Aircraft Maintenance Chiefs' Advisory Board

Flying Safety, August, 2002 by Jeff Moening

I had the pleasure of attending the March 2002 meeting of the Aircraft Maintenance Chief's Advisory Board, otherwise known as AMCAB. The AMCAB is a functional advisory board chartered by the HQ USAF Director of Maintenance, and reviews aircraft maintenance, armament and munitions maintenance issues from an Air Force-level perspective. It provides independent assessments and recommendations to/for the Director of Maintenance. The member represent the entire aircraft, armament and munitions maintenance community, regardless of the AMCAB members' assigned command. This interview was of the entire group, and you will not see references to any specific Chief. The views expressed are their personal opinions and viewpoints on the questions asked, and reflect their knowledge of what is happening in the aircraft, armament and munitions maintenance career fields.

FS: Throughout the Air Force, many people complain about low manning levels and low skill levels. Where is the Air Force right now in regard to manning and skill levels, and what does the future hold?

AMCAB: "We do have a lot of 3-levels, but that is the only way to fill the 5-level holes we have at the senior airman and staff sergeant levels. We have to grow the skill levels and this creates a large training burden for all the wings. It's tough out there, but we have to start fixing it now, so we can grow our way out of the manning problems."

"Currently we are at about 76-77 percent 5-level manning. That's where our big shortfall is, too many 3-levels, not enough 5-levels. For the most part, with few exceptions, we are over-manned in 7-levels, but it isn't enough to make up for the 5-level shortfall. In my mind, the Air Force (AF) has done a lot for retention in the form of pay raises, selective reenlistment bonuses and that sort of thing. If you look at the last few years and what has been done for retention, it's a good time to be in the AF. Along with that, we are undertaking a few functional initiatives to try and help things out as well. Once this current bow wave of 3-levels evens out, it is up to us to continue and try to retain them. I think the fact that we are focused on retention, and making things happen, eventually we will pay ourselves large dividends.'

How are we doing on career field retention, and what are we doing to improve retention of skilled workers?

"One key program is the Keep Enlisted Experience Program (KEEP) initiative. One aspect of KEEP is the Airmen Retention chapter recently published in AFI 21-101. I think we all agree that the details of the mandatory commanders retention call should be in a Personnel AFI, but it's great that the program is somewhere and is mandatory. One of the basic complaints you hear from the airmen is communication, that communication doesn't flow. Here is the opportunity for the commander, and Chiefs, to stand up and tell the airmen, 'Here is what's going on in the Air Force,' and what the AMCAB and others are doing for them. Advertising opportunities and providing a chance for airmen to voice their concerns to leadership."

"I'm not sure our retention shortfall is strictly related to pay. I just performed a KEEP brief in USAFE, and of the over one hundred airmen there, only one stated he wasn't satisfied with his pay. Pay is not the issue in keeping people in right now.

If pay isn't the issue in keeping airmen in, what is the main issue?

"If it were possible to put a finger on it, I would say ops tempo. I think it comes down to stability in order to figure out and let the young folks know what they have to be doing next, and what's coming down the road. If they can see it coming, they are a lot more apt to stick around. Giving our airmen the tools and support they need, day in and day out, is another issue. Some of the legacy airframes are not being supported as well as they should be. The funds are not available, and when you have to decide on whether to put the majority of your funds on the future or on the past, the decisions are tough. Look how old the B-52 and some of the F-15s are. We have some old aircraft that we have to keep flying."

"One thing we have to understand about retention in our career fields, and probably most others, is what I read in a trade magazine article. Not only are we having this problem, but also the airlines, the aircraft manufacturers and the depots. This industry is not as attractive as it used to be, and what I found from the airlines is that a lot of the people are leaving to pursue careers in information technology. Hence, you are seeing phenomenal pay raises being negotiated by the mechanics' unions. Mainly because the industries are trying to be competitive with other industries."

The maintenance career field has had a great run on promotions in the last few years. Has this helped or hurt our experience levels?

"That depends on your definition of experience. The way I read your question is that we didn't get experience; we got people with more stripes and more money in their pocket. Experience is grown over time. We can force them into certain positions where they have to accelerate that experience level, because they can't sit dormant or stagnant in another rank as they sometimes do, but the experience level hasn't been raised."