Phantom Fellow increasing readiness through innovation

  • Published
  • By By Capt. Amelia Leonard
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. --  

Master Sgt. Jerry Brock, operations flight chief with the 4th Space Operations Squadron, was recently selected to participate in the Phantom Fellowship program through the MIT–Department of the Air Force AI Accelerator, where he is helping integrate his operational expertise with advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning research to strengthen decision-making across the Department of the Air Force.

Brock’s path to service reflects a deliberate decision to pursue structure, purpose and long-term impact. He began his career in aircraft maintenance, as an Airman, where he developed a foundation in precision and accountability before transitioning into the personnel career field to better understand how systems, policies and processes shape the force. When the Space Force was established in 2020, Brock made the transition from the Air Force into the Space Force to contribute to building a new service from the ground up.

Today, as an operations flight chief, Brock focuses on readiness, performance under pressure and developing Guardians who can think critically and operate decisively across both tactical and enterprise levels.

“I focus on developing Guardians who understand not just their role, but the system they operate in,” Brock said.

That systems-level perspective is central to his work in the Phantom program. Brock is developing an Operational Readiness & Billet Impact Trajectory, an AI-enabled decision-support capability designed to provide leaders with a more accurate and dynamic understanding of operational health.

“Assigned strength does not equal mission capability,” he said. “Units can appear healthy on paper while accumulating training debt, experience imbalance or availability strain.”

Brock's ORBIT capability works because it takes a real-world operator's understanding of what readiness actually looks like and applies an AI tool to make that knowledge scalable and visible to leaders across the force. It integrates personnel availability, qualification depth, experience distribution and training data into a composite readiness index, offering leaders a forward-looking view of risk and enabling more informed decisions before degradation impacts mission execution.

“The goal is not to replace leadership judgment, but to sharpen it,” he said.

Brock emphasized that the greatest value of AI in his field lies in improving how leaders understand how it can be a valuable tool in managing the force. 

“AI can help leaders better understand readiness trends, availability strain and training bottlenecks,” he said. “That allows us to make smarter decisions about how we build and sustain combat capability.”

By ensuring leaders have a reliable, forward-looking picture of readiness, ORBIT shortens the time spent between insight and action, with confidence that the foundation is stable.

He also noted that effective AI integration depends on disciplined fundamentals. Getting the fundamentals right is what earns the credibility to move quickly when it matters.

“Successful AI integration is far less about the sophistication of the model and far more about data governance, trust and problem definition,” Brock said. “Technology amplifies clarity; it does not replace it.”

Through the unique program collaboration with MIT mentors, Phantoms take real-world challenges and are matched with a mentor whose advanced technical expertise ensures solutions are both operationally relevant and technically sound. 

“Programs like this bring operators and technologists together to solve real problems,” Brock said. “It builds leaders who understand both the opportunity and responsibility that comes with AI.”

The Phantom program's value lies in its ability to bring military operators into technical spaces where their real-world experience shapes solutions that return to the force ready-to-use.

For Brock, the work is ultimately about strengthening the force through its people.

“This project reflects my belief that people, not platforms, are our greatest asymmetric advantage,” he said. “If we better understand, develop and protect our people, we strengthen the force at its core.”

As a seasoned senior non-commissioned officer, his everyday role involves mentoring Airmen, advising officers, and leading teams to achieve their mission goals. One of his greatest motivations comes from developing the next generation of Guardians.

“Every year, I see increasingly capable junior Guardians arrive with technical aptitude and cognitive agility that outpaces what my generation brought,” he said. “Being part of that development is both humbling and motivating.”

His leadership philosophy is also grounded in standards and accountability.

“You get what you tolerate,” Brock said. “What you allow becomes the culture you live in.”

Through his participation in the Phantom Cohort, Brock is helping transform complex data into actionable insight, strengthening readiness and enabling informed decision-making across the force.