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AF names top analysts: AETC team, individuals take home top honors

  • Published
  • By Ashley Palacios
  • Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs
Air Education and Training Command’s Battlefield Airmen Physical Fitness Study Team and three AETC individuals took home top Air Force level awards in the 2016 Air Force Analysis Award Competition.

Winners are: Battlefield Airmen Physical Fitness Study Team, Air Force Analytic Innovation Award; Capt. Kimberly Hale, 2016 Air Force Company Grade Analyst of the Year; Maj. Katherine Batterton, Air Force Field Grade Analyst of the Year honorable mention; and 1st Lt Sara Roberts, Air Force Outstanding Junior Analyst of the year honorable mention.

AIR FORCE TEAM AWARD

AETC’s Battlefield Airmen Physical Fitness Study Team was presented with the inaugural Air Force Analytic Innovation Award May 4. The award recognizes an outstanding research team that uses unique and innovative techniques to conduct their research.

The team championed an Air Force study that encompassed a major objective of the secretary of defense-directed Women in Service Review.

“This is a transformational moment for the DOD, the Air Force and for women in service. While most career fields in the Air Force were open to women, there were still a few career fields from which women were excluded. The Women in Service Review was aimed at helping the secretary of defense decide if those exclusions should continue or be removed,” said Lt. Col. Murphy, AETC Studies and Analysis Squadron commander.

While all Airmen must regularly complete a standardized physical fitness test, some career fields require a more specialized physical fitness test, known as a Tier 2 PT test. The Battlefield Airmen Physical Fitness Study Team developed a prototype PT test that is indicative of the physical capabilities needed for combat. In other words, this prototype test could be used to determine if an Airman is physically well suited for some of the more rigorous AF career fields, such as tactical air control party or pararescue.

Determining those results was no easy task.

The team had to develop innovative new scales and measurements to collect and analyze the physical test data.

Using simulations and controlled environments, the team conducted tests, analyzed the data, developed new scales and proposed standards.

“This test is predictive,” said Murphy. “The analysis is rigorous and transformative. Not compromising combat capability is the main concern – you don’t want to make sweeping changes that you don’t fully understand. This study allows the Air Force to make those sweeping changes without fear of reducing combat capability. The results of this study allow us to defend our decision to allow women into combat roles.”

Dr. Neal Baumgartner was the team’s lead. As chief of the Air Force Exercise Science Unit and exercise physiology consultant for Headquarters Air Force, Baumgartner is responsible for determining the physical fitness tests and standards for the Air Force.

“Our job was to design a test that predicts physical success in the operational environment,” Baugartner said. “There are many aspects of operational readiness – emotional, mental, physical, motivational, etc. – but our job is to help determine the physical component of readiness. When you make decisions based on science and research you know you’re giving the best product to the Airmen and that you’re getting the best Airmen in these career fields. It gives the Airmen and their leaders the confidence to know that they can physically handle their combat mission.”

Baumgartner compared the study’s relevance to a fighter aircraft. “You wouldn’t want to send a jet into combat that isn’t designed or fully capable of carrying out the combat mission. In the same way, we wouldn’t want to send our Airmen into combat roles when they aren’t operationally capable.”

AETC’s Battlefield Airmen Physical Fitness Study Team includes:

Neal Baumgartner, Civ (Team Leader) Maj. Katherine Batterton
Staff Sgt. Erin Flerlage Capt. James Graves
Master Sgt. Matthew Gruse Capt. Kimberly Hale
Lt. Col. Ryan Logan Lt. Col. Eric Murphy
1st Lt. Sara Roberts 2nd Lt. Luis Vieyra

INDIVIDUAL AWARD

Capt. Kimberly Hale was recognized as the Air Force Company Grade Analyst of the Year for her work not only on the Battlefield Airmen Physical Fitness Team Study but on other research projects she spearheaded for the Air Force. While attending the Air Force Academy, Hale was selected to attend Pardee RAND Graduate School where she earned her Ph.D. Now, Hale is a flight commander at SAS.

Hale is the lead for AETC’s involvement with RAND’s Project Air Force. She selects the studies that get funded while making sure AETC’s needs are being met. She is involved in study design, survey design, and recently gave a talk on innovational survey analysis, which was lauded by Headquarters Air Force Studies, Analysis, and Assessments, at the Military Operations Research Society Symposium. She also recently helped design, administer and analyze a survey for Air Force Recruiting Service that led to 140 policy recommendations.

“She’s an absolutely stellar leader – both in terms of analysis and also as an officer. She teaches analysts, helps them grow as officers, and helps them understand what it means to be an Airman in the Air Force,” said Murphy.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Receiving honorable mentions were Maj. Katherine Batterton and 1st Lt. Sara Roberts.

Batterton, director of operations & chief scientist at SAS, received an honorable mention for the Air Force Field Grade Analyst of the Year.

“Major Batterton took on many additional responsibilities that weren’t expected of her when she arrived. I have never met a better military analyst in my almost 20 years in the Air Force. She’s spectacular – she’s going places,” said Murphy.

Roberts, who is currently assigned to Pacific Air Force, was given an Honorable Mention for the Air Force Outstanding Junior Analyst of the Year. She was an integral member of AETC’s Battlefield Airmen Physical Fitness Study Team as well other AETC projects during her time at AETC.