(techno music) - The Air Force has announced the creation of a new information operations technical training school. - So in our business of National Security, where our job is to fly, fight, win, we'd better be masters at this game of innovation. - Air Force Basic Military Training has an updated curriculum, with a new focus on readiness and lethality. - This is the developing MACH-21 Airmen Podcast. - Hey everybody, welcome in to today's inaugural edition numero uno of the developing MACH-21 Airmen Podcast and thanks for the subscribe, stream or download. If you get a chance to throw some stars or even a review our way, we certainly would appreciate that as well. My name is Dan Hawkins, from the Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs Office and your host for this professional development podcast, dedicated to bringing total force, big A Airmen, insight, tips, tricks and lessons learned, from the recruiting, training and education world, as we help each other along the hashtag lifelong learner journey, that we're all on here, in the Air Force. A lot to unpack, here on this first episode. The Superintendent of the 737 Training Group and Air Force Basic Military Training, Chief Master Sergeant Lee Hoover, as well as 2018's BMT Military Training instructor of the year, the best of the best, Technical Sergeant Eric Garza, from the 323rd Training Squadron, joining the show to talk about the recent changes to the BMT curriculum and how the Air Force as a whole is benefiting by getting graduates who are more lethal and ready to help the Air Force fly, fight and win. Before we jump into that, I did want to give you a brief backdrop for why the first command wanted to start up a podcast and talking with Lieutenant General Steven Kuast, our commander here at AETC as well as our Command Chief, Chief Master Sergeant Julie Gudgal. The hope is really to connect with Airmen, to share information in a relevant and modern way, where ever you might be and whenever you might be listening in across a variety of devices which ties directly to the AETC's strategic plan of learning anywhere, anytime and on any device. Connecting through our AETC social media whether it's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, it's great, we love it, we're also so proud to do it. But we also wanted to be there for Airmen in a way that translates you're getting in that workout at the gym or even driving in to start your day in the world's greatest Air Force. So getting into episode one, we really thought long and hard about potential topics we could start out this podcast with all across the command. All kinds of initiatives are underway in terms of learning NAICS both in technical and flying training arenas and so many great things happening at the Air Force Recruiting Service as well. So whether it's changes to the way First Sergeant's or future officers are being trained at Air University or how international students are learning to fly the F-35 at Luke or even maintenance NAICS which could revolutionize how we train and educate maintainers, getting them out to the field faster and better trained. Or all the great Innovation happening around AETC and the spark cell hubs at some of our technical training bases, there really is no shortage of great stuff that we could talk about. But after threw around all kinds of ideas, we were like, eh, maybe we should just start out, you know, a little bit basic. And there it was born, the idea to start with Air Force basic military training and the recent curriculum changes. Those changes really part of an overall effort to increase lethality and readiness of our BMT graduates, one of Air Force Chief of Staff General David Goldfein's top strategic priorities, of course is the lethality in readiness of the total force. And so, AETC looking at how we can do our part to help him achieve those priorities. And this also allows us to ensure our recruits have the ability to step into that joint warfighting role that combat and commanders expect of them and when they do deploy downrange. To help with that, BMT's changes to the curriculum really along four major lines of effort that include readiness and lethality, Airmanship, fitness and the Warrior Ethos. So here to break down those changes, the aforementioned Chief Hoover and Sergeant Garza, buckle up, enjoy the ride and away we go with episode one of developing MACH-21 Airmen. So Chief Hoover, tell us just a little bit about yourself and how you ended up here at BMT. - Yeah, it's a mystery. So I'm a Broadcast Journalist by trade, came in in '01 and just bounced around mainly just working at AFS stations, telling the Air Force story, if you will. And couple of years ago, this opportunity came up, said hey, what do you think about BMT? And kinda probably like a lot of our TMI's, thought that maybe this isn't a good idea but okay, let's do it. So that year in '17, February of '17 as a Squadron Superintendent, absolutely feel in love with the mission, the people right away. Just over time, kinda embrace mission more, learn about the mission more. Got to know our gyzing more and then in July of this year, came up and was chosen, I guess, if you will, by our commander to be the group superintendent and I've been doing that since July, and kinda working with our MTI's as we go through a lot of these changes. - And you brought along today, to join the show, oddly one of your best obviously, with the awards that he's winning, but Technical Sergeant Eric Garza, tell us a little bit