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Basic Military Training enters new ‘real life’ era

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U.S. Air Force photo/Robert Rubio

The 8½-week journey from recruit to Airman will no longer end in a regimented march on a Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland parade field.

Beginning March 23, 400 recruits will take part in that rite of passage after 7½ weeks of Basic Military Training (BMT) — then turn back around for a five full days of interactive classroom instruction focused on character development.

Civilian facilitators and hand-picked military training instructors will lead newly minted Airmen through role-playing exercises and real-life scenarios devised to drive home the Air Force Core Values of Integrity, Service Before Self and Excellence In All We Do.

“What we expect of Airmen as professionals can be dramatically different from the life they’ve come from. We’re going to talk about resiliency, sexual assault, professional relationships, ethics, how we treat each other with dignity and respect,” Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force James Cody said.

Recruits already will have received condensed instruction on these and other topics during their initial 7½ weeks of basic. But the transition, or Capstone, week will act as a reset button for trainees emerging from what Cody calls “the fog of BMT.”

“Everybody’s heard about the fog of war. You get done with the battle and can’t remember what happened,” Cody said in an interview with Air Force Times. “BMT is a very fast-paced process. There’s so much going on. [Trainees] don’t have a lot of time to reflect and internalize and take a deep breath before we put them in the technical training pipeline.”

Transition week will give recruits the time to consider how they’ll incorporate the service’s values into their lives as Airmen, said Kevin Adelsen, Capstone program manager. “They’ve taken the information into their brains. We need to move it 12 to 19 inches to the heart where they can truly embrace it.”

Capstone week represents the most significant change to BMT since 2008 when the Air Force tacked an additional two weeks onto what was then a 6½-week course. It is also marks a years-long reinvention of how the Air Force turns civilians into service members — a reinvention that began in the midst of a professional and sexual misconduct scandal that ensnared dozens of Military Training Instructors (MTIs) in late 2011 and early 2012.

A five-month investigation ordered in June 2012 by then-head of Air Education and Training Command Gen. Edward Rice produced a list of 22 deficiencies in the BMT program — and 46 recommendations to fix them.

Almost all of the recommendations have been implemented, from how MTIs are screened, selected and trained to beefed-up security and reporting avenues for vulnerable trainees, said Col. Michele Edmondson, commander of Air Force Basic Military Training.

Shorter shifts and tours of duty cut down on MTI burnout. Mental health professionals are embedded in the training corps.

“We have incredibly robust procedures for tracking any kind of misconduct,” Edmondson said.

There is no longer the opportunity to look the other way even in the face of minor infractions. In fact, MTIs are self-reporting their own slip-ups, such as using profanity, which is forbidden.

All the changes are constantly tracked through surveys and metrics, and they seem to be working. There have been no new reports of MTI sexual misconduct in more than 30 months.

A more professional training environment has emerged, Cody said, one that has moved away from the idea that it’s necessary to tear down a recruit in order to build him or her into an Airman.

“While that might have been a philosophy expected in the past, it is not conventional wisdom today. There’s no reason to break them down. We’re taking them as who they are and where they’re at, we’re acknowledging that, and we’re building them up,” Cody said. “We are still renowned and recognized around the world as the most professional enlisted force anywhere. That doesn’t just happen.”

Capstone week, Cody said, is “a culmination of steady progress.”

It was born in part out of recommendations in the 2012 BMT investigation report that training be shortened by a week and MTI manning increased. The effect, it said, would be twofold: eliminating “white space” in the schedule when some of the misconduct was found to have occurred and reducing manning requirements for MTIs who at the time were working 16 hours a day, six days a week.

But even before the publication of the report, Cody said, he had a conversation with Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh about how to reduce downtime in the BMT schedule — and get the character lessons from basic training to stick better.

Ultimately, the Air Force decided to condense the traditional training schedule into 7½ weeks and bring Airmen back for a Capstone week.

