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Document created: 15 November 02
Air
& Space Power Journal - Winter 2002
Lt Col Bradley D. Spacy, USAF
Lt Col Michael I. Trapp, USAF
| Editorial Abstract: As the air and space expeditionary force concept of operations transforms the Air Force, training must evolve to meet new operational requirements. Lieutenant Colonels Spacy and Trapp offer a detailed proposal for an Air and Space Expeditionary Force Training Center that would change training, evaluation, and certifying concepts to better prepare expeditionary air and space forces to support joint force commander taskings. In order to shift to the proposed new paradigm, the Air Force must undergo a series of fundamental changes in how, when, and where training is conducted and focus on building a cohesive expeditionary team from start to finish. |
| Because Air Force people will know well in advance to what air expeditionary force their unit is attached and when that AEF is scheduled to deploy, they will be able to plan for and train with other units in their AEF prior to deployment. Before, units trained with other units, but not necessarily the units they would deploy with. |
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- Gen Michael E. Ryan, USAF Chief of Staff, 1998 |
As the Air Force transformed itself from a containment-focused Cold War force into a responsive twenty-first-century force, the air and space expeditionary force (AEF) operational concept emerged. It is a team-focused organization designed to better posture the Air Force for quick-reaction deployments while adding stability and predictability to an increasingly heavy deployment schedule. The next step in this evolution is to revise the methods we use to train and certify these new AEFs for combat operations. While the AEF radically changed the way the Air Force organizes for war, it still trains and exercises much the way it always has- piecemeal and often by Air Force specialty. Much of the potential gain in team cohesion that could be provided by the AEF construct is lost to airmen who don’t train together and who first see each other when they arrive in the deployed area of responsibility (AOR). To fulfill General Ryan’s vision of “a unifying structure that brings all our people together in shared challenges, shared goals, and shared successes,” the Air Force needs to create an Air and Space Expeditionary Force Training Center (AEFTC) where a particular AEF’s forces can train and exercise together as an air and space expeditionary wing (AEW).1 In addition to the benefits of team training, the AEFTC could also give deploying AEWs and AEFs a solid capabilities-based certification along the lines of those used by the US Navy and US Marine Corps. A reliable certification not only will give regional combatant commanders confidence in an AEF’s and AEW’s capabilities, but also will add credibility to the overall vision of the expeditionary air and space force. The AEF is an evolution in the way the Air Force goes to war; it is now time for a revolution in how we prepare that force to meet the challenge!
With many of the AEF structural changes in place, the Air Force has seen improvements in force utilization, force packaging, and deployment predictability. It hopes these enhancements will translate into an increase in personnel retention. The expeditionary vision was also intended to change the Air Force culture.2 According to General Ryan, its success depends on “men and women with an ‘expeditionary mind-set’ who understand our mission is global. Bold, Decisive Leaders who excel in austere, unpredictable environs.”3 Gen John P. Jumper, former commander of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) and one of the AEF’s original designers, described this new Air Force culture:
This new generation of air and space warriors has to be tougher minded. It has to get back to the mentality of the old composite air strike force, where they used to live under the wing- they fly in, set up the tent city and live off of Meals Ready to Eat for a week or so before sustainment airlift starts. . . .
