Air Force Logistics Director "absolutely thrilled" with TEC

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Mavi Smith
  • The I.G. Brown Air National Guard Training and Education Center
McGHEE TYSON AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Tenn. --  The Air Force Director of Logistics, Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Installations and Mission Support at Headquarters U.S. Air Force, visited The I.G. Brown Air National Guard Training and Education Center here, Oct. 8., to support the Transformative Education branch.
 
Maj. Gen. Robert H. McMahon, the top Airman of more than 180,000 Air Force logistics personnel, was on campus to videotape an introductory segment for the Nuclear Weapons Related Materiel (NWRM) Fundamentals course the Transformative Education branch is producing for the U.S. Air Force.

The NWRM Fundamentals course will provide a basic knowledge of NWRM management procedures and will be mandatory training for all Air Force logistics and maintenance personnel who have NWRM duties and responsibilities.
 
"Since early 2008, nothing outside of the Global War on Terror has garnered our attention as much as nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons-related materiel," said McMahon of the initiative to create the course.

Recent nuclear related incidents, such as the unauthorized transport of nuclear-laden cruise missiles aboard a B-52 aircraft and the mistaken shipment of nuclear triggers to Taiwan, were highly publicized and criticized events. They generated a serious look at how the Air Force manages its critical nuclear assets and how it trains those responsible for that management.

Today, NWRM management and handling procedures are the Secretary and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force's number one priority.

In response to this, the Air Force looked to the Training and Education Center's Transformative Education branch for help.
 
"We have asked the center to help us educate our personnel," said McMahon. "And they are doing some remarkable things in giving us some tools to help in that education."

The NWRM Fundamentals course is currently in the development phase and is scheduled to be completed Nov. 30. It will be an interactive course that integrates video, graphics, scenarios, exercises, and quizzes to engage the student and increase the effectiveness of the training. It will be hosted on the Advanced Distributive Learning Service and will be accessible from the Air Force portal.

"It is not designed to make you an expert or to replace traditional formal instruction provided by AETC, your specific functional community, or supplemental training programs," explained McMahon during videotaping of his introduction to the future students of the course.
 
"As the name implies," McMahon continued. "This course is designed to provide you with the fundamental principles of handling NWRM assets. It is the foundation to build additional expertise and help prevent mismanagement and mishandling of NWRM commodities."
 
While at the Training and Education Center, McMahon sat down with members of the Transformative Education branch and went through the NWRM Fundamentals course himself.

"I am absolutely thrilled by what I've seen today," said McMahon. "The learning that will take place based upon the products the center is producing will help educate literally tens of thousands of logisticians across the Air Force in how to better manage, sustain and control our nuclear weapons related materiel. This is a course that, at the end of which, folks will have a much better understanding of NWRM."

"American citizens put their trust in its military force and civilian leaders to defend our borders and be good stewards of our resources," said McMahon. "Our nation must believe that as we execute our duties, they can sleep safely knowing that we have positive inventory control over every commodity that has the potential to be used in the execution of those duties, particularly nuclear weapons, their components, and nuclear weapons-related materiel." 

"There is zero tolerance for failure when it comes to nuclear weapons," added McMahon, "and that relies not only on training but education. The tool that I saw today will help to ensure that education takes place."

Maj. Gen. Robert H. McMahon is responsible for organizing, training, and equipping more than 180,000 technicians and managers maintaining the Air Force global engagement aerospace weapons system inventory. He provides strategic direction for materiel and equipment management, fuels, vehicle management and operations, distribution, personal property, and passenger traffic management. The directorate develops logistics readiness, maintenance and munitions policy, ensuring the readiness of the single largest element of manpower supporting Air Force combat forces worldwide.