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Raingarda Krzynowek
STAFF: Thank you all for joining us today. As Uriah mentioned earlier, please make sure that your phones are on mute and that you don't have your speaker function on. Also, today there'll be an opportunity for one question and one follow-up.
And so today, we are joined by Lt. Gen. Brad Webb, the commander of Air Education and Training Command. Gen. Webb is here to discuss the changes that AETC has implemented in response to COVID-19 in order to protect the Air Force training pipelines and future airmen.
What I'd like to do is read a statement first, as obviously, this format may not allow everyone to get their questions in. And my intent for this statement is to provide content that I anticipate will be on your mind.
Readiness: Military readiness requires trained and available forces, which equate directly to national security. This is why, after careful consideration, we've decided to continue mission-essential training. Rest assured, our near-peer adversaries are watching to see how we respond to this massive health threat.
We at AETC have 30,000 airmen and space professionals in various pipelines, and in order to maintain a trained force we must continue to bring in new recruits and train them. Today, our mission-essential training is basic military, technical and flying training, as well as Officer Training School and Reserve Officer Training Corps.
First, I'd like to talk about basic military training, or BMT. In BMT, we normally graduate about 3,000 airmen each month. If we stand this capability down for a month, it will take a year to recover. Now having said that, we are not in full production of BMT. Currently, we are accepting only about 460 new trainees every week instead of the usual 600 to 800. This decrease helps us improve our physical distancing.
We've also implemented the following: One, we have placed new BMT trainees in a 14-day restriction of movement, or ROM, upon arrival. We started this procedure with the class that entered in -- on 17th of March. We also have them in geographically separated training facilities at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, so that they don't have contact with trainees who have already started the BMT pipeline.
Two, no new recruits reported to BMT last week to allow us time to implement new procedures, based on our observations of our first two weeks of the ROM, and also to deep clean dorms, the dining facilities, and other infrastructure in line with CDC guidance.
Four, we've adjusted training to decrease exposure of trainees and military training instructors. So far, we've realized only five positive trainees, zero instructor positives, and zero outbreaks to date, thanks in large part to these proactive measures.
Additionally, we're conducting BMT at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, starting this week. We chose Keesler because more than 160 career fields accomplish technical training there, and we'll limit trainees' movement from BMT to their technical training location. We call this a proof of concept, and this proof of concept also provides relief to the Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland infrastructure.
Finally, we've shortened BMT from eight and a half weeks to seven weeks in order to maximize training effectiveness and space utilization. A variety of approaches are being used to shorten the training length, such as decreased time spent on certain drill and ceremony items and streamlining the uniform issue process. And I would note this is an example of business as required.
Moving to technical training. After BMT, airmen transfer to tech training, a diverse enterprise which trains airmen in 265 specialties at 78 operating locations across the U.S., with a few detachments overseas. To protect our tech trainees, we've empowered commanders to modify their training courses -- again, an example of business as required -- to stay ahead of the curve.
Modification -- modifications range from splitting training into shifts to reduced class sizes, using distance learning more, and even using outdoor classrooms. In some cases, we're moving training forward and in others we've deferred training that can only be completed in close quarters or in large groups. Obviously, it's a careful balance.
Our commanders have implemented various screening, quarantine, and isolation protocols to ensure -- to ensure mitigated risk for their teams. While it's too early to know the full effects of COVID-19 on our flying training pipeline, we know it will be impactful.
Officer training. Our ROTC cadets are completing their college education via distance learning. Our Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base has adopted some of the same precautions as I've described in BMT, to include medical screening, restriction of movement, and physical distancing.
I have just a quick word on recruiting. Of course, none of this training happens without our recruiting service. Our mission starts with our amazing recruiters who are finding innovative ways to continue the mission during COVID-19. Through the use of technology, recruiters are maintaining their relationships with applicants and communicating, during this time is obviously imperative.
Additionally, recruiters are developing agile shipping methods to allow flexibility when Military Entrance Processing Stations, or MEPS, close due to COVID-19, and we've already seen some of that in various areas around the country.
MEPS locations are the first stop for recruits entering military service in the United States. Should a MEPS location close, recruiters can send recruits to adjacent MEPS locations to complete their final medical checks before going to BMT. Communication is the single most important part of the process, and we encourage all new applicants to stay in constant communication with their recruiter.
Across the enterprise, we are following risk-based measures consistent with guidance from the Department of Defense and CDC. We continue to take actions to fight through COVID-19 while balancing our responsibilities to deliver air and space power for our nation, all while mitigating risk to communities, airmen, families and trainees as we execute our mission.
We appreciate our service members and their families for what they are doing in this time of crisis. We appreciate the fact that you have entrusted your sons' and daughters' care to us. We don't take that responsibility lightly.
One, on recruiting, are you seeing a reduction in the number of people who are coming in? Is there a way you can sort of quantify that for us? Because as you look out to the future, are there fewer -- are you getting fewer recruits right now just because of the whole national COVID situation?
And then secondly, on the training, you gave us some numbers on the initial basic training, COVID-positive. But more broadly across the force that you see within all your training, what are the numbers of COVID-positives? Particularly, if you have seen any among pilots and whether that's impacting any operational issues.
On the first question, respective of recruiting numbers, we've been in kind of a -- I would say to the 99th percentile, virtual at this point. But we've only been in that for less than two weeks. So the data really isn't discernible yet on what we're seeing. It's obviously of utmost importance.
I think especially in the recruiting area, we have the opportunity now to never go back to old ways. There's a lot of good virtual innovation that's occurring, especially with respect to recruiting, that I'd be interested in retaining.
On the second one, I know it was generally about the BMT-positives that I've articulated, and I'm glad to have a follow-up if I don't hit the mark exactly on this one. But with respect to BMTs* across the force, we're kind of keeping that in readiness channels and we'll be reporting that strictly through military channels from here on out. And that, obviously will include what's happening with the pilot force. Over.
GEN. WEBB: Yeah, the answer to the question is yes. We continue to train our foreign partners that we have in the pipeline, under the protocols that are both -- that the U.S. has set, but also those that their nation has directed that they fall under.
GEN. WEBB: Yeah, obviously it's going to set us back, but we will be leaking at about half the rate we would have. Now, you're right, it's about at a 60th percentile. We had a little bit of cache that you would always expect of a training pipeline to do, but we're going to eat into that the longer that this continues.
But our assessment of, you know, the protocols that we're operating under, are that we have it at the appropriate level. So, you know, I wouldn't want to leave you with an impression that this doesn't affect our ability in any of our pipelines, because it does. But we are as elegantly as we can, navigating the risk to force and the risk to mission kind of aspects, of keeping after readiness to the extent that we can.
And if I could just ask one follow-up, at this current rate, what is your tipping point in terms of when will it be kind of an unacceptable level of risk, if you're at this -- at this rate? How long can you go until you reach kind of an unacceptable tipping point?
So, you know, we are in a, obviously, a reduced to some amount -- degree of training. Our assessment is that we don't have to take other measures, such as stop-loss, which of course has been -- being discussed inside of Washington. We're not at that point, yet.
If this were to continue for an extraordinary amount of time -- and by that I mean multiples of months -- we would probably have to -- we as the Department of Defense, certainly the Air Force, continue to assess when we'd have to take other measures. We're not there at this point, and we're really kind of taking it day-by-day and week-by-week, to see what we can get done on our end of the pipeline. Over.
And so, what I'll be providing is our assessment of what we can train, which of course I've just kind of articulated to you, and the personnelists on the air staff will be providing an assessment of what that does in the -- over the duration of months. And we'll make a jointly, probably, arrived-at recommendation for the chief.
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