In this culture, you have to get back to some basic institutional values: every airman is a warrior, every airman is a sensor. These basic institutional values say we will be qualified on a weapon. We will be able to keep up and maintain mobility bags; we will understand force protection, right down to the task level.4
However, the envisioned expeditionary culture may be difficult to create because at the core of the AEF cultural change is the need to become a cohesive, team-oriented force. The current Air Force culture developed around its technical nature and has long suffered from the lack of a unifying cohesion.5
Cultural Challenge
Over time, the lack of cohesion became institutionalized in the Air Force as it evolved into a confederation of technical specialties and specialized subcultures. Airmen today tend to identify more with their individual specialty than with a shared Air Force vision and mission.6 The lack of cohesion is not just the result of functional specialization, but it is also caused by the way the Air Force goes to war. Dr. Arnold Kanter saw “the USAF as the least cohesive of the services. . . . The operational Air Force mixes assets within operations, but units live apart and work in isolation until they join up en route to the operational target.”7 If the Air Force is to develop the cohesive teams that are central to the new culture the AEF concept depends on, then these teams “must be built, reinforced, and employed- as a team, not just its parts.”8
Building a Cohesive Team
It has been suggested that for the Air Force to change its culture, it must address three basic areas. First, it must carefully align the Air Force concept of its task environment with how that environment is perceived in the general, political environment- this is the clear vision required from senior leadership. Second, Air Force strategy and structure must be realigned to be able to achieve the critical operational tasks, roles, missions, and functions at the heart of the vision. Third, the service must socialize the desired cultural changes and revised priori-ties across the organization to create a culture that encompasses a cohesive team focus around which the diverse subcultures and specialties will want to coalesce.9
The Air Force has made some progress in laying the groundwork for cultural change. America’s Air Force Vision 2020 provides a solid, unifying mission and vision foundation. Additionally, Air Force Doctrine Document (AFDD) 1, Air Force Basic Doctrine and AFDD 2, Organization and Employment of Aerospace Power, build on America’s Air Force Vision 2020 and show how those broad concepts translate into strategic and structural applications. These and other doctrinal publications are part of aligning strategy and structure to achieve the expeditionary tasks, roles, missions, and functions.10
With this foundation in place, the final step is to socialize these changes throughout the Air Force. It cannot be done overnight, and perhaps it will also be the most difficult step. It must start with initial training and continue throughout an Air Force career. Training will be key, but the effort must be extensive and pervasive. It must also focus on day-to-day, unit-level efforts to live the team concept. Again, the Air Force has made some progress with this most important step- to socialize the translation of vision and doctrine into day-to-day life.11
As General Jumper described, socializing the expeditionary culture begins in Basic Military Training, during which airmen now receive field training and get a taste of the expeditionary lifestyle. During basic training, airmen receive instruction in how to build defensive fighting positions and erect field tents; they also learn how to protect themselves against a nuclear, biological, chemical, or terrorist attack. This training is combined with a weeklong field-training exercise called Warrior Week and sets the tone for an expeditionary career.12 Air Force Academy cadets get a similar experience in their Global Engagement program, during which they receive both academic and field training in a simulated bare-base environment and are exposed to situations like those found in Warrior Week.13 For newly commissioned officers, Air University’s Air and Space Basic Course is designed to provide a focused and detailed indoctrination into the full scope of expeditionary missions and applications.14 Finally, expeditionary lessons are also included in all professional military education courses. However, beyond these educational efforts lies the most difficult part of the expeditionary socialization challenge- getting airmen to live the cohesive expeditionary principles the Air Force espouses. Since airmen don’t have any day-to-day affiliation or contact with other members of their assigned AEF, they miss many socialization opportunities during the formal expeditionary classroom and other educational experiences.
The AEF’s team focus is the ideal tool with which to build the new expeditionary culture. Indeed it seems that Air Force leaders had always intended to capitalize on the AEF’s team orientation to bring about the needed cultural change. General Ryan pointed out in America’s Air Force Vision 2020 that the AEF construct “provides a unifying structure that brings all our people together in shared challenges, shared goals and shared successes. Airmen from all across the Air Force contribute to our expeditionary capabilities- from those who provide the deterrent umbrella under which we operate, to those who deploy, to those who operate the fixed facilities on which we depend when we reach back for support.”15
Since the members of each AEF are drawn from geographically separated bases, AEF training activities would have to be designed to bring these separate units together. In 1999 F. Whitten Peters noted the importance of AEF team training in his Report of the Secretary of the Air Force: “Training as a team during their spin-up cycle, AEFs will form a fully integrated air and space unit, one that combines the capabilities of the Service’s weapons systems to create a powerful composite force. Knowing AEF schedules in advance will allow the Air Force to structure training programs to put these units at the peak of readiness as they enter their vulnerability period.”16
This theme is also carried out in the Commanders’ Playbook developed by the AEF Center (AEFC). In detailing its AEF concepts, rules of engagement, and operating philosophies, the playbook makes clear that “one of the objectives of the AEF construct is to match and deploy expeditionary combat support (ECS) unit type codes (UTC) with their aircraft so they can train, deploy and return as a team on a stable and predictable schedule.”17 A key concept in the Commanders’ Playbook is associating ECS personnel with the operations resources they support.
