Data Hackathons to Help Expand Digital Engineering in the Testing Community

Data Hackathons to Help Expand Digital Engineering in the Testing Community

Nov. 23, 2021 | By Amanda Miller

So-called “hackers” from three commands competed in a hackathon Nov. 1-5 to help the Air Force Test Pilot School figure out how to manage stores of data in an expansion of digital engineering. 

The Air Force Test Center, which operates the school, wants to expand digital engineering from something largely done for testing “into a more collaborative approach between the test units, program offices, and contractors,” according to a news release by center. “This requires appropriate data collection, storage, transport, and sharing at the right security levels.” 

Digital engineering, put simply, leaves behind blueprints in favor of continuously evolving digital models.

About 40 troops, government civilians, and contractor employees “merged their different abilities” and came up with ideas for how to analyze data across different data sets, to share data, and to “automate certain activities for increased speed,” said Air Force Col. Keith M. Roessig, the center’s vice commander, in the release.

The hackathon also provided an opportunity for professional development—experience in cloud computing, software coding, and data analytics—as well as to “build a technical community,” the center said. 

The hackers “all did a great job of recognizing each other’s strengths and using that knowledge to assign tasks,” said Brandon Stiles, chief engineer for the Test Support Division of the Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Complex, Tenn., one of the three commands that took part, along with the 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and the 96th Test Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. 

They collaborated remotely over the Air Force Chief Data Office’s VAULT cloud platform, which gets its name from its description as making data “visible, accessible, understandable, linked, and trustworthy.” 

The participants “were key in helping to examine test data formats from other test mission areas and demonstrating the ability to quickly convert data formats that could be used with Python automated analysis tools,” Stiles said.

Now the center plans to stage quarterly hackathons with the next goal “to not only have more participants, but to work with squadrons and hopefully get a bigger mission impact,” said the Capt. Troy Soileau, chief data officer of the 96th Cyber Test Group, in the release. The next hackathon could be as soon as the first quarter of 2022.

The Air Force first launched a white-hat hacking program in 2017, following up on the Defense Department’s first Hack the Pentagon event. Last year, hackers were invited to take control of a DOD satellite in the first-ever event focused on space-based capabilities.

Air Force Extends Deadline to Apply for the Rated Prep Program

Air Force Extends Deadline to Apply for the Rated Prep Program

Nov. 23, 2021 | By Amy Hudson

Active-duty Airmen who want to become pilots, combat systems officers, air battle managers, or remotely piloted aircraft pilots now have until Dec. 31 to apply for the Rated Preparatory Program.

The program gives Airmen who are interested in cross-training into rated career fields a chance to learn basic aviation skills. It is slated to run March 20-25 and March 27-April 1 in Denton, Texas, according to a USAF release.

“The Rated Preparatory Program provides a unique opportunity for officers and enlisted personnel to become rated officers,” said Brig. Gen. Brenda P. Cartier, Air Education and Training Command’s director of operations and communications.

The Air Force launched the program in partnership with the Civil Air Patrol in 2019 in an effort to tackle the service’s lingering pilot shortage.

Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., a former F-16 instructor pilot at the U.S. Air Force Weapons School and the first Black uniformed leader of any U.S. military service, has pushed the Air Force to diversify the entire force. However, he’s acknowledged that the service has made little progress with its mostly white and male pilot corps.

“When I was a captain, I did an interview for Air Force Times, and it talked about the percentage of African Americans that were pilots,” Brown said during a December 2020 virtual town hall on racism and discrimination. “It was 2 percent. That was 30 years ago. You know what it is right now? It’s still 2 percent.”

There are many reasons the Air Force has struggled to get more minorities in its cockpits, including the prohibitive cost of flying outside of the military and a lack of exposure to aviation or to other people who fly.

“Through RPP, qualified Airmen gain skills they may have not had the opportunity or resources to gain before entering the Air Force,” Cartier said in the release. “We want to provide our Airmen the tools to pursue their lifelong dream of flying in the Air Force—a dream they may have never thought possible.”

