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Seasoning program gets Airmen trained faster

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jason Schaap
  • 931st ARG Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  A year ago, Brad Vanzandt was a tractor salesman wondering what direction he wanted his life to take.

He decided to make a change, a big change of "220,000 volts."

He told his father, an Air Force retiree and electrical engineer, what he wanted to do. The contract jobs his father worked on in Topeka, Kan., were big jobs - 220,000-volt type jobs. He would need plenty of training.

So the younger Vanzandt went to an Air Force Reserve Command recruiter here. The 931st Civil Engineer Squadron had an open electrical position, the recruiter said, and a new program to allow him to work full-time to speed up his training. The elder Vanzandt told his son to jump at the chance.

After completing basic training and technical school, Airman Vanzandt is now training with the 22nd Air Refueling Wing, the 931st's host unit at McConnell AFB. He's on active-duty orders funded by Air Force Reserve Command's Season Training Program.

A month into the program, Airman Vanzandt has done everything from "changing light bulbs" to "installing the receptacles" the bulbs go into.

"They switch me around about every week," he said.

When he finishes the six months of full-time work the program allows for his career field, Airman Vanzandt will be trained well beyond what a "traditional" one-weekend, two-weeks-per-year schedule would have offered.

"It's unreal how much they learn," said Shannon Gilcrest of the 22nd CES. "It amounts to years (of traditional Reserve training)."

Mr. Gilcrest is Airman Vanzandt's supervisor and has been an engineer at McConnell for 15 years, first as an Airman then as a civilian. He has had two 931st engineers in the program work for him and watched how their availability can help the active-duty force as well.

"It's a win-win for both of us," Mr. Gilcrest said, referring to the recent need for engineers in the 931st and 22nd squadrons. "We can use the extra hands, and they can use the training."

Senior Master Sgt. Pam Summers, 931st Education and Training chief, also used the words "win-win" to describe the two-year old seasoning program. Not only do 3-skill level Airmen get 5-level training in a hurry, they enjoy getting paid to learn, and traditional reservists like Airman Vanzandt use the increased training pace to advance in their civilian careers. At the same time, the 931st becomes more combat ready.

The seasoning makes Airmen "more functional," Sergeant Summers said. "They're more productive when they are here on drill weekends."

Airman 1st Class P.J. Paschal is taking advantage of the program during her summer break. She'll soon have to squeeze her one weekend a month as a jet engine mechanic for the 931st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron into a busy schedule teaching Spanish to high schoolers.

Like other Airmen, she uses her full-time status to work on required Career Development Courses when she has time in between hands-on training.

"When school starts, I'm not going to have a lot of time to work on this," Airman Paschal said.

Maintainers are among those who have benefited most from seasoning, Sergeant Summers said. The program has been a "huge help" to the 931st's Aerospace Medicine Flight too, she added, allowing new AMDF Airmen to serve on temporary duty at other Air Force bases for medical training not available at McConnell.

AMDF's Airman 1st Class Elliott Snow didn't need to leave McConnell for information management training but he did have to find a different 931st unit to train in. He's currently on orders with the 931st's Communication and Information Systems Flight. His trainer is Tech. Sgt. Roxanne Halenka, information systems flight chief.

"He is going to stay here until he is fully trained," Sergeant Halenka said.

Information managers who go "straight to the field" tend to get bogged down doing other work that slows their upgrade training, she said. The seasoning program allowed Staff Sgt. Crystal Bozick, Sergeant Halenka's previous trainee, to finish her training and to fill an information manager shortage in the 18th Air Refueling Squadron.

Sergeant Bozick, who was assigned to AMDF before joining the 18th ARS, also benefited from the decision to expand seasoning to Airmen cross training into a new career. Before October 2007, the program had been only available to brand new reservists. Almost all of the 931st's cross trainees now enroll in the program, Sergeant Summers said.

All career fields are eligible for seasoning funding, but the duration of training varies with job complexity. Orders can be issued for as few as 30 days and as much as 365 days.

Education and training offices are responsible for facilitating seasoning requests. The 931st currently has eight Airmen in the program, Sergeant Summers said, and the Group has averaged about five Airmen enrolled since it began. (Air Force Reserve Command News Service)