Mission support group finds creative solution to training turbulence

Published May 2, 2007
By Tech. Sgt. Leo Brown
442nd Fighter Wing public affairs

WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. -- As commanders and first sergeants struggle to keep their Citizen Airmen up to date on ancillary training, leadership from the 442nd Mission Support Group recently established "Ancillary University."

The two-month-old program, which features classes en masse versus individual and small-group training, is designed to meet the sometimes seemingly overwhelming training requirements and could potentially save thousands of man-hours.

According to the Air Force Audit Agency's "Ancillary Training Audit Report," issued March 15, there were 89 ancillary training courses Air Force-wide, as of August 2006.

The audit also notes that "142 (70 percent) of 203 members, reviewed at eight organizations, either did not accomplish training by the due date or did not have certificates of completion on file to support one or more required deployment-related training courses."

"There's little doubt that there's exploding requirements for ancillary training," said Col. Mark Culbertson, 442nd MSG commander. "It's a problem recognized across the Air Force - the Guard, the Reserve and active duty. It's acute in the Guard and Reserve because of the limited time we have."

"What the active duty gets done in 30 days, we're compressing into 16 hours," said Mr. John Hickman, 442nd MSG training manager. Part of the problem is the wing doesn't have near the number of computers in its work centers to accomplish the training on an individual basis.

The lack of time and computers prompted a discussion between Colonel Culbertson, Mr. Hickman and several others, including Col. Mark Ronco, 442nd Fighter Wing vice commander, Lt. Col. Charles French, the group's deputy commander, Capt. Joe Walter, 442nd Military Personnel Flight commander and Senior Master Sgt. Wendy Bannon, 442nd Newcomers Training Flight superintendent.

From these talks, Ancillary University was born.

"If we pool our resources and try to centrally teach these classes, we'll minimize the number of trainers we have to provide," Colonel Culbertson said. "(Ancillary University) started in February but we didn't advertise it very much. We had some 'hiccups,' but we think we fixed them. We had a better response in March."

The colonel and Mr. Hickman said they hope the "university's" enrollment continues to increase.

"We encourage people to get training this way," Colonel Culbertson said. "We encourage commanders to send people and we encourage people to tell us how to make this better. This is not cast in stone. It's a work in progress.

Col. Culbertson and Mr. Hickman noted that there is a fine line to walk on how one looks at ancillary training.

"Most of this is serious training," Colonel Culbertson said. "It requires proper motivation from people. But could (the training) be held just if you're mobilizing? Could it be something less than an annual requirement? It's about finding the right frequency and the right place. Is (the training) more important than learning how to fuel an aircraft or how to drive a bulldozer or how to shoot a gun?"

"Even though people think the training is just busy work, it's important," Mr. Hickman said. "It's relevant. Don't blow it off, because it could be important to you one of these days."

"(AU) is just an option for the wing," Colonel Culbertson said. "(Airmen) don't have to be signed up (for classes) in advance. Please use it and please tell us how to do it better."

Ancillary University's courses, offered in Bldg. 705 each unit training assembly, will be listed in the Mohawk Yellow Pages each month.