Airmen selected for the program will receive ground training as well as eight flight hours in a Civil Air Patrol Cessna 182 Skylane as well as time in simulators. The idea is to make participants more competitive for rated selection boards, according to the release.

Kathryn Gifford, AETC’s rated diversity improvement program analyst, said RPP graduates have improved their Air Force Officer Qualifying Test and Test of Basic Aviation Skills scores by about 40 percent. Both tests are considered by rated selection boards.

“Of the 93 RPP students trained in fiscal years [2019 and 2020], 70 applied to the undergraduate flying training board, with 55 (78 percent) applicants selected for a rated position,” Gifford said.

Officers who want to attend RPP must meet the following requirements, according to the release:

  • “Be of high moral character”
  • Receive permission and endorsement from their group commander or a higher-level leader
  • Pass the Air Force physical fitness test
  • Receive their Pilot Candidate Selection Method initial scoring results prior to RPP, then agree to retake the AFOQT and TBAS two to four weeks after completing the course.
  • Have less than five hours of civilian flight time. (Those with more than five hours will be considered on a space-available basis only.)
  • Obtain the Air Force flight physical for the career field they are looking to cross-train into

Enlisted personnel must:

  • Be under 33 years old as of March 20, 2022
  • Earn a bachelor’s degree with at least a 2.5 grade point average
  • Agree to get your commission as soon as possible after completing RPP.

Editor’s Note: This story was corrected on Nov. 24 to note that officers with more than five hours of civilian flight time will be considered on a space-available basis.

Space Industry Experts Think DOD Can Help Spur More Private Investment

Space Industry Experts Think DOD Can Help Spur More Private Investment

Nov. 22, 2021 | By Amanda Miller

Increased Pentagon spending on commercial space technology can prompt private investors to invest more, continuing record investment in the U.S. space sector, according 232 experts attending the State of the Space Industrial Base 2021 Workshop. They cited sustaining investors’ confidence as a “major concern” requiring “urgent action.”

The report “State of the Space Industrial Base 2021: Infrastructure and Services for Economic Growth and National Security,” written by five defense leaders, draws its conclusions from the working sessions of the workshop attendees.

Brought together by NewSpace New Mexico, the group’s goal was to advise on how to “nurture and grow a healthy space industrial base and national security innovation base.” The five authors—Space Force Brig. Gen. John M. Olson, mobilization assistant to the Chief of Space Operations; Space Force Col. Eric J. Felt, director of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate; Joel B. Mozer, chief scientist of the Space Force’s Space Operations Command; Steven J. Butow, the Defense Innovation Unit’s space portfolio director; and Thomas Cooley, chief scientist in the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate—released the conclusions Nov 18.

The group also called on the Defense Department to more than double the share of its overall acquisition budget used to acquire commercial services, seeking an increase from “single digit percentages” to 20 percent.

The report summarizes the “collective voice” of all 232 experts, many of whom work for space companies. Other urgent concerns include “adequate resourcing to accelerate innovation” and “attention to brittle supply chains.” They also want DOD to provide vendors clearer “strategic guidance.”

U.S. space companies are “the subject of intense predation” of intellectual property by foreign investors, the report said. A mandate in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act to report on space competition with China is “comprehensive,” but the White House should further consider these matters as part of strategic “supply chain planning.”

The report highlights “major opportunities,” such as the military’s interest in joint all-domain command and control (JADC2) as well as developments in cislunar space. Its recommendations include:

  • Spur investment beyond launch. Private investment in commercial space is concentrated in launch services, and participants say “too little capital [is] flowing into other verticals ready for investment.” The authors seek “defense and intelligence contracts significant enough to sustain current private investment levels” as necessary to “secure American leadership” in commercial space. Private investment in space infrastructure alone reached $4.5 billion in the second quarter of 2021, a record, but DOD could build on that and help attract even more private money for in-space servicing, mobility, and logistics firms.
  • Start building the cislunar ‘space superhighway.’ Transportation and communications infrastructures “are fundamental antecedents to much broader economic activity,” the report said. “Although the nation is contemplating a multi-trillion, once-in-a-generation infrastructure plan to ‘win the future,’ no part of it addresses the emerging in-space infrastructure or China’s desire to surpass the U.S. in building it.”
  • Adopt a hybrid military-civil architecture for JADC2. A hybrid architecture can “harness commercial capabilities … to enhance the resilience” of DOD’s satellite communications architecture, the report said. 
  • Buy more commercial services. Policies, budget processes, and the “lack of procurement innovation incentives” stand in the way of “more agile and rapid innovation” across the DOD in “various technology valleys of death,” the authors said. Workshop participants judged that such a commitment “requires policy and incentives that drive toward a goal of 20 [percent] non-traditional commercial service acquisitions.”
‘The Clock Is Ticking’ as Ukraine Seeks Air Defense Aid

‘The Clock Is Ticking’ as Ukraine Seeks Air Defense Aid

Nov. 22, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

With some 90,000 Russian troops massing on Ukraine’s eastern border and holding large-scale military exercises in the area, worries are growing that Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing a possible invasion or other military actions against Ukraine. Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov visited Washington Nov. 18-19 seeking military assistance, but some fear a mismatch between the urgent situation and the slow pace of major international arms sales.

Russia’s joint exercises with Belarus included a presence northeast of Kyiv, which makes this situation different from prior mobilizations, including Russia’s 2014 invasion of southeastern Ukraine, said a senior Senate staffer, who asked not to be named. That southern region is still held by Russian-backed separatists, fueling a low-intensity conflict that persists in violation of the Minsk agreement that ended the invasion.

What’s different this time, the staffer said, is that in 2014, Putin “didn’t really use airpower because he was looking for some deniability.” This time, however, Putin has set up a different course of action. “If he goes this big, he’s not going to care about deniability,” the staffer said.

As winter approaches, the muddy fields, lakes, and rivers of Eastern Ukraine are freezing over, so mechanized vehicles and close air support left at the border after Russia’s exercises will have an easier route to travel.

To counter that, Ukraine will need counter-air, counter-artillery, and anti-tank weapons, said the staffer, who met with Reznikov during his recent visit to Washington.

“We did have a discussion about the counter-air,” the staffer said, but the minister seemed to be after “the Patriot-size stuff,” while short-term needs might be greater. “I would be worried about the next two months and getting everything we can that can make a difference,” the staffer said.

Getting approval to sell a complex air defense system such as the Patriot will take too long, he said, when the U.S. or NATO partners can offer man-portable air-defense systems such as the Stinger, which is still effective against slower-moving aircraft.

Marine Corps Lt. Col. Anton T. Semelroth, a Pentagon spokesperson, said in a written statement that U.S. assistance to Ukraine is ongoing. Investment reached $400 million this year and a total $2.5 billion since 2014. Another $300 million is anticipated in the 2022 National Defense Authorization bill, which is expected to clear the senate in early December.

“The United States has previously announced security assistance support in these domains,” Semelroth wrote, citing “air surveillance radars, counter-artillery radars, counter-unmanned aerial systems, and armed patrol boats.”

Asked by Air Force Magazine what systems he is seeking from the U.S., Reznikov said only that he sought air and naval defenses.

The Threat from Belarus

Close relations between Putin and Belarusian strongman Vicktor Lukashenko gives Russia a useful partner in the neighborhood. Belarus’ open invitation to Middle Eastern migrants to travel through it on tourist visas fueled a migrant a crisis earlier this month on the border with Poland involving tens of thousands of Polish and Lithuanian troops.

Wojciech Lorenz, defense analyst for the Polish Institute of International Affairs, said this was a new type of hybrid warfare and should be seen as a warning to Europe that it should cease assisting Ukraine.

Lorenz said Belarusian forces provoked Europeans on the border, using lasers to temporarily blind security patrols, firing stun grenades, and shooting blanks into the air. The psychological campaign seems designed to provoke a response which could then be used by Russia to suggest that NATO is planning to invade Belarus.

“We have seen major escalation,” Lorenz said in a phone interview from Warsaw. “By increasing the credibility of escalation against Poland, the Baltic States, and NATO through Belarus, they wanted to send a signal: ‘Stay away, because you will have military escalation on your borders, so do not offer any support to Ukraine.’”