Training as a team in an AEF field-training exercise would certainly reinforce expeditionary classroom lectures and lessons, as well as fill the void between formal education and what airmen experience in actual deployments. Additionally, these exercises would provide important opportunities for members of multifunctional UTCs to meet (likely for the first time), get to know each other, and practice the often complex interoperability skills. While numerous Air Force leaders and publications refer to the entire AEF as one team forming “a fully integrated air and space unit,”18 the expeditionary force has remained a virtual team. Instead of providing General Ryan’s unifying structure, AEFs continue to represent only “buckets of capability.”19 Although expeditionary forces deploy as AEW teams, they do not prepare or train together, and AEF training philosophies still support training along functional lines.
The Air Force not only is failing to reinforce the AEF construct of cohesive teams by relying upon segregated functional training, but also may be hindering necessary cultural change. That training approach perpetuates the core obstacle to cohesive teams. Arguably, without AEF/AEW training as teams, and in the process of building cohesion, the Air Force will be unable to completely socialize the cultural change required to make the expeditionary concept a success. Without that cultural change, the vision of a truly expeditionary air and space force may never be fully realized.
Another change associated with the advent of the AEF construct was the need to certify this new force for combat. However, that certification does not address the AEF/AEW’s ability to fight together; instead it addresses a fundamental need to ensure that personnel complete their individual skills and mobility training prior to deployment. The scope of the current certification was an effort to fix a historical problem of airmen reporting to the AOR without having their required qualifications and “warrior skills.”
The development of the AEF certification process allowed the AEFC to better track AEF members’ warrior skills. That process had two objectives: (1) to hold the commanders at each level accountable for organizing, training, and equipping UTCs and (2) to inform the combatant commanders on the status of the forces being deployed to their AOR. Accordingly, the new AEF certification process requires commanders to continually assess the readiness of all UTCs postured for AEF deployment, but to certify only those UTCs actually tasked to deploy or those sourced in a prepare-to-deploy order (PTDO) for contingency response.20 The certification is not the result of an inspection or graded exercise; it is based upon reported readiness data and paints a general picture of overall AEF health.
The AEF certification process may indeed help track myriad deployment requirements. However, the basic and perhaps risky assumption that readiness of the pieces equates to the readiness of the whole AEF raises an important question- Is the AEF certification a “combat” certification?21 That premise ignores the complex interoperability required to create a synergistic team from geographically separated forces that do not see each other until they are deployed to a forward operating location. Thus, UTC team certification is based upon a compilation of individual qualifications and equipment availability, not on that team’s ability actually to perform its wartime mission together or as part of the larger AEW team. It does not measure the AEF’s ability to provide a “unifying structure that brings all our people together in shared challenges, shared goals and shared successes.”22 AEF certification remains a paperwork exercise that misses the opportunity to render a comprehensive, capability-based certification and further socialize the expeditionary culture.
While the Air Force continues to train different members of its AEF team separately, the training/certification programs of the US Army, Navy, and Marine Corps all share a combat-team orientation- one not found in the current AEF preparation process.
The National Training Center
For the Army, the National Training Center (NTC) is perhaps the best known of its combat training centers. The NTC was born when forward-thinking leaders asked the questions “What if the Army had a place where large units could fight an established, well-trained, professional enemy- an enemy trained better than any in the world? What if the fight was executed under stressful, demanding, relevant conditions while observed by doctrinal experts who could elicit lessons from each fight?”23 The NTC today answers those questions by providing an extensive, simulated combat environment where brigade-sized units train and exercise against a dynamic and realistic opposing force: “The realism is absolute, within timelines, to the point of needing to plan to replace used supplies and repairing vehicles . . . in short everything you would have to do in real life.”24
The Carrier Battle Group
The Navy prepares its carrier battle group (CVBG) differently, but teamwork and realism are also paramount. During the 18-month interdeployment training cycle, the various CVBG components work to meet prescribed mission-area performance metrics. They are then evaluated, both internally and externally, through established “bite-sized” exercises, training missions, and simulations.25
About 180 days from the certification event or planned deployment, the various CVBG players enter “tailored ship training availabilities” (TSTA I, II, and III) and work toward “blue water certification”- the ability to conduct sustained operations without divert airfields. The TSTA’s key focus is to bring all members of the CVBG to the same proficiency level so that the next step of bringing the forces together can be done safely and effectively.
