20th Air Force commander visits Malmstrom, hears FIP feedback from Airmen

by John Turner
341st Missile Wing Public Affairs

5/7/2014 - MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont.  -- Maj. Gen. Jack Weinstein, 20th Air Force commander, visited Malmstrom Air Force Base last week as an opportunity to receive feedback from Airmen of the 341st Missile Wing about procedural and incentive changes suggested by the Force Improvement Program, and to speak frankly with them about his proposals for bolstering the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile mission.

"I wanted to sit down with Airmen in all disciplines to talk with them about what they thought about how we're taking their inputs from the FIP and how we're going to be implementing them pretty rapidly," Weinstein said. "I think it is going great and I've gotten really good feedback from it."

Weinstein toured several work centers and stayed overnight at a missile alert facility while here April 30 to May 2. He also met informally with small groups of junior enlisted Airmen and company grade officers from across the wing to hear their opinions on a wide spectrum of changes that are either being enacted or are under consideration by the commander. These suggestions include an immediate overhaul of training and evaluations for the missile combat crew force; an administrative streamlining of the Personnel Reliability Program; possible deployment credits and other incentives for all who serve in the missile field; special field uniforms for security forces that are better matched to the environment; and new tools and vehicles for maintenance teams.

In February, FIP teams visited each missile wing in Air Force Global Strike Command to conduct one-on-one interviews with Airmen. Following the analysis of more 1,800 survey responses and 835 interviews, more than 350 recommendations were briefed to AFGSC, 20th AF, Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. An immediate action prompted by FIP feedback has been the realignment of $19 million in the Air Force Fiscal 2014 budget to rejuvenate the ICBM mission. Nearly $3 million has already been received at Malmstrom for ICBM weapon systems parts and Launch Control Center refurbishments. An additional $1 million has been received for quality of life improvements.

"FIP has been a grassroots effort," Weinstein said. "This is talking to the Airmen who are actually doing the mission, finding out what their concerns are, and then going through the recommendations."

During the visit, Weinstein met with nearly a dozen missile combat crew officers for a crew force discussion. The meeting lasted approximately 90 minutes and covered changes in training and evaluation for missile operators including:

• Missile combat crew commanders are going to be given formal training responsibilities for their deputies.
• A standardized question bank, more formally known as an MQF (Master Question File) of up to 500 questions will be developed that represents the most important items crewmembers need to know.
• Monthly testing is now documented only as pass or fail instead of recorded by score. In the future, all questions will come from the MQF instead of generated by the individual units.
• All monthly training will be done in a single day.
• There will be two Missile Procedures Trainer rides each month instead of one, but comprising the same number of hours. One of the training rides could be dedicated to what the MCC feels is needed for team proficiency.
• Evaluations will be performed every 18 months instead of every 12, a cycle similar to how aircrews are evaluated. A complete evaluation would consist of an MPT ride, a field evaluation, and questions from the MQF.
• An advanced ICBM course has been developed at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, and will debut in June. In addition, an in-residence flight commander course is being developed at Malmstrom and an MCC course may soon follow. These courses would eventually be taught at the other 20th AF bases.

"Really, what we are doing is a foundational change to the way we operate the ICBM missiles," Weinstein said. "Nothing is going to change in our ability to be safe, secure and effective in operating nuclear weapons in our mission."

Similarly, changes to PRP will make it easier for members to be continuously available for duty. For example, a downtown medical appointment will no longer automatically take a member off of PRP. Airmen will now only be taken off of PRP only when they need to be, instead of simply to follow an administrative protocol.

Weinstein envisions an electronic data base for PRP notifications, and plans to test the system at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, in a joint evaluation between the 91st Missile Wing and the 5th Bomb Wing, both of which are AFGSC units.

A reevaluation of PRP could potentially lower the overall number of security forces personnel on PRP status, putting only those whose duties actually place them near nuclear weapons in the program. This would make it easier for the Air Force to rotate security forces personnel through the ICBM wings, which would ease manpower shortages at the northern tier bases and allow members assigned here to transfer out sooner.

Weinstein's small group discussions with Airmen throughout the visit revealed a wide array of incentives and changes he is considering as he charts the best way forward towards mending the nuclear enterprise. Among the items he discussed in these informal forums were:

• All members who deploy to the missile field should receive a deployment credit. "It doesn't matter if you are sleeping in Afghanistan or in the missile field, you are away from home," Weinstein said. This credit will bolster members' careers because they would have deployment time banked when they move to their next assignments.
• Medals should be awarded for ICBM duty.
• Incentive pay for each day an individual is deployed to the missile field is being considered; however, Weinstein favors a balanced approach that is fair to everybody. This is a soft consideration right now because budget dollars are limited, and because other incentives might have a more positive net result.
• Security forces deploying to the missile field may eventually receive the multicam pattern uniform that was developed by the Army. Weinstein endorses this uniform because it is better for the missile environment. It provides better camouflage than the Airman battle uniform, and as a layered clothing system it keeps wearers warm in subzero temperatures.
• Maintenance personnel may see master team chief and other recognition patches restored to their uniforms. "They used to wear that but based on the ABU uniform we took it away," Weinstein said. "We're working with senior leadership to put that patch back. That is extremely important to people."
• Similarly, a return to squadron patches on ABU uniforms and colored organizational caps is under consideration.
• Weinstein wants to realign his helicopter squadrons to a helicopter group that would be commanded by a full colonel. He is aggressively pursuing this and hopes the new group will stand up by the end of July.

"The feedback I've been getting from the field has been awesome," Weinstein said. "We listen (to Airmen) and now we're implementing what they said. It doesn't get any better than that."