Lorenz said Russia could be trying to press Ukraine to reenter negotiations and to seek autonomy for the breakaway states of Donetsk and Luhansk. “Of course, because [the two states] would be controlled by Russia, with their special status in this federalized Ukraine, they would just block any decision that is not in Russia’s interests,” Lorenz said.

Lithuanian military attaché Brig. Gen. Modestas Petrauskas does not believe the migrant crisis poses a military threat to Europe, but he told Air Force Magazine that it has the potential to destabilize the region.

“We are one of the most tense regions in the entire NATO [area of responsibility], the eastern flank,” he explained. “Anything which can have a potential of escalation or misunderstanding is sort of impacting the overall security situation.”

The Senate staffer likewise does not believe the Belarus migrant crisis is of military concern but said it does divert Ukraine’s attention from the Russian troops to its east.

“I don’t see that as a valid threat,” the staffer said. “What I do see is Belarus is a threat from the north to Ukraine and the pretext being used to put troops there.”

“The clock is ticking,” he said. “If we’re going to do something, that decision needs to be made and move out.”

US Has ‘a Lot of Catching Up to Do’ in Hypersonics, Space Force’s No. 2 Says

US Has ‘a Lot of Catching Up to Do’ in Hypersonics, Space Force’s No. 2 Says

Nov. 22, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

One day after the Space Force’s second in command warned that the U.S. is “not as advanced as the Chinese or the Russians in terms of hypersonic programs,” a media report indicated that China’s likely test of a nuclear-capable hypersonic weapon this summer included an added capability.

Financial Times, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, reported Nov. 21 that in July, China launched a hypersonic glide vehicle into space, part of a suspected orbital bombardment system that now is said to have fired a missile while flying at least five times the speed of sound.

The ability to fire a projectile off a supersonic platform is “a capability no country has previously demonstrated,” Financial Times reported. The Wall Street Journal subsequently reported the news as well.

The Defense Department has yet to comment on the latest development, though Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley and Vice Chairman Gen. John E. Hyten have both previously confirmed the nuclear-capable hypersonic test—Hyten said such a weapon looks like a “first-use” weapons in a nuclear scenario.

Space Force Gen. David D. Thompson, vice chief of space operations, spoke at the Halifax International Security Forum on Nov. 20, just before the latest reporting on the additional projectile. But when asked about the hypersonic test more broadly, he noted that the U.S. has “a lot of catching up to do very quickly.”

“The Chinese have had an incredibly aggressive hypersonic program for several years,” Thompson added. “And I agree with Gen. Hyten—it’s a very concerning development. I don’t know if it’s a first-use weapon. I will tell you, it greatly complicates the strategic warning problem.”

Thompson explained the challenges to the strategic warning system by likening the Chinese hypersonic missile to a “magic snowball.”

Ballistic missiles follow predictable trajectories, allowing defense systems to track them more easily. By comparison, a hypersonic missile “changes that game entirely,” Thompson said. Using the example of a snowball fight, he explained that with a hypersonic missile, “I can throw that snowball in this direction, I can throw it in that direction, I can throw it in this direction—and it will maneuver back and it’ll hit you. In fact, it might even fly by you, turn around, and hit you in the back of the head. That’s what a hypersonic glide vehicle does. Combine that with a fractional orbital bombardment system, and I’m going to throw the snowball that way, and it’s going to go around the world, and it’s going to come hit you in the back of the head.”

Such a capability makes the world a “much more complicated place,” Thompson said, especially as the Pentagon works to catch up.

Gillian Bussey, director of DOD’s Joint Hypersonics Transition Office, has said the Army will field the military’s first hypersonic weapon in a “year or two.”

Fighter Mission Capable Rates Fell in 2021

Fighter Mission Capable Rates Fell in 2021

Nov. 22, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

Mission capable rates dropped in 2021 for every Air Force fighter type except the A-10, reversing progress in 2020, according to data released to Air Force Magazine.

