Air Force: Revamped boot camp

[CommunityEditor]

Even in the air conditioned indoors, sweat is beading on trainee Kristen Block’s forehead as she concedes that after four weeks of running, carrying a rifle and learning to defend herself in a fight, Air Force boot camp is not exactly what she and other recruits expected.

“A lot of people aren’t prepared for the physical aspects,” says the 20-year-old from Hiawatha, Kansas. “A lot of people thought it was going to be a mental thing.”

Until recently, they would have been mostly right. Air Force boot camp used to open in a classroom with Air Force history and doctrine. Little emphasis was put on how to handle or clean an M-16 rifle. Recruits were forced to fold T-shirts into perfect 6-inch squares.

But with an Army and Marine Corps stretched thin by repeated and longer deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Air Force finds it can no longer rely on infrastructure being in place or security support coming from the other service branches when deployed. So, the 33,000 recruits who pass through Lackland Air Force Base each year are going through a boot camp that has and is being radically overhauled.

By late next year, Air Force boot camp will go from 6 1/2 weeks to 8 1/2 weeks, similar to the Army and Navy — and the longest Air Force boot camp program since the early years of the Vietnam War. The first class to face the extended boot camp should start in October 2008.

Col. Robert MacDonald, the commander who oversees training for all incoming Air Force personnel, said that during most of the Air Force’s history, airmen could rely on being sent to places with solid infrastructure and security support from the Army or Marines. The Air Force just had to fly missions and maintain aircraft, so securing checkpoints in hostile places or administering battlefield first aid were mostly unnecessary skills.

But since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Air Force finds itself in more rugged places without the basic infrastructure it once took for granted, and in some cases, airmen are being asked to fill security and other duties that a stretched Army can’t do.

“We’re finding ourselves in more austere conditions, where we are the only presence,” said Chief Master Sgt. Kevin Ludwig, superintendent of the Air Force’s basic training.

That has forced the Air Force to change its boot camp to account for recruits who could wind up being asked to do more than fix airplanes or fly them. They could be asked to provide security or to fend off an assault.

In late 2005, the Air Force changed its curriculum and schedule to make recruits more war-ready, issuing them an M-16 training rifle they are expected to be able to shoot, tear down and clean. Opening instruction focuses on combat and defense skills, field security and battlefield aid.

When boot camp is extended to 8 1/2 weeks, the current field exercise will be replaced with one nicknamed the “BEAST,” the Basic Expeditionary Airman Skills Training. The course, set up on a mock airfield with sights and sounds similar to those airmen might face in remote locations, will put together security and other skills the way Marines are tested in a watershed exercise like The Crucible or Army personnel in Victory Forge.


Full article: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/20...otcamp_070716/


What do you think of these changes? Are they only temporary because of the current war or is this the wave of the what's to come? What else needs to change?

[Shrike]

Since the cold war ended and SAC went away, the Air Force has been a service in search of an identity. With each new CSAF trying to cement their legacy, I don't see this trend ending. Change for the sake of change will continue...

[Measure Man]

Originally Posted by Shrike

Since the cold war ended and SAC went away, the Air Force has been a service in search of an identity. With each new CSAF trying to cement their legacy, I don't see this trend ending. Change for the sake of change will continue...

I think we "had" an identity, but leadership seems to keep wanting to make us into the Army and Marines.

We were known as: the most intelligent, took best care of troops/families, a little less likely to pee our pants when a general walks in the room, a little cynical maybe, more technical/less drill and ceremony...

Most of that seems to be going away in an effort to prove that we are "sacrificing" as much as the other services. I'm not sure who we are trying to prove it to or why.

[Shrike]

Originally Posted by Measure Man

I think we "had" an identity, but leadership seems to keep wanting to make us into the Army and Marines.

We were known as: the most intelligent, took best care of troops/families, a little less likely to pee our pants when a general walks in the room, a little cynical maybe, more technical/less drill and ceremony...

Most of that seems to be going away in an effort to prove that we are "sacrificing" as much as the other services. I'm not sure who we are trying to prove it to or why.

Well said, M.M.

It's about time AF senior leadership wakes up and developes an agressive basic training program designed to meet the needs of modern warfare. Since I went through basic in 1956, training has consistently become softer. Weed out the pussies early so the competent airmen don't end up defending a position next to one. There is still plenty of time later to hone technical skills and excell in one's career.
From a 30 year AF veteran.

I agree its time to change the way of thinking and training. I was at Riyadh in the first days of the deployment there as a Security Forces NCO and I personally collected 20 weapons (M16s) left behind in a bathroom stall, next to a table at the chowhall, outside/unattended by the entry way to a tent/shelter. It was almost funny in someways that we as a military arm, aren't comfortable with and not accustomed to carrying arms. Its about time.

[Measure Man]

I'm all for the new boot camp and handling weapons.

We need to make sure we don't lose proficiency on what we are really here for though...which is to fix and fly airplanes!

Our maintenance troops arrive on station and the first thing the do is go to Security Forces augmentee training. We are combining technical AFSCs, emphasizing generalists vs. specialists, spending our "training days" doing warrior training...I just see us potentially losing technical proficiency...

Whether the Army, Navy Air Force or Marines always refer back to Article 1 of the Military Code of Conduct.

I believe that the extra training is need for todays missions. I have a son over there and he went to 2 wks training on weapons and the 2 months on combat. If he and the others in his sqd. had already had training the extra money would not have to be spent. I also think that a yearly refresher course should be given.

I have to admit that the AF was an easy life - when you consider that in my career, I stood one parade, tested for PT one time and I think you could qualified with a fast walk and when talking to the other branches of service, they realized that AF life was a piece of cake. Even at DaNang, I had privacy with a TV and refrigerator. I do remember that the AF manned the Guard Towers and constantly patrolled the base. I do know that the Marines were supposedly prepared to defend our base but other than many and I mean many 122 rocket attacks, combat was a piece of cake and not like Iraq today. We even had clubs, movies, swimming pools and all the comforts of life. Do I recommend tougher training - heck yes, the military has shrunk from my day and without the normal defense coverage by the Army or Marines, if you want to come home, you had better become a warrior. Would I do the service today, the pay is a lot better than it was 50 plus years ago and I talked my Grandson into joining, so I guess I still would - since I have a BS, I would do it the next time as an officer, even though I live a very good life.