Air Force conducts test of new officer assignment system

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The Air Force will conduct a test of a continuous officer assignment system for a select group of career fields beginning in September.

The test system, designed as the result of a Lean process review, seeks to eliminate the vulnerable-to-move list and facilitate deliberate career moves through force development. Lean is a way of streamlining processes and making them more efficient by removing waste, reducing cycle time and improving customer satisfaction. The test system is also expected to reduce permanent change-of-station costs by eliminating unnecessary moves, said Air Force Personnel Center officials here.

The current system works fine, but can be improved by adapting it to the tenets of the force development construct, said Col. Lee Hall, AFPC director of assignments.

"We are testing this system to see if there's a better assignment process for today's Air Force," Colonel Hall said. "Rather than determine assignments using officers’ time on station as the primary driver, the test will seek to match officers to assignments based upon what the career field development teams, with input from commanders and supervisors, determine is the most appropriate next step for their development.”

Time on station will still remain a significant factor; however, officers with the requisite skills who need a certain level of assignment to further their personal development and who provide future value to the Air Force are what really define the pool of officers available to fill any particular requirement, Colonel Hall said.

The test system should provide an additional benefit to officers in a "must move" status awaiting notification of their next assignment, he said. For example, officers who now attend professional military education in the summer normally wait until the following spring for follow-on assignment notification.

"The test assignment system would provide the flexibility to begin matching people to assignments as soon as requirements are known instead of relying upon a rigid timeline as the current (vulnerable-to-move list) approach dictates," Colonel Hall said. "Once assignment openings are identified and development teams determine appropriate development paths, the matching process could begin."

To help ensure the test's success, officers included in the test group must have a current ensure their transitional officer development plan. The plan provides officers a way to communicate directly with their development team, through their commander or supervisor, on the path they envision for their future development and their basing preferences. Following review by the development team, it then becomes a key tool in the assignment process.

The Air Force designed the existing vulnerable-to-move system to provide a shared awareness among officers, commanders and assignments personnel on which officers were most likely to move. Commanders could then determine whether to release officers for assignments or keep them, based upon mission or personal needs. However, that original intent changed over time.

"The VML evolved to where every officer who came out on the list felt they were essentially being told it's time to go, sparking a rush to 'find a job.' This differs completely with the intent of force development," Colonel Hall said.

Assignment moves under force development depend not only on what officers are currently doing for the Air Force, but what the Air Force is grooming them to become.

"Officers who aspire to attain senior leadership positions will likely find themselves moving more often to gain the required range of experiences," the colonel said. "But, not all officers will necessarily need to gain that same level of operational or strategic experience, and so may continue to be appropriately employed where they are now."

The test and validation process, scheduled to begin with assignment actions after Sept. 1, will include officers in the civil engineer career field on the mission support side. Also included are rotary-wing pilots and fixed-wing special operations/combat search, as well as rescue pilots, navigators, fire control officers and electronic warfare officers (UH-1, MH-53, MH-60, HH-60, CV-22, AC-130, HC-130, MC-130 primary major weapon systems, regardless of current duty specialty) from the rated community.

For more information on assignments, officers can visit the Air Force assignments Web site at www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/afas/ or contact their AFPC assignments team. (Courtesy of AFPC News Service)