“We brought together a team of folks to give us some thoughts on how do you bring people in and help them connect as a team, to get that ownership from the beginning and start realizing it’s their Air Force right from the beginning,” Cody said.

A group of experts from across Air Education and Training Command decided what should be covered during those final five days of Capstone, Adelsen said.

Ethical decision making, warrior ethos, wingmanship, respect, Sexual Assault Prevention and Response, leadership, accountability, self-discipline and self-motivation topped the prioritized list. If there’s time, Capstone will also cover military bearing, technical competency and finances as well as discuss Airmen’s roles in the mission and balancing a personal and professional life.

Capstone week does not come at the expense of traditional training, Edmondson said. “The standards and graduation requirements remain as high as they were in the past.”

If you think that adding five days of character development will make basic training easier, think again, AETC commander Gen. Robin Rand told reporters Feb. 12 at the Air Force Association’s 2015 Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida.

“It’s not easier. Heck no,” he said. “Generationally, everyone probably thinks that. I think that our basic military training is as professionally done and as tough as we’ve had it and these Airmen are as prepared as they’ve ever been.”

The new schedule provides a more efficient use of time for certain training events, Adelsen said. For example, an obstacle course basic trainees are required to complete used to be a stand-alone, daylong experience that required busing recruits to a relatively remote location. Now that will take place alongside basic expeditionary skills training — BEAST for short — on a single day.

“Things like that saved a substantial amount of time,” Adelsen said.

After the graduation parade, after newly pinned Airmen have been reunited with teary-eyed parents overcome by their child’s transformation in the two months since they saw them last, there is Capstone.

Opening day begins with a video on the significance of the oath of office. It reminds the new Airmen of the tens of thousands who have preceded them since the founding of the Air Force 68 years ago.

When the video concludes, said 37th Training Wing Commander Col. Trent Edwards, “out from behind the screen walk the MTIs in their campaign hats. They take them off, walk up to the trainees and shake their hands — not as MTIs but as equals.”

Now is the time to “grow them, to mentor them, to solidify that foundation,” Edwards said. “It’s like orchestrating a movie and you have to get it right. It’s the wow factor. You’ve got to capture them on the first opportunity on the first day. This is different. This is not BMT.”

In fact, the Air Force has taken pains to ensure it is not, he said. “It’s a less stressful environment.” Dormitories and the dining facility are different.

Instruction will be a dynamic experience, Adelsen said. Airmen will be challenged with scenarios they may face in the coming months and years. What would you do, for instance, if a fellow Airman asks to borrow your prescription pills because he or she forgot to get them refilled? Or if a fellow Airman posts negative comments on social media about a shop supervisor that Airman blames for having to work on what was supposed to be an off-duty day?

While some of the lessons will come in the form of lectures, those, too, will be interactive.

“If we put PowerPoint in front of these young women and men, we have failed them and we’re going to lose them. We want to hear from them, get them talking, find out what’s made an impression and what questions they have,” Adelsen said.

“If we do this right, Capstone … can impact our Air Force and the character of our Air Force 10 years from now,” Edwards said. “This is not about the here and now. It’s about the future.”

(Jeff Schogol contributed to this story.)

Cody gives enlisted perspective at AFA expo

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(U.S. Air Force photo/Scott M. Ash)

ORLANDO, Fla. (AFNS) — Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James A. Cody outlined his top priorities for the enlisted force during the Air Force Association’s annual Air Warfare Symposium and Technology Exposition in Orlando, Florida, Feb. 12.

Cody talked to those in attendance and focused on key areas such as enlisted development, resiliency for Airmen and their families, and advancing the force.

He talked about the anticipation over the new enlisted evaluation and promotion systems, and explained that it won’t change who gets promoted, rather the order in which they’re promoted.

“We’re getting after a lot of things our Airmen have been asking for and that creates some uncertainty,” Cody said. “Because they knew where they fell before – where everybody else fell. Now, people are going to kind of fall in a little different order.”

