Molding effective, reliable technicians Published March 23, 2015 By Senior Airman Brittany Y. Bateman Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- "It is up to us to mold these young Airmen into effective, reliable technicians who will help maintain our outstanding alert rate and keep our missile sites up and running," said Senior Airman Corbin Worley. Worley an Ohio native, is a facilities maintenance instructor from the 91st Missile Operations Squadron. "I'm basically a teacher and mentor," said Staff Sgt. Kamuela Kalilikane, 91st MOS facilities maintenance team training instructor. "The Airmen that come through here are young and sometimes still adapting to the Air Force culture." FMT instructors provide instruction to produce competent facilities maintenance technicians that are able to perform periodic maintenance, troubleshoot, and repair diesel electrical units and environmental control systems that sustain our unmanned launch facilities. "We continue to help in that transition by educating them on not only their primary duties, but molding young Airmen to be productive and industrial men and woman in the United States Air Force." Kalilikane said. Students are trained to the task performance level of three, 3C "GO" level, before they are able to graduate training. This means that the technician can perform all parts of any required task with only a spot check of their completed work. "The technician will be able to identify why and when the task must be done and why each step is needed, which is task knowledge level of 'C'," Kalilikane said. "To obtain the 3C proficiency, students must meet the objectives of each lesson of instruction. These objectives are both measureable and observable for the instructors so we may properly asses the performance and knowledge level of the student." Classes are normally between 60-90 instructional days, with four students and one team chief prospect. "We train Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. or longer, depending on the student's performance and knowledge of the task being taught," Kalilikane said. "As instructors, our focus is primarily based on the students. If the student isn't grasping any of the concepts or can't identify what or why they are performing a procedure we take that extra time to help the student understand." To become a FMT instructor you must be 100 percent certified on trainable tasks and attend the 20th Air Force Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Maintenance Instructional Course. "I t's a highly competitive position, because you need to be well rounded in both job proficiency and leadership capabilities," Kalilikane said. "Once selected, you attend the 20th Air Force ICBM Maintenance Instructional Course, where they teach you the Air Force Instructions that govern how you will provide instruction, your responsibilities as an instructor and techniques to mold you into a better instructor. After, you need to be observed three times by your chain of command, to include an evaluation, to identify if you are competent to instruct students to the 3C level." Kalilikane, a Ewa Beach, Hawaii native, said he became a trainer to help guide students beyond their own fixed mindsets and personal limitations. "Even through I'm an instructor, I'm not all knowing," Kalilikane said. "I'm still learning how to be a better NCO, instructor and person. This is a great position for me to learn more in-depth information about my job."