From: bergman@afnews.pa.af.mil (CMSgt Mike Bergman)
Newsgroups: soc.veterans
Subject: AF News Svc 12/16/92
Date: 17 Dec 1992 08:44:04 -0600
Organization: Hq Air Force News Agency/SCC
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

948.  Regulations cut
949.  PME changes
950.  Acquisition questionnaire
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948.  Regulations cut
by TSgt. David P. Masko
Air Force News Service
     WASHINGTON -- What started as a move to reduce the size and number of
regulations governing Air Force programs is resulting in a fundamental change
to the way Air Force policy is formulated, communicated and measured.
     In a recent memorandum, Gen. Michael P. C. Carns, Air Force vice chief of
staff, said the Air Force has been working for the past year to reduce both
the number and volume of Air Force directive publications.
     "Now we are ready to transition from cumbersome, often far too lengthy,
Air Force regulations to concise Air Force policy directives and a minimal
number of Air Force instructions," Carns said.  "And we'll do it by drawing on
a fundamental Quality Air Force tenet called empowerment."
     To implement these changes, a Air Force headquarters policy review board
has been charged with oversight of a fast-paced effort to capture the Air
Force's overarching policies in a small number of short policy directives.
     In addition, the schedule asked that all "essential" Air Force
instructions be completed by June.  At that time, Air Force regulations will
cease to exist.
     However, the challenge to make the change is significant, said Air Force
officials, since more than 1,500 regulations and 46,000 pages now exist.
     "This is definitely not a one-for-one conversion of regulations to policy
directives," said Brig. Gen. Lee Haines, who chairs the Policy Review Board.
"In fact, less than 190 policy directives will be used to state those policies
which are of the most importance to the Air Force."
     While Air Force headquarters will still formulate policy, it will be up
to the people in the field to prepare the instructions that implement those
policies.  The idea is to get the "how to" out of the Pentagon, officials
said.
     Air Force instructions will be written by lead major commands and field
operating agencies, but approved and issued by Air Force headquarters.
     Officials said these document will provide the specific, detailed
procedural guidance necessary to implement Air Force policies in the field.
Also, the new approach for procedural instructions will release the
headquarters staff to tackle the more fundamental task of writing and
measuring implementation of policy.
     The action to replace regulations will also include a new structure and
style for the documents.  Generally speaking, Air Force policy directives will
be two or three printed pages, and will contain only policy statements,
explanation of key terms, responsibilities and authority, and identification
of policy interfaces and other directives.
     These new directives, which Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Merrill A.
McPeak has termed "objective regulations," will bring promulgation of policy
into alignment with the Air Force's organizational restructuring to streamline
operations and increase efficiency.
     In addition, each policy directive will be accompanied by an explanation
of how to measure and graphically display Air Force-wide success in
implementing the policies.  These "metrics" will be used as a basis for
corporate-level decision making and provide a way to establish a baseline
which can be monitored to note progress or the impact of process changes.
     "The Air Force is firmly convinced of the need to manage by fact," Carns
said.
     Other publications that will be available to Air Force people are:
     -- Air Force Mission Directives.  This new class of publications will
document the mission and responsibilities of Air Force organizations from Air
Force headquarters and the major commands on down through the field operating
agencies and direct reporting units.
     -- Air Force Manuals.  Will continue to be used only for doctrine and as
computer user manuals.  No change from the current system.
     -- Air Force Pamphlets.  Will be used for material which is purely
informational, non-directive, or non-procedural.  Nothing in a pamphlet may be
directive.  If there is a "model program" or other suggested "how to"
material, it should go into a pamphlet.
     -- Air Force Indexes.  An informational publication that serves to guide,
point out, or otherwise facilitate reference.  Indexes are not supplemented.
     -- Air Force Directory.  An informational publication that systematically
arranges, usually in alphabetical or classed order, things such as a listing
of addresses, affiliations, functions, and similar data.
     -- Air Force Handbook.  A concise reference book on the technical aspect
of a particular subject or a review of factual data and instructional material
not subject to frequent change.
     -- Air Force Catalog.  An informational publication that is a detailed
listing which describes or lists a collection of information according to some
plan.
     -- Air Force Supplement.  An auxiliary publication that extends
publication issued by higher headquarters or agencies.  Each supplement bears
the number of the publication it extends.


949.  PME changes
by TSgt. Sarah L. Hood
Air Force News Service
     WASHINGTON -- With enlisted promotions now tied to attendance at each
level of professional military education, people previously overlooked for
school can now expect to attend.
     "Effective Jan. 1, a number of things will occur to change enlisted PME
as we now know it," said CMSgt. James E. Lokovic, chief of Air Force enlisted
PME.
     "First, PME will move a selective to a mandatory program," Lokovic said.
