US Air Force Transforming Maintenance, Logistics Training

As the Air Force continues to evolve to meet the challenges of a constantly evolving global security environment, the 82nd Training Wing is working to transform maintenance and logistics technical training.

Airman 1st Class Christine Smith and Airman 1st Class Kaylie Cunningham, 364th Training Squadron electrical and environmental apprentice course students, remove and install an oxygen regulator on an F-15 Eagle at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, June 14, 2019. All U.S. Air Force photos by Airman 1st Class Pedro Tenorio.

About 44% of the Air Force’s technical training isaccomplished at the 82nd Training Wing, said Kenyon Bell, 82nd Training Wingcommander – which includes logistics and most engineering career fields. The82nd delivers more than 65,000 graduates annually in more than 900 maintenance,logistics, civil engineering and some cyber and missile maintenance courses.These courses cover not only initial skills training, but advanced andspecialty courses delivered at 60 locations around the globe.

“That includes logistics readiness; aircraft, munitions andmissile maintenance; and civil engineering,” Bell said. “We have a significantrole in training all of those disciplines, either entirely within the 82nd orin concert with our joint partners and also our sister wings in Second AirForce. That means we have a huge challenge and a huge opportunity – to transformtechnical training, and specifically maintenance and logistics training, tomeet the strategic demands of a 21st Century force.”

Bell said the wing, Second Air Force and AETC have beenlaying the foundations for this transformation for several years.

“There has been a lot of experimentation and innovationgoing on, especially since 2016,” he said. “It’s been incredibly important inhelping us understand what works and what doesn’t. Now it’s time to startputting those lessons in play.”

Among those experiments are efforts like the EnhancedTraining Day, launched at Sheppard Air Force Base in 2016. That effort exploredways to incorporate force development and foundational competencies –Airmanship – into the technical training environment. Along with similarefforts at other technical training wings, the experiment helped inform SecondAir Force’s Airmanship 200 program, which will formally integrate coreAirmanship and force-development concepts into technical training beginningthis year.

Another effort more specific to the maintenance andlogistics world is Maintenance Next. Activated in January 2019 at Joint BaseSan Antonio’s Kelly Field, its goal is to explore ways to leverage advancedtechnologies to train aircraft maintainers – specifically crew chiefs – moreefficiently and effectively.

“Technology is changing the way we live and learn and it hasopened up many opportunities to improve training to meet the needs of today’s airman,”said Lt. Col. Sean Goode, Maintenance Next detachment commander.

Currently, the Maintenance Next team is working withstudents who recently graduated basic military training. These students areable to explore through learning labs any time of the day or night in theirdormitory or work center. The labs feature a variety of learning devices toinclude augmented and virtual-reality simulators.

“Offering 24/7 access to education and diverse tools helps our team understand which tools best suit the learning needs of our airmen,” Goode said. “We are also examining those tools to determine if they are successful at building maintainer competencies through hands-on evaluations.”

At the 366th Training Squadron electrical systems apprentice course, students perform a crossarm change out at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas.

Beginning this spring, Maintenance Next will be field testedat Sheppard AFB, Bell said. “The next step is to test them in the formaltraining environment. If we get the results we expect, then we’ll focus on thenext big challenge – how to implement across other maintenance specialties andthen sustain it.”

While transforming maintenance and logistics training is astrategic imperative, Bell said it’s important to be realistic.

This maintenance training transformation effort is a largejob and will require coordination and cooperation across the enterprise: fromthe staff sergeant instructor at the podium all the way up to Air Education andTraining Command commander, Lt. Gen. Brad Webb and Air Force deputy chief ofstaff for Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection, Lt. Gen. Warren Berry.

“Vision 2020 is our effort to make sure our stakeholdersknow what we’re trying to do and why – and also to get their input, support andbuy-in,” Bell said. “It’s going to take all of us working together to make thishappen.”