Air University Review, July-August 1969

Broad Base Experience Program 
for the Career Junior Officer

Captain Gerald W. Musselman

Lieutenant General Horace M. Wade, when he was Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel, at Headquarters USAF, stated:

For the most part the young man entering the Air Force today is a highly educated, sincerely motivated young man embarking upon a career of his discerning choice—full of ambition, full of energy—eager, aggressive and imbued with hope. Too many of these young officers are poorly received, poorly treated, inadequately counseled, and somewhat ignored to such a degree as to frustrate their ambitions and void their good intentions.¹

The dissatisfaction which inevitably results has two deleterious effects upon the Air Force, one immediate and one long range. The immediate effect is obvious. A junior officer starting at the bottom, unfamiliar with the military as a whole and then pigeonholed in a slot where he can do the least amount of damage, often has even his strongest spark of imagination stifled. The junior officer with too few demands upon him can experience little job satisfaction and soon becomes disenchanted, demoralized, and completely ineffectual. As there is no escape, this evolves into bitterness toward the Air Force, which in turn permeates those working for him. The effects are obvious-a bitter officer, disgruntled men, and finally an inefficient operation. Who suffers? Not the junior officer, particularly, as he will separate at the first opportunity. The Air Force is the one that stands to lose original ideas, aggressive leadership, and improved efficiency.

There are two groups of junior officers to consider: those in one group are merely fulfilling their service commitment and will separate upon its completion, and those in the other are either undecided or have definite plans for a service career. Both will have an immediate effect upon the Air Force. However, I will restrict my discussion to the second group, those who have made definite plans or might be receptive to an Air Force career. This group not only has an immediate effect upon the Air Force but has a long-range effect also.

Well, what is it that makes a new second lieutenant so potentially dangerous? This question could be answered by the old hands in any number of ways. However, I feel it all boils down to the “experience gap,” the knowledge of how the Air Force as a large organization functions. Be this junior officer a product of OTS or AFROTC, his knowledge is often limited to what he has read or had lectured to him in class. A goodly percentage of the junior officer’s first 18 months is taken up with learning “Air Force” rather than a particular job.

How could the Air Force benefit these junior officers and increase their potential as future commanders?

Let’s first make some assumptions. First, that the 18 months a junior officer spends as a second lieutenant does not pay the dividends expected for the money expended. Second, that the Air Force would be willing to make an even greater investment to build a corps of junior officers broader in experience from which to draw future commanders. And third, that the Air Force would be willing to expend the time and money required to plan and implement a new management improvement program for the junior officer.

The program which I offer is merely an idea, an overall plan, no nuts and bolts. To finalize such a program would take extensive planning regarding facilities available, which I am unable to give. This program could include not only CONUS facilities but also larger Air Force bases worldwide.

Before the days of Air Force Specialty Codes (AFSC), a junior officer gained valuable experience in all parts of the military machine with a tour of duty as an adjutant. Here he actually worked with the nuts and bolts, i.e., finance, headquarters squadron, administration, personnel, supply, etc. Major General Avelin P. Tacon, Jr., has spoken of the varied experiences of an adjutant:

As a squadron supply officer you became acquainted with supply and materiel. Today, supply is a highly specialized field, and certainly no man, unless he has spent years in the business, can speak technical language and give the details that the supply people can. But a commander should know enough about supply so that he can speak intelligently about it and discuss it with his technically proficient supply people.²

General Tacon further stated that the squadron commander gave the adjutant diversified tours, after which

when the young fellow’s turn comes to command a unit, he has had administration, supply, maybe he has been a squadron engineering officer or a squadron operations officer, and he has a well-rounded background. When he takes over any unit, he knows what is going on. One of the prices we pay for the AFSC system today, in my opinion, is we forfeit this type of training for a young officer.³

As we no longer have the adjutant position, this experience opportunity has been lost. How does the junior officer gain this experience today? Some are exposed to it by chance, while a few luck out and have varied experience early in their career (e.g., an aircraft control and warning squadron). However, the majority of junior officers never receive this experience.

For the Air Force to have leaders tomorrow, we must glean the willing, energetic, and imaginative junior officers today and train them. Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker has stated:

Undoubtedly one does inherit the physical and mental building blocks for leadership, but the business of forming these into outstanding qualities for leadership seems to be acquisitive, the product of individual effort, the surrounding climate, the chance of circumstance.⁴

As far as the junior officer in the USAF is concerned, something could be done to assist the “individual effort” and “chance of circumstance.” This would be a program to give the new second lieutenant broad and varied experience in military functioning not unlike the old adjutant experience.

This program would have the support of all echelons, from Hq USAF down to base level. For a period of 18 months, before the junior officer was assigned to a specific command or specialty school, he could enroll in a voluntary program to broaden his experience.

The areas of experience that I shall suggest will cause argument by some, I know. However, I feel these to be basic; with an overall knowledge of how these areas function, the junior officer will have no problems later in broadening and deepening his understanding. Discussion will also be raised as to the order in which I list these areas. With some it makes no difference which comes first; with others I feel it does. Legal definitely should come before headquarters squadron, and IG experience should be last, to wrap up the previous training.

The areas of experience that I suggest are listed in sequence, with a suggested length of training for each, to comprise approximately 18 months:

Each Air Force base has all these areas, ranging in size, from which the junior officer could gain experience. The program would not aim to produce a technician in all these areas, but, as General Tacon states, he could “speak intelligently about it” and understand the functioning and problems involved.

Let’s pick Second Lieutenant Joe Jones after graduation from OTS and follow him through such a career program, to see how it might work.

