Company grade officer PME undergoes transformation

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Company grade officer PME undergoes transformation

Posted 7/8/2011

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by Phil Berube
Air University Public Affairs

7/8/2011 - MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFNS) -- Air Force senior leaders recently approved a plan to transform professional military education for company grade officers.

The two existing developmental education venues for lieutenants and captains will soon merge into a single in-residence opportunity for CGOs.

The air and space basic course at Air University here will transfer portions of its content to the squadron officer school in-residence program, and the final group of lieutenants will graduate ASBC this summer.

The revamped SOS course will expand from its current five-week duration to an eight-week program and will retain the "combined operations" with the U.S. Air Force Senior NCO Academy.

ASBC and SOS are aligned under Air University's Squadron Officer College, one of the colleges included in the Carl A. Spaatz Center for Officer Education.

"ASBC has been a success," said Col. Terrance McCaffrey, the SOC commandant. "It accomplished the mission for which it was created back in the 1990s. As a direct result of ASBC, today's officer corps now collectively embraces the warrior ethos, reflects an expeditionary mindset, better comprehends 'the family business' and is more adept at articulating what our Air Force brings to the fight."

Incorporating lessons from 20 years of expeditionary operations, the remaining training and educational offerings, from accessions programs to career-specific training to deployment and readiness training, will continue to meet basic developmental needs that ASBC was originally designed to address, McCaffrey said.

"Our senior leaders decided to have today's junior officers focus first on learning their individual specialties," McCaffrey added. "After these officers have mastered their specialties, SOC will help them to build upon their technical and experiential foundation with the expanded understanding of Air Force operations and processes, leadership and joint operations that will be core to the new SOS course."

The ASBC commandant, Col. Louis Dupuis, said that although the Air Force valued the learning outcomes produced by ASBC, senior leaders had to weigh these outcomes against the potential cost savings and the fact that some of those outcomes could be achieved through other means.

"The savings are considerable," Dupuis said. "The savings will be about $12 million in fiscal year 2012."

Upon discontinuation of the ASBC program, those instructors and staff members currently assigned to the school will transition from teaching duties to developing curriculum for the transformed SOS.

"Those ASBC topics that remain relevant to the learning needs of the more-senior SOS audience will have to be reworked to ensure students receive a valuable developmental experience within the overarching context of the SOS leadership development mission," McCaffrey said. "As those changes are made, other adjustments will have to be made in the existing SOS curriculum to ensure that the result is a coherent, engaging educational program that reaches, teaches and inspires its students at a graduate-level of learning."

"Although the goal for the new eight-week SOS is 100 percent in-residence attendance for line-of-the-Air Force officers, experience indicates it will be difficult to achieve this goal because of operations tempo," Dupuis said. "ASBC had an identical attendance goal, but because of operational concerns, it was unable to maintain that level of throughput."

Consequently, there will be a distance-learning alternative for those officers and civilians who are unable to attend the resident program, he said. The existing squadron officer school distance-learning course will continue to take new students until the revised course is completed and made available by June 2012.

The current five-week SOS courses will continue through September, when SOS will stand down temporarily while the curriculum is retooled. The new eight-week SOS course is scheduled to debut in early 2012.

Comments

9/9/2011 8:42:11 AM ET
ASBC was doomed to get canceled. It was truly a waste of time effort and money. Extending SOS should be postponed to FY 13 or FY14 otherwise the AF will waste more money give a certain commissioning group a do-over and wasting even more money. Air Force IN-efficiencies in work Also the Air Force can extent tour

Captain K, WPAFB

8/14/2011 9:43:12 PM ET
Never offer criticism without solutions or actionable alternatives. In my personal experience I think it would have been more value added had I received it enroute vice going TDY from my overseas duty station. It would appear the consensus is that ASBC was a big waste of time, particularly for Academy grads. The big fix then is for SOC and AFOATS to deconflict their teaching objectives with those of the military studies classes associated with each school. I have been deployed twice now once as a 2nd Lt. I could have used more exposure to joint or coalition operations. In fact, probably would be more beneficial if we tried to get some type of JPME in and mix in a USA USN USMC student here and there. If one of the purposes of ASBC was to get all of us young CGOs on the same page on big AF things like the targeting cycle getting the new curriculum so that it becomes germaine to a comm guy a FSS guy a personnel guy then becomes critical since we don't get much exposure

