Registration opens for 3rd annual I-WEPTAC

  • Published
  • By Malcolm McClendon
  • Air Force Installation and Mission Support Public Affairs
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO - LACKLAND, Texas (AFNS) --  The Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center announces registration for the third annual Installation and Mission Support Weapons and Tactics Conference is open.

The conference provides the only Air Force innovation forum for the installation and mission support, or I&MS, community. It takes place the end of March and early April in San Antonio with an outbrief April 10 at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

Military and DoD civilians with a secret clearance are invited to attend and can register at https://org2.eis.af.mil/sites/14000/I-WEPTAC/SitePages/Home.aspx#/home.

Based on the Combat Air Force WEPTAC, I-WEPTAC tackles I&MS challenges across the force. More than 150 Air Force members will assemble in the coming months and form teams to develop innovative solutions for this year’s topics:

· Topic 1: Command and Control of the Installation as a Weapons System

· Topic 2: Leveraging Technology and Innovation for the Installation We Need

· Topic 3: Integration of Training & Technology Across Multi-Domain Operations

· Topic 4: Logistics Under Attack

The teams, called mission area working groups, or MAWGs, will deliver their courses of action at the outbrief and, if approved by Air Force leaders, those solutions will be pursued and tested for implementation.

Recommendations from previous I-WEPTAC working groups have already reached validation and implementation across the Air Force. Maj. Erich Kramer, AFIMSC’s Expeditionary Support Directorate and an I-WEPTAC conference coordinator says AFIMSC’s Combat Support Wing initiative is a great example of a concept that was born from and developed using MAWG recommendations throughout the past two I-WEPTAC events.

“Young (noncommissioned officers) and officers from across our Air Force developed a way to train multi-skilled Airmen to become more agile, minimize our footprint in austere locations and to support adaptive basing and future fights,” Kramer said. “It presents solutions to the warfighter and to the joint force commanders when faced with a potential high-end fight. Through our partnership with the 325th Fighter Wing at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, we conducted a successful proof-of-concept exercise last year. We will continue partnering with the (Air Combat Command) and (United States Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa) operational communities to expand on this proof-of-concept into their exercises in 2019.”

Maj. Zachary Haney, chief of tactics of the 319th Special Operations Center at Hurlburt Field, Florida, and Topic 3 MAWG chairperson, said he looks forward to the opportunity to bring change to the Air Force.

“Talking to the young (company grade officer and (noncommissioned officer) corps, there are lots of ideas out there,” Haney said. “You hear them in office spaces and hallways, but sometimes they never get combined or go anywhere to actually solve a problem. I-WEPTAC is the perfect forum to bring those ideas to life.”

As they begin to address this year’s topics, MAWG chairs are seeking fellow Airmen to assemble their teams.

“I’m looking for people who are excited about the problem and are passionate about solving Air Force issues,” said Capt. Alex Pagano, a career broadening officer at Hill Air Force Base, (Utah) and chair for Topic 4. “People who are able to get in a room and learn about topics they’ve never heard before, yet are able to put their all into it and work toward thinking from an enterprise perspective on how the Air Force can do this better.”

Capt. Justin Bateman, 6th Security Forces Squadron director of operations at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, and Topic 1 chair, believes these groups are not only beneficial to Air Force processes, but to the Airmen who make them up.

“The networking and getting to meet each other here is also beneficial,” Bateman said. “As we continue to grow as Airmen, not only have we solved problems in the past together, like here at I-WEPTAC, but those relationships are there as we continue our Air Force careers.”

The MAWG teams will present their innovative solutions at the out-brief on April, 10 at JB San Antonio-Lackland. It is open to all DoD service members and employees with a secret clearance.