5.4 Force Development (AFH-1 Section 7D)

Quick Answer: AFH 1 Section 7D defines enlisted force development as a life-cycle combination of training, education, and experience. Education builds foundational competencies; training builds occupational competencies; assignments, developmental special experiences, and development-team placements supply experience. MyVECTOR is the enterprise tracking and mentoring tool. The Occupational Analysis Program supplies fact-based job data for training, utilization, and promotions — including WAPS test content.

ADTC B for both grades

The ADTC chart and the Section 7D header both mark Force Development as B (Understanding) for Staff Sergeant and Technical Sergeant. Understanding means you can explain how the three-path construct works, match a program to its purpose (development teams versus the Enlisted Force Development Panel versus MyVECTOR versus occupational analysis), and classify a development action as education, training, or experience. It is not a license to dump Section 7F PME school names into a 7D answer.

The force-development construct: three paths

Paragraph 7.10 opens with the life-cycle sentence: enlisted force development combines training, education, and experience in a life-cycle approach to developing innovative Airmen prepared to accomplish the USAF mission and lead in a rapidly evolving global environment. Deliberate development is essential throughout an Airman's career and is satisfied through:

1. Education on foundational competencies
2. Training on occupational competencies
3. Seeking a varied array of experiential opportunities
4. Utilizing additional force developmental tools for continued growth to meet both personal and professional needs

That pairing is the same logic as 7A, restated as a development system. Foundational competencies are the USAF-wide leadership framework; occupational competencies are specialty-specific technical and functional skill. Education is how the handbook develops the first; training is how it develops the second; experience is how Airmen practice both in real organizations.

EPME versus assignment and experience, as 7D states it. Section 7D does not name ALS, NCO Academy, or SNCO Academy — those schools are Section 7F. 7D says education develops foundational competencies; training develops occupational competencies; experience is the varied array of experiential opportunities, including development-team placement into key leadership and developmental positions and Developmental Special Experiences (DSEs) in MyVECTOR — hands-on work typically outside AFSC or career-series formal training. The DSE Catalog lists all DSEs regardless of vacancies so Airmen can see prerequisites.

From an enterprise perspective, what is imperative is looking at how Airmen progress through their careers to successfully assume the responsibilities required in operational and strategic leadership positions. Airmen are expected to take full advantage of opportunities both in a specialty and across the USAF.

Who steers enlisted development

Enlisted development teams leverage development of qualified Airmen with the leadership capacity and acculturation necessary to support current and projected mission requirements. Career field managers use enlisted development teams to perform progression and succession planning to place Airmen in key leadership and developmental positions based on defined education, training, experience, and performance requirements. The handbook's placement line is blunt: placing the right people in the right place at the right time is imperative.

Enlisted Force Development Panel. Responsible for guiding enlisted force development initiatives. Charged with reviewing, evaluating, and making recommendations to senior USAF leaders regarding education, training, and experiences impacting enlisted development. Panel members include command chief master sergeants, career field managers, and representatives from Air Education and Training Command, Air Force Personnel Center, and HAF. Do not confuse this panel with a wing enlisted force distribution panel from 7C; 7D's panel is an enterprise development body.

Air Force Senior Enlisted Leadership Council. Responsible for addressing deliberate development initiatives for Airmen regarding opportunities for enhanced performance. Comprised of chief master sergeants serving in strategic/joint/combined commands, major command command chiefs, other senior enlisted leaders, and selected advisors. The council aims to elevate the caliber and performance of enlisted Airmen, develop solutions to the highest-priority issues and opportunities for Airmen and families, and counsel and advise the Secretary of the Air Force, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and senior USAF commanders and leaders.

Air Force Enlisted Council. Comprised of the current 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year. With mentorship and oversight of the Senior Enlisted Leadership Council, it serves as enlisted ambassadors for USAF enlisted recruiting and retention. The council also engages with the Air Force Association, enlisted professional military education, and various enlisted USAF organizations. This is the one 7D sentence that names EPME as a partner organization for the council — it is not a 7D curriculum description.

MyVECTOR

MyVECTOR is a Total Force, experience-tracking, enterprise solution that supports USAF development priorities. It is a web-based career planning and force development tool that allows individuals greater transparency into their development and career management. It is the enterprise information technology tool used to support career field managers and development teams, and it offers robust mentoring capabilities — a traditional by-name request plus mentor-matching on weighted characteristics. MyVECTOR also offers a real-time mentoring plan, discussion forums, a bullet tracker, and online dialogue with a mentor.

MyVECTOR also includes a Developmental Special Experience (DSE) Catalog in the Development Plan section. DSEs provide hands-on experiences typically outside AFSC or career-series formal training and help individuals gain or enhance competencies.

MyVECTOR additionally offers a developmental self-assessment of USAF Foundational Competencies, optional confidential 360-degree feedback, and a searchable library of resources tied to competencies such as Teamwork, Communication, and Resilience.

Talent management and competitive edge

Talent management begins with recruiting and continues through training and education, where it is cultivated. USAF culture should attract the right Airmen, professionals ready to represent the world's greatest USAF. The ability to respond faster than adversaries relies on the flexibility and adaptability of Airmen. The way the USAF manages talent directly impacts the way we fight and win wars. The 15 February 2025 text states that the system designed to manage people must be as agile as we expect our Airmen to be.

Competitive edge. The USAF recognizes an innovative and agile work environment as essential to remaining an employer of choice. Programs must deliver realistic and flexible training and education. Education and training have to stay relevant; personnel processes have to evolve to retain talented Airmen. Force-wide and targeted initiatives share one objective: increase the competitive position for top talent.

Occupational Analysis Program

Paragraph 7.11 places the program in Air Education and Training Command, Studies and Analysis Squadron, governed by DAFMAN 36-2664, Personnel Assessment Program. Its purpose is to equip senior leaders and managers of USAF personnel and education and training programs with objective, fact-based information about USAF occupations and civilian occupational series. The role of occupational analysis is to conduct occupational studies, develop survey instruments, analyze data collected, and provide actionable USAF specialty information.

As noted in AFPD 36-26, the Occupational Analysis Program is the singularly unique USAF entity that collects, analyzes, and reports the job/occupational performance factors defined, measured, and applied within instructional system development. It is integral to three force-development tenets:

• Training. Capabilities-based training identifies knowledge needed and specific tasks necessitating training to meet job performance requirements.
• Utilization. Personnel classification and utilization identify tasks performed at each career stage and validate occupational structures.
• Promotions. Promotion testing identifies operationally relevant content for test development and promoting and retaining the best Airmen.

Occupational studies on enlisted USAF specialties run on a periodic basis, typically a three- to four-year cycle, and upon request if out of cycle. Special studies, such as officer specialties and civilian occupational series, are conducted upon request. Career-field leaders and subject matter experts develop survey content. Surveys go to all eligible personnel in the targeted specialty or civilian series through direct e-mail (AFNet).

Results appear as task statements and duty areas throughout each career stage. Decision-makers use the data to establish, validate, adjust, or maintain training and to decide what type of training is needed, who needs it, and to what depth. Survey data also translates into fair and reliable promotion tests under the Weighted Airman Promotion System, and it informs CFETP, CDC, and specialty-description reviews. That WAPS connection is why 7D belongs on a PFE study plan even though the SKT carries the specialty test — occupational analysis is how training and specialty testing stay tied to the job.