Finally, the entire CVBG is graded during a certifying event by the numbered fleet to tell the gaining combatant commander and forward numbered fleet that they are getting a well-trained and battle-ready product.26 This certifying event is usually a joint-task-force exercise (JTFEX). Capt Tom Culora sees three key benefits in the Navy method of preparing CVBGs for deployment:
First, the “individuals” meet, and the CVBG commander can get to know his people and commanders. This makes imparting the commander’s intent easier and clearer . . . and directly aids communication. Second, any shortfalls in the battle group, based upon projected missions, can be identified, addressed, and corrected. Finally, the tempo of operations is gradually increased. . . . This gets people ready, both physically and psychologically, for a deployment that routinely extends to six months.27
Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations
Capable)
The Marine Corps does not have a training center on the scale of the National Training Center; instead it has a Marine expeditionary unit (special operations capable) (MEU [SOC]) building-block training program to pre- pare its units for embarkation and duty. This program begins with individual training and ends with a combined-arms, multiple-scenario certification exercise. The Marines refer to their spin-up period as the predeployment training program (PDP), which is divided into initial, intermediate, and final phases.
The initial and intermediate phases focus on individual and collective specialty training, respectively, and prepare the MEU for the final phase of training, formal evaluation, and special-operations-capable certification. During the final phase, all MEU elements embark with marines and equipment and work through a series of tactical problems. The Marine expeditionary exercise (MEUEX) is considered the formal evaluation and can be conducted within a JTFEX, special operations exercise (SOC- EX), or a number of other events. After the MEUEX, the commander will learn either that his or her unit has successfully completed certification or that certain corrective actions must be accomplished or reaccomplished to earn it.28
While sister-service training and certification programs cannot be directly applied to pre-paring an AEF/AEW for deployment, the Air Force still could borrow elements of each. The Army’s NTC demonstrates the feasibility and value of bringing large combat forces to a single, consolidated training center to conduct combat operations against an established, well-trained, professional “enemy.” The NTC also represents a service-level model to test large combat forces in their entirety by providing a realistic battlefield, a highly capable and viable threat, a complete infrastructure, and skilled observer controllers. Both CVBG and MEU training and certification programs are designed to recognize that their true combat power is drawn from the synergistic capabilities of their respective constituent forces. They also show that combat certification must be based upon the ability of those forces to fight as integrated teams.
If the Air Force is to expect that its AEF/ AEW certifications will have the same credibility to the gaining combatant commanders as those of the CVBG or MEU, it must show that AEF forces can fight together as effectively as their sister-service counterparts. As good as Air Force training programs are, as well as the AEF reporting-tool records data, none give the AEF/AEW the type of “hard” certification provided by both the Navy and Marines.
To create a new expeditionary culture and complete the paradigm shift to an expeditionary air and space force, the Air Force must fundamentally change how it trains and certifies its forces for combat. That leap forward in training is the AEFTC.
Mission
The AEFTC mission will be to train and certify all individuals, UTCs, and flying units assigned to an AEF- together at one center and just prior to deployment. It will do this by utilizing functional experts from every specialty to conduct standardized expeditionary readiness, expeditionary skills, and specialty training. That training will be to a standard that meets all functional UTC, AEF, and Status of Resources and Training System (SORTS) training and certification requirements. Additionally, an AEFTC rotation will centralize the application of lessons learned, significantly reduce home-station training requirements, provide a test bed for initiatives from the battle laboratories, and provide contingency practice for AEF leaders. Most importantly, the AEFTC will prepare a truly combat-ready force.
