JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – It’s Mission Monday! Jason Seibel is the chief of the Air Force Combat Arms Program at the Air Force Security Forces Center here.
Seibel and the Combat Arms Training and Development Team are responsible for developing and authoring all small arms and light weapons courses of fire, and lesson plans for the Department of the Air Force enterprise. This includes training on every weapon from pistol through the Mk19 grenade launcher.
The team also provides subject matter expertise to AFIMSC and the DAF enterprise on small arms range construction, upgrades and management, and manages the Combat Arms module on the Automated Readiness Information System (ARIS) which tracks all weapons training and ammunition expenditures across the DAF.
Here's a little more about Seibel and how his work is important to the DAF.
What do you love about your job?
I’ve been working in the combat arms arena for the better part of 20 years. During my time on active duty, I constantly saw inefficiencies in the way small arms and light weapons training was conducted and performed in the Air Force. In my current position, I can affect institutional change and ensure our DAF personnel can accurately engage and defeat the enemy on the battlefield. I’m constantly in touch with the field and that keeps me connected to the career field to ensure I’m not making decisions in a vacuum. Finally, I love the feeling that I’m making positive changes in the career field to ensure our instructors are given the best tools possible to train our Airmen and Guardians!
When it comes to your job, what keeps you motivated?
The constantly changing landscape of the world ensures we must continue to evolve as warfighters. It’s my job to ensure that training methodology and weapons proficiency continues to evolve to meet the peer and near-peer threats facing the 21st Century Airman and Guardian. My motivation is derived from what I’m able to offer the warfighter every day I come to work or log into my computer.
Why are you and your team important to the Air Force enterprise and your customers?
Lethality has become a buzzword in the Air Force. It’s one of AFIMSC’s strategic priorities. Combat arms puts the “lethal” in lethality. Our cadre of instructors, the courses of fire my team and I author and develop, and the ranges we manage are tools to increase lethality across the enterprise. Any warfighter who fires their weapon on the battlefield had to be signed-off by a combat arms instructor and fired a course of fire my team and I wrote to get to that point.
Describe a project or event you and your team worked on recently that gave you a great sense of accomplishment:
The way security forces trains and qualifies on the M4A1 Carbine is about to undergo a fundamental change. Starting Jan. 1, we’ll launch the Continuum Qualification Program (CQP) which will include the Security Forces Qualification Course (SFQC). This training will consist of a quarterly based system where Defenders will fire their weapon four times in a year, culminating in a qualification event which will test their proficiency and allow them to retain their skills better than ever before. This course has undergone a rigorous beta test period that lasted an entire year and further development after the beta-test was complete. This course will represent the single biggest change to small arms and light weapons training doctrine since the introduction of the M16 series rifle.
How does what you do fit in to AFIMSC’s strategic priorities?
Combat arms and specifically my section continues to inject lethality and readiness in the DAF enterprise. With the rollout of Air Force Generation (which replaces the Air Expeditionary Force deployment model) upon us, lethality and readiness are more important than ever before, and Airmen and Guardians must complete a course of fire written by us and fire a weapon maintained by the combat arms section in the field.
For us to defeat the adversary of today and in the future, we must be prepared to fight the peer/near-peer threat with our weapons. My team strengthens the Airman and Guardian by providing the necessary training and weapons to fight and defeat that enemy.
For an organization to pursue excellence, they must be able to conduct their wartime mission. That mission always includes defeating the enemy. When all else fails, an Airman or Guardian must be ready to take the fight to the enemy and that includes small arms and light weapons skills.
Is there anything else you’d like to add which might help people understand the importance of what you do for the Air Force?
My team touches every Airman and Guardian currently serving in the Air and Space Forces. Everyone fires a weapon in Basic Military Training. My team writes the courses of fire for BMT. They fire those weapons on installation ranges. My team centrally manages those ranges. During the AFFORGEN cycle and prior to employment, all 300,000+ members of the DAF must complete weapons training. This all comes from my team and I. That’s what we provide to the Air Force!