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Importance of Air Force Instructors for the future of the force highlighted on new "The Air Force Starts Here" podcast

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Keith James

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas –In the latest episode of "The Air Force Starts Here," Chief Master Sergeant Erik Thompson, AETC command chief, discusses  the importance of  force generators, which are voluntary developmental special duty positions filled by Airmen who help build, teach, and aid Airmen to lead. These positions ensure the Air Force has fully trained and qualified Airmen to maintain our competitive edge over our adversaries.  

Force generators consist of recruiters, instructors and training leaders. These assignments are demanding opportunities, but offer positive career broadening experiences for Airmen to mature and grow as leaders.

Staff Sgt. Keith James from the Air Education and Training Command public affairs team spoke virtually with Thompson who discusses his experience with force generators, myths and misconceptions that Airmen have about these voluntary developmental special duty positions, and why valuing these positions is so important to the readiness of the Air Force.

As part of the initiative to highlight, attract, and inform Airmen of the value of force generators, The First Command created the Valuing Force Generators video series, which can be found at https://www.dvidshub.net/feature/AETCvaluingforcegenerators.

The "The Air Force Starts Here," podcast is a professional development podcast designed to help communicate and inform Total Force Airmen across the globe on relevant, timely topics related to the recruiting, training, education and development fields. The podcast can be listened to from a government networked computer on the AETC website, DVIDS, or via mobile application, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play.