Cody also spoke to his vision of the developmental pyramid, which Airmen should see as a model for career progression. The different layers and sides of the pyramid represent different stages or opportunities in an Airman’s career, and serve as stepping stones to progress higher.

That progression doesn’t come without resiliency, something Cody said is the “critical link” for Airmen and their families.

“You just can’t care enough – resiliency is not a program, (it’s) a core strength,” Cody said.

One of the ways the Air Force is instilling good resiliency practices is by starting from square one.

“We’re doing a lot as we move forward to kind of build that resiliency from the ground up,” Cody said. “So what better place for us to look at this (than basic military training).”

Cody said the first group of Airmen that will go through the Capstone Week just recently arrived at basic military training (BMT). After seven and a half weeks of intense and rapid training, and being transformed from trainees to Airmen, they will attend a final week where they can decompress and consider what it means to be an Airman.

The week is set aside to focus on building character skills, “that are going to be essential,” for those Airmen to succeed, Cody said.

Cody said it’s a time “to understand what they’re a part of, to really internalize those core values (and) to help them understand that character is important.”

Being resilient will allow Airmen to not only bounce back but to also be innovative and move the force forward.

Cody said we “have always been an Air Force of innovative Airmen.” He said today’s Airmen are more innovative than ever, mainly because the Airmen joining today are smarter than ever.

He said the key to continue being an innovative Air Force is for leadership to ensure they’re not stifling those Airmen with good ideas. Rather they need to take the time, listen and be supportive, because that’s the only way we’re going to continue to move forward.

News Briefs 02/13/2015

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MARCH HAS NEW YELLOW RIBBON REP

The new 452 AMW Yellow Ribbon Representative is 2nd Lt Shelley Lawrence. She can be reached at shelley.lawrence@us.af.mil or 951-655-4615. The Yellow Ribbon office is now located in Bldg. 2240 in the 452 OSS section. SMSgt Jo Carrillo’s Yellow Ribbon tour has come to a successful close. We wish her well as she continues in her military career.

NCO/SNCO INDUCTION CEREMONY APR 12

The March Top 3 Association will celebrate the concept of “Leadership through Service” during the 2015 NCO/SNCO Induction Ceremony, Sun., April 12, 10 a.m. at the Cultural Resource Center on base. If you achieved the rank of SSgt or MSgt within the last two years you are eligible to participate. Participants must RSVP not later than Feb. 22

The induction ceremony is a long-standing tradition within the Air Force which recognizes

individuals promoted to the ranks of SSgt and MSgt and the selfless sacrifice it takes to be inducted into this prestigious group. 

During the ceremony, eligible inductees will receive a certificate and a coin containing their engraved rank, name, and date of promotion.

Participation is highly encouraged to commemorate this rite of passage. Unit first sergeants and chiefs are also available to provide additional information.

FEBRUARY YELLOW RIBBON EVENT

The Air Force Reserve Command Yellow Ribbon Program invites you to a Regional Yellow Ribbon Training event to be held in Orange County, California, Feb. 27-March 1. This event will include activities, referral information, education, vendor booths and interactive breakout sessions that span the concerns and issues faced by reservists and their loved ones before and after a deployment, including: Tricare, Airmen & Family Readiness, ESGR,  legal assistance for wills & powers of attorney, Military Family Life Consultants, Personal Financial Consultants, and more. For information on the event and the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, contact the 452 AMW Yellow Ribbon Representative, 2nd Lt Shelley Lawrence at 951-655-4615 or shelley.lawrence@us.af.mil.

VIRTUAL AIRMAN’S ATTIC

Did you know March ARB has a virtual Airman’s Attic? Log on to Facebook and search “March ARB Airman’s Attic” to like it. The site is where all Team March members can post things they are in need of and/or offer items (for FREE) that they would like to donate to help someone at March in need. The site is NOT for selling or advertising. All items offered must be completely FREE. The link is as follows: https://www.facebook.com/marchairmansattic?ref=tn_tnmn#!/marchairmansattic. Please share the site with your family and friends so we can help some of our own.