about yourself. - First, thank you, thank you for having us today. So, I'm originally from San Antonio, Texas, born and raised. Had no intentions of coming back at this point of my career. Primary AFSE Security Forces by trade. I been in the Air Force for about 10 years now. Prior to coming here, I was a Security Forces Flight Chief, for about seven years. So I was doing the flight chief, very comfortable. Felt like I was a technical expert, and they kinda threw this idea of DSD, which I wasn't educated on at the time, so I had to do a lot of research. I was a little hesitant, initially my thoughts was I wanna be a tech school instructor, right? Because I'm a First Line Supervisor, I'm getting these Airmen fresh outta tech school, I'm knowing what I'm getting out of a three level and I know what type of impact I'm making, so why not do it as tech school instructor? Well, they give you options, they said, hey, you can be an MTI, a technical training instructor in MTO. You had three choices, but at the end of the day, we're gonna vector you where we see fit and what our mass commas could allocate, or what they need. So a name goes up and I get a call that hey, you've been selected to be an MTI. So, here we are, you fast forward, I've now been an MTI for about three years. Got here in, April 1st of 2016, so I'm coming up on my three year mark. Got here, my first squadron was a 324, that was a line instructor after completing my MTIS, after completing my 90 day TeachU. I was there for about 13, 14 months before I got vectored to be a trainer. So now I'm not only afforded an opportunity to inspire and change lives with Airmen, but I got the opportunity to actually train new NCO's, technical sergeants, NASA Sergeants and my last student was Senior Master Sergeant Select. Who I was fortunate enough to kinda push through the teaching process. So again, not only the inspiring Airmen, but as well as the NCO's and Senior NCO's we had coming down here. - Obviously, a lot of great experience here in the room, and you look at the changes to the BMT curriculum and they're all geared towards really developing lethal and ready Airmen from a strategic perspective, and there's a lot of tactical work that goes into it. But, Chief, could you kinda talk a little bit more in depth about kinda of a genesis of the changes to the curriculum, how that came about and a little bit into the bird's eye view of the implementation, and what Colonel Caruthers and yourself have said. He said a great quote, we had a national media interview with him a few months ago, and he said 80% of the Air Force's DNA runs right through the gateway to the Air Force here at JBSA Lackland, and it really is so true. So if you could maybe just give us a little look into the genesis of all these changes. - I think it started with this natural inclination to kinda step back and look at what we're doing and making sure it's healthy and right, and so we did that probably a year, maybe over a year ago now. We just kinda reviewed our processes, reviewed our program and tried to look at it from the perspective of what our Chief of Staff is saying, what our security Air Force is saying about being ready, being lethal, being ready for the unknown, right? And so we kinda looked at our basic military training program through those lenses and kinda said hey, here's some things that we could do to get after those things more. To make sure that when our Airmen graduate here, that they're more ready, they're more lethal, they're more fit, both in body, spirit and mind. And just have stronger character. And so we kinda broke it down into four different areas, if you will, we looked at that readiness and lethality. What are some things that we can do across the BMT? 8 1/2 weeks to make sure that they're ready, they're more lethal, and not just necessarily holding a weapon, but their minds are ready, they understand what it means to be part of the Air Force. We also looked at Airmanship, we've taught Airmanship in our Airmen's Week, we taught it in a one week program, and it's the Airmanship 100 course. We looked at eight other ways we can do that differently, and so we ended up breaking that across to all 8 1/2 weeks of training, and kinda tried a different approach, that I'm sure we'll talk about more, but I think it's working out really well. We also looked into fitness, making sure that we weren't just training our recruits how to conduct a PT test, but that we're instilling a habit, a habit of being just a healthy warrior, whether that's nutrition, PT or whatnot. And so, we increased our PT sessions, we did 'em more often, even after the PT test moving forward, just kinda leading up to a PT test. And the other thing we did was, we recognized the thing there was more we can do to ensure that our Airmen knew whose footsteps they were following in. We didn't really hit after our heritage or our heroes as much as we could have, and so we really took a significant effort to make sure that we're talking about them, we're showing them who they are. We're highlighting them at multiple stages of the BMT process. So that was kind of like our way to get after the heritage, get after the Warrior Ethos and the history of our Air Force and then our Airmen. And so that's kinda where we started, we looked at it and kinda took a pretty aggressive approach, to say hey, let's make this happen right and just crank into our MTI core, because they were flying by the seat of their pants a lot of it, right? - Yes. We gotta make this work, we