JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- The first class of Airmen graduated from the newly introduced Air Mobility Command Quality Assurance Supervision course at the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Operations School here on March 2.

The course, which was requested in 2016 by Brig. Gen. Stacy Hawkins, the director of Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection at Headquarters AMC, is designed to address trending deficiencies in quality assurance supervision by enhancing student’s knowledge in executing the roles and responsibilities of QA superintendents and chief inspectors.

“This course is a great example of our partnership with Air Mobility Command (logistics) community,” said Col. Thomas O’Connell, U.S. Air Force EOS commander. “They identified a need for this particular course, and I think we’ve met the mark.”

The primary program of the QA office is called the Maintenance Standardization and Evaluation program, where instructors evaluate the inspectors and technicians in the field and gather data to look for trending deficiencies. They then look at the root causes of the deficiencies and work with the squadrons to find out how to effectively carry out corrective actions to improve their unit.

“We [QA superintendents and chief inspectors] have a whole chapter in our Air Force instruction that lays out the requirements, but it’s not procedural in nature,” said Master Sgt. Michael Telles, a Quality Assurance Supervision Course instructor. “It’s more overarching guidance, based on how you do it at your unique location, and your process may be vastly different from another location even within the same command.”

Senior Master Sgt. Kory Newgard, the 521st Air Mobility Operations Group superintendent, is brand new to the quality assurance world and is in charge of not only the 725th Air Mobility Squadron at Rota, Spain, but is also responsible for three other squadron located in three different countries.

“Being in a group like the 521st AMOG is different than a main operating base where the QA falls on one base,” said Newgard. “I will be over the en route at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, and also the 5th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron located in Southwest Asia and the 8th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron located at Al Udeid Air Base, and I think to do my job effectively, the communication piece and getting them all on the same standard and the same path is going to be a challenge but will be the thing that sets us up for success.”

Senior Master Sgt. Jeffrey Tedder, an AMC quality assurance functional area manager, emphasized the importance of the course and what it will do for the future of the QA career field.

“The problem right now is standardization across the major command,” said Tedder. “I can go into an office and read the AFI, but if there’s some gray written into the policy, I can read it how I want. This class is going to take that gray and make it black and white.”

Class 18A consisted of both experienced and inexperienced QA superintendents and chief inspectors. There were also three functional area managers from AMC, Air Combat Command and Air Force Recruiting Command who attended the course.

“The first execution of the course went very well I think,” said Telles. “We had a mix of students, so we got great perspective in the class driving the discussions we were having beyond what the AFI said but into the theory of how you can apply that to your unit.”

The 423rd Mobility Training Squadron, part of the U.S. Air Force EOS, will operate eight AMC QA Supervision courses a year with a student base of 12 students a course.

The U.S. Air Force EOS, located at the USAF Expeditionary Center, is the Air Force’s Center of Excellence for mobility and expeditionary operations skills training and Air Mobility Command's provider of global reach and support to the mobility enterprise.