CORAOPOLIS, Pa. -- Making a difference, today and for the future-this is the goal of Tech. Sgt. Frank Chappell, 171st Air Refueling Wing NCOIC/Religious Affairs Airman. This year, Chappell accomplished both of these goals.
The National Guard Bureau selected Chappell to help rewrite the 3-Level and Career Development Course for the Religious Affairs field. The Religious Affairs Apprentice Course Development Team was chosen for this task and consisted of five other Airmen, all active duty. Chappell was the only National Guardsman selected for the RAAC Development Team.
The Airmen gathered at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. from January 9-13, 2023. After the initial week of meeting in-person, the group would converge via the internet over the next five months to complete the mission.
“Being chosen for this assignment was very much an honor,” said Chappell. “Plus, working with Airmen who had so much knowledge and experience was truly inspiring and rewarding. I learned a tremendous amount from this endeavor.”
The goal was to create news Career Development Courses based on a real-life competency model. Each member of the RAAC Development Team would use their own military experiences to create the course and the test. This would be the Air Force’s first CDC test that was online.
“We were the first career field to transition to a real-life, hands-on competency model and electronic CDCs,” said Chappell.
Three course instructors led the RAAC Development Team. They would give a scenario, leave the room and the group would get to work.
“We would get a heading or a few subtitles of a topic,” continued Chappell, “and then essentially the instructors would say, ‘Go’, and leave the room. We would reference Air Force Instructions, other regulations, 3-level material and old CDCs and infuse these with our field experience to create a new course based on a competency model.”
“The team would be in the room discussing the material and shooting ideas back-and-forth,” explained Chappell. “Then the instructors would come in and have the practical layer of this on how to teach it. We would try to dove-tail with them on how it would be taught in the classroom. That collaboration was essential for us to reconceptualize the material.”
Seeing the completion of this project was very gratifying to Chappell. He believes it will benefit future Religious Affairs Airmen.
“The Airmen taking 3-level training and CDCs in the future will benefit greatly from the input of the RAAC Development Team’s military experience,” said Chappell. “They will be learning competencies that will be used throughout their military and AFSC career.”