Air Force beefs up environmental education

  • Published
  • By Roger Williams
  • Air Combat Command A7V
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (ACCNS) --  LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (ACCNS) -- More than 1,200 Airmen and civilians from various governmental agencies attended the 2006 Environmental Training Symposium in Pittsburgh, Pa., Feb. 27 to March 3 in order to gain insight on how to better care for the environment.

The symposium is a partnership with Air Combat Command, Air Education and Training Command, Air Mobility Command, Air Force Space Command, Air Force Reserve Command, and the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence.

It offers students training in over 120 courses, including technical sessions and recertification in occupational safety and health administration.

Officials stress that the success of the symposium is not only the type of training it provides, but the amount of training in a compact schedule.

“In the highly demanding ops tempo for today’s forces, this training scenario minimizes the time away from the workplace,” said Col. Tim Byers, ACC director of Installations and Mission Support. “It maximizes the quantity and quality of training they need which is the right way for us to do business. The average student received over $12,000 in real training, for the cost of one single TDY. At the same time, Air Force major commands were able to achieve close to 45 percent of a base's annual training requirement in just four and a half days away from the job site.”

This was the first training symposium for about 80 percent of the attendees. Each student received 26 hours of instruction during the weeklong event. Planning for the courses necessary to meet the training needs of those individuals is critical, officials said.

“We actually go out to them at the various bases and ask them what they need to train on,” said Bruce Stephens, the symposium deputy director. “We take those ideas, then find the instructors and build the curriculum so they can get exactly the training they need.”

The worldwide student body consisted of people assigned to nearly every U.S. state and more than 15 foreign countries. They included installation and corporate level civil, environmental, and bio-environmental engineers; logistics (supply, transportation and contracting); operations and maintenance; public affairs officers; occupational safety and health; environmental attorneys; and local, state and federal regulators.

During the awards luncheon held at the symposium, the Air Force was praised for its work in the environment by Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry, chairperson of the Pittsburgh-based Heinz Family Philanthropies. 

Mrs. Heinz Kerry praised the Air Force for being the largest purchaser of renewable energy. 

“Your work to protect the environment is valuable in its own right. It protects America, and the values we believe in, by casting our nation as a source of inspiration and improvement. And that makes your work go from valuable to priceless.”

The Environmental Protection Agency ranks the Air Force among the nation’s top 25 users of renewable energy. Symposium officials believe the training provided will bring continual dividends for the service.