KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- The 81st Training Group initiated a test phase on a new program called Airmanship 200 for courses started on Oct. 15.
The three-phase program allows instructors to start an Airman’s day by covering topics such as the profession of arms, character, life skills, how to be tactically ready and technically relevant. The goal is to deliver Airmen, who not only technically proficient, but also ensure they are well-rounded in other areas.
Technical Sgt. Tara Taylor, 335th Training Squadron military training leader, explained the different phases. The first phase is for shorter courses where Airmen get a brief overview on the different tiers. The second and third phases are for the longer courses where they get more hands-on experiences.
Depending on the tier, Airmen are able to learn about self-aid buddy care, active-shooter scenarios, how their job is relevant to the Air Force and navigating the Air Force Portal as well as Air Force specific topics such as history, morals and finances.
The program allows the training group to standardize the development of Airmen.
“We’ve always been developing our Airmen and doing it in a great way, but not one squadron or flight within a squadron was doing it the same way,” said Master Sgt. Cameron Hickey, 81st Force Support Squadron Airman Leadership School commandant. “We will be able to provide something measurable that we could influence or change if necessary to hone whatever the output is.”
After the students and instructors are done with a tier, they fill out a feedback form asking how the program can improve, if they need to delve deeper in the topics and if the students benefited from the information.
“We’re not going to pick up phase two until after exodus,” said Taylor. “That’s going to give us a good two weeks to revamp everything based on the feedback.”
The 81st TRG is planning on rolling out the program for all the courses taught in the training group by April 1, 2019.
“When we talk to supervisors we discover that some Airmen don’t necessarily know how to do the little things in life,” said Hickey. “We’re trying to get them to a point where they have the opportunity to learn these skills and make them successful beyond them just knowing how to do a job or a craft.”