JANUARY 9, 2023 – The 436th Operations Group employed an Instructor Enrichment Program, or IEP, at Dover Air Force Base, Jan. 6.
The program provides instructor aircrew with an opportunity to gain flight and familiarization experience with another airframe while remaining at home station. This allows Air Mobility Command Airmen to become multi-capable Airmen by practicing skills outside of their airframe.
“This program is designed to develop, advance and inspire the 436th OG instructor force in order to produce the most combat-ready Airmen possible for Mobility Air Forces,” said Col. Scott Raleigh, 436th OG commander.
Adopted from an Air Education and Training Command program, the IEP at Dover AFB will allow Airmen to adapt a wealth of new ideas on how to employ Agile Combat Employment, or ACE, with the use of MCA. ACE refers to the ability to maximize the ability to maintain and launch aircraft from austere locations.
“Our hope in bringing this program to Dover AFB is to open that same aperture for our instructor cadre, giving them the opportunity to gain hands-on knowledge of what other airframes’ strengths and weaknesses are,” said Maj. Andrew Schweickert, 436th OG C-17 Globemaster III standardization and evaluation chief.
The program is currently available for instructor pilots and instructor loadmasters certified on the C-17 and the C-5M Super Galaxy. Schweickert, originally a C-17 instructor pilot, was the first to test out the program at Dover AFB by taking the controls at the pilot seat in a C-5.
“It was very beneficial to be exposed to some of the tactics the C-5 implements to avoid various threats,” Schweickert said. “I gained a new appreciation for how a C-5 crew interacts with one another and implements crew resource management.”
Some differences the instructors experienced from the other aircraft are crew position duties, load capabilities and maneuverability. All of which are factors that determine how the aircraft is operated and maintained.
“The cross-talk and hands-on experience this program brings will no doubt benefit both our communities and can only help as we test and develop tactics to win the next fight,” Schweickert said.
IEP enables the Dover AFB instructor cadre to develop new ideas on how to implement ACE concepts and to prepare for future flights.
“I’m looking forward to the future of the program as Team Dover continues to innovate and prepare for the high-end fight,” Raleigh said.
By Senior Airman Faith Barron
436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs