00:00:07,750 --> 00:00:09,861 Hello again , everybody . And welcome to our second Avengers podcast from the Showplace of the Air Force Joint Base , San Antonio Randolph , Texas . I'm your host for this episode , Jet Frea from the 3/40 flying Training Group Public Affairs Team . This podcast is dedicated to bringing you total force tips and talks from subject matter experts and leaders throughout the Air Force to help inspire and inform in our first podcast series . We wanted to give you a better idea of who we are . And in this episode , we'll discuss what we do to help explain that we're welcoming back to previous Avengers to include a special guest from one of our training squadrons out at J BS A lackland Texas . Please introduce yourselves . Colonel Goldstein , uh three forth flying training group commander , Chief master and Christopher Howard at 3/40 sel and Major Rob Glover 4 33rd training squadron commander . Well , thank you all again for joining us . Let's start off with the main question . Uh I wanted to ask about what the 3/40 is and then what our team does . Uh You bet we're a , we're a training organization by , by nature . We started back in 98 when we uh stood up again , primarily to be a flying instructor training group , um , about 400 people or so . And it's grown out to be about 850 or so . Uh Since that 98 stand up , uh big picture , we got five flying training squadrons . Each one has about uh 75 instructor pilots that , that we augment the uh active duty . We also have a flying uh training squadron at the academy that doesn't teach uh undergraduate pilot training students . It actually teaches uh cadets at the Air Force Academy there . Uh everything from uh powered flight to gliders to um parachute and jump . Uh and they included the uh the wings of blue in that as well . We also have a uh squadron which we're gonna hear from later from a major Glover at the 4 33rd group of MT I that uh push flights um every eight weeks down at uh J BS A Lackland . And then finally , we do have um what we call UFT undergraduate flying training um soon to be squadron here which is admin control of all reserve pipeline training that has to do with flying air battle management and career enlisted aviators . So we do a lot here . Uh and to do that , we use about a 60 to 80 person staff here at the group to make uh make the machine work and they do a great job with it . Thank you , sir . Uh chief , I had a question for you . Um So uh with uh the 3/40 how does this comprehensive training approach complement our active duty counterparts ? So , you know , when we look at uh how the reserves structured , right , we're a catch for any of those active duty uh skill sets that walk out the door , right ? Um And what the 3/40 does is it provides an opportunity for those uh instructors that uh have done it on active duty to then progress in uh their life and then be part of that TF I construct , right ? So when we talk about that comprehensive uh structure , uh what we'll do is uh we'll be much like a reserve associate unit , right ? Um attached to one of these training uh squadrons that reg A manages and uh we complement their staff and their instructor staff to make sure that uh we can get after that mission set , right ? Um We are able to leverage the experience as well as some of the individuals that will grow internally uh to provide a robust TF I structure um to get after the mission of training airmen on a regular basis , you won't see a difference between a reg a instructor or reserve instructor based on that , that connective tissue that resides in those units . Uh the skill level and the requirements and quite often uh reserve cadre are the ones that are bringing uh a lot of years of experience , right . A lot of our instructors have , uh , you know , double digit years of experience when we're talking about on the flying side and when we talk about , uh , our , uh , MTIS and mtls across the board , they're bringing other experience and different mission sets that , uh , REG af doesn't necessarily bring to the table every day . Thank you , Chief . Uh , sir . Uh , in terms of the 4 33rd , what role does the training squadron have in developing airmen and guardians ? Yeah , so that's a , uh that's a two part question there . So one of them may be uh a little bit more obvious . Uh 1 may not be so much so . So , uh as far as developing airmen goes , uh it's not just developing the airmen , we actually create the airmen . Uh We get all of the accession , all the enlisted in sessions from the air force , uh whether it's active duty guard reserve , it doesn't matter . Uh they , my staff uh takes them in as soon as they get off the bus . Um And we get a big wide range of , of civilians that show up . Uh and we take every one of them and we turn them into uh into airmen at the end of 7.5 weeks of training . Uh And , and it's a , a large range of who we get . Uh we get uh those uh trainees that uh have wanted for nothing when they were at home , you know , straight a students . Um , uh , college football . Uh , yeah , football players , college degrees . Um , everything all the way from to the , the , the kids that get off the bus with , uh , the only thing that they