ARLINGTON, Va. — As we move forward into the New Year, I’d like to reflect upon the past, “Year of the Defender” and how this critical initiative equipped our Defenders to be more lethal and more ready. The increased investment in training, resourcing and equipment provided the career field with a spark that will continue to deliver capabilities to our Defenders for years to come.
Our initial efforts focused at the source of proficiency and professionalism by overhauling the curriculum at the Security Forces Academy. A top to bottom review of the Academy was critical in providing the operational units a higher caliber Defender upon graduation. With the support of our strong Security Forces Academy leadership team and our elite security forces Instructor cadre, we quickly updated our curriculum and implemented the changes in record time. This effort was critical in improving the foundation of our Defender’s development.
Much needed focus was placed on human capital investment to protect our most important asset – the Defender. Sustained efforts were placed to institute leader-led training. Leader led training put our supervisors back into the loop of owning the responsibility of training the Airmen they lead. This effort has built a stronger connection and responsibility of ownership in the supervisor with their Airmen. Additionally, we placed focus on tier training, which provides training gates that all Defenders must go through to ensure they are proficient for the skill level of their current rank. The tier level training has provided operational units the ability to determine overall readiness of their Airmen based on whether they are enlisted or officer.