gotta move out, because it's not an emergency, but it kind of is, right? We got an Air Force meeting crate and every week we're graduating 800 more. The longer we take, the further we'll be behind, and so we move pretty aggressively. And as September 4th, we said hey let's go, and so that first flight went out and of course, I don't know the number but since then every week, I think November 2nd was the first five that graduated in that 8 1/2 week 'cause they started September 4th, graduated November 2nd and since then, every graduate that is entering our Air Force and technical training pipeline, I believe they're more ready and they're more lethal. - So kinda piggybacking off that, obviously as an MTI, that's a huge change, you're kinda revamping the entire thing and like Chief said, very aggressively. So how was that change kind of received, and then how was it really executed at the tactical level by the MTI core? - So as far as being received, I'll tell it was challenging, 'cause for so many years, especially me speaking from experience, I was three years just structured to do it the same say every 7 1/2 weeks. Personalities changed, stories changed, how you deliver and how you lead, I mean it kinda varies, but as far as your 7 1/2 week program, it was very structured. So now here we are with a 8 1/2 week program and a lot of things were some challenges, right? You gotta think administratively, you gotta think, wow, I have to ask a student, right, perhaps the staff sergeant, hey, I need you to go six weeks straight, working a six and one schedule, prior to you even getting a away from these Airmen. Versus our traditional 7 1/2 program, we're going four weeks before they went to Beast. So, it was a challenge across BMT. However, I think, or I don't think, I believe a majority of the MTI's saw the end result. Couldn't predict it, but we believe in the process, we believe in being innovative, right? Because we talk about it all the time, so as far as executing it goes, we had to be realistic. Just let me paint a picture, you have individuals with six years experience, all the way up to 18 years, my instructor supervisor, he's been in 18 years. So when you have a broad range of AFSE's, a broad range of experienced and different leaderships, who bring different things to the table. When it comes to being innovative, you're definitely gonna get some feedback throughout the entire process. So, executing it wasn't hard. You got MTI's, we adapt every single day because every day presents something different. You're transiting with a flight, Airmen might have a breakdown, because he just got yelled at and it took him back to, perhaps, his childhood, you know, dealing with his father. And that's something you have to deal with in transit, so what do you do? You're in zero week, the stereotype is, what we're consistently yelling at these kids, what do you do at that point in time? So again, for the MTI's adapting, from what I've seen and some of the feedback I've gotten from my peers, it's been easy to execute. Have we had some challenges, absolutely, but they've been able to give the feedback in order to move forward. - If I could, you know the great thing about moving out aggressively and kinda putting this on our MIT's, to hey, go make this happen as they go through those 8 1/2 weeks and as they learn, 'cause it's so different, just talking to them, learning so much about them. 'Cause this is kinda, especially now, it's constantly evolving, right? The 8 1/2 weeks is set, right? And some stuff is set in stone, but where our class goes at a certain time, and what you're talking about at a certain point in that 8 1/2 weeks. Getting that feedback from the instructors and shaping the program in a different way based on what they're telling us and what they're hearing from the Airmen. It's been pretty good, pretty exciting to see how it actually goes. - So when you look at those four main areas of focus, and we're talking readiness and lethality, Airmanship, fitness and Warrior Ethos, could you just give us, maybe a little bit of an idea of a tangible, what that really means? What does that mean when you're talking about the fitness, what does that mean when you're talking about Warrior Ethos, when you're trying to prepare these Airmen in a different way? So can you kinda tell us a little bit about that process? - So, what I'll say to that is to kinda just reel it inside, is we want them to understand, pretty much all these four domains, right? We want you to understand them, we need you to embrace them but we also need you to live by them, because this is just a habit, right? So, it's conditioning, is what we want them to understand. So, when we execute some of these four domains, we talk about readiness and lethality, Airmanship 100, fitness and the Warrior Ethos, initially when we're teaching this, they're getting in the second week of training and we're delivering these 31 hours of curriculum. We need you to understand this first, right? Because like I tell every MTI, you cannot underestimate any Airmen that we pick up every 8 1/2 weeks. Some of these kids come down here, or some of these men and women come down here with degrees in psychology. So you might be five minutes into a facilitation session, and they already have a conclusion on what the topic is. So we never wanna underestimate that, so we wanna make sure that they're understanding, that they're embracing everything that we're trying to instill in them with our own personal experiences, with