KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss.-- The 81st Training Group recently established the Skills Enhancing Development Program for Air Force and Space Force technical training graduates.
This program provides new Airmen an opportunity to continue to develop and sharpen their technical skills with local squadrons while they wait to leave for their duty locations.
“A long break in between an Airman’s technical training and moving to their new unit can cause them to lose the skills they just learned, which can be detrimental to operational missions,” said Master Sgt. Nicholas Christians, 338th Training Squadron senior enlisted leader.
This program further develops the Airmen we need by delivering real world experience from the local unit’s mission that would have been postponed until their first duty station.
“We have a finance student who graduated and is waiting to leave,” said Chief Master Sgt. Robert Schlichtenmyer, 335th Training Squadron senior enlisted leader. “ We sent them to work with the 81st Comptroller Squadron. It’s given them a jumpstart in on the job training with customer service, which is something that's difficult to simulate in training.”
In addition to these increased capabilities for first term Airmen, the units who train them gain focused, driven members.
“It's like having extra hands on deck getting things done,” said Senior Master Sgt. Dustin Finamore, 81st Contracting Squadron senior enlisted leader. “The Airmen sit alongside our computer technicians and they get really good at the job really fast.”
Christians said, Airmen and Guardians are shown what it means to be a part of an operational unit and mission and insight on what is expected of them in day to day situations.