The Air Force Starts Here

Dan Hawkins from the Air Education and Training Command public affairs team sits down to talk all things RAT with Col. Rick Kend, 375th Air Mobility Wing deputy commander at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, along with Lt. Col. Johnathan McGill, Mobility Air Force division chief at HAF/A3 in the Pentagon who oversees the RAT portfolio as part of his duties, and Bob Remey, HQ AETC Training branch chief, whose team has developed RAT training for the enterprise.

The trio talk about the strategic why behind RAT training, how it works in concert with the five drivers of change, specifics inside the ready training areas, and a look behind how wings and major commands could implement RAT in line with the Air Force Force Generation (AFFORGEN) presentation model and Agile Combat Employment. There is also a call for feedback from the field on how to improve RAT.

Chief Master Sgt. Stefan Blazier, Air University command chief, sits down with Chief Master Sgt. Lee Hoover, 42nd Air Base Wing command chief, and discusses Hoover's decision to join the military, highlights and favorite assignments during his career, why he stayed in the Air Force, and the importance of family and loving them today.

Dan Hawkins from the Air Education and Training Command public affairs team
spoke virtually with Mr. Harold Ward, director of the Air Force Culture and
Language Center at Air University, discussing how language, regional expertise and culture education helps the Air Force to fly, fight and win by enabling the agile combat employment concept, commonly referred to as ACE.

Dan Hawkins from the Air Education and Training Command public affairs team
spoke virtually with Capt. Ashley Bird, 33rd Flying Training Squadron
executive officer at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, about her journey to
the military through ROTC at Purdue University, the path to becoming a pilot, the pros and cons of being a force generator instructor pilot, and her personal life being military married to military. Bird also talks about rated diversity improvement, which is the Air Force’s focused, long-term effort to attract, recruit, develop, and retain a diverse rated leadership corps.

Airmen across the service can hear first-hand about upcoming changes to
enlisted professional military education being made to develop the
combat-ready Airmen we need for today’s strategic competition environment is
the focus of the latest episode of "The Air Force Starts Here," released
Aug. 24, 2022. Dan Hawkins from the Air Education and Training Command public affairs team spoke with Chief Master Sgt. Josh Lackey, command chief at Air University’s Barnes Center, about the effort to help build multi-capable Airmen who are agile, critical thinkers with the ability to act in a disaggregated
environment separated from command and control elements. This ties directly
to Air Force Doctrine Publication 1, released last year, that notes the need
for Airmen to be able to operate in the mission command construct.