My Thoughts on How to Mitigate the 21M Squadron Command Experience Gap



By Lt Col (ret) Brian Withrow

Here is my thought on how to mitigate the Air Force’s Munitions Officer “experience gap” of qualified candidates for nuclear munitions squadron command.  While there is no substitute for at least 10+ years of actual experience in nuclear munitions jobs, the AF could implement a rigorous one year WSA emersion program for a select number of thoroughly vetted 21M majors and senior captains with squadron command leadership potential.  As 21Ms, these folks should already have held at least one job in a MSA/WSA during their career.  Double billet these command candidates into WSAs with the sole, thoroughly scripted purpose of “deep emersion” into every facet of nuclear weapons management.  The key concept being “on-site” exposure, not some group academic classroom environment.  Expose to every duty section, place emphasis on the study of all relevant directives (AFI, T.O., JNWPS, etc…), and have them observe as many nuclear weapons operations as possible.  Send them TDY to observe NSI/DNSI team processes and send them to a couple mentoring encounters with retired munitions officers that were nuclear squadron commanders in the ‘80s & ‘90s.  If at the end of the one year emersion there isn’t a Munitions Squadron command billet available, then get them into a Maintenance Supervisor billet within a WSA or assign them to a NSI/DNSI team position until a command job comes open.

Unfortunately, I can’t claim this approach as some unique flash of brilliance on my part.  Similar methods have been successfully employed in the past.  One only needs to do a little research to reveal “skills gap” solutions from the corporate world on the internet.  This of coarse is only a “stop gap” measure.  The AF needs to acknowledge and fix how we got into this mess in the first place.  The AF needs to shift the personnel management focus from “career” development to experience development to meet supervision, command, and staff job skill requirements.  Over the past twenty years, mission support functional career field mergers and a flawed emphasis on career broadening resulted in many Field Grade Officers that know a little about a lot and have in-depth knowledge of very little.  21M Company Grade Officers require consecutive assignments in “core” munitions jobs to achieve the level of knowledge needed to have a reasonable expectation of mission effectiveness in 21M FGO billets.  And nuclear weapons experience is an even more focused specialization of 21M job knowledge.  The idea of the well-rounded (broadened), highly successful, plug them in to any job, general leader/manager is the rare exception, not the norm.  Yet this myth has persisted in the AF over the past 20 years.  Experience matters… don’t think so?  Then why not have your next brain surgery performed by a Family Practice Physician. Or closer to home, why aren’t some flying squadrons commanded by great maintenance leaders?  Hum, seems the “just need to be a good leader” philosophy only applies to mission support organizations. bnwithrow@hotmail.com