their personal experiences, with our own challenges. We want them to understand that this is a way of life, this MTI is talking to you with 12 years experience, this is how I live by some of these core values. This is how I live through my own resilience, through my own leadership, through my own followership. So, that's just kind of the idea behind it, is understanding it, embrace it and living by these four domains. - So when you talk about fitness, what are some of the changes from the old to the new? - Yeah, so, some of the changes, I think Chief Hoover hit on it earlier, is we went from 31 sessions to 44 sessions. I think if we talk to any MTI, one of the biggest things that's often times disappointing is the PT failures, right? They come down here, and again, I'm gonna refer back to the old program. The old program, when I was pushing a flight we would go four weeks straight, okay? And they would have consistent PT sessions, obviously depending on the weather. They would go to Beast for a week, so obviously they wouldn't be with their primary MTI, they wouldn't be in their normal routine of, hey, I wake up in the morning, I go do PT, whether it's a strength, whether it's a cardio, or whether it's a interval training day, they wouldn't have that. So we lost about roughly five days of PT sessions. Then we roll into the sixth week of training and potentially you could have that PT test on that Monday. So if they weren't getting enough PT sessions to say we didn't have enough time to get 'em to where the Air Force expected them to be. We didn't have enough one on one time to coach, right? To correct, to mentor, to guide, in enough time. So, from the 31 to 44, obviously we haven't done a qualitative or quantitative survey, to determine whether or not we've seen a decrease in PT failures because we're still going through that 8 1/2 week program. We haven't collected enough data. But the pulse of the BMT core and the MTI core is MTI's a little bit of sense of relief that they're to get more PT sessions, more time in to actually coach these Airmen through. Because we're not just out there doing PT with 'em, right? We're coaching them, we're deliberately coaching them, we're helping them with their running form, we're helping them with their pushup form, their sit-ups form. So we're actively coaching them, correcting their form and getting them to where they need to be. - Another point of it, just to kinda talk to developing the habit lifestyle. So they get these PT sessions and once they take their PT test which is in the six week of training. In the past, especially when you had the 7 1/2 weeks, it's like you take that PT test within the six weeks of training, you pass, okay, I'm done. And now, that PT test is still in the six week of training but you're still doing PT after that test, you're still going out and run as a team, you're still pushing yourself because it's not just to pass this PT test at BMT, it's about to develop a lifestyle of fitness, a lifestyle of nutrition and healthy living. So I think that's one of the benefits that would get added. And then another I would mention, is we have the support from sports medicine, the integrated health support. I'm kinda forgetting-- - Viper. - Yeah, and it's called something different now. We had a viper test, we had a test run of viper, which was the Versatile Injury Prevention Office essentially and it basically worked with our recruits. They come in and they have, whether it's shin splints or some stress fractures or just pain, because they haven't run, they haven't done anything like this like before. And so they can work with them as an athletic trainer and keep them in training and get them healthy and teach them how to run and get them to graduate on time and pass the PT test. And kinda develop this healthy lifestyle without having to this put in your med hold, if you will, on a hold over flight. It's now able to spread that across all of our squadrons. It's an integrator occupational support sports medicine, I think is what we're calling it, but all those flyers are gonna have that, which is a big benefit to our recruits. - And I believe when we talk about the viper and what's that doing for our Airmen, is these four focus areas, they kind of all intertwine. So when we think about viper and we think about the Airmenship 100, you know, one of the biggest things that we talk about, and one of the biggest things for me, is resilience. - Mm-hm. - What does that look like, what does that mean? And I think we can plug in a lot of stories on when we had to demonstrate resilience and what that looked like. So, when we talk about viper, you could have a trainee, right, who's experiencing some type of stress fractures, maybe they experienced some type of injury where they're gonna need this rehabilitative individuals to help them out. - Right? - So now they're facing a resilient moment. Well, if we go back to the 7 1/2 week program, this Airmanship 100 curriculum was not embedded, these 31 hours of curriculum was not there. So it was pretty much up to the MTI, based off of their level of experience, based off of their level of skills, to determine whether or not they were gonna even discuss resilience, whether or not they were even gonna identify that as a hot topic or the perfect opportunity to talk to the team, you know? And maybe allow that Airman to open up on what they're going through, how they combated that, how did they maintain resilience, what did they do? Or maybe that training is in the