FITNESS CENTER NEWS

Weekly Battles Ropes circuit at 12:30 and 5:30 p.m.

Mondays in Feb., 11:30 a.m. & 5 p.m., Spin Classes

Feb. 13, 10 a.m. – noon, Valentine Zumbathon event

February – Flag Football arrives

March 13, Annual Golf Tournament

April – First Mud Run

For more information, visit the Fitness Center or call 951-655-2284.

UPCOMING SINGLE AIRMEN EVENTS

Feb. 14: Go-kart racing at Adams Motorsport

Feb. 28: Flying Trapeze

Feb. 28: ¾-day Fishing Trip

For more information call ODR at 951-655-2816, Monday thru Friday 8:30 to 4:30. Trips are open to all personnel but Single Airmen have priority.

2015 CIVILIAN TSP CONTRIBUTION LIMITS

Calendar year 2015 has 27 pay periods since the last pay day falls on Jan. 1, 2016 (a Federal holiday), which means you will be paid one day earlier on Dec. 31, 2015. 

If you are under the Federal Employees Retirement System and you wish to receive the maximum agency matching contributions for 2015, you must ensure you do not reach the $18,000 contribution limit before the last pay day of the year.  If you reach the contribution limit before the last pay period you will not receive matching contribution for the pay period (s) that no contributions were made.

If you want to distribute your TSP contributions over the remaining pay periods in 2015, update your election in the Employee Benefits Information System (EBIS).  If you decide to change your election, take into consideration the effective date of your election and how many pay periods remain in the year.    

For additional information on contribution limits and effective dates, visit the MyPers website and search “Thrift Savings Plan contribution limit”.

Team March honors fallen Airman

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Airman Lionel Hendrick wanted to follow in his dad’s footsteps. His father, Clarence, retired from the 452nd Air Mobility Wing as an Air Force master sergeant after 25 years of service. Hendrick planned on doing the same, said Senior Master Sergeant Lali Gomez, first sergeant from the Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at March ARB, California.

Hendrick’s plan however was cut short last November.

Approximately a week before Thanksgiving, the 21-year-old Airman died in his sleep after returning home from the gym for a nap. He had served only two Unit Training Assembly weekends here.

When Hendrick passed, his parents requested he be buried at Riverside National Cemetery. However, according to DOD policy, service members must serve in the military at least two years to receive a military funeral and be allowed burial in a national cemetery, unless Killed In Action. This meant that Hendrick could not be rendered the military honors and respect that his longtime, Air Force father had hoped for.

After news that policy would prevent the military honors for Hendrick, Team March immediately came together and leapt into action. Gomez started making calls to find a way to give Hendrick a military burial.

“They have their rules. They have their regulations. They couldn’t bend them, and so we went for the next best thing,” said Gomez. “We just started working on making sure the honor guard was there, paying for bagpipes, and getting as many of our people out there as we could.”

It wasn’t just service members who wanted to ensure Hendrick received a special memorial.

Pearlie Davis, Hendrick’s former high school principal at Valley Christian High School, owned an expensive, premier burial plot. When Davis heard about the Hendrick’s family situation, she didn’t hesitate to donate her plot at Rose Hills Memorial Park, Whittier, California.

“Even though we will never have an answer as to why such an incredible young man passed away, there are people who are willing to go out of their way to show their love and their appreciation, and that’s what Miss Davis did,” said Maj. David Sarmiento, the 163rd Reconnaissance Wing’s chaplain at the base.

With help from Ken McKenzie, owner of Mckenzie Mortuary Services in Los Angeles, Riverside’s local Veterans of Foreign Wars ensured a 21-gun salute was performed at the burial as well as the playing of TAPS.

