\u201cInitial skills training for Air Force Special Warfare is designed to efficiently teach unskilled Airmen the technical knowledge and skills required to perform a particular occupational specialty,\u201d the RAND Corporation wrote in a Dec. 27\u00a0report<\/a>. \u201cHowever, there is an emerging need to also develop the nontechnical attributes (e.g., teamwork, stress tolerance) required to effectively learn and perform jobs in an increasingly dynamic and uncertain future.\u201d<\/p>\n The Air Force Special Warfare Training pipeline starts with the special warfare candidate course, followed by the special warfare\u00a0assessment and selection<\/a>\u00a0course, both at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Tex. Part of the goal of those courses is to put candidates through intense physical training to see if they can handle the demands of the profession.<\/p>\n Those who pass through assessment and selection go on to a series of schools across the country such as pre-dive swimming and water confidence, static line parachuting, freefall parachuting, and survival, evasion, resistance, and escape (SERE) training.<\/p>\n After that, candidates go to\u00a0apprentice courses<\/a>\u00a0for pararescue, special reconnaissance, and combat control, where they learn the tools of their specific trade, then on to a\u00a0formal training unit<\/a>\u00a0to refine those skills.<\/p>\n The whole thing takes about two years, or about a year for tactical air control party (TACP) Airmen, but RAND focused on the apprentice courses and formal training units, where much of the job-specific technical training takes place.<\/p>\n \u201cThis course \u2026 is four months of a firehose of information,\u201d one TACP student told RAND. \u201cWe probably have, like, 60 or 70 different PowerPoints that you had to know \u2026 and then you have to therefore apply that knowledge in those tactical problems.\u201d<\/p>\n Instructors at the courses noticed shortcomings in four key areas:<\/p>\n To an extent, candidates are expected to show up to the apprentice courses and formal training units with these attributes already in place.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have enough time to teach these guys,\u201d one pararescue apprentice course leader told RAND. \u201cSo, you end up seeing who studied enough, who practiced on their own, because when they don\u2019t, they fail.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, the Special Warfare Training Wing\u00a0makes clear<\/a>\u00a0on its website that the wing provides expert instruction, but candidates are expected to bring nontechnical attributes like the four noted in the RAND report. Candidates also have to develop those attributes by nature of surviving the pipeline.<\/p>\n \u201c[We are] trying to strike the balance between how much do you firehose them with challenges and information versus how easy do you go,\u201d a pararescue apprentice course leader said. \u201cAnd the side that we default to is the firehose, because generally speaking, the harder you push them, the better they do.\u201d<\/p>\n There are informal opportunities to encourage nontechnical attributes through feedback and mentorship. One TACP leader mentioned pulling aside students for a course correct.<\/p>\n The majority of AFSPECWAR students are performing well, RAND wrote, but there is room for improvement: instructors indicated that several nontechnical attributes are unevenly developed across initial skills training.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t maintain a high level of drive, you\u2019re not going to be successful, so that\u2019s important,\u201d one TACP formal training unit leader said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t know if we are training that appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n Case in point, one combat control\/special reconnaissance apprentice course instructor noticed students trying to get away with decreased effort.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re trying to find an easy way to get everything accomplished and take shortcuts on just about everything now,\u201d the instructor said. \u201cAnd that is a theme that\u2019s been going on for probably about\u2014since I\u2019ve been here.\u201d<\/p>\n Instructors and leadership noticed similar gaps in teamwork, due in part to the current assessment and selection process, one pararescue leader said.<\/p>\n \u201cDefinitely, there\u2019s a lack of teamwork,\u201d the leader said. \u201cThat\u2019s by far the most obvious characteristic. They\u2019re selected as individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n Likewise, trainability is something candidates are expected to already have when they show up to class.<\/p>\n \u201cWe teach a hell of a lot, and we expect them to acquire it, but we aren\u2019t teaching them how to learn,\u201d a pararescue leader said. \u201cThat meta aspect of it is not there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know that we\u2019re assessing whether or not they are capable of acquiring knowledge or if they are good at learning new skills,\u201d a TACP leader said.<\/p>\n The Air Force Special Warfare Training Wing is not alone in trying to hone soft skills amid a packed curriculum. Long thought to be an inherent trait among successful fighter pilots,\u00a0stress tolerance is actually a skill<\/a>\u00a0that Air Force pilot trainers have focused on over the past eight years or so.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a default that you either sink or swim, and it was certainly when I went to pilot training in 2010,\u201d Hasard Lee, an F-35 instructor pilot,\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0Air & Space Forces Magazine in 2023. \u201cThat\u2019s an effective technique, you know the people who come out the other side are going to be solid. But the problem is the training is very expensive \u2026 so if people get halfway through that training and wash out because they have some issues with being resilient, that could waste a lot of taxpayer money.\u201d<\/p>\nThe Pipeline<\/h4>\n
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Inherent Expectations<\/h4>\n
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How to Improve<\/strong><\/h4>\n