Master Sgt. Krystle Harris, data analytics immersive Airman for the SAC program, gives her final presentation to AFGSC staff Sept. 21, 2023, as fellow SAC Airmen watch on at STRIKEWERX in the Cyber Innovation Center, Bossier City, Louisiana. (Sean Green/STRIKEWERX)
By Sean Green | STRIKEWERX Marketing and Communication Director
BOSSIER CITY, La. — The Striker Airmen Coder program recently completed its latest cohort of Airmen developing software and performing data analytics for Air Force Global Strike Command.
AFGSC devised the SAC program as an effort to develop Air Force coders who can create innovative and efficient technical solutions within their own units.
A team of six Airmen developed Tether, a program that promotes events from on-base organizations.
The app allows organizations to post volunteer slots, allows Airmen to shop around through a directory of events, and sign up for those events. Completed volunteering hours are logged and Airmen can export that into a spreadsheet to provide to their leadership.
“This is meant to be a resource for driving community interaction both on- and off-base,” said Staff Sgt. Alexander True, SAC Airman.
The app also includes capability of event hosts to log volunteering efforts and produce a list of participants.
Additionally, the app has been gamified where completing volunteer events earns Airmen in-app points for upgrading their profiles within the application. Organizations can utilize QR codes to incentivize gaining foot traffic by offering points in the app for scans of those codes.
“This is to get on-base organizations’ events in front of Airmen so they can sign up for those events, building the Air Force community among the lower ranks,” True said.
The SAC cohort included its second data analytics immersive. A team of two Airmen worked to modernize the visualization and collection of data from flight simulator training. It tracked hours spent in simulated training for the B-1, B-2, B-52, and E-4B aircraft.
“The purpose was basically reducing the amount of time needed to pull and visualize data from one source,” said Master Sgt. Krystle Harris, data analytics immersive Airman for the SAC program. “The ask from the AFGSC Analyses, Assessments and Lessons Learned Directorate was to build this tool so we could reduce man hours spent collecting and inputting data into spreadsheets.”
The Airmen are selected through an aptitude test before undergoing a coding boot camp for three months. They spent a further three months working with Ruby Shore Software, based in Shreveport, Louisiana, to develop their projects as junior developers.
“We gained a plethora of tools that any data analyst would need,” said Harris. “This program will give Airmen the skills they need so they can inform their leadership to make data-driven decisions.”
The SAC program is administered by the Cyber Innovation Center through a partnership intermediary agreement with AFGSC.
“We spent three months learning the basic tools and then took those book smarts and applied them in the real world with Ruby Shore Software at the CIC,” said True. “It is an amazing program for Airmen because they get to experience a three-month coding bootcamp and then a three-month internship using that code.”