With the combined efforts of Gomez, Davis, Mckenzie and the March family, Hendrick was given a formal military burial service.

Col. Douglas S. Weskamp, 163 RW vice commander, praised the honor guard and volunteers for their dedication as wingmen for a new Airman.

“They did their job, (and) they did it with respect,” he said.

Weskamp and Sarmiento both agreed that not only was it the volunteers who were wingmen to Hendrick, but also the Airmen from the 452nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron who showed their upmost respect to their comrade.

“All the guys who worked with him in AMXS, even though they only worked with him for two drills, showed up in blues to pay their respect to the dad and Lionel and his friends,” said Sarmiento.

The rallying to provide military honors for Hendrick portrays the Wingman concept here at March Field. Whether an Airman serves his or her country many years or just a few months, the 452 AMW takes care of its own.

“It was hard because we didn’t know him, but wanted to do right by him,” said Gomez. “No matter how short of time he was with us, he was still a part of us.”

A Century of Black Life, History, and Culture

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(Second in a series of three)

Black History Month, or National African American History Month, is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing the central role they have played in U.S. history.

The Great Migration of African Americans from the South to industrial towns in the North began in the 1920s. By the 1960s, millions of African Americans had migrated north.

Last week, we presented some historic milestones that took place during the 1920s, 30s and 40s. This week we take a look at the next three decades.

The 1950s

Ralph J. Bunche wins the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the 1949 Armistice in the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East.

– Gwendolyn Brooks becomes the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize, which she receives for her poetry collection Annie Allen.

– The Supreme Court rules unanimously, in Brown v. Board of Education, against school segregation, overturning its 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson.

– Chuck Berry records “Maybellene.” A true showman, Berry goes on to write numerous rock and roll classics. He is also responsible for one of rock’s most recognizable stage moves, the duckwalk.

– Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun is the first Broadway play by an African American playwright. The title comes from the poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes.

– Berry Gordy Jr., with an $800 loan from his family, establishes Motown Records in Detroit, Michigan. Motown’s distinctive music plays an important role in the racial integration of popular music.

– Althea Gibson is the first African-American tennis player to earn a major title, winning both women’s singles and doubles championships at Wimbledon.

– For the first time since Reconstruction, the federal government uses the military to uphold African Americans’ civil rights when Soldiers escort nine students to desegregate a school in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The 1960s

– Four African-American college students hold a sit-in to integrate a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, launching a wave of similar protests across the South. One of those protests, the Friendship Nine who were arrested and jailed for 30 days for sitting at a segregated lunch counter in Rock Hill, S.C., were cleared of their charges for trespassing and breach of peace just last week, 54 years later.

– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gives his “I Have a Dream” speech to more than 200,000 people in Washington, D.C.

– Four African-American girls are killed in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The bombing elevated worldwide sympathy for the civil rights cause.

– Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American actor to win an Oscar for Best Actor, which he won for his role in Lilies of the Field.

– Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African-American Supreme Court justice. His distinctive tenure of service will last 24 years.

– Shirley Chisholm becomes the first African-American woman to be elected to Congress. She will serve for seven terms.

– Tennis player Arthur Ashe is the first African American to win the U.S. Open. He wins both the amateur and professional open national championships in the same year.

– The passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 marks a significant step toward equality for African Americans.

– With the full engagement of the U.S. in the Vietnam War, African-American service members continue the tradition of serving with distinction.

The 1970s

– Fifteen African-American members of Congress form the Congressional Black Caucus to present a unified African-American voice.

– Hank Aaron breaks Babe Ruth’s record for career home runs. Aaron continues to hold many of baseball’s most distinguished records today, including runs batted in (2,297), extra base hits (1,477), total bases (6,856), and most years with 30 or more home runs (15).

