Technical school training gets revamp Published March 24, 2015 By Senior Airman Scott Jackson 17th Training Wing Public Affairs GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- The 17th Training Group leadership will change the rules for pipeline students just entering the military in order to make more effective use of their time and focus more on character development April 1. The 517th Training Squadron in California's Presidio of Monterey inspired the program with their training which leadership has geared exclusively for the 17th Training Wing. The decision to change the current program came from Col. Michael Grunwald Jr., 17th TRG Commander, after assessing the use of Airmen's time. "If you look at an Airman's morning we account for them about three to four different times in the space of about 90 minutes and most of that space is used doing the accountability," said Grunwald. "The idea here is that we give some of that time back to the Airmen. In the afternoon they form up, do accountability and march, so the Airmen might not get to their dorm room until 5:00 p.m. That's an hour and a half to move less than a mile. Again, not the most efficient use of their time." The changes look to solve this inefficiency by allowing Airmen in advanced transition period and transitional phase grade to walk to and from school instead of marching. "Now we can hold Airmen there to do study hall, and we can do study hall earlier. They also can go straight to dinner, rather than going all the way to do the dorms, getting dinner and then going to study hall," said Grunwald. The new plan also seeks to emphasize character development growth. "With this new program, we're going to still emphasize accountability, because we're in the military, but also foster responsibility," said Grunwald. "There are two components; one component is changing our professional development. The second part of it is how we operationalize the inspire piece, how do we again get Airmen to do the right thing because they want to do it?" The 17th TRG feels that one answer to this is modifying the physical training program. Airmen who make a 90 percent or above on their monthly assessment are free to work out as they see fit. Airmen in initial training phase status and others who make below 90 percent will stay in the standard PT program. Military training leaders find this new training plan to be good for the Airmen who have already served a decent amount of time in the military. "A good portion of the 316th Training Squadron consists of transition period graduates who have come here from the Defense Language School in Monterey, California," said Staff Sgt. Anton V. Auster, 316th TRS Military Training Leader. "Most of them, if not all have been in the Air Force for well over a year now and should know all the rules, regulations and expectations that are placed upon them by their leadership and the Air Force culture." MTLs also find the new plan a great opportunity to focus their attention more on Airmen straight out of basic training. "Currently, each MTL has around 70 to 90 Airmen assigned to them and obviously with the number being that high it could be difficult to have one-on-one time with each Airman but that should become easier after April 1," said Auster. Grunwald sees this new plan as a way to emphasize treating students as professionals. "This is about treating Airmen with dignity and respect. It's about treating them like professionals, like they are, and are growing into. When I got here, it was about train and develop. Now it's about train, develop and inspire. We just need to operationalize the inspire part of it," said Grunwald. The 17th TRW plans to introduce the program and evaluate its success, making changes over the coming year based on the program's effectiveness.