Lieutenant Jones entered OTS with a career specialty assigned—we will say communications. Normally right after graduation he would PCS to 3031 school at Keesler and then to his first assignment in the field. However, Jones wants to make a career of the Air Force; he is energetic and inquisitive; he has the potential to become an outstanding commander; and he elects the career program.

After graduation, he is assigned to XXXX Air Base Group at a CONUS base, where, under the direction of a program counselor, he will be trained in the above areas.

The Air Base Group assigns Jones to the CBPO or the personnel section of an organization on base, for his one-month training experience. Here he will begin obtaining a broad knowledge of the hows and whys of orders, assignments, and records. After the month is completed, a short evaluation is returned to the counselor, who will compile it with others from each area when he prepares a training evaluation at the end of Jones’s 18-month experience training.

After Personnel, Lieutenant Jones will spend a month at Finance and one at Transportation. At Finance, he will gain a broad understanding of a subject near and dear to us all—pay and allotments—how finance operates, various funds, etc. At Transportation, he will touch base briefly with such things as motor pool, household goods, and hold baggage.

Before I go further, I will agree that Lieutenant Jones could obtain a certain amount of knowledge of all these areas from reading, either in OTS or AFROTC. However, I feel the practical experience in these areas, even for a month or so, would present a clearer “big picture” to him and by doing so build self-confidence and initiative. An additional 18 months’ training is a small price for the Air Force to pay for future aggressive leadership.

Supply being such a vast area and so important to the functioning of any organization, Jones will spend three months there. When he has completed his supply training, as I have said, he will not be an expert; but afterward supplies, spares, NORS items, and E-AID won’t throw him for a loop and he will be able to ask intelligent questions.

Following his tour at Supply, Jones will go on to Food Services, Civil Engineering, and Base Communications.

One word of explanation on what I mean by Base Communications. With regard to Jones’s training, this would encompass Base Message Distribution Center, Base Communications Center (originating and terminating administrative traffic), and the Base Telephone Center. With a knowledge of how administrative messages (incoming and outgoing) are processed, Jones will have few problems when he later deals with command and control communications. He will also understand that many of his so-called communications “problems” are merely management situations which can be readily solved.

Like Supply, Legal is a vast area, but while there Jones will observe firsthand many of the problems he will encounter later on with his own personnel. Watching special and general courts-martial and being advised of the various duties involved with these matters will surely beat his reading the “manual.” After two months at Legal, he won’t be a Perry Mason, but he will be a more intelligent officer in the USAF and a much wiser commander later on. 

To further broaden his understanding of personnel problems and personnel management, Jones’s next two months will be with a headquarters squadron commander or, if that is not possible on the base where he is assigned, with the 1st sergeant of a large organization.

No one knows or can completely appreciate the innumerable problems that arise for a commander in carrying out his responsibility to his men. It is all well and good to read about looking out for your airmen’s health and welfare, but a tour with the headquarters section will point out vividly many situations and problems involving personnel from which a young officer can draw throughout his career.

Finally, Lieutenant Jones will spend three months with the Inspector General. It is here that many of the loose ends can be tied together through working with the AFR 123 series inspection system. With his previous 15-month training and a tour with the IG, he should be much more flexible in any situation where he finds himself in the Air Force, and he has gained invaluable experience toward his future career.

With his 18-month training completed and a broad military experience base on which to build, the lieutenant is now ready to go on with his specialist training, 3031 school in this example, and then out to the field, not only trained in his specialty but self-confident and experienced in the functioning of the Air Force as a whole.

Briefly let me reiterate my suggested program:

· It would be purely voluntary.

· It would be for 18 months’ duration divided into major experience areas.

· It would be Air Force-wide, not limited to specific commands.

· It would be prior to any specialized training.

· It would be under the direction of Air Training Command, with local training counselors at participating Air Force bases’ field training detachments.

· The junior officer who elects this career program would have his active duty service commitment date adjusted in accordance with existing policy on training.

As I have stated, when the junior officer who elects this program has finished his specialized training and been assigned to the field, the USAF will have not only a more enlightened junior officer but one who is highly motivated and ready to begin immediately in the position for which he was trained.

The USAF will also benefit in that there will be a pool of these officers, broad in experience early in their careers, from which to draw for future commander slots.

Compared to the number of years’ service of a career officer, the 18 months is a small amount of time. For the benefit which will accrue to both the officer and the Air Force, this training will indeed be a small price to pay.

With the tremendous growth the Air Force is experiencing and the vast amount of specialized training needed today, the Air Force cannot afford to leave tomorrow’s commander’s experience base to chance. It must be planned and directed today.

1961st Communications Group (AFCS)

Notes

1. Lieutenant General Horace M. Wade, USAF, Statement before Special subcommittee on Enlisted Promotion Policy, Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., released 16 August 1967.

2. Major General Avelin P. Tacon, Jr., USAF (Ret), lecture, “The Tactical Commander,” Air Command and Staff College, Air University, 20 October 1959.

3. Ibid.

4. Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker, USAF (Ret), lecture, “Some Observations on Leadership,” Air University 17 March 1961.

Contributor

Captain Gerald W. Musselman (B.A., William and Mary College) is Chief, Record Communications Operations, 1961st Communications Group, Clark Air Base, Philippines. Commissioned from OTS in 1964, he has attended Air Traffic Control Officer School, Air Ground Operations Specialist School, Communications Officer School, and Squadron Officer School. He has served with the 5th Mobile Communications Group, Robins AFB, Georgia. During 1968 he commanded the 1890th Communications Squadron, Mactan Air Base, Philippines.

Disclaimer

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.

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