– The Jefferson’s, one of the first sitcoms about an African-American family, premieres. It will run for ten years, becoming one of television’s longest-running and most watched sitcoms.

– Alex Haley receives a special Pulitzer Prize for his novel Roots, showing the impact of slavery on American society. The miniseries is aired the following year, achieving the highest ratings for a television program.

– Barbara Jordan of Texas becomes the first African-American woman from the South to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She will serve three terms.

– Addie Wyatt becomes the first African-American woman elected International Vice President of a major labor union. In 1975, she and Barbara Jordan become the first African-American women named Person of the Year by Time magazine.

Impromptu comedy show

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452nd Maintenance Squadron has new commander

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U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Kevin Mitterholzer

March tankers support INHERENT RESOLVE

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(U.S. Air Force Photo by Staff Sgt. Perry Aston/Released)

Happy birthday, George Washington!

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(archives.gov)

(Taken from archives.gov)

George Washington’s Birthday is celebrated as a federal holiday on the third Monday in February. It is one of eleven permanent holidays established by Congress.

Federal holidays apply only to the federal government and the District of Columbia; Congress has never declared a national holiday binding in all states and each state decides its own legal holidays.

George Washington was born in Virginia on February 11, 1731, according to the then-used Julian calendar. In 1752, however, Britain and all its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar which moved Washington’s birthday a year and 11 days to February 22, 1732.

Americans celebrated Washington’s Birthday long before Congress declared it a federal holiday. The centennial of his birth prompted festivities nationally and Congress established a Joint Committee to arrange for the occasion.

At the recommendation of the Committee, chaired by Henry Clay of the Senate and Philemon Thomas of the House, Congress adjourned on February 22, 1832 out of respect for Washington’s memory and in commemoration of his birth.

Prompted by a memorial from the mayor and other citizens of Philadelphia, the House and Senate commemorated the 130th Anniversary of Washington’s birth by reading aloud his Farewell Address.

In a special joint session held in the House Chamber, the House and Senate, along with several cabinet officials, Justices of the Supreme Court and high-ranking officers of the Army and Navy, gathered to listen to the Secretary of State read the address aloud. Eventually, the reading of George Washington’s Farewell Address became an annual event for the Senate, a tradition that is still observed to this day.

Washington’s Birthday, however, did not become a legal holiday until January 31, 1879 when Congress added February 22nd to the list of holidays to be observed by federal employees in the District of Columbia. The act did not stipulate that employees were to be paid for the holiday – in fact, some government employees in the District of Columbia were paid while others were not.

In 1885, Congress resolved this discrepancy with legislation that required federal employees to be paid for all federal holidays and made federal holidays applicable to all federal government employees, including those employed outside the Washington D.C. area.

Washington’s Birthday was celebrated on February 22nd until well into the 20th Century. However, in 1968 Congress passed the Monday Holiday Law to “provide uniform annual observances of certain legal public holidays on Mondays.” By creating more 3-day weekends, Congress hoped to “bring substantial benefits to both the spiritual and economic life of the Nation.”

One of the provisions of this act changed the observance of Washington’s Birthday from February 22nd to the third Monday in February. Ironically, this guaranteed that the holiday would never be celebrated on Washington’s actual birthday, as the third Monday in February cannot fall any later than February 21.

Contrary to popular belief, neither Congress nor the President has ever stipulated that the name of the holiday observed as Washington’s Birthday be changed to “President’s Day.”

$1000 pizza donation

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Col. Russell Muncy, 452nd Air Mobility Wing commander, receives a $1000 donation of California Pizza Kitchen gift cards plus 750 free kid’s meals Feb. 5, 2015 from David Lee, Riverside Plaza store manager and Nicole Parsons, Victoria Gardens store manager, as Jamil Dada, vice president of investment services, Provident Bank, looks on. The CPK managers led their employees in a drive to collect donations from customers to thank local military members for their service. Muncy will distribute the donations evenly to all services and mission partners at March.