Year-long tours bring emphasis to Airmen to study

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Angela Ruiz
  • 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  While Air Force leaders are studying how much time Airmen spend away from their primary duties, according to the team chief of the Airmen's Time Task Force, Kunsan's mission and transitory workforce made it an obvious choice to visit.

Made up of members from the Air Staff, the Air Force Personnel Center and the Air Force Manpower Agency, the task force visited 10 Air Force bases across several major commands and continents. According to Mark Doboga, director of plans and integration at the Pentagon and task force team chief, the short time that most Airmen spend at Kunsan amplifies the effect that additional duties have on their workload.

"Kunsan has a one-year rotation policy, so it's more important than ever at a base like this that leaders and supervisors get a chance to talk to Airmen, mentor Airmen and that Airmen have time to perform their core duties and not be saddled with duties that aren't related to their Air Force Specialty Code," said Mr. Doboga.

"It's critical that commanders, leaders and Airmen have time to do their core work because they don't have a lot of time in a year to get the mission done," he added.

The team was tasked by Lt. Gen. Richard Newton, deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel, to visit a cross-section of Air Force installations and assess how Airmen spend their duty hours.

"General Newton was concerned that were a number of ancillary training events or additional duties being levied on Airmen that take them away from their core AFSCs," said Mr. Doboga. "There were also concerns that we're saddling our leadership--commanders, first shirts and superintendents--with too much computer-based work and they weren't getting enough time to get around, lead and mentor the Airmen across the Air Force."

In addition to their time here, the team visited Andrews AFB, Md; Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England; Spangdahlem and Ramstein Abs, Germany; Peterson AFB, Colo.; Nellis AFB, Nev.; Travis AFB, Calif.; Yokota AB, Japan; and Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Team members met with base leadership at each stop to discuss additional duties, ancillary training, commander's programs, administrative support processes, and personnel service delivery.

"[We were tasked to] look at how Airmen's time is being spent and how we can give leaders commanders, first shirts, superintendents and Airmen time back to do their core jobs," said Mr. Doboga. "This study is about fact finding, commander's and Airmen's views, and about what practices work the best when it comes to managing additional duties while still handling their core AFSC duties."

Findings from the Airmen's time field assessment study will be presented to General Newton in September. The results will then be shared with command staffs, functional communities and Air Force senior leaders to affect changes to policies and programs intended to institute meaningful solutions for Airmen in the field. One hope Mr. Dogoba expressed was that the findings would allow leaders to get away from their desks and spend more time with their subordinates.

"Hopefully Airmen will be able to see more of their commanders, First Shirts and superintendents," he said. "[It's also hoped] Airmen will have more time to spend on their core AFSC and less time doing other things."