Location
Tonopah Test Range (TTR) is the ideal choice to be the core of the AEFTC. It is situated in the desert approximately 200 miles north of Nellis AFB, Nevada, and has the state-of-the-art facilities that were used by the F-117s until 1993. With the TTR as its foundation, the AEFTC complex would also include two additional “expeditionary air bases” located within its ranges- the Security Forces (SF) Expeditionary Readiness Training (ExpeRT) and Certification Center located at Indian Springs Auxiliary Airfield (ISAAF), and what is currently the Red/AEF Flag training program located at Nellis AFB. Surrounded by almost three million acres of air and ground ranges at Nellis, this complex represents the AEF training venue of the future.
Concept of Operations
AEFTC rotations would be two weeks long (10 training days and four deployment-redeployment days), and each AEF pair would normally be scheduled to attend during the two-month “spin-up” period of the 15-month AEF cycle. AEF One, for example, would be scheduled to attend during the first two weeks of the spin-up phase. There would be a one-week “down time” for the AEFTC to reconstitute and prepare for the next rotation. AEF Two, the second part of the first pair, would rotate in at the beginning of the fourth week of the spin-up phase. This allows the members of AEF One six weeks after they return home from the AEFTC to prepare for their AOR deployment. Home-station deployment prep time for participants in AEF Two would be divided evenly, three weeks before and three weeks after their AEFTC training. Personnel in both AEFs would have a total of six weeks at home for additional preparation for their AOR deployment.
An AEFTC rotation will be conducted in four phases: deployment, AEF training, field training exercise (FTX), and redeployment. AEFTC rotations will be considered “field conditions” and run consecutively without days off. A 12-hour training day will be the norm for the AEF training phase, while the four-day FTX will run nonstop for 96 hours.
Phase One- Deployment. The deployment phase mirrors an actual deployment into an AOR and takes place in two stages: home-station preparation (Stage I); and deployment into the AEFTC (Stage II). Stage I includes packing personal equipment and completing the many predeployment and mobility line actions normally accomplished by home-station units prior to deployment into an AOR. In order to lighten deployment loads and save wear and tear on real-world logistics detail (LOGDET) equipment, all weapons and equipment needed for an AEFTC rotation will be maintained and issued by the AEFTC. Additional predeployment requirements include those items typically maintained in an individual’s mobility folder. AOR predeployment requirements will differ somewhat from the AEFTC items, since most of the ancillary training items will have already been accomplished during the AEFTC rotation.
Deployment Stage II involves actual deployment from the home station into the AEFTC. All personnel will deploy in two days via either commercial airlift into nearby McCarren International Airport or by military airlift directly into the AEFTC. The flying units and associated maintenance personnel assigned to the Nellis portion of the AEF flag exercise will deploy directly into Nellis AFB, as is normal for AEF Flag participation.
Phase Two- AEF Training and Certification. Training and certification at the AEFTC are based on the concept that “every airman is a warrior; every airman is a sensor.”29 Instruction and skill certification are provided in three blocks: Expeditionary Readiness, Expeditionary Skills, and Specialty Training specific to each UTC. These training blocks replace or expand upon many current home-station and Regional Training Center (RTC) activities; furthermore, they are designed to train and certify airmen as individuals, as part of their UTCs, and lead to certification as an integrated AEW. After the training phase is complete, UTCs will come together for a 96-hour FTX and be certified as an integrated AEW.
Expeditionary readiness training (ERT) is currently referred to as ancillary predeployment training. It is taught in a variety of methods and venues, often by agencies stretched thin by operational deployments. ERT includes subjects currently required throughout the Air Force on a semiannual, annual, or biannual basis, with some training required within a specific window prior to deployment; the requirements vary, reflecting the needs of the projected AOR. The AEFTC will combine these requirements and train all personnel during the AEFTC rotation every 15 months within the AEF cycle. ERT subjects include the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC), Rules of Engagement (ROE), Self-Aid and Buddy Care (SABC), and Level I Force Protection training.
