Not enough time: review process seeks balance between training, availability.

For years, Air Force officials have wrestled with the problem of finding enough time in the day for airmen to do their regular job and accomplish all of the necessary training requirements. It's a problem felt throughout the entire Air Force, but one that's more acute in the reserve components because of the limited availability of reservists and guardsmen.

"We have very limited time, and we simply can't get that 10 pounds of training in that 5-pound bag," said Col. Larry Lee, chief of the Training Support Branch at Air Force Reserve Command headquarters, Robins Air Force Base, Ga.

Thankfully, Lee said, help is available in the form of the Total Force Training and Education Review Process, sanctioned by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper in the fall of 2001.

"For years, training officials throughout the Air Force have been screaming about the amount of training being mandated to our troops," Lee said. "TFTERP was created as a means of reducing the footprint of training without degrading the learning process."

The goal of TFTERP is to "increase effectiveness and cost-efficiency in training and education by providing a corporate process to resolve issues, balance priorities, gain training efficiencies through use of advanced distributed learning when appropriate and recognize civilian acquired skill equivalencies," according to Air Force Instruction 36-2201, V6. "The result of TFTERP is a sustained focus on training and education requirements to produce the skills and knowledge required to meet mission readiness expectations for the Total Force."

"TFTERP sanctions a corporate process to put the brakes on the proliferation of training," Lee said. "It can also be a means of identifying existing training that can be reduced, compressed or eliminated."

Lee serves as AFRC's conduit to introduce initiatives for training reduction or elimination to the TFTERP board. As such, he relies on people throughout the command to feed initiatives to him.

Therein lies a problem Lee wants to solve. Some AFRC functional organizations, apparently unaware of TFTERP and the role it plays, have recently created their own teams to tackle training problems.

"Typically, the teams will gather up the aggregate amount of time of mandated training requirements and compare that to the amount of time available," Lee said. "Then they look for a gatekeeper at the headquarters to keep additional training requirements away from their doorsteps. Basically, they're going over ground that has already been plowed (by TFTERP)."

Lee has been dealing with the training-versus-time imbalance for quite some time. In 1997, he was part of a crossfunctional working group tasked with finding ways to reduce the amount of time reservists spent on training.

Prior to that, he said, functional managers had been adding training requirements without a centralized oversight process to track the cumulative effect of time commitments required compared to time members had available. To complicate matters, the command's operations tempo was increasing dramatically, further reducing the amount of time reservists had available to spend on training.

The working group was able to make significant cuts in ancillary training requirements by utilizing different methods of delivery, compressing delivery time and publishing new guidelines in the AFI.

Now, TFTERP is doing the same thing for the entire Air Force.

"Left unchecked, the magnitude of non-rated Air Force specialty code and ancillary training requirements can grow so that commanders must prioritize between warlighting/mission-related training and other Air Force-mandated training requirements," the AFI states. The TFTERP board must review and approve all new non-AFSC training requirements prior to implementation.

Lee said that keeping training requirements in check is vital to Air Force retention and readiness.

"One of the most chronic retention problems we have is lack of meaningful training--training that relates to a person's AFSC and/or wartime tasking," he said. "TFTERP is the tool we use to keep training at a manageable level based on the amount of time our members have available.

"Submissions for TFTERP consideration require some effort. Someone can't just simply request a training requirement be eliminated or compressed without providing a compelling reason or strong rationale for making this change. An ancillary training program template is included in AFI 36-2201,V6 for use in identifying candidates for training reduction or modification."

AFRC members who have ideas on eliminating or consolidating training requirements may contact Lee at DSN 497-1217 or e-mail him at [e-mail].