"It will become a mandatory part of every enlisted member's career."
     In addition, senior airmen will become eligible to attend when they have
48 months in service or when they are selected for promotion to staff
sergeant, whichever comes first.  Technical sergeants and tech selectees will
be eligible to attend NCO academies, and senior master sergeants and senior
selectees may attend the Air Force Senior NCO Academy, Maxwell AFB, Gunter
Annex, in Alabama.
     "Because all enlisted members will be attending PME courses, it's very
important for supervisors to provide PME to their subordinates every day,"
Lokovic said.  "That means if someone has communications skills weaknesses,
for example, the supervisor has a responsibility to help identify and correct
those problems."
     One way to do this is to give people opportunities to present briefings
and be more involved in writing.  In that sense, nothing has changed --
"Supervisors have always been responsible to prepare their folks for increased
responsibility, to challenge them," Lokovic said.
     "The basic rule is going to be that individuals will attend PME
in-residence when they meet the attendance criteria.  As units receive class
quotas, supervisors and commanders will need to monitor who should attend
next.
     "With resident attendance a prerequisite for promotion, it's important
they consider seniority and all quality force factors currently considered
before sending someone to school."
     For example, Lokovic said, commanders must give priority consideration to
staff sergeant selectees for airman leadership school, master selectees for
command NCO academies, and chief master sergeant selectees for the senior NCO
academy.
     Airman leadership school graduation is currently a prerequisite for
promotion to staff sergeant, and effective Jan. 1, senior master sergeants
must graduate from the Senior NCO Academy before they can put on chief master
sergeant stripes.
     Also, on Aug. 1, NCO academy graduation becomes a requirement before
promotion to master sergeant.
     Throughout the "Year of Training," the Air Force has made it clear that
enlisted PME will be an essential part of every enlisted person's career,
Lokovic said.
     "Young airmen first entering the Air Force can look to the future and
know that at certain points, certain things will happen," he said.
     Building on the new policy requiring airman leadership school graduation
to staff sergeant promotions, one year of training initiative changes the
earliest attendance point from 36 to 48 months.  This applies to four- or
six-year enlistees.
     In addition to needing 48 months of active service, all airman leadership
school graduates must have at least one year of service retainability after
graduation on the books before they go to school.
     The Aug. 1 requirement for resident graduation from an NCO academy for
promotion from tech to master sergeant complements the Aug. 1 total
implementation of a standardized Air Force-approved NCO academy course at all
NCO academies.
     "For more than a year, we allowed staff sergeants to attend the NCO
academy," Lokovic said.  "At one point, master sergeants could also attend.
The year of training scrub has changed all that."
     He pointed out that the initiative restricting NCO academy attendance to
technical sergeants and selectees alone focuses on a specific goal -- to
educate technical sergeants to be more effective now and ready to assume the
responsibilities which will come with promotion into the top enlisted tier.
     Because of unique career and promotion needs -- such as part-time
participation, full-time civilian jobs, limited windows of opportunity, and
promotion to vacancy, for example -- the Air National Guard and Air Force
Reserve will have adjusted eligibility criteria, he said.
     "They may continue sending staff sergeants to the NCO Academy and master
sergeants to the Senior NCO Academy.
     "Additionally, ANG and AFRES folks can satisfy promotion requirements
through either correspondence or in-residence completion."
     The year of training initiatives have focused very clearly on specific
career levels, to best complement other career training and education program,
"and do it at the right time."
     "One of the things we tried to do this year is determine who each level
of professional military education is supposed to target," Lokovic said.  "The
senior NCO academy is for senior master sergeants and senior master sergeant
selectees, with a primary focus on getting these folks ready to be chiefs.
     "Whether or not they eventually make chief master sergeant, they'll
certainly gain from the experience and be more effective in our units."
     Resident completion of the senior NCO academy will be required for
active-duty senior master sergeants prior to pinning on chief master sergeant.
 In the past, all three top tier grades could attend the senior academy.
     Because some master sergeants have already gone to the senior NCO
academy, the Air Force will mask the method of senior NCO academy completion
for the next two promotion cycles to ensure promotion equity, Lokovic said.
     Also, starting Jan. 1, the annual senior master sergeant promotion and
supplemental promotion lists will be used to identify future students.  In
addition to the annual selection, senior master sergeants previously
overlooked for school will be added to the selection list.
     "Individuals will no longer have the option to decline going to the
academy," Lokovic added.
     Master sergeants now on the senior academy selection list will be taken
off Jan. 1, and scheduled for a future class when they are selected for
promotion.  Chief selectees will get senior NCO attendance selection priority
over all other senior master sergeants.
     Class preference sheets will be used to determine who else attends.