“Mission capable” rates are a common measure of readiness and relate to an aircraft’s ability to perform at least one of its core missions; for example, the multirole F-16 is tasked for air-to-air combat, ground attack, or suppression of enemy air defenses. By contrast, “full mission capable” refers to an aircraft that is ready to perform all of its assigned missions. Full mission capable rates were not provided.

The Air Force aims for MC rates between 75 percent and 80 percent on most aircraft, but none stood at that level as fiscal 2021 ended.

The declines are noteworthy even though the Air Force has sought to de-emphasize the rates and instead focus on unit readiness as a more accurate way to evaluate combat capability. Also noteworthy is that 2020’s gains were achieved at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when greater restrictions were placed on the physical proximity of workers in backshops and depots.

The F-35A rate declined from 76.07 percent to 68.8 percent from 2020 to 2021 as an increasing number of F-35s came due for their first big engine overhauls. A shortage of engines has grounded about 40 F-35As over the past year, a level that the F-35 Joint Program Office predicts could hold for several years.

Still, the F-35A mission capable rate remained above that of 2019, when it was just 61.6 percent.

With operating costs disappointingly high, the Air Force has throttled back on new F-35A purchases until the more capable Block 4 version is ready and operating costs can be brought down to a more sustainable level. Congress has gone along, with members recognizing that adding airframes has only exacerbated a shortage of parts and made it harder to achieve objective mission capable rates.    

The next biggest drop struck the F-15E fleet, which saw MC rates fall three percentage points, from 69.21 percent in fiscal 2021 to 66.24 percent. The decline continued a trend; in fiscal 2019, the Eagle’s MC rate was 71.29 percent.

The F-15C and D rates also fell. The C model declined to 69.48 percent from 71.93 percent, and the D model fell from 70.52 percent to 68.56 percent. As with the E model, the C and D declines continued a trend dating to 2019, when rates were in the 70s. The Air Force’s F-15C fleet is beyond its planned service life, and the jet is encumbered with numerous operating restrictions and “vanishing vendor” parts shortages.   

The F-16C and D fleet similarly shed percentage points: The C model turned in an MC rate of 71.53 percent in fiscal 2021, down from 73.9 percent in fiscal ’20. The D model came in at 69.32 percent, down from 72.11 percent. Both aircraft were above 70 percent in fiscal 2019.

The stealthy F-22 continued to hover at just over 50 percent, reflecting the fleet’s relatively small size and numerous challenges. The Air Force said the rate was just 50.81 percent in 2021, about one percentage point down from 2020, and just about equal to 2019, when it was at 50.57 percent. The Air Force has chalked up low F-22 MC rates in recent years to challenges caring for the jet’s low observable systems as well as continuing repercussions from severe damage inflicted on about 10 percent of the fleet by Hurricane Michael in 2018. Parts obsolescence is also an issue.

The venerable A-10s are the healthiest, if least capable, jets in the fighter force. Perhaps benefitting from an ongoing re-winging program, the A-10 MC rate ticked up from 71.2 percent in fiscal 2020 to 72.54 percent in fiscal 2021. The A-10 is generally less sophisticated than the other fighters, with fewer sensor systems, and its maintainers are generally more experienced, as most Warthogs belong to the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve.

When Jim Mattis was Defense Secretary early in the Trump administration, he ordered the Air Force and Navy to raise MC rates for fighter aircraft to 80 percent. The Air Force never achieved that goal, saying at the time that MC rates were not a meaningful indicator of overall readiness for war. A frontline deployed unit typically is close to 100 percent mission capable because parts are prioritized for such units, while squadrons recently returned from deployments can see MC rates decline rapidly.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 8:12 p.m. Nov. 22 with the correct F-15D rates.

Hyten Reflects on ‘Enormous Progress’ as Grady’s Confirmation Hearing is Set

Hyten Reflects on ‘Enormous Progress’ as Grady’s Confirmation Hearing is Set

Nov. 22, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

The position of Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is officially vacant. Air Force Gen. John E. Hyten retired Nov. 19, and Navy Adm. Christopher W. Grady awaits his Senate confirmation hearing.

