Aerial porters can now train anytime, anywhere

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
  • Air Force Expeditionary Center Public Affairs
FORT DIX, N.J. (AFPN) --  Air transportation Airmen across the Air Force can access training anytime, anywhere through the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center's distance learning program.

Offered by the center's Mobility Operations School Air Transportation Branch, or ATB, "aerial porters" can train in eight courses:  Air Freight, Passenger Service, Air Terminal Operations Center, Aerial Port Vehicles, Data Records, Global Air Transportation Execution System, Aerial Port Expediter for the C-17 Globemaster III and Aerial Port Expediter for C-5 Galaxy.

"Seventy-five percent of MOS distance learning is developed and maintained by the Air Transportation Branch," said Master Sgt. Jeff Norway, NCO in charge of air transportation formal schools. "Four of the eight air transportation courses earn Community College of the Air Force credit hours and all are CCAF accredited."

The ATB also has two on-line certification programs for C-17 and C-5 aerial port expediters. Additionally, two more on-line courses are in the works, covering customer service and load planning.

"All of our courses are heavily influenced with subject matter experts from the field," Sergeant Norway said. "They are part of every course design or redesign we do. Their input is crucial because they are out there doing it every day at both strategic aerial ports and deployed locations."

Sergeant Norway said the on-line courses are built to accommodate the total force.

"Approximately 70 percent of the air transportation force is Guard and Reserve," Sergeant Norway said. "We use the blended learning approach so all can learn. As a matter of fact, some of the courses are mandatory for skill-level upgrade and are incorporated into our qualification training packages. Essentially, we build lesson plans for each task within the Career Field Education Training Plan."

The courses "more than pay for themselves" providing a "huge" return on investment, Sergeant Norway said.

"The biggest return is for the student and the command he or she is from," Sergeant Norway said. "Our blended learning approach for the courses gets them on the same level prior to attending the traditional stand-up class in aerial port operations."

Statistics don't lie either, meaning the taxpayer is getting a return as well. According to course tracking documents, the current savings when comparing "in classroom" training to the air transportation on-line courses since 2004 is more than $21 million.

"For example, you can see this success in one of our more popular on-line courses,  Air Freight," Sergeant Norway said. "The course went on line in November 2004 at a development cost of $265,000. Since then, we've had more than 4,700 students take the course.

"In a traditional classroom setting, the cost would have been nearly $4.3 million. Subtract the development cost of $265,000 and you've just saved the Air Force and the taxpayer more than $4 million in training dollars."

In 2007 alone, 10,699 students accessed the on-line training. "That number is only going to grow as we add more courses," Sergeant Norway said.

Air transportation Airmen interested in learning more about available courses should see their unit training managers or access the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center site on the Air Force Portal. 

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