have to be multi-capable, and transforming them and giving them the tools so they can be effective in that environment is hugely important.”

The 82nd Training Wing at Sheppard provides the lion’s share of training for the Air Force’s logistics mission, graduating about 65,000 Airmen including Air Force logistics, maintenance and munitions officers, aircraft maintainers, civil engineer specialties, fuels and others.

Hurry said the tried and true method of supporting the massive Air Force logistics mission is to continue producing highly qualified and skilled Airmen efficiently and getting them out to the field as quickly as possible. That could include speeding up the training pipeline or additional training on tools and products they’ll see on the flightline. It also means modernizing our training tools, to give us the right airframes and better technology such as modern simulators and augmented and virtual reality.

All of that comes at a cost, she said, and it’s important to find solutions that potentially already exist to keep that cost down and find solutions quickly.

“There are folks at every single base out there taking videos of tasks that they perform,” she said. “Could we put a system together so that we can connect all of the different individual capabilities and create a network of training opportunities? I think that’s how we can try to have folks learn from a visual perspective as opposed to learning from paper or learning from PowerPoint and try to make the learning as fun as we possibly can.”

Hurry lauded the professionalism and excitement she witnessed from instructors and Airmen learning their new craft. She said it’s important that they learn how to take care of one another and understand the important role they play in the Air Force’s logistics enterprise.

“The future of our Air Force is in their hands, and they have an unbelievably important job,” she said. “You can see the passion in their eyes, so we must teach them not only the technical aspects of their job, but most importantly how to take care of our team. Our Airmen are our most valuable asset.”

During her visit, the general got to experience a thesis-style capstone event for the Maintenance Officer Intermediate Course and Intermediate Logistics Readiness Officer Course, training technology demonstrations in aircraft maintenance and civil engineering schoolhouses, and discussions on other innovations happening within the 82nd TRW.