Capt Louis Nguyen, undisclosed

7/18/2011 5:06:37 PM ET
ASBC was a HUGE waste of time. To say that it was mandatory and then excuse UPT and NAV students is yet another way the AF drives that wedge between the rated community and the rest of the AF. Couple that with not learning ANYTHING of practical use and I can certainly agree to it needing to be cancelled. SOS being longer will just waste MORE time. Go back and look at what you are teaching and see what Capt's REALLY need to know in the REAL AF and cut out all the rest of the useless info. Also will this new move eliminate the necessity to do this by correspondence since the push is to have 100 percent of all eligibles go? I've always thought the by correspondence option was another HUGE waste of time and money. The AF thinks it's important enough for our enlisted to attend ALS NCOA and SNCOA, why is it less important that our officer corps not attend their PME in-residence too?

Wild Bill, Maryland

7/18/2011 3:04:56 PM ET
They don't need to keep ASBC, a lot of those lessons should be rolled into ROTC and OCS classes instead of some of the mindless crap we did in AS class during ROTC. Losing the ability to do the wargames for the CAOCATO planning stuff might not be that great, however that can probably be done at SOS.

John, MD

7/15/2011 8:48:19 AM ET
I was a part of the first or second ever ASBC course. It had its moments. It wasn't a frat party but that may have been the result of the classmates I had. You go to a course to network and to learn a bit from the PME. If you don't get that it's to your detriment. The AF should leave SOS at 5 weeks and just get rid of ASBC. More money saved and LTs get to learn their jobs for 3-4 years before having to go through the square-filling of PME.

Maj W, Pentagon

7/14/2011 4:01:20 PM ET
LOL! When I came in, there was no ASBC and SOS was 7 or 8 weeks. We've come full circle. To B Ewing at Maxwell, in 18 years as an officer the only people I've ever heard say that people are better leaders because of ASBC or SOS are Maxwell cadre. The usual commetary I hear out in the real Air Force is box checked.

Scott, Langley AFB

7/14/2011 3:31:36 PM ET
So does that mean no more Icarus? Seriously though, good move on the AF to ditch the course. It was a course that allowed brand new over-priveledged USAFA Lt's to learn how to find their own meals, do their own laundry, and ease back into the real world. However, making SOS three weeks longer is a very poor choice. I would rather attend an AFSC-specific PME. I really don't care about networking with other AFSCs. Time to get ready to go through ASBC v2.0 while at SOS. More time away from the family while enjoying an already busy 11 dwell. Thank you Big Blue.

Lt Bee-there Done-that, CONUS

7/14/2011 12:28:33 PM ET
Despite what Academy grads state, it's my personal opinion that they DO need ASBC. ROTC needs it as well. The most important part of the course is the interraction between priors and non-priors. I recieved some great questions from Academy and ROTC grads and it was best to learn it there first. SNCO's working with the Lts was crucial as well.

John Williams, Dyess

7/14/2011 9:02:48 AM ET
So how about the people who have gone through ASBC and not gone through SOS yet? We basically get to experience ASBC all over again before SOS. What a joy.

Do-over, aor

7/14/2011 4:48:17 AM ET
I think the comments here tell more of the story than the article. You only get out what you put in. All those who say it was a waste of time, look in the mirror. I'm just sayin'.

Capt J, Afghanistan

7/14/2011 12:27:05 AM ET
If they really want to save money, which is what this all boils down to, why don't they keep SOS at 5 weeks for the next 4 years then bump it up to 8 weeks They could cut the instructor staff significantly as well as TDY costs.

Capt B, Afghanistan

7/13/2011 6:41:49 PM ET
ASBC was always a public acknowledgement that the roots of our officer accessions programs were flawed. We couldn't teach our USAFA cadets these traits in four years To capture the same objectives and training you just increase the OTS length or ROTC field training regime to accomodate the need. Eliminating ASBC was on target. Fix the root issues and remove the unneeded drain on opsTDY.

D Michael, Huntsville AL

7/13/2011 4:14:33 PM ET
Capt E, I'm not sure why you think ASBC is so great. Have you been? It was an epic waste of taxpayer funds and everyone's time. Chris Kimball has a good point. It was fun but that should not be the point of ASBC. You make excellent points about standardization with the other services' officer training but ASBC as it is today is absolutely not the solution to put us on the same level as Navy Army or Marines.

