LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
The Air Force's Air Expeditionary Force Next system is designed to streamline the process for deploying Airmen, keeping them with their units and standardizing dwell times.
The system, approved in April 2013 by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh, will roll out across the Air Force in October of this year.
In the past, Airmen deployed as individuals or small elements via "tempo bands" based on Air Force Specialty Codes. Those Airmen converged in downrange areas of responsibility from bases across the Air Force.
Under the AEF Next construct, installations will deploy larger teams of Airmen from the same unit based on mission requirements. For example, the 633rd Air Base Wing will most likely deploy a large team consisting of mission support Airmen called an "Agile Combat Support Team," including security forces, medical, civil engineering, logistics and other support personnel.
Similarly, the 1st Fighter Wing would deploy operations and maintenance Airmen as a "Strike Team," and the 480th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing would most likely deploy Airmen on specialized ISR teams.
Michael Pascucci, Langley's installation deployment officer, said the first Airmen scheduled to deploy from Langley via the AEF Next system are slated to leave in April 2015 as part of an Agile Combat Support Team, joining large teams from other installations to form the complete contingent downrange.
In addition to deploying multiple Airmen from the same unit together, Pascucci said the AEF Next system will move to standardize dwell ratios, or the ratio of time Airmen spend deployed versus time at home station. Most Airmen will serve in a 1-to-2 ratio; six months deployed followed by 12 months at home.
"We're moving away from pulling ones and twos from bases around the world in an effort to standardize how we deploy," he explained. "Our sister services have deployed this way for years, and Air Force leadership developed AEF Next based on their successes."
U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Sarah Smith, Langley's alternate IDO, said AEF Next could help solve problems with establishing and maintaining continuity downrange, making turnover between teams smoother.
"In the past, you'd have one Airman show up and try to pick up where his predecessor left off while working with a group of people he may not know. By the time he settled in, he'd have to prepare to turn his operation over to a replacement, and the cycle continued," Smith said. "Under the new system, Airmen deploy not only with members of their home station unit, but they also will leave in more standardized time frames, which builds structure into deployments and could make it easier to operate in the AOR."
Pascucci said the proposed standardization of deploying large teams of Airmen simultaneously may streamline the deployment process for Airmen and the IDOs, as pre-deployment training and preparation can be completed en masse. Theoretically, this will ease the burden on units, allowing them to plan ahead to ensure the home station mission is not impacted by the team deployments.
For Airmen, maintaining expeditionary readiness is "business as usual" - Pascucci and Smith said Airmen should continue preparing themselves and their families for the reality of deployment, and ensure they are ready to go when called upon.
"While we foresee changes to how we deploy in numbers and how that will impact how we operate at home station [at Langley], most Airmen will not experience any major changes to how they should prepare and deploy," Pascucci said. "While we're changing how we deploy, our mission remains the same."