JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas – Legacy, innovation, technology and an AFWERX partnership at the Security Forces Academy schoolhouse are the focus of episode ten of "Developing Mach-21 Airmen," Air Education and Training Command's professional development podcast series, which released May 28.
On the pod, Capt. Jeremiah Baxter, Capt. Zachary Watkins, Senior Master Sgt. Brandon King and Master Sgt. Henry Crook from the 343rd Training Squadron at JBSA-Lackland, talk about the overall training environment, including current innovations that have been introduced in the Security Forces Academy training pipeline; integration of officer and enlisted Airmen in initial skills training; virtual-reality technology to help shape the learning environment; and an AFWERX partnership that is allowing the schoolhouse to adapt training in real-time as needed.
With AETC units across the command finding new ways to break the long-held, industrial-age training paradigm that the Air Force just teaches Airmen how to do a job, the Defenders discuss how their integration of the officers and enlisted trainees is helping them learn how to do their jobs holistically in the context of a mission, ultimately graduating more ready and lethal Airmen.
Additionally, the instructors representing both the initial skills courses for both the officer and enlisted courses talk about their partnership with AFWERX that has helped them with the introduction of new technology tools into their curriculum that is helping create more realistic deadly force training scenarios through the use of MILO interactive training systems and virtual-reality 360-degree video.
The professional development podcasts are 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 and can be listened to on the government network on the AETC website, or via mobile application as well as on Apple Podcasts (iTunes). For Android or Google mobile users, the podcast can be found on their favorite third-party podcast phone application.
Future episodes are set to cover a wide range of topics, including where the learning environment is heading towards in the year 2030; joint force training in the civil engineering career field; enlisted PME changes and much more.