Senior NCO academy selection order will be volunteers for training en route,
overseas short-tour selectees, overseas long-tour selectees, mission essential
attendees, date of rank, and the needs of the Air Force.
     Anyone chosen for a particular class must attend, unless they are
eligible for deferment based on either humanitarian, medical, or
mission-essential reasons.
     The 95 airman leadership schools worldwide are now using an Air Force
approved standardized curriculum, Lokovic said.
     "With the Aug. 1 conversion to an Air Force-wide standardized curriculum
at our NCO academies, our 3-tiered enlisted PME program becomes consistent
across the board and fully supports promotion policies," he said.
     "The year of training changes for enlisted PME will make our program more
consistent and effective.  The result will be more effective airmen and NCOs
-- better prepared for mission success."


950.  Acquisition questionnaire
by TSgt. Sarah L. Hood
Air Force News Service
     WASHINGTON -- About 20,000 officers with acquisition experience will get
questionnaires in mid-January as the Air Force works to add important data to
the personal data system, a senior Air Force acquisition official said.
     The Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act was signed into law in
November 1990, bringing more centralized management, and more professional
development, education, training and career opportunities to the acquisition
workforce.
     "Many things are now coming to fruition at the same time -- the accurate
identification of positions, the acquisition corps, the data system changes
and things like that," said Teddy L. Houston, acquisition career management
chief.
     "All of these things have been bubbling along for some time, and now
we're coming to some kind of closure on much of the structure of the Air Force
Acquisition Professional Development Program."
     In particular, the Air Force is now working to gather needed information
to ensure acquisition positions are filled with the right people.
     The questionnaires being put together will include work sheets for
logging education and training information as well as functional area
experience.
     "The idea is to fill acquisition positions with correctly qualified
people," Houston said.  "To do so, we have a lot of data to collect and a lot
of it is data the Air Force never had to collect before."
     The goal is to have an automated computer process that stores this
information so managers can simply scan a person's records for items such as
training, experience and certification levels before filling acquisition
positions.
     While the capability to report the data will soon be in place, all the
required information is not yet in the system.
     "The problem we have right now is the buckets are there but there is
nothing in them," Houston said.
     "It is imperative that every officer who receives a questionnaire take
the time to fill it out because the accuracy of data in his or her record may
well depend on these responses," Houston said.
     "In today's changing environment, it would be unfortunate if someone
loses an opportunity because he or she did not have accurate information in
the system."
     Completed questionnaires need to be returned to the individual's
functional manager by the end of January.  The managers have until the end of
February to review them.
     All returned questionnaires will be scanned and put into the acquisition
information system.  By June 1, an acquisition professional development
program product will be sent to everyone who completed a questionnaire
reflecting the new information.
     Individuals do not need to call local personnel offices after submitting
the questionnaire.  The personnel product will validate their information has
been accepted into the system.
     Enlisted people in the acquisition field will be looked at in the future.
     It was not necessary to tap the civilian acquisition workforce because
their data system was more closely aligned to the law's requirements.  They
were in better shape than the military in terms of what was in the system.
     "Civilians have already been collecting and maintaining a lot of the data
that was required by the law, while the military has had no prior need to
gather the same data.  That's changing," Houston said.
     "We want to be able to look to the future as well as to see what the
status of the workforce is," Houston said.  "The Air Force wants to see what
levels people are at currently, what levels they need to reach and what needs
to be done to accomplish that."
     To lead the acquisition workforce, the act calls for a group of
professionals to comprise an acquisition corps.
     There will be one corps for each military department and one for all
other Defense Department components.
     The Air Force will activate its acquisition corps Oct. 1.  Beginning on
that date, any acquisition position designated "critical" can only be filled
by a member of the acquisition corps.  Essentially that includes all
acquisition positions requiring fill by a lieutenant colonel and above, or a
GS/GM-14 and above for civilians.
     The minimum selection criteria for acquisition corps membership are
listed in the DAWIA.  Additional criteria may be added by the service
secretaries, working through the acquisition career program board of the
military department.
     The minimum selection criteria in the DAWIA include:
     -- Grade level of GS-13/0-4 or above
     -- Baccalaureate degree (or be individually certified that a degree is
not required)
     -- 24 semester hours in business/management or for those with technical
degrees, 24 semester hours in a person's field with 12 semester hours in
business/management
     -- Four years' experience in an acquisition position
     To be eligible for acquisition corps membership in the Air Force, the
APDC has added the requirements that individuals be Level II certified in
their respective functional specialty, and have a satisfactory performance
rating.
     A person will become a member of the corps when he or she meets the
eligibility requirements and is selected to fill or assigned to a critical
acquisition position.  The selection to fill a critical position is the point
of induction into the corps.  Once a member, the person will always be a
member unless removed for cause, officials said.

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