You’re telling me things I already know.
Why don’t you actually do your job and actually choose to represent me the way you’re supposed to? Go away.
Before these air Force military training instructors can do this, they must first do this.
Hot top three. Fuck.
They’re practicing what’s called the command voice, and once they master it, they’ll be able to lead a flight of air force recruits.
And we’ll use it specifically as a way to grab the trainee’s attention and to notify him that it’s time to move in whatever direction that is so that way we can communicate with the entire flight at once.
If you’re not given specific, clear directions, then the task is not going to get done or is going to get done in a way that it’s not supposed to be. Forward. Hurt.
Military training instructors, or MTIs, are the equivalent of marine drill instructors or army drill sergeants.
Command. At ease. A soldier may move, however, and while.
There are similarities, MtIs have their own unique methods and philosophies when it comes to training new recruits. We spent four days at Lackland Air Force Base observing future military training instructors during their eight and a half week course as they learned to lead new recruits in drill and train them to meet the air force’s physical requirements. But it all starts with learning how to use their voice.
Except for my guide, element leaders. Dorm chief. If you’re calling us training for you, say tap the door down, don’t run, don’t raising our voice. What we call command voice is just one of the many tools that we have as military training instructors in order to get that desired outcome from our recruits.
Military training instructors use the command voice during drill when they order a group of 40 to 50 recruits, known as a flight, to move to different locations during the day. In their first week of military training, instructor school, or MTIs, students practice exercises that help them tap into their volume and their ability to sustain it.
Hot top. Thrive. Barb.
We repeat, expelling our air from our diaphragm, and it is just a matter of repeating, and that is used so that we can practice using our diaphragm and also getting as loud as possible with our command voice.
Hut. Top three.
So you got to get that diaphragm for real active so that you get it. It sounds stronger.
Exercises include hunching over and hanging from a pull up bar while shouting, hunt, two, three, four.
Hunt, two, three, four.
Forcing them to use their diaphragm to achieve the necessary volume.
It doesn’t sound throaty like nasally because that would be your nose. But you need to get down here like that whole, like somebody’s punching you.
But volume is just one element of the command voice.
We focus on distinction, loudness, inflection, projection, and snap of that command voice.
Come left, heart, right. Hey.
So the reason why a lot of the words sound differently than what a lot of people are accustomed to is to be able to provide the enunciation of the word itself.
You can hear it clearly in the way military training instructors deliver. Cadence.
Hut. Tough tip, hop. Hut. Tough tip hop.
The added p or h helps keep the command distinct and at a high volume.
The way you get the distinction in your voice is by making sure you pronounce every letter when you are using your command voice. Let’s say you are saying one, two, three. To keep everybody in steps or left, right, left, you have to enunciate so that way it is distinct when it comes out as a command voice.
Flight, get your cover, get your dress.
The command voice is also used to give corrections. This is what it looks like when an MTI uses their command voice during actual boot camp.
Everyone’s waiting at you. You’re taking your time.
It feels very empowering to use the command voice. It’s almost like a battle cry. And so you kind of get to get that lion’s roar out to get command and control of your flights.
While every branch of the military has its own version of the command voice, air Force MTIs have a reputation for being less aggressive than some of their counterparts in the army and Marine Corps. In 2018, the Air Force ranked fourth among the armed services branches for the number of hazing complaints.
We’re very firm, definitely demanding. But before everything, we’re fair.
Air Force MTIs will use everything they learned about command voice when they lead new recruits in drill.
Left, peace, forward, hat, tap, right.
But learning how to lead drill requires its own training.
Left wing hacked.
I would say it’s more challenging than it is exhausting. It’s just constantly focusing on being precise with every single movement you make.
MTI students spend 85 hours practicing the movements, relearning how to march and step, and make precise turns on command that carries throughout.
When you’re doing left face, right face, left lane, collar movement, you got to understand where your head needs to be, where your arms got to be.
Learning drill at basic training, it was all new. It was foreign. However, as I learned those movements, all I had to do was apply. There’s a huge difference between learning and applying versus learning, applying and teaching. So now I have to come back, break down each one of those movements into individual steps and now share that and teach these trainees how to actually perform the movements.
He’s going to be out here on this pad practicing until 900. This is the go command or the execution command.
This student is in week six of training and this is a military training instructor instructor who is responsible for evaluating his ability to teach the left flank, which is a turn to the left. When marching in formation, 24 inch step.
We focus on their ability to actually perform it and to be able to break it down step by step. How to effectively communicate the instructional portions of the lesson while also performing it.
Training right here. What do you think your responsibilities are?
Students are evaluated on their ability to follow the Air force teaching format, which includes how they present information and how they ask questions.
