Photo By Shannon Collins | Air Force Special Operations Recruiter Staff Sgt. Matthew Vargas exits a hallway on...... read more read more
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WASHINGTON, Aug. 2, 2018 – For the first time in the Defense Department, a series of career field specialties is using human performance monitoring and a data collection system, as well as specialized recruiters to create fitter, faster, stronger, more resilient warfighters.
Because of high attrition rates in its special operations career fields -- pararescue, combat controller, tactical air control party and special operations weather technicians -- the Air Force stood up the 350th Battlefield Airman Training Squadron at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, and the 330th Recruiting Squadron at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph in Texas. Recruiters also focus on the special operations support career fields: survival, evasion and resistance and explosive ordnance disposal.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Matthew Vargas, assigned to Redding, California, was one of 90 special operations recruiters who attended a one-week version of the eight-week course so they could get hands-on experience June 25-29.
Redding
Vargas said his favorite part about serving in the military for the past 12 years has been inspiring and developing the next generation of airmen.
He said he enjoys recruiting in the Redding area. “It’s my home area. I lived in a lot of the towns within my zone,” said the Durham native. “They’re extremely patriotic and aren’t afraid to show it. There are a lot of veterans who live in the community as well.”
Vargas graduated from Durham High School in 2006. His father, Robert Vargas, lives in Newman, and his mother, Debra Peterson, lives in Turlock.
Mission
Air Force Maj. Heath Kerns said the recruiters’ mission is to scout, develop and guide the future warriors for their combat calling. With this new program, the recruiters work hand-in-hand with the squadron ahead of time and have developers, retired operators, who will work with the recruits to make sure they can pass the physical training test and be ready for battlefield airmen prep before arrival.
Technology
The squadron uses many cutting-edge innovative technology systems. By January, the squadron will have a 55,000-square-foot smart gym with an indoor track with an LED lighted system called a rabbit. The gym will know when the students enter via a chip in their smart watches. The cardio equipment will read the chips as well. The weight equipment will have tablets with video cameras where the students will type in their student number and record their workout, and then the coaches will critique and send them a message if they did anything wrong in their techniques.
“The new facility is absolutely amazing. The amount of technology that goes into each and every person is incredible,” Vargas said. “They’re truly machines.”
He said having the facility and staff are crucial. “This facility gives every airman their best chance at succeeding in making it all the way through their preparatory training to make it into their special operations career fields,” Vargas said.
DoD First
The squadron is the first in DoD to use a digital functional movement screening called DARI for all candidates. The camera system identifies joint mobility and strength imbalances of 28 movement patterns.
The first class had 14 candidates who were identified to be at high risk for injury, said Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Josh Smith, the special warfare preparatory course superintendent for the 350th BATS. He has been a pararescueman, or PJ, for 25 years.
Within 10 training days, 12 of the 14 were injured in the way the computer had predicted.
“For the next class, for those identified, we gave them homework,” he said. “They wear these compression shirts and shorts that link to their tablets to show that they’re doing the exercises for accountability. The injuries went down.”
The students wear a harness with a Zephyr biomodule sensor, which measures their core body temperature throughout the day, as well as 44 individual post-training event data analytics that provide in-depth understanding of individual and group data on heart rates, calorie burns, estimated core temperatures, physiological and mechanical training. It provides feedback on windows of trainability in endurance, speed, power, strength and coordination.
The squadron’s dietician is working with Google to implement an automated process of determining a candidate’s food consumption by providing a machine-learning vision system to digitally track food. It will compare a trainee’s performance calorie burn before and after meals for nutritional intake of actual calories consumed by taking a photo of the plate of food before and after the meal. The subject matter expert can address the disparities, Smith said.
The Staff
The coaches and staff consist of nutritionists, psychologists, a physician assistant, athletic trainers, medics and many more who have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree. Most of them have a master’s degree in some type of exercise physiology and multiple certified strength and conditioning credentials, and some are Level 2 and 3 Crossfit instructors.
Some of the coaches are former National Football League and National Hockey League players, one was on the U.S. Olympic swim team, and NASA’s lead strength coach just applied to be a part of the program.
“I have the most amazing group of individuals who are the most brilliant minds throughout their different modalities,” Smith said. “This is what makes this program so successful.”
One instructor, who’s ranked in the top 100 in the world for the freestyle in swimming, even enlisted to become a combat controller and is now at Air Force basic training, Smith said.
Isaiah Harris, a former Atlanta Falcons linebacker, worked with the Chicago Bears for eight years and would take the players over to the Naval Special Warfare Team program at Great Lakes. He said all the coaches work together as a team to make sure each candidate is ready for graduation.
“There is no other facility of this magnitude in the world,” Vargas said. “It’s great to see the Air Force investing in the human weapons system.”
To reach Vargas, call 530-227-6191 or email matthew.vargas@us.af.mil.
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| Date Taken: | 06.29.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 08.02.2018 20:50 |
| Story ID: | 287062 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 72 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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