By Maj Todd Downs, Maj Garrett Hernandez, Capt Frank Larkins, Capt Kelsey Smith, and Capt Sarah Smith

“The Pentagon does not own the market on good ideas,” remarked Lt Gen Warren Berry, the new Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection during his keynote “State of Logistics” address at the 35th Logistics Officer Association (LOA) National Symposium in Oklahoma City.

General Berry went on to describe the complexities of the challenges the Air Force faces and the need for innovation as a team sport across military and civilian industrial lines to a packed house at the association’s premier networking and information event for over 1,000 logistics, acquisition, and technology professionals.

Mixed in the crowd included a contingent of this year’s Air Force Education with Industry (EWI) class of Logistics and Maintenance Officers. “Having the chance to learn about strategic priorities and initiatives directly from our logistics and acquisitions senior leaders definitely helps us understand the importance of the EWI program and also makes it easier to meet our assigned learning objectives” said Capt Kelsey Smith, an Aircraft Maintenance Officer currently working in Delta Tech Ops. Smith also remarked “Listening to the AF/A4, AFSC/CC, and acting AFMC/CC along with over 100 other experts explain new developments assists with refining the scope of my research at Delta and also with building plans for applying my unique experience at my follow on staff job.”

The Air Force currently sends logistics and maintenance officers to one-year tours of duty working at Delta, Amazon, UPS, and FedEx. Career Field Managers and Development Teams expect these officers to both learn and contribute in private industry while also preparing to bring their experiences back to high level projects like the A4’s new “Flightline of the Future” initiative.

Lt Col Mark Szatkowski, Chief of the A4’s Advanced Concepts Branch and a featured speaker at this year’s LOA explained his charge to lead an inter-MAJCOM network of innovators and get the latest trending technology and practices to Airmen on flightlines across the force. “A lot of the technology we want is already out there… we just need to integrate it into how we do business” said Szatkowski. The class of Logistics and Maintenance EWI Fellows is perfectly postured to contribute to this effort.

It is no secret the Air Force is looking to understand and apply the most effective processes and procedures found across industry to meet Secretary of Defense Mattis’ direction of increasing lethality and readiness across the department to include reaching a mission availability rate of 80% for three Air Force airframes. One example of how EWI contributes to this effort is the direct application of Delta’s Conditioned Base Maintenance Plus (CBM+) program and how Delta works to ensure they have a high aircraft availability.

Delta’s 2017 EWI Fellow, Maj Todd Downs, has already begun the process of instituting Delta’s CBM+ for the C-5 and B-1 fleets, using diagnostics to identify when certain parts are expected to fail, thereby removing and replacing those parts before they fail and creating a controlled maintenance repair cycle for those aircraft. This allows aircraft maintainers to conduct maintenance at their home base, rather than allowing the plane to break down on the road and putting an increasing demand on the supply chain. 

In addition, both the Air Force and Navy have active duty Fellows assigned to Amazon Prime Air – the logistics juggernaut’s research & development project to field autonomous rotary-wing drones as last-mile delivery vehicles. It’s not difficult to see the value of the direct and indirect applications of these types of innovation projects seen in private industry to how the Air Force contributes to meeting national defense objectives and is no wonder the Air Force has grown the EWI program by 50% in the last year.

Another EWI Fellow in attendance, Capt Frank Larkins (also a Maintenance Officer at Delta Tech Ops) stated, “I’m so glad I came to LOA. This experience has “re-blued” and energized me because of the direct communication from senior leaders in our career field.  I frame this symposium as the locomotive for ‘Diversity of Thought’ amongst our government and industry partners.  Overall, I have a sense of renewed motivation for how our time at EWI will be utilized.”

Capt Sarah Smith, a Logistics Readiness Officer (LRO) at Delta opined that her favorite part of LOA “was getting to network with peers and colleagues from around the Air Force and hearing their perspectives on how the Air Force can and needs to innovate.”  Maj Garrett Hernandez, a LRO assigned to work at Amazon, agreed and went on to say that he hoped to see “a future where EWI Fellows partnered on innovation projects with flightline and depot-level units during their yearlong tour and then were invited to speak at LOA and share their insight into industry with the rest of the force.” 

A key observation noticed by EWI Fellows from this year’s LOA Symposium is an overwhelming interest in learning more about the EWI program from other logistics and maintenance officers and how they can participate in the unique opportunity.  A new offering for the 21A career field, Capts Smith and Larkins fielded dozens of questions from colleagues.  In the same spirit, though 21R officers have participated in EWI for years, many LROs are unaware that their Development Team has specific plans for where LROs will be assigned after EWI and that the career field is committed to having graduates working across its supply chain and distribution enterprise. 

To tackle these issues, the current class of EWI Fellows will look to partner with previous graduates and possibly host an info booth or even Q&A panel at future conferences, with the goal of educating younger officers on the opportunity and application process, as well as sharing their insights into industry with senior leaders more of how this experience gives back to the Air Force.
 
EWI, a program sponsored by SAF/AQH and managed by the Air Force Institute of Technology, is a highly selective, competitive non-degree educational assignment within an industry related to the fellow’s career field. 

The program is designed to develop qualities and abilities in selected officers and civilians necessary for effective management, professional, and technical leadership; and to provide an understanding of organizational structure, management methods, and technologies of modern industry.  By studying the best practices of industry, students are able to bring new knowledge, understanding, and empathy back into the Air Force to improve its processes.  In turn, the company benefits by receiving the fellow’s experience and perspective.