SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- Airmen assigned to the 4th Fighter Wing recently conducted a Multi-Capable Airman exercise at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, Sept. 12-20.
The exercise focused on taking Airmen, from seven Air Force Specialty Codes and giving them the knowledge needed to complete tasks outside their primary AFSC. These Airmen spent 10 days performing hands-on training in tasks to include aircraft refueling, tent build-up, Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE), cargo pallet build-up, base defense that culminated in a final exercise encompassing all they had learned the past week and a half.
“Currently, the focus of the 4th Fighter Wing is to provide expeditionary skills training to Airmen who are responsible for recovering, refueling, reloading, defending, and launching aircraft at a forward location with existing infrastructure yet minimal external support and oversight,” said Tech. Sgt. Iree Edwards, 4th Fighter Wing MCA program manager. “Students took part in various blocks of training before putting their skills to test in a field training exercise. Moving forward, they'll have opportunities to further practice these skills in various exercises.”
Airmen that are given the identifier of “MCA” have been trained and certified in tasks their peers may not possess.
“Multi-Capable Airmen possess advanced expeditionary skills, trained to perform functions they would not normally encounter,” said Edwards. “They will still be expected to know and excel in their current career fields, but are also taught to hone skills outside their AFSC and maintain those as well. Collectively, these Airmen are able to provide mission generation, command and control and base operating support capabilities in a contested environment.”
Jones stated that having Multi-Capable Airmen is critical to the mission as it aids in reducing our footprint for both logistical movements and boots on the ground. A typical deployment consists of a large number of Airmen that are only in the location to do a specific task that might not be needed 24/7, but with MCA’s, we are able to cross-utilize an individual for other jobs that are able to be downsized in the field.