News

ACC accepting ideas for solutions to female- and family-centric readiness issues

  • Published
  • By Capt. Laura Hayden
  • Air Combat Command Public Affairs

Air Combat Command Airmen have until March 18 to submit their ideas to help solve female- and family-centric readiness as part of the command’s 2022 Sword Athena program.

The Sword Athena program is focused on reducing barriers to readiness for female service members and improving the lives of military families. The 2022 event will be hosted in person for the first time at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., starting March 28, where ideas submitted by members will be discussed.

Participants of previous Sword Athena teams have successfully collaborated with multiple agencies to develop new female hair regulations, increase the availability of maternity uniform sizesremove barriers for nursing mothers, and more.

 “Our vision is to build current and future leaders armed for action,” said Maj. Katie Amerson, ACC Sword Athena 2022 lead. “We want to hear from the Airmen working the mission about what barriers they are facing and how we can work together to identify a solution.”

Each ACC wing has a representative soliciting topics. If members are not sure who their representative is they can email sword.athena@us.af.mil.

At the five-day conference, topics are selected and participants are assigned to mission area working groups (MAWG) to tackle their assigned issues. The MAWGs will continue to collaborate after the conference to make proposed solutions a reality.

Sword Athena will also identify the top five ACC bases with the fewest barriers for female service members and families. These bases will serve as benchmarks for a variety of installation processes and programs concerning issues with childcare, spouse career advancement, and more.