fifth week of training and then some in the second week of training. They wanna quit, they wanna go home. Well now that we got this Airmanship 100, I'm able to kinda merge them together, I'm able to use this fifth weeker here. I want you to talk to this second weeker. Tell him or her how you were resilient. What does that mean to trust the process, right? Because we fitness is a habit, and we're gonna have some bad days you know, and we can all kinda go around the table and go around the room and share we've had some bad days. We've had moments in like when we had to be resilient, so I believe this kinda all works together. - Well, you talk about Airmanship 100 and creating that continuous BMT experience that allows that mind to heart adoption of the core values. How's that been from a execution and tactical perspective from an MTI? Because, before that was kind of done during Airman's Week at the end of BMT after they marched in graduation and everything. Tell me a little bit about how that has kind of helped them really adopt those values we want 'em to leave here with? - Yeah, so, what I'll say to you is the instructors and MTI's that we had at Airman's Week, the program itself was really phenomenal. So the program, the curriculum, the 31 hours that they were given was just phenomenal. A lot of feedback we got from those MTI's was just great. It helped them professionally, it helped them personally as well, in their own personal lives and I believe it's gonna carry on when they go to their next duty station. So taking those 31 hours and kinda weaving it into the 8 1/2 week program, some of the feedback we're getting as far as executing is the trust in relationships starts with transparency and credit. And the only way we can be transparent and be credible with some of these Airmen, is actually opening up, right? Because I think General Mathis talked about ethical dilemmas right? When we face these ethical dilemmas, it's kinda how do we combat these? How do we actually work through some of these ethical dilemmas or ethical problems? Being able to imbed this early in the second week of training, right? As far as executing that, we're able to develop comradery first. Because I tell every MTI and anybody who says hey you're an MTI, you're not supposed to have a relationship with a trainee, a trainee should not be allowed to give you feedback, well I would argue that and say, we need to remember that we're their first line supervisor, first ever, this is their first ever first line supervisor. And I believe the type of leadership traits that we portray is contagious. So if Technical Sergeant Garza is sharing his own personal stories as a Senior Airman and I what had to combat, as far as resilience and ethical dilemmas, they're like wow, man when I become a Staff Sergeant in three years, four years, and this works. This is a recipe to kinda get the team through whatever problems they're going through. This is how I get an Airman who is perceived as man this kid's not gonna make it. This is what I need to do, I need to open up, I need to share my story. I need to open up on what it means to be a good follower, or maybe he's just a good leader. So, intertwining it in the 8 1/2 week program, one, it's developed comradery, quick, sooner. You're gaining trust and you're gaining credibility and transparing with your flights sooner. Verses, your 7 1/2 week program, 'cause again I'm gonna go back and paint that picture, is every MTI has a different skillset. Every MTI has different leadership skills. When you're talking to a Security Forces Defender who before ALS was already supervising informally, right? Graduate ALS, now I got APR's due in the next 30 days. Verses some career fields where they just don't have a large enough career field to supervise that many Airmen. They might supervise one, it might've not dealt with different personality traits and kind of really had the tools necessary to counsel 'em or mentor them out of whatever they were going through. So the execution piece has worked out tremendously, from the comradery piece, the trust, respects, it's just that transparency that I think we're missing. - And that really rolls right into the Warrior Ethos, and also kinda the same process, kinda bringing it in from day one and really cementing that appreciation of those who have been walking before them. And we're not just talking about like our Medal of Honor recipients, we're talking about everyday Airmen, right? - Yes, yeah, so, when we talked about the Warrior Ethos, when we're reading some of the stories and background behind some of these heroes on those Saturday's PT sessions, and a lot of times some innovative stuff that some MTI's have done, instead of just the MTI's reading, they're actually allowing these Airmen to read it. Maybe an Airmen who's as motivated, you might have a young Airman, Eric Thomas, who's just overly excited, overly motivated and sometimes they'll give them the papers to kinda read off to the flights and get them motivated for PT. So, again, I think it just reels it back in to hey I'm not just going to be this formality at BMT, this is actually a way of living it. And the same leadership that I'm getting here, and the same way that my first line supervisors are expecting me to embrace this, live this, is gonna be the same thing that I'm gonna get when I get to my next phase of training, which is technical training in our first duty station. - I think when I've looked at everything and I still wanna talk readiness and lethality individually, but when I look at all these topics, right? It's so interesting how they all kind of work together in an integrated way, because, for example you have the heritage plaques out at the obstacle course for the Airmen to kinda help motivate them. You're doing the heritage piece as part of your fitness program and I'm sure it's talked about when you talk about Airmenship and core values, so isn't it awesome how these things are so interrelated and it just all work together? - It is, because, you know, again, we talked about transparency. They're gonna get to the first duty station, and maybe when they come to that first ECP it's gonna be dedicated to a fallen hero, right? So they might come to that gate and it's like wow, this entry control point or this visitor center, family members come, this is dedicated to a fallen hero. So it's this rekindling and it's that continuum that this is what I live by. I'm gonna deploy and base X, this area's gonna be dedicated to this warrior. Or when I'm part of this career field, I'm probably gonna have some fallen heroes. And I'm probably gonna have a fallen hero wall to remember some of those individuals. So, it's good for them. - I think it's also about helping them understand that they're joining a family, they're joining a family and an organization, and we're war fighters, right? And so we gotta prepare them for that. And everything kinda intertwines together, and if you look at the forward, you know we talk about readiness and lethality as maybe one primary point, right? But in reality all four of them kinda encompass this readiness and lethality mindset. 'Cause you have to be attached to the family that you're in. You have to understand to be inspired by the people you're following. And that kinda prepares you more than we were doing before. You have to be able to really fit the fight, you have to be able to be healthy, both in body, mind, spirit and all that stuff. And if you are, then you're more ready to fight. And you have to develop the character traits needed to be an Airmen. You have to understand that the person next to me, that's not just a man or a woman, but that's a brother, that's a sister, that's a wing man, that's a fellow Airman. And we could go and you know Sergeant Garza and his fellow MTI's, they do a good job of breaking down those barriers early on when a recruit shows up here. And those trainees, they start to feel like a family. They start to feel like a family and the MTI is kinda leading that family in some ways. And it's pretty inspiring to see. I know they'll talk about the team dynamics and it just goes quicker now, because they're understanded, they're part of a family. That all ties together, and so readiness and lethality, it's certainly about weapons familiarization, it's certainly about weapons handling, being more comfortable with that weapon and we're doing that, right? And we're gonna be transitioning to an M4 this year, so they'll be firing an M4 and they'll actually have a full up Garrison Qualification when they leave here, BMT. So that's definitely about readiness, it's about a better tactical combat casualty care, right now we teach that self aid buddy care, but we wanna teach 'em what it's like in a tactical combat situation, and so we're gonna get to that. And that's all of course readiness and lethality, but at it's core, I think if you have stronger moral character, if you know how to navigate ethical dilemmas, if you're a fitter, Airmen, and if you're tied into what family you're coming into, that just overall makes you more ready for what we're gonna ask them to do. - And I agree with you Chief, is we talked about T triple C, right? It's what we call Security Forces, the Tactical Combat Casualty Care, and we've talked about the qualification. We're not just doing something just of the sake of doing it. Where we talked about transparency and self aid buddy care or T triple C and weapons quality, those are perishable skills. If you don't fire for a long time, it's a perishable skill. If you're not firing frequently, it's a perishable skill. Same thing with combat casualty care. And I get it and some of the feedback has been, well, you know, it makes sense for a Security Forces member, it makes sense for a Special Tactics Member, but what about a medical career field? Or maybe they're not in the same army group. I mean we understand that, but at the end of the day these are perishable skills, right? And when that time does come, because it can come sooner than later and we don't really know when it's gonna come, it's something that they were conditioned for, right? If they've already had the battle rehearsal, they already had the battle drill once in BMT, so if it happens in technical training, or if it happens at their first duty station or whatever point in training side they're gonna go to. They've had some familiarization with that qualification or that training of the combat casualty care. So we're not doing something for the sake of doing it, we're doing something that means something, that's gonna help them throughout their career. - And so what was the thought process before Beast Week was kinda that readiness kind of test, and now it's kinda been moved towards the end as a culminating event, if you will? So, talk about that mindset and how that's worked out. - So, Beast Week, it's kinda of evolved since really the late 90s, right? It started with the warrior day, and then it kinda turned into a warrior week, just when I went through, right? You'd go out there and it was the fifth week of training and back then it was 6 1/2 weeks of BMT, so it was like that last week. I would go out there as that last week before you became an Airman, you went and have this Warrior Week, right? And there was some fun and games, sleeping in tents and all that sort of stuff. And it always just kinda remained in the fifth week of training, even when we expanded to 7 1/2 and eight weeks and stuff. And again when I mentioned it again, where we step back and kinda reviewed how we were doing things. We realized that Beast, the Basic Expeditionary Airman Skills Training, that week, that should be the final culminating challenge. And it should be a challenge. And so we did that, we sequenced it, so now it's back to that final week before you become an Airman. And we made it more challenging, we added more combat skills training, right? Now where before, just as an example, we would teach 'em the hand to hand combat. We would teach 'em how to fight, but they would shadow box, right? Now they're putting on the gear and hitting each other, safely and with oversight, but they're hitting each other. And now we're waking them up in the middle of the night, they're doing it, they're crawling out of the tents as if it's a simulated night attack. They gotta get outta their tents, get to a harm shelter and take accountability. Those kinda things, and we're gonna continue to expand that and make the claw, the obstacle course, make that more challenging, right? And another thing we're doing, being more committed to that being a mandatory requirement. It's not something that you can get waived, right? You have to complete Beast, it's gonna be a challenge. And if you can't complete it, then you may have to step back and wait a little bit until you're ready to go, because we can't honestly say that we're graduating ready Airmen if they hadn't gone out and completed that Beast challenge. - And so, you know, we've talked about so much today and this is really just incredible stuff happening here at Air Force Basic Military Training, and you know you've had now, since November graduates coming out of this new, revamped curriculum focused on lethality and readiness. So, obviously we talked about a little bit about analytically, not a lot of info to reach back on yet, but what are the early returns from these graduates? - What I'll give to that is, they have a quicker understanding of the VAT Rigors, right? So they have a understand of the team comradery, they have an understanding of team dynamics, they have a quicker understanding of just all the BMT rigors, quicker. Because with their primary MTI team, for a longer period of time, in a consistent period of time, prior to going to that final culmination exercise. And then coming back to the MTI's for graduation. And kinda reaching out to the field, because you know I'm curious, right? So I'm reaching out to fellow first sergeant peers that I might know at base X and I'm just kinda reaching out like hey are you seeing a training disciplinary issues? Or is it kinda decreased without really asking for a survey? And some of the polls and some of the feedback I've received is disciplinary actions are decreasing and specific things of inappropriate behavior, maybe some drug use, substance abuse, sexual things in nature has really decreased at some of these bases is what they see. But without really having a survey to back it, this is just my own personal post from the field is they feel this disciplining actions have reduced. - Yeah, a lot of the feedback is anecdotal at this point, right? So we're getting to that point where we're just asking hey, we're asking the Airmen, asking the tech school instructors and hey what are you seeing? And some of the Airmen are even, all right so I'll give you an example. Last week, I got to sit down with some of our graduating Airmen, and one of those Airmen had a roommate that joined the Air Force six months ago, and so they went through the old program, and she went through this program. And then just comparing notes, and she said her friend wishes she would have gone through when her friend got to go through now, right? Because the way that the Airmanship is structured here, it sounded better to her. And so it was good to see that, they're talking about how they feel like they're part of the team. They understand what dignity and respect means, it not just a class, but in reality, by living it and being forced to live it as a team. So, what we wanna do and I think what we're committed to doing over this next year and into following year, is better understanding that data. Better understanding, hey, you know, what does it look like? What should an Airman look like when they leave here? And not just anecdotally, but with data. And then how do we measure that? And then how do we measure it? Not only measure it, but learn from it? And then make adjustments and make decisions based on that data. And so that's what we're kinda committed to, I know that's what General Cross, ATC is committed to across the training pipeline, is to make better data driven decisions. Tie 'em all together from recruiting to basic training to tech school and we're excited about being able to learn from data and from what we're doing here. - And so, we'll kinda wrap it up here, but I kinda wanted to give Sergeant Garza, you know, you talked right at the very beginning, you said hey, I was Security Forces and I was kinda looking towards perhaps tech school. What would you