Hyten’s final departure from the Pentagon as the military’s No. 2 officer, posted to social media by the Joint Staff on Nov. 18, preceded a ceremony the following day at Joint Base Andrews, Md., during which Hyten reflected on the changes he had seen over the course of his four decades in uniform, from the early post-Vietnam years to the current era of strategic competition.

“For the last 40 years, we’ve made enormous progress to ensure the U.S. military is the most trusted and credible, apolitical institution in the United States of America and the most lethal military the world has ever seen,” Hyten said. “And now, we have to make sure it stays that way for the next 40 years and beyond.”

Grady’s confirmation hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 2, according to the Senate Armed Services Committee calendar. Grady has led the Navy’s Fleet Forces Command/U.S. Naval Forces Northern Command since May 2018. He has also held the duties of commander for U.S. Naval Forces Strategic Command and U.S. Strategic Command Joint Force Maritime Component since February 2019.

President Joe Biden announced Grady’s nomination Nov. 1, virtually guaranteeing some sort of gap after Hyten’s retirement—the full Senate has taken at least a month to confirm every Chairman and Vice Chairman in the past decade.

After the Dec. 2 confirmation hearing, Grady’s nomination will proceed to the full Senate for a vote. But while leading lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have previously pledged to act quickly to minimize any vacancy, senators can place procedural “holds” on nominees, which slow down the process—such holds delayed Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall’s appointment for roughly a month.

On top of that, the Senate’s end-of-the-year calendar has grown increasingly crowded. Already, passage of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act has been pushed back weeks and is still not finished; the government is operating under a continuing resolution that will expire in early December; and Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said he wants to pass President Joe Biden’s social spending bill, called Build Back Better, by Christmas. 

Congress is currently in recess for the Thanksgiving holiday and returns to session Nov. 29. Then the Senate is scheduled to be in session only two more weeks before recessing again until 2022, but that could very well change.

During a press briefing Oct. 28, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby called any sort of gap in the Vice Chairman role “not optimal” but noted that the Joint Staff had worked through such situations before. By law, there is no procedure for naming an “acting” vice chairman, but some of Hyten’s roles and responsibilities can be delegated on an “acting” basis, Kirby added.

Air Force Magazine queried the Joint Staff for clarification on how Hyten’s duties were being delegated and had yet to receive a reply.

One Pilot Dies, Two Injured in T-38 Crash at Laughlin

One Pilot Dies, Two Injured in T-38 Crash at Laughlin

Nov. 20, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

One pilot was killed and two more were injured during an incident involving two T-38 trainer jets at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, on Nov. 19, the 47th Flying Training Wing announced.

Details of the incident have not been disclosed, but a release from the 47th FTW indicated that it occurred at 10 a.m. local time on the base’s runway. 

One of the pilots is in critical condition and was evacuated by air to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. The other was transported to Val Verde Regional Medical Center in Del Rio, Texas, treated, and released, the wing said in a statement.

“Losing teammates is unbelievably painful and it is with a heavy heart I express my sincere condolences,” Col. Craig D. Prather, 47th Flying Training Wing commander, said in a release. “Our hearts, thoughts, and prayers are with our pilots involved in this mishap and their families.” 

On Nov. 21, the Air Force identified the pilot who died as 2nd Lt. Anthony D. Wentz, 23, a student pilot in the 47th FTW from Falcon, Colo. No other pilots were identified.

The T-38 is the Air Force’s supersonic trainer, used to teach pilots supersonic techniques, aerobatics, formation, night and instrument flying, and cross-country/low-level navigation. The cockpit has two seats—it is unclear whether both T-38s involved in the Nov. 19 incident had two pilots.

This marks the second fatal incident this year involving the T-38C. In February, an Air Force instructor and Japanese student were killed at Dannelly Field near Montgomery, Ala. An investigation later determined that both pilots made errors during the descent that led to the crash. 

Also in February, a pilot was faulted for relying on a “seat of the pants feel” that led to a crash involving a T-38 at Sacramento Mather Airport, Calif. Prior to those two incidents, there hadn’t been an accident involving the T-38 since 2019.

