Major policy and procedural changes for the 2021-2022 academic year include definitely attend distribution and deliberate development eligibility for IDE. According to Lee, all wing commanders and some senior raters for Line of the Air Force officers earned a definitely attend nomination last year. “Based on the success of the definitely attend program and attrition of those selected for IDE, the Air Force has implemented new distributions this year based on senior raters’ eligible populations.”
In another major policy change, officers in the LAF, health professions and chaplain categories are now eligible for IDE deliberate development, provided they meet all other eligibility criteria.
“The election for deliberate development allows officers to compete in the DEDB and if designated, forgo having to attend school in residence,” Lee said. “We operate in an unpredictable landscape which requires flexibility and responsiveness in our DE processes. These changes provide this agility and ensure avenues are available to help us retain talented Airmen.”
The nomination window is open in MyVector for officers to input their DE preferences and comments. The window is scheduled to close on Jan. 17 for officers in student status and Feb. 7 for all other officers.
Lee said officers selected for DE will attend programs such as Air Command and Staff College, Air War College, National War College and others.
“DE is designed to educate and professionally broaden individual officers into strategic leaders who can provide innovative solutions to future, complex challenges facing the Air Force,” he said.
For more information about developmental education, visit myPers; click the Force Development link from the active-duty officer landing page or select the active-duty officer category from the drop-down menu and search “developmental education.”
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