Expeditionary skills training (EST) borrows from the USMC philosophy that says “every marine is a rifleman” before he or she is a functional specialist. This approach helps prepare airmen for contingency operations by providing them with tactical skills beyond their functional area. The goals of EST are threefold: (1) give airmen “warrior skills” that enable them to operate in a wide range of contingency environments and threats; (2) provide both the home station and deployed commanders with a pool of fully trained and certified base defense augmentees; and (3) bring all airmen together as a cohesive force with a common set of combat skills. EST includes general field skills, advanced weapons training, and detailed SF augmentee training.
General field skills are designed to give each airman a basic understanding of how to work and survive in a high-threat environment. The training includes cover and concealment, tactical communications, building and using defensive fighting positions (DFP), basic fire fighting, and squad movement and tactics.
Advanced weapons training adds to the “warrior skill” foundation by providing weapons training targeted to give members of each rank the appropriate experience with the weapon they are most likely to carry during a deployment. For example, aircrew members, officers, and senior noncommissioned officers (NCO) will receive training on the M-9 (9 mm) handgun, while junior enlisted personnel will train with the M-16A2 rifle. Advanced weapons training at the AEFTC will begin with basic Air Force qualifications but will also include practice on tactical firing courses, live fire within a squad, and even heavy weapons training for selected personnel. Advanced weapons training not only fills the weapons qualification requirement, but also increases an airman’s overall level of firing skill and confidence.
In addition to the warrior skills mentioned above, airmen and NCOs will receive detailed instruction in skills that will qualify them as SF augmentees. This certification not only will help with deployed base-defense requirements, but also will give home-station commanders a trained pool of SF augmentees. Some of these skills include arming and use of force, basic SF procedures, challenge procedures for vehicles and individuals, and physical-restraint techniques. As AEFTC operations progress, the pool of airmen trained to support the home station’s SF resource augmentation duty (READY) programs would grow significantly.
All airmen will also develop an identity as members of their assigned AEF during their expeditionary readiness and skills training. This AEF identity will be the foundation for the socialization of the cultural change required for the successful evolution of the expeditionary Air Force.
Specialty Training is the final block of instruction before the FTX and is designed to give individuals and teams of each UTC the basic competencies needed to perform their expeditionary and wartime missions. The curriculum is based on common core occupational competencies that each specialty requires and emphasizes the critical tasks in a deployed environment. That environment could be grounded either in built-up areas or in a bare base made operational with Harvest Eagle or Harvest Falcon assets- or somthing in between. Since most wings have neither the equipment nor space to train in these skills, they are currently most often taught in the RTC. The AEFTC will consolidate these centers under one roof and provide that specialty training.
Phase Three- Field Training Exercise. The FTX is designed to build on individual and UTC training-phases certifications, train as a team, and certify the AEF as an integrated AEW. The FTX is a three-stage exercise that begins with airmen moving to the exercise sites during Stage I deployment operations. At the same time, the TTR transitions from a training area into an expeditionary air base (EAB). Exercise combat operations initiated in Stage II include the generation of combat sorties, resupply, and force protection. Stage III focuses on tactical redeployment, transition, and “end of the exercise” (ENDEX). Throughout all phases of the FTX, scenarios gleaned from lessons learned, recent deployments, and postulated threats are used to exercise the skills that are trained and certified in expeditionary readiness, expeditionary skill, and specialty-training programs.
Phase Four- Redeployment. The final phase of an AEFTC rotation is redeployment, which allows two days for personnel to pack personal equipment and return to home station. Redeployment schedules will be arranged to allow members of the Air Reserve component (ARC) to leave in the first loads to help ensure they stay within allotted training days. Upon return to home station, personnel should be complete with all AEF “spin-up” requirements and be able to spend time with families and/or take predeployment leave.
AEW Certification
During the AEFTC rotation, all personnel will be certified on ERT, EST, and specialty skills. Additionally, AEF members would perform as an integrated team during the FTX and be certified as an AEW. At the end of the FTX, the AEW commander (deployed lead wing commander) will certify in person to the numbered air force commander and air commander, