- Roger 4807, approaching runway seven bravo. - 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 and win, we'd better be masters at this game of innovation. - Air Force base in military training has an updated curriculum with a new focus on readiness and legality. - This is the Developing Mach-21 Airman Podcast. - Hey everybody, welcome in to a very special edition of the Developing Mach-21 Airman Podcast, and thanks for the subscribe, stream or download, however you find your pod these days. 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 field. Although it may be hard to believe and in fact the old adage that says time flies when you're having fun comes to mind, but the AETC change of command ceremony is scheduled for July 26th in just a couple of weeks, and Lieutenant General Steve Kwast will be turning over the reigns of the first command to Lieutenant General Brad Webb, the former commander of Air Force Special Operations Command. Today on the pod, a very special edition. We sit down for a conversation with the boss, Lieutenant General Kwast talking about the last two years and what has stuck out the most to him about the recruit, train, and educate enterprise and it really was a lot of fun. We discussed the AETC strategic plan progress and the efforts to empower the ultimate weapon system, and that's the collective minds of our airmen as well as the AETC headquarters organizational changes that empowered both the 19th Air Force and second Air Force leadership with decision making abilities aligned properly with where mission execution happens and where those overall efforts stand today. We also go in depth on the breakthroughs the command has made in breaking those long held industrial age training paradigms that he has talked about on many occasions. Those include time is the constant, the Air Force controls learning, and that we only teach airmen how to do a job. And he also throws in a garden metaphor for good measure, so it's good listening, right? Innovation, major theme over the last couple of years and the boss talks to how exciting these times are for AETC. Seeing how creative and novel the ideas are. When you give people the opportunity to try and even fail to eventually find the ways that work. General Kwast also spends time reflecting on the hard work of all of the command's airmen based on his initial charge to them during his change of command ceremony back in November of 2017 to, and I use air quotes here, "Teach airmen who can out think, out learn, and out innovate any adversary on planet earth." Lastly, the boss talks about his final message to the airmen of AETC about change is the only constant, staying hungry as aggressive learners, and his excitement for the future of the recruiting, training and education world. Great conversation you definitely don't wanna miss, so let's get to it. Episode 13 of Developing Mach-21 Airmen starts right now. (whooshing) So it might not seem like it sir, but you took command in November of 2017. What has really stuck out to you about this whole recruiting, training and education business the most in your 20 months as the commander? - Well, I'll start with a gratitude that this command was willing to explore transforming the way we recruit, train and educate to be able to compete in the 21st century against great powers that want their values in this world, not American Western values. And this is foundational because the way we learn right now was, a design that we've been living with since the 1930's. And we have not really changed. And so we cannot learn as fast as we could learn. We do not learn as deeply as we could learn. It's not as sticky as it could be. And this command has embraced the exploration of how we learn more rapidly and more competently than any other Air Force on planet earth. And that I'm grateful for 'cause change is hard, and nobody likes to work that hard if they don't have to. Well, we have to, and this command embraced that work. - In the face of today's really complex National Security environment and you just referenced it, you've referred on many occasions to the ultimate weapons system, and that's the collective minds of our airmen, and you crafted the AETC strategic plan when you first took command to work on the enhancement of that weapon system so we could produce lethal and ready airmen, as well as you changed the organizational structure of the major command to give more power to the NAF commanders to better align decision making where the mission execution happened. Is how we are structured in operating today what you envisioned when you first took command? - Well, it is not across the finish line yet because it takes time. As we pushed authority down to the Numbered Air Forces so that they could execute the mission as it was designed, we have had to bring in talent that can do some of this developmental work that we didn't have before. So the time it takes to repurpose the man power, to repurpose the skill sets and the talent required to do this work, that takes years. And so we are on the journey. We are not at the destination yet. But as the great saying goes, the joy is in the journey, not the destination. - So you've also talked a lot about breaking those long held, industrial age paradigms that the Air Force controls learning and that time is the constant and that we just teach air men how to do a job. And that's been a major theme for you as you've looked to really break the boundaries of what we've imagined is possible. What do you see on these fronts today almost two years later and as we move forward as a command into the future? - Right, well it's like a garden, you know. You plow the field and when you plow the field, there's some disruption. And then when you plant the seeds, you have to water for a while and you have to have faith that those seeds will grow. So we are just now starting to see the seeds break above ground with regard to the power of what can be accomplished when the human mind is learning in the context of a mission that it is being fed at a rate that the individual human being is capable of growing and learning. And that that human being has control of what they learn, how they learn it, when they learn it. So that they can optimize the uniqueness of who they are and how they learn. It's the individualization the learning. All of these things are just now starting to take route. And we have not yet even begun to see the power of what this will mean for a force that can be lethal and ready and adapt to any enemy. And solve problems, more creatively than we have since our inception as an Air Force. - When you look at breaking those long held paradigms innovation obviously comes to mind and I even talked to Kernel Weeks at the 14th Flying Training Wing and she told me a few months ago that she said there's no more exciting time to be an air men in AETC than right now with having that full autonomy to go out and innovate across the RTE Enterprise and I thought that was really cool. But how exciting has it been to see this free flow of ideas innovation like pilot training next and some of the other learning next initiatives that we have so we can better recruit, train, and educate these Mach-21 airmen. - Right, it gives again a sense of great joy and hope and gratitude. And it's not new in the history of people, in groups of people that are put together to do a certain purpose for us. It's fight, flight and win. But what is fun, is to see how creative and novel and useful the ideas are that come from these people that have been given the freedom to try. And you know, we talk a lot about the price of adaptation is failure. You have to stumble a bit to find out what works or as you know, Edison was always famous for saying "I didn't invent the light bulb, I figured out 5,000 ways that it won't work and I stumbled upon the one that would." As he stumbled accidentally upon a vacuum that actually allowed the filament not to burn out. The same is true here where it is joyful to watch. - During your change of command speech in November of 2017, you gave the airmen of the first command the battle cry and you said, "I want you to teach airmen to be humble, noble, courageous, and compassionate airmen who can out think, out learn, and out innovate any adversary on planet earth." How looking back now do you feel like the command has executed that first charge you gave them? - Yeah well like anything it's everything is a journey. So if there's not a digital threshold, it grows overtime. And when you take a look if you could compare today with November of '17 you would see tremendous growth and in fact it can be insidious. And you don't notice it until you compare. But I would, I would say you go to any organization in this command and you ask them about 2017 and now, and you will find that people are doing those things. To different degrees and different areas depending on leadership and the environment and the tasks they've been given to do, but that growth is hard to measure. Because it happens over time, but it's like your children, you know if you are with your children you don't notice that they grow. If you are gone for a year and you come back, it takes your breath away how dramatically they've changed in just one year. So that's what's happened here, and we all that are close to it may not see it as dramatically. But you talk to somebody that was outside of this command that came and visited in 27th of November 2017 and now comes back and visits now and it's jaw-dropping. And I've gotten to see that firsthand, people come in and taken a look at what we're doing. And Natalie Crawford just gave me a call in fact who is one of the great minds of our age that is a legend in critical thinking, strategic thinking, and innovation. And she saw it in November of '17, and she just saw it again now and her breath was taken away. - So, what are some of the things that a lot of our higher level leaderships such as General Goldfein and former secretary Wilson and even now acting secretary Donovan, what are some of the things that they've seen that they're you know, really amazed that we're doing and hope to see more out of AETC? - Well, let's take General Goldfein's visit just two weeks ago, and acting secretary Donovan and his recent trip up to Sheppard and Goodfellow, and to Vance Air Force Base. Some of the comments they made is that this is the most transformational thing we do. And teaching people a different method of learning, so that they learn in context in such a complex world. It's a transformational change from learning in a linear way, which we did in the Industrial Age. And it is gonna be the key to successfully innovate and adapting at the speed of the 21st century. So they both recognized how powerful this is, they also both recognized it's a journey and if you don't water this innovation, if you don't feed it, if you don't nurture it. You will not benefit from it's full power. - A lot of changes happening for even our airmen who work in the first command such as the recent change to DSD tour lengths as just one example. But as you get ready to leave the first command, no doubt with mixed emotions. What is your final message really for those hard working airmen who have really put their foot on the gas pedal and made things happen across almost every front here in AETC? - First of all, it's not mixed emotions. I am very happy and very excited about where this command is going because it's not about the individual person, it's about the progress of relevant people who stay perpetually useful to the Air Force. And my challenge to them, my battle cry is the same as the November of '17. And that is change is the only constant. And change will continue to accelerate in our lifetime. And tap into this young generation because they're more capable of change than we give them credit for. And stay hungry. If you are not an aggressive learner, that intentionally jumps out of your comfort zone, to discover. And if you are not a person that enjoys the fear of the unknown and enjoys being a prudent risk-taker, then you don't belong in this uniform. You don't belong in this age. Because we are moving into a season of history, where America will be tested like it has not been in the lifetime of anybody that is sitting in these seats right now. And if you are not comfortable with change, and with conflict, and with chaos. And if you are not systemic and holistic in the way you think about problem solving, in the way you lead diverse teams of people to be humbly learning new things that you have never understood before. Then you will not succeed. So, fasten your seat belts. Because the ride's gonna get a lot bumpier in the years to come, and it's a joy. Because there is nothing more profoundly meaningful than living in times where your hard work does more to help our freedoms. So on this 4th of July weekend, as we're sitting here talking, this is what we celebrate. We celebrate the fact that this gift of freedom we've been given through the blood, sweat, and tears of our Founding Fathers and generations before us. Is ours to protect, and that takes blood, sweat, and tears in our age to keep it pure. Or it will be stolen away by people who will take advantage of people who are weak or who are not willing to work hard or to be aggressive learners and adapters. So this is what makes life joyful, is having meaningful work. And we've got it, in spades. - So as you prepare to transition out, what's next for Steve Kwast? - Well, I have always lived my life by jumping through whatever door opens. And jumping through with gusto. So that door there's been multiple doors that have opened, and I will jump through the one that is meant to be. We'll have to wait and see, because I don't want to get out in front of anybodies headlights on that. I'm very excited, very hopeful, and I'm going to be apart of this Nation's journey forward. I promise you that. - Well on behalf of the men and women of AETC and the first command, thank you for everything you've done for the command. It's really been a fun ride, and you know obviously it doesn't end here. Obviously it's just the next step as you talked about. So thank you very much. - Well thank you, and it's with a great sense of joy and enthusiasm that I hand the mantle to Brad Webb. And then I take my energies and I keep pushin' to be helpful to this Air Force, to this command, and to this country. It's gonna great. - Thank you, sir. - See you on the other side. (wooshing) - Truly a transformational leader, and we've been lucky to have Lieutenant General Steve Kwast as our commander. We wanna say thank you to the boss, for taking time out of an always hectic schedule to sit down with us and reflect on his time as the commander here of Air Education and Training Command. And best of luck to him, and his family as he moves forward. As a reminder, you can follow Air Education in Training Command via social media, on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. As well as on the web at www.AETC.af.mil Thanks for checking out the podcast as we dive into the world of recruiting and training and education for our entire AETC Public Affairs staff. I'm Dan Hawkins, so long! We'll talk to you next time on developing Mach-21 airlines.