Formal Training Unit Opens at Pope Field

On October 19, 2010, Maj. Gen. Brian Meenan and Col. Merle "Mad Dog" Hart cut the ribbon signifying the opening of the Formal Training Unit. A detachment of the 440th Operations Group at Pope Field, the FTU is an innovative training program for aeromedical crew training. (U.S. Air Force photo by Jerry Green)

Formal Training Unit Opens at Pope Field

Lead Instructor and program coordinator, Maj. Chad Corliss, demonstates the capabilities of the new state of art patient care facility at the 440th Formal Training Unit to Maj. Gen. Brian Meenan during a recent visit to the training facility at Pope Field, N.C. (U.S. Air Force photo by Jerry Green)

Formal Training Unit Opens at Pope AFB

Col. Martie Soper, Commander of the 440th Formal Training Unit, explains to Maj. Gen. Meenan that the facility where the training unit is located was a storage warehouse less than three months before the Oct. 19, 2010 opening. Colonel Stoper credits the work to the volunteers from the 95th Airlift Squadron. Listed in the picture with General Meenan and Colonel Soper is (left to right), Senior Airman Joe Merrifield, Loadmaster, Lt. Col. Bret Larson, 95th Airlift Squadron commander, Chief Master Sgt. Steve Koetter, Loadmaster Supervisor. (U.S. Air Force photo by Jerry Green)

Aeromedical formal training unit opens at Pope Field

Published Nov. 10, 2010
By Senior Airman Peter R. Miller
440th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

POPE FIELD, N.C. -- A new aeromedical evacuation formal training unit at Pope Air Force Base, N.C., welcomed its first class of students Oct. 25 as Air Force Reserve Command seeks to meet its training requirements in a more efficient manner.

Twenty aeromedical evacuation crewmembers from around the globe reported for the first day of classes to begin basic aircrew qualification training. The new training unit is formally known as Det. 1, 440th Operations Group.

The program is set up to provide 25 days of training, said Col. Mike Dankosky, aeromedical evacuation program manager at Headquarters AFRC, Robins AFB, Ga.
"The Airmen then return to their various units of assignment for a short additional training program necessarily conducted at home station to finalize training, which converts them to 'mission qualification' status to meet worldwide deployment requirements," Colonel Dankosky said. "This has never been done before with this efficiency."

"Full mission qualification cycle times vary among the 32 AE units, but it usually takes between 90 and 180 days for a new AECM to obtain BAQ and be ready to deploy," said Maj. Chad Corliss. Major Corliss was the primary person responsible for developing the FTU concept and making it a reality.

The FTU standardizes training across the Air Force, leverages and synchronizes scarce resources, and generates a broad range of cost efficiencies, the major said. Overall, it's just a smarter way to qualify aeromedical evacuation crewmembers, he said.

"It just makes sense," Colonel Dankosky said. "This is not mass production: It's a logically structured, strategically resourced comprehensive aircrew progression qualification program that is completed in 25 days."

Read more about the new FTU in the December issue of Citizen Airman Magazine.