{"id":35491,"date":"2018-06-18T22:55:52","date_gmt":"2018-06-18T22:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/06\/18\/in-war-on-queep-air-force-aims-to-give-squadron-commanders-new-weapons\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:07:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:07:35","slug":"in-war-on-queep-air-force-aims-to-give-squadron-commanders-new-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2018\/06\/18\/in-war-on-queep-air-force-aims-to-give-squadron-commanders-new-weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"In war on \u2018queep,\u2019 Air Force aims to give squadron commanders new weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to the modern Air Force: A place where experienced firefighters sometimes have to waste time taking an online course<\/a> in which they \u201clearn\u201d how to use a basic fire extinguisher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But not for much longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the Air Force is taking aim at this bureaucratic nightmare. As part of its ongoing effort to root out unnecessary and redundant training<\/a> and other ancillary duties, the service is working on giving squadron commanders and senior noncommissioned officers more leeway to decide when such training<\/a> isn\u2019t necessary, or when it is needed, and tailor it to how airmen learn..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a finite number of hours in the day, and days in the week, and weeks in the year,\u201d Shon Manasco, the Air Force\u2019s assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs, recently told Air Force Times. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to make some risk-based decisions based on all the things that, at the local squadron level, that they\u2019re trying to balance. And if we have confidence in our squadron commanders and our senior NCOs, we\u2019re saying, we trust that you\u2019re going to make the right risk-based decisions.\u201d
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For nearly two years, the Air Force has made a priority of cutting out annoying, time-wasting and sometimes unnecessary duties and training \u2015 known to many airmen by the slang term \u201cqueep\u201d \u2015 that are often piled on top of airmen\u2019s usual responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most recently, U.S. Air Forces Central Command slashed its pre-deployment paperwork and training requirements to give airmen more time with their families before they ship out to the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commander of the 1st Special Operations Wing also recently issued a memo giving group and squadron commanders more leeway to figure out how best to train their airmen, and scrapping computer-based training whenever possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During an interview at his Pentagon office, Manasco \u2015 who supervises how the service manages its military and civilian personnel \u2015 outlined ways he thinks the Air Force can trust squadron commanders and other leaders in the field to make common-sense decisions on how they manage their airmen\u2019s training requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, he said, they see those airmen day in and day out, and who else better knows what they need and how they learn?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have a lot of confidence in their ability to make those decisions at their level, versus us here in the Pentagon making calls around how someone in a squadron can best master this skill,\u201d Manasco said.
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