Advocate, FL

7/13/2011 10:48:41 AM ET
They need to keep ASBC. Brand new LTs need to be indoctrinated into the AF, they need to know some AF background to be relevant. Take a look at your sister services' PME programs. Even the 2Lt program is 3-4 times as long; the Capt-level programs are even longer. Now look at the end product the AF is producing: low-mid managers who have no idea of the joint military decision-making process or joint operations, period. They have no true idea of what the United States Air Force brings to the fight. They only know their own AFSC-related portion of the base-level mission. This is very sad. An average Marine Infantry officer knows more about aircraft capabilities than AF officers. The AF has a long ways to go to produce leaders. This can only be done by investing the required time and resources to expand the officers' knowledge of military operations. Make them see how the AF fits in to the big military. How can these young officers lead and motivate young airman in todays Air F

Capt E, USA

7/12/2011 4:43:56 PM ET
ASBC was a waste of time for Academy graduates, as it reviewed the same subjects we studied in 4 years of Military Studies. It was a bad idea to implement this training to attempt to fix a training pipeline deficiency, and adding it to SOS is a worse idea since the information is even less valuable after 7 years in the operational Air Force.

Tommy, Phoenix AZ

7/12/2011 2:56:47 PM ET
ASBC going away; good. SOS getting longer; bad. After eight and four years respectively, I don't remember a single person from either class. So much for networking. With my own personal interest in professional development, the academics were redundant to say the least. We should get rid of all in-residence PME for a couple years and see if the Air Force falls into the back hole of the uneducated. I think not.

Overeducated, CONUS

7/12/2011 1:59:06 PM ET
Eight weeks! What a waste of time that will be. ASBC did nothing for me and having spoken to many of my classmates the sentiment was echoed repeatedly. What would be useful is a course on how the Air Force actually functions, how to manage the enlisted corps, and how to manage our own career i.e. vMPF AMS etc. And what does this mean for those of us who have already attended ASBC and taken SOS by correspondence?

Jerry, Barksdale AFB LA

7/12/2011 1:57:18 PM ET
What needs to be done is have a transition period. They should keep the current 5 week SOS for at least 4 years. That way they are not duplicating instruction from what the current captains obtained during ASBC. After that they can look at extending SOS to the 8 week course. It seems like an immediate drop of ASBC and adding three weeks to SOS to cover that material will only expose the individuals attending SOS in the next few years to the same material. Why spend the money to do this twice?

Jerry, Oklahoma

7/12/2011 10:53:39 AM ET
I love the line about wanting to have 100 percent in-residence for ASBC but because of operational concerns it couldn't be done. These are 2Lts. What operational concerns could there be? Not going to ASBC because of tech training courses and because your commanders don't want to let their 2Lts leave their unit after they have checked in are not operational concerns. It is poor leadership and management.

Almost Retired, ROAD

7/12/2011 9:21:21 AM ET
Although not as challenging as it could've been, it served its purpose: to get Lts together to socialize and begin building lasting relationships. It really won't be missed and is a good move on the AF...great savings... Too bad the AF can't do that for other things, like uniforms. Regarding Kimball's comments... You went to ASBC because you had to unless you were in UPT, not because you wanted to go party.

Capt D, NCR

7/11/2011 9:53:56 PM ET
Does "continue through September" mean the 12 Sep - 14 Oct class is cancelled or not? The language is confusing...

M, Kadena

7/11/2011 7:46:10 PM ET
Unfortunately, it's those cynical party-only type mentalities that get heard the most. However there are literally thousands of Lts, Capts, and even SNCOs out there who will quickly attest to how much better off our future and current leaders are because of the experiences gained from ASBC. It is definitely like many other situations in life. You get out what you put in.

B Ewing, Maxwell

7/11/2011 12:36:45 PM ET
This would be awesome. ASBC was like a 6-week-long frat party. I would want to go to the SOS if I were still in, even though I went to ASBC just for the partying.

Chris Kimball, Indiana

7/11/2011 10:41:26 AM ET
Finally! ASBC was nothing but a waste of time and effort. This is one of the best moves the AF has made in quite a while.

D. Heffernan, Queens NY

7/8/2011 7:02:40 PM ET
So Maxwell is wrapping ASBC into the new SOS. Do captains who go to the new SOS who attended ASBC get to skip the additional three weeks? Looks like an extra three weeks down the drain for captains who have already had this material.

Cavemen, Bedrock

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