own is in a plastic Walmart sack and that's all they've got with them and we treat them all the same and we push them all the way through . So , as far as developing airmen go , uh , we really create them . Uh The second part that may not be as easily identifiable . Uh as far as developing goes is , is wherever you think might be an effective uh leadership laboratory can hold nothing towards uh to basic training . Uh I could take a staff sergeant who has never led uh a single troop in their life . And now bam , overnight , I've given them 50 people that they're responsible for the health safety , welfare feeding and training of , of every one of those . And then the same goes with my , my master sergeants , uh that may have only supervised a couple of people in their life . Now , they're riding on uh a group of 10 to 15 , maybe 20 instructors and have uh 200 to 300 trainees under them , uh Captains , uh FG OS , it's all the same . I can give them a leadership experience that they are not going to see anywhere else . And that's how just , just doing the job I develop airman at the 4 33rd . Now , in terms of the mtls or MTIS . Um What does that process look like for folks that are interested ? So , so if somebody was interested in being an MT I , what they would do is , uh , I mean , I have my own recruiting staff , uh , so they would be able to get in contact with my recruiting team . Um , and the recruiting team will step them through all of the , the paperwork that's involved . Uh There's a pretty extensive vetting process , but the recruiting team can take care of a lot of those things . Uh , once they step through that , uh , that recruiting and vetting process , then I'll sit down and interview them , uh , to see if , uh , they have what it takes to be an MT I , um , and then once all that is said and done , I can , uh , bring them on orders and then I'll send them to the MT I schoolhouse . Uh , that's a several month process of , of training and gaining the , the eight BRAVO A FSC , uh , and the special duty , uh , that identifier that goes along with it after those , uh , few months . Then , now they are a student and assigned to a trainer , MT I , and they now have a certain period of time . Uh , right now it's 60 days of , uh , student trainee , uh , experience that they would need to get before they can be pushing a flight by themselves . Thank you , sir . I have a two part question for one for the command team and one for Major Glover . Um , the first question was what does the future hold for the 4 33rd TRS ? Ok . Well , yeah , that's , um , we're obviously , uh , I'll start by bragging on a little bit in the last two years during COVID . Um , they had to spread out a lot down there . They couldn't , they couldn't operate the same way . And , uh , what the 4 33rd and Major Glover did was , was pretty amazing . They , they , instead of being embedded with the other seven units and , um , supporting them with their manning , they actually brought them all back into one building , uh , pretty much put them all on active duty orders and they pushed an eighth line down there . So eighth line means that a whole another training class , um , is what they've been able to do . So they're part time reservists have been for the most part on full time for about 2 to 2.5 years down there . So , it's been , uh , pretty , pretty incredible what they've done . And , and what that's allowed the Air Force to do is continue to meet their , um , their input goal of training airmen where , where some of the , um , services had to stand down for a little bit during COVID , uh , the Air Force . Uh , as far as I know , never had to , partly because actually they didn't have to stand down , uh , partly because of what Major Glover was able to do with the squadron and effectively activating them . So that was awesome . So that , that's kind of where they came from . You , you can't , uh , have part timers activated on , on orders forever . And so what they're , uh , now that they've kind of gotten into a nice rhythm down there , uh , they're going to transition to , um , and Major Glover can , can expound on this one to a , a different role , uh kind of focusing on one of their , uh phases of training called beast . Um , and they're going to also feed their people back out into the other , uh , re regular force squadrons . So as far as future goes , they're gonna still continue to do everything they were mandated to do . They're gonna come down off of the , we'll call it surge s , they've been operating in and , uh , wearing themselves , I would say wearing themselves out . But , uh , they've been , they've been running hard for a while . Um , and we appreciate the civilian employers that have allowed their members to , to go stand up for about 2 , 2.5 years here , uh , to get this mission done . So that's , that's where I see the future of , um , the 4 33rd and , uh , I'll leave it at that . Uh Major Glover . Uh , could you elaborate , uh for our external community that , um , really may not know what the beast uh involves the beast complex ? Well , the , the scenario is gonna be called , uh , pace of forge now , um , is a part of the training which uh others may remember , uh when you went out to the tent city , you know , beast to get that , that experience in a somewhat simulated deployment exercise or scenario or environment . Uh That's what the New Pacer Forge is gonna be . Uh It's been completely revamped to be very scenario trainee uh driven . Um That is what that part of that is . Um And there's a few different options that are out there for the 4 33rd to , to do . Uh But when you think about that , like the boss said , when you think about that long term uh sustainability of using uh active duty mandates , uh It's not always there , it's not always a guaranteed . Um So what basic training had to do was they had to think about how would they , because all of the things that , that all of the , the positives that were created because of an eighth line squadron , they don't want to get rid of . And um I've been around basic training for several years now and I could see that it's a lot of good things that are out of eight line squadrons . Uh So in order to not get rid of them , but still mitigate some of that MP A risk , um they re they're gonna be reising one of the other squadrons uh to fill in our stead . Uh And then we would go back to one of the more , the more traditional role of providing that , that boost of support to any squadron that may need uh some additional help . Well , thank you , sir . Uh That's pretty much all the questions I have for this episode . Um Is there anything that y'all would like to add or have any final thoughts before we close this episode ? I'd just like to , you know , brag a little bit more on uh our MTIS , right ? So , uh they really um spearheaded that , that surge capacity . Um They did a really strong proof of concept when we talk about the A flame squadron . Uh they get a lot of credit uh from half all the way down about uh that level of work , which now is the new baseline when we talk about uh training . And uh I , I see them as they pivot into the beast complex and into Pacer Forge , uh which is uh known as the primary agile combat employment range , uh ford operations , readiness generation exercise . Um It's , you know , they're gonna do just as well in that , in that mission set as well as take all that experience we talked about earlier , uh with all those years of experience of instruction and all of the years of experience out in the field back into uh each one of those eight line squadrons . Uh So an excellent group of uh individuals out there doing some excellent work , hard work , right ? When we talk about workload , these individuals are up at the , at the crack of dawn beforehand to get our airmen , uh , out of the door prepped , they get them through every day , you know , pushing those flights , making sure they're trained , getting them , uh , squared away so that they become the airmen that we need for the future . And then when we see what they're gonna do here with the Pacer Forge , I think we'll see the same thing when we're looking at , uh , what the next threat looks like . Thank you , Chief . Yeah , I'll just , I'll just throw out there . Um , everything that you think , uh , from what a military training instructor or MTL has to go through is it's probably accurate . What I mean by that is the amount of work hours they put in , uh , to force these airmen is incredible . They do it with a great spirit . Um , effectively , their commute is always with their headlights on . They come in early before the sun goes up . Um , and , and they're not leaving until the sun's well below the horizon . So , um , their headlights are getting worn out . Uh , but like I said , they have a great spirit . Uh , there is no holidays , um , breaks for these guys . They're , they're spending , uh , Thanksgiving and Christmas , uh , in the , in the barracks in the dorms , uh , with their trainees and , and taking care of them . So I do also want to put my , uh , hats out to , to those mtis and mtls out there . Yeah . And I can't , I can't brag on them enough . I'm just , every time I see em , uh , marching a flight , I'm just so proud of them and , and I don't know how they do it . They're better airmen than I am . Um , and I still fear the campaign hat . I'm just gonna tell you that right now . Tick , tick tick . And that campaign hat rolling down . Everybody remembers who their , their MT I was so , um , I remember mine when I was doing my training . Uh these guys leave a lasting impression on the , the airmen that they graduate and they lead . Uh , and it's a tough job . Uh , but it's probably the most rewarding job that , that these guys will , will ever do . And it's probably the one that I will uh miss the most when I , when it's time for me to move on to . Well , thank you all for your time and thank you for listening and be sure to check out more podcasts pertaining to all things Air Force related . As a reminder , you can follow your 3/40 Avengers on social media via Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and youtube . You can also catch up on the latest news across the command on our website at www 0.3 40 FTG dot A FRC dot A F dot Mill from our entire 3/40 Avengers team have a happy Thanksgiving . I'm Jet Frea and we'll catch up with you anywhere anytime