Change How We Test, Care, Feed Air Force ICBM Crews

[unhappycamper]

http://breakingdefense.com/2014/03/change-how-we-test-care-feed-air-force-icbm-crews/

&feature=player_embedded

Outrage and worry greeted the news that some of the Air Force officers who would launch nuclear missiles were being investigated for drug use. More outrage and worry greeted the news that a substantial number of the crews who would launch nuclear missiles cheated on the written tests they must regularly take. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, who has handled the public portions of the crisis with aplomb and apparent effectiveness, told the world the missile crew force faced “systemic problems.” Bob Butterworth, expert on nuclear and space issues and a member of the Breaking Defense Board of Contributors, offers his critique of the Air Force’s management of the force, and more importantly, suggests concrete measures to help fix the problems. His discussion of the relative merits of the written tests as compared to the Missile Procedures Trainer simulator that forces officers to demonstrate they know the procedures and actually execute them is particularly interesting. Which is more important: a written test or a test as close to the real world as one can get? The Editor.

Change How We Test, Care, Feed Air Force ICBM Crews
By Bob Butterworth on March 12, 2014 at 2:26 PM

Paper Tests Don’t Simulate Simulators. The test in question is a monthly training test that is treated as a proficiency test. If a missileer scores below 90 percent then he is retrained, retested and returned to duty, all per AFGSC (Air Force Global Strike Command) regulations. The simulator is the more accurate measure of proficiency. Mistakes on the test do not necessarily indicate weaknesses in performance in the simulator, and vice versa.

As one officer with recent command experience explains: “The classroom is where we talk about what we should do on alert, the simulator is where we actually demonstrate what to do. The simulator (Missile Procedures Trainer-MPT) is a high-fidelity launch control center simulator. It is the best way to train and evaluate real-world actions for alert. It consists of a full console and the major communication systems all laid out the same way it is in a launch control center. The instructors can fully simulate the status that may happen on alert — everything from faults with the missiles, failing equipment, security problems, fires, and emergency war order messages from the President directing launch actions.



“Classroom training is great for discussing why you may receive certain faults and what to do, but the MPT is where we can actually ‘drop’ the status on the crew and watch them perform exactly the way they would on alert. In the MPT, we run through realistic scenarios that show messages sent from the higher authorities if we were to escalate tensions with another nation and launch our weapons. It is a Top Secret environment where we have all the decode documents, classified regulations and technical orders that we would have on alert.”

His view of the relative merits of the test and the simulator? “The classroom just isn’t the same. We review basic concepts and what we are supposed to do when we receive certain classified messages, but the test is not written to the analysis level. It is held at the knowledge level, which leads to tricky questions, hooks and the need to develop good test taking skills that really don’t translate to MPT and alert performance. Please note, these tests are not impossibly tricky–if you invest the time and study, then you will do just fine I did as a lieutenant and captain, but there are plenty of people who just want to watch movies on alert and don’t want to invest in their missile career–being good at your job takes work!!.”