Air Force restructuring nuclear officer career field

Changes might be coming to the intercontinental ballistic missile operations officer career field.

On Wednesday, Air Force Global Strike Command announced that its commander, Gen. Robin Rand, in partnership with Headquarters Air Force Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration Directorate, has directed a review of the career field.

“I see the Air Force relying heavily on the 13N career field as the backbone of nuclear expertise,” Rand said in a release. “In the future, just about every organization with a nuclear mission should have a 13N officer assigned to provide expertise in nuclear policy, command and control, and weapons effects.”

Brig. Gen. Fred Stoss, AFGSC director of operations, said a team from across the Air Force and AFGSC is working on a restructure plan that is expected to be ready for review in May 2016. He said it will take a few years to reach the right rank structure, but they believe they can eliminate officer crossflows as early as 2019.

The goal is to create a self-sustaining career field that focuses on experience and expertise at the wing level, while developing officers for future leadership positions across the Air Force and nuclear enterprise, according to AFGSC.

At each missile wing, including the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom, a crew force of approximately 200 first-assignment officers performs alert duty around the clock, operating 15 launch control centers that control 150 launch facilities.

“For nearly 50 years, our ICBM crew force has been manned almost entirely of first-assignment officers. We employed young officers for four years, and then forced many of them out of the career field to meet manpower needs across the Air Force,” Rand said in a release. “No other career field does this, and it has created a number of challenges for the ICBM community.”

In the past, instructors, evaluators, and flight commanders were all in their first four years of Air Force service. Missile squadrons were comprised of a very young crew force led by a lieutenant colonel operations officer and a squadron commander, with no intermediate leadership positions.

“Overly strict policies and procedures were set in place as a substitute for a more experienced, mature, and engaging mid-level leadership,” Stoss said in a release. “Wouldn’t we rather have an experienced instructor engage young lieutenants one-on-one to show them the way rather than subject the lieutenants to large group training sessions with make or break exams three times a month?”

In the wake of a drug and cheating investigation in 2014, the Air Force created the Force Improvement Program, gathering input for improvement from airmen themselves.

One of the initiatives that grew out of FIP was the “3 plus 3” program, which was implemented in late 2014, to address missileer complaints about the lack of career advancement.

The program means missileers will spend their first three-year assignment as a deputy crew commander before upgrading to crew commander and their next three-year assignment as an instructor, evaluator or flight commander.

The program will affect all officers in the 13N, or nuclear and missile operations, career field.

“3 plus 3” was phased in at Malmstrom Air Force Base, with most officers who arrived in the spring of 2011 completing a four-year crew tour.

Most who arrived in the spring of 2012 will complete a three- to four-year tour and those who arrived in the fall of 2013 and beyond will likely have a three-year tour.

Previously, missile crew tours were four years and included some instructor, evaluator and/or flight commander duties, allowing for inexperienced deputy commanders to instruct or evaluate more senior, experienced officers, which is contrary to the Air Force's standard operations training model, according to Malmstrom.

According to AFGSC, “3 plus 3” improved crew force experience, but hasn’t established a self-sustaining career field.

Now AFGSC will look to determine the right number of 13N officers to sustain the career field over time, while eliminating the need to crossflow officers to other career fields, meaning fewer accessions coming into the career field, but they will all be retained after the first assignment, according to AFGSC.

“All of the senior 13N officers agree this is the right thing to do,” said Lt. Gen. Jack Weinstein, deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration. “We have been relying on a very young crew force to execute a nationally critical mission without the mid-level leadership they deserve. Other Air Force operations squadrons have a better balance between experience and inexperience, and that is where we are headed.”

The restructure will balance accessions with retention and will review and adjust grade structures across the entire career field, resulting in a redistribution of major and lieutenant colonel billets to create a smooth rank structure pyramid seen in all other career fields.

Nuclear-related billets across the Air Force also will be reviewed to determine if they should be included in the 13N career field, which will likely result in additional assignment opportunities for all 13N officers. As with other career fields, 13N officers will continue to be afforded Air Force-wide cross training opportunities such as undergraduate pilot training or the Funded Legal Education Program.

“I greatly appreciate the support to our Airmen and the commitment by senior Air Force leadership in bringing the ICBM community into standard Air Force operations,” said Maj. Gen. Tony Cotton, 20th Air Force commander. Cotton was Malmstrom’s vice commander from July 2009 to May 2010 and commander from May 2010 to August 2011. “This is the most significant change to the ICBM culture in 50 years, and will have a lasting and positive impact.”