tell any NCO or even Airmen out there who might think being a BMT instructor might be up their alley? What would you tell them and what would you tell somebody that's like no way I would ever do that? What would you tell 'em? I mean, it seems like you have one of the greatest jobs in the Air Force. - So I do, you know, I tell people all the time is I'm a firm believer that MTI's or an artist in it's truest form. So we pick 'em up initially, and it's like a fresh canvas, okay, and then as we go through these stages of team development, I get to know you as an Airman. That's my job as a First Line Supervisor, I need to know your wife, I need to know your kids, because they all have struggles in their own ways, right? And I can go for hours talking about different stories, but I don't wanna do that. But what I'll say is, a First Line Supervisor, we have a obligation, we have duty to know our people. Leading is leading, regardless of what capacity you're in. So if you're an MTI, you're MTI with a supervisor at base X, you're a superintendent, leading is leading, in different capacities, okay? And what I'll say is leading just doesn't stop in BMT, it carries on. If you wanna challenge and you wanna do something that's impactful, and you wanna inspire people and mentor people and have an impact globally? 'Cause that's what you do as an MTI. And right now I can honestly say I've been able to give a piece of myself, that hopefully it's enduring, right? 'Cause I don't really know what the return on investment is as an MTI, right? I don't know what that looks like. I'm only hoping that, you know, they can emulate some of the traits and they can just be better than myself. I always tell trainees, I don't want you to be me, I want you to be a better version of Sergeant Garza. You know, I can honestly say that there's thousands of Airmen across the world that I've been able to impact. And when I go back to them being artists, you get this canvas, you paint it, once you get to know them and then once you meet their loved ones at graduation, it kinda just solidifies that painting. You get a true understand and you get to solidify just why that individual is or why they are who they are. You meet a father, you meet a mother. You know, I remember meeting a mother to A1C Newton, he stationed at Fort Sam right now. A1C Newton, I remember when I was talking about, we were transiting and we had a bad morning that day and my tap out who is a Airman's Week instructor, Technical Sam Wilson. The flight was on the negative receiving end of his message that morning, so it was a bad day. You know, A1C Newton, he had an emotional breakdown from the moment we transited all the way till we got to Reed Clinic. You know, I took that hat off and I was like okay, I need to talk to this individual as a mentor, as a supervisor. I was able to rehabilitate him in that moment, okay? So you kinda fast forward, individual then became my element leader and was one of the sharpest Airmen I've had to date, right? And I still keep in contact with this Airman, and just kinda follow his progress. Hey, where you at with this? Where you at with your CDCs? Because I tell every Airman I'm forever indebted with you, all right, if I'm retiring I'm still indebted with you, and if I'm actively in and you've kinda met that mark when you can't communicate with me, I'm gonna communicate with you, right? I wanna know how you're doing, I wanna give you whatever I got because I'm an open book. And when I met his mother, I remember her specifically telling me, we're in the back of the bays, you know. She's like you know I asked for an angel and he gave me you. You know, and that was very meaningful and again as an MTI, you don't know what you're gonna expect from a parent. So if you wanna come down here and you wanna be an MTI, you wanna impact somebody, you wanna help somebody change their life, if you wanna provide hope, if you wanna provide opportunity, then being an MTI is the best thing for you. I will not shy away from it, I will not steer away from it. I will look that challenge dead in the face and be like come on, bring it on, because this is gonna be good for yourself, this is gonna be good for the Airmen. In my personal opinion, it's the best job in the Air Force. And to be honest, it's not really a job, you know? It's my calling, I feel like it's my mission in life to be an MTI. I feel like this is solidifying what I wanna do in life. I wanna help other change lives. So when I'm done with the Air Force, I wanna do something that's meaningful by helping others. And this has solidified it for me. - Well I certainly appreciate both of your guys' times today. Exciting times here at JBSA Lackland at BMT and I can't wait to see where it goes from here. - Thank you. - Thanks for the conversation, it's good stuff. - So there you have it, the inaugural edition of our developing MACH-21 Airmen Podcast is in the books. And so we wanna make sure to give special thanks to Chief Mass Sergeant Lee Hoover and Tech Sergeant Eric Garza from BMT for sharing their insight and breaking down all the recent curriculum changes. Exciting things happening at Air Force BMT. As a reminder, you can follow Air Education Training Command via social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well as you can check out our website for all the latest greatest stories at www.eatc.af.mil for our entire First Command Public Affairs Office. I'm Dan Hawkins, we'll talk to you next time on Developing MACH-21 Airmen. (upbeat music)