Technical Report - International Military Testing Association

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of technical knowledge, and (2) to accwlish a rza~ure of sttndsrdtrat?on cf
airman knowledge on 6n Air Force-wide boeis.
Oualitv control
_L - - • It is axioostic thut knowledge ie power. Eiobherc is
the truth of thin axiom better founded than in a tmdsrn military organlrstion
I in which the succc~o of the nfseion depends on the qualitative superiority,
r&that than quantitative strength, of ire F;E.npower, Knowledge, then, may
be regarded a- a form of resource. Like t’lZteria1 reBturce8, technical knowledge
, io subject to deteriorntlon, Leepletlon, and obsoleacenrc. To be n-aintaiced
i.n a conetant state of readiness, knowledge rnuot be continuouely reneved,
restored, and cultivated. Unlike material reBource6, however, knowledge is
not readily mnable to rneneuremcnt for inventory purpoaee. Nevcrtheleas,
througi. the SKT program, the Air Force seeko to maintain a slose check on
the job knowledge reaourcea that reside in the enlisteJ nanpowcr population.
Gtandarditation: one AP language.
-I Through etandarditatfon of knowledge,
the Asorce seeks to neutr$tllzt the hazards of specialization and division
of labor. One hczard is the propensity of each organization todrvelop its
own concepts, its own doctrine, ita own private language of epeclalized
teminologv and nomenclature. One could fancy the crnergence of an Air Force
tower of babe1 as the thec,retical ootcorae of this tendency, carriei. to it6
ridiculous extreme. However, it should not be unrealistic to credit the
SKT with making a notable contrfbution to the CLPUEQ of standardization of
knowledge. Acting aa a vital stiolulant to the currency of a coamn technical
language, the SKT helps keep the Air Force family of comorande on the cm
wavelength for purpoeee of concnunication.
Standardization: the “c~leat” air.-c!an. Another hazard is the tendency
for each mjor air con-x to foster that job infornntion that la directly
relevant to it8 own mission, to the virtual exclusion of broader areaa of
knowledge having wider applicability to the general Air Force miseion. This
is understandable inasmuch as each command ia under relantles8 preaaure to
meet the demands of ite irrnediate mission. On top of their many burdene,
the commands bear the donkey’s share of tralnlng burden. If an individual
does a creditable job towards the fulfillment of the conmvlnd mission, the
commend will naturally tend to want to overlook any knowledge gaps that might
limit the individual’s potential value to the Air Force at large, As long
as he ia a good SAC man, who careo if this man could ever be of any earthly
or airborne use to MATS, or vice versa? Well, Headquarters USAF cares, And
. so should MATS care from the very standpoint of ite own long-range intereete.
And 80 indeed should SAC. For the atrman’s breadth af knowledge stamps him
at once with both his professional and hir, Air Force identity. It is the
. mark of his versatility and employability within his specialty. l’hiti quality
in the airman largely relieves the Air Force of the need for retraining him
extensively with each change of assignment--whatever the command, whatever
the fob, whatever the specific nature of the equiprent involved.
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