I have my cover. I do not have my cover. Again, do I have any questions over anything that I just went over?
Biggest issue, I would say with today’s lesson was your questioning tag month. It was a lot of do you have any questions? Are there any questions? You did that seven times.
All MTIs across any squadron, they’re using that standardized teaching format is important so that any trainee, when they graduate from here, they leave with the same knowledge regardless of what squadron they were assigned to during their time here.
So all your transitions were seamless tired.
All back into your.
I give you steps like straight to your personalization.
Before they graduate from MTI school, these students will teach drill to a flight of recruits under the supervision of a certified military training instructor in the final phase of their training, known as technical qualifications or TQ.
You also need to suspend honestly. So bring those hands back to your side. Change step heart away and then get kicked. Change step heart. It is a slight pause. You are not stopping.
At the end of the day, we are realistically training not just our replacements, but our upgrades.
Hunt distance. Ow.
I think what drives the physical aspect of being a military training instructor is you are constantly on the move. You’re going to be constantly marching all over base, taking your trainees to various appointments, and then also in the mornings during PT, you’re going to be out there not just showing them how to do PT, you’re going to be performing PT and setting that example for them.
Every morning, MTI students perform PT or physical training as if they are commanding a flight of recruits. Students take turns leading PT from a distance where they practice the lessons learned in their command, voice training, projecting their voice across the drill pad to call out the exercises.
Next exercise is in and out. Session of exercise right up. Begin.
One, two, three and call cadence.
3123.
Another student observes from the sidelines and corrects their classmates as if they are recruits.
Arms are fully extended, back straight, hips out of the air.
So PT is set up that way for the MTI school. So that way it gives the students an opportunity to truly understand how to be able to lead organized PT. And so that way they understand what are the key points for each part before they step out to line squadron. They’re standing in front of 200, 600, 800 trainees and leading them in organized PT.
Military training instructors must pass a physical assessment outlined by the Air force based on age and gender. To get into the training course, students must be recommended by their leadership and pass a psychological evaluation. Military training instructors receive a special duty pay of $450 per month on top of their base salary. 7987 basic military training, or BMT, also includes teaching recruits how to meticulously make a bed and fold clothes.
Pretty good, can be a little bit tighter.
And again, these MTI students are expected to perform these tasks to perfection.
For some of these students, they haven’t potentially made a bed since they were last at BMT.
In week five of their training, students practice making beds, rolling shirts and other dormitory procedures to the air force standards. And they inspect each other’s work, practicing the corrections they will be giving recruits in just a few months.
Pick it up.
You kind of want it to snap back a little bit, see the difference?
So we teach them the current standards and then we evaluate them on their ability to organize those items. And then immediately following that, we evaluate them on their ability to teach those standards.
So the lesson we’re going to be going over today is the end of bed display.
They have exact words they need to say. So the trainees know the exact details of what these lessons consist of. So the level of corrections that we’re looking for with the students teaching this evaluation, is this their overall stage presence? How comfortable they are with teaching this lesson, how comfortable they are with the actual lesson plans themselves.
To ensure it is draped evenly, we can pinch at the bottom to ensure that they are flush, give it a little tug.
These instructors are kind of talking to the wall, talking to their water bottle in some instances, but they are going by the format. And this is essentially the dry runs that they’re running here at MTIs to where they actually get to the line and then figure out how to master what we’re teaching here at MtIs.
If I look down at this shoe from the top, I should be able receive any of your shoelaces? Do you see your shoelaces?
In their final phase of training, they will be responsible for instructing a flight of recruits on the dorm lessons they learned at MTI school.
It is important for us to learn how to teach this to trainees because they need to know our standards and they need to learn as well to practice their attention to detail.
The last 60 seconds is about easily probably 90 seconds. Well, honestly though, do you think trainees are probably going to do the same thing? Whether it’s you loading missiles, loading bombs, whatever the case may be, the attention to detail of you putting the correct amount into everything is the importance that we are teaching here at BMT. At this time, Captain Cole and senior master Sergeant Morell will present the class their graduation certificates.
This class is graduating from the basic MTI training, but they won’t receive their campaign cover until they’ve completed the final phase of training.
So upon graduating from mtIs, we’ll have two weeks of cadre training where we actually spend some time with the and eval section here at mtIs. After spending two weeks with them, we’ll actually go out to our line squadrons where we’ll begin the TQ process where we’ll actually be on the line with a trainer. Getting qualified to become a fully certified instructor.
I founded that I actually have a passion for teaching, which I didn’t really know that before. It’s really taught me more about myself. It’s taught me a lot about my strengths and the things that I need to work on as an MTI.
Hot top trip. Top hot top trip. Fork on left heart.