EART 2018 has just finished. About 80 air and ground crews trained together for two weeks. They were guided through the training by EATC AAR specialists and followed by external mentors, experts in specialized domains.
EART 2018 gathered a multinational group of mentors from six different nations: Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain and USA. It is a real benefit to the crews, to EART and to EATC to rendezvous a large and multinational group of mentors during this two-week training.
First of all the mentors advise crews within their respective expertise. They are pilots, navigators or air refuelling operators. Together with the crews, they take part in the whole programme : from the preparation of a mission flight, the flight itself to the debriefing at the end of the day. The mentors are the focal point to consolidate the training objectives of the participating nations and to make sure these training objectives are well executed.
For Colonel Andrea MASSUCCI, Head EATC AAR task force and Director EART 2018, the challenge of a mentor is that …
… the delicate balance of mentoring is not to create your own image in the crewmember, but to give the individual the opportunity to create himself - of course by using your experience, your knowledge and your lessons learned as a solid starting base.
The second real benefit is that the mentors group with EATC experts to discuss existing documents or procedures. Together they aim to harmonize and enhance procedures and interoperability.
And this is why EART chooses to train with mentors : an EART training could also be done without mentors, but the added-value a mentor offers to EART is invaluable to all participants – it is the cherry on the cake. And this is multinational cooperation at its best.