Kendall Connects Interpersonal Violence, Disparity Report Findings to Issue of Suicide

Kendall Connects Interpersonal Violence, Disparity Report Findings to Issue of Suicide

Nov. 19, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

The Department of the Air Force’s recently released reports on interpersonal violence and on gender, race, and ethnic disparities are linked to the issue of suicide in the military, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in a Facebook town hall Nov. 18.

These recent reports have revealed data showing stark differences in promotions, discipline, trust in leadership, and other areas between white male service members and women and racial and ethnic minorities. They have also included tens of thousands of Airmen, Guardians, and civilians within the DAF reporting some action that resulted “in psychological or physical harm or that detracts from a culture of dignity and respect.” 

Taken together, these issues contribute to one of Kendall’s most pressing concerns, he said.

“I want to make a connection between these two reports, in a way, and the other thing that has been happening in the force that keeps me awake at night,” Kendall said. “It’s the number of suicides we have. … And I think every one of these is in some way an institutional failure. It’s a leadership job to make sure people are educated about the issues they face. It’s a leadership job to make sure that people understand that when they do have a problem, that they can get help and that it’s OK to do that.”

The interpersonal violence survey, which asked respondents about 81 different behaviors identified on a “continuum of harm,” found that many Airmen and Guardians did not report incidents because they didn’t believe it was serious enough or they did not think their leaders would do anything about it. Kendall called that “disturbing” and pointed to the need for leaders to do better in supporting their troops, whether they’re facing disparity or interpersonal violence.

“If you take the case of suicide, for example, there’s the individual who is involved, and there are the people that know him and are around him and see him often and have an opportunity to intervene and help him or her. That’s something that the whole chain of command has to emphasize all the time,” Kendall said. “Similarly for the disparity, any inequities that we see, we have to act on, we have to deal with them. Interpersonal violence, in the study, often takes the form of bullying or hazing. It’s not physical violence. It’s emotional damages. It’s violence that’s done to someone’s psyche, to their mental health, as opposed to their physical health, and it certainly has implications for their health overall.”

Indeed, the survey classified actions like spreading workplace rumors and verbal harassment as interpersonal violence. And actions like those were often not reported, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said. But that speaks to a broader issue that “our Airmen and Guardians felt that if they did report, nothing would happen,” Brown said. “And maybe from negative past experience or with those that they serve with, they’ve seen examples where we, as a command or leadership, didn’t respond with the right processes.”

By taking a more expansive look at interpersonal violence, the Air Force hopes to gain a better understanding of how to monitor and deal with issues that could be “precursors” to other forms of violence, Undersecretary of the Air Force Gina Ortiz Jones added.

“The more that we know, the better prepared we’re going to be to be able to address these things,” said Ortiz Jones. “That’s why one of the things we’re looking at as it relates to that is better understanding activities, for example, like grooming and stalking—things that we don’t necessarily talk as much about … but as best we can understand some of these kinds of behaviors that indicate or are precursors, rather, to other forms of interpersonal violence, the best we’ll be able to respond, prevent those things.”

If certain minority groups lack trust in commanders to solve issues, especially of interpersonal violence, they will be more vulnerable and isolated, Ortiz Jones said. And fixing that trust in leaders to encourage reporting will require a comprehensive effort, Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond said.

“It isn’t one leader. … It’s leadership at all levels. It’s leadership from frontline supervisors all the way up through the leadership of the service that you see here on the screen,” Raymond said. “So to call on the leaders would be to call on everybody in the leadership roles that you’re in to make sure that we’re providing an environment that is conducive for folks to come to work and do the mission that is so critical, and to do it in a way that they feel empowered and safe.”

“I would tell every one of our Airmen and Guardians, … ‘Don’t stop there,’” Bass said. “Gen. Raymond just talked about leaders at every level, and that holds all of us. Every leader has a leader above them. We have chains of command.”

Should Airmen and Guardians report interpersonal violence only to be dismissed by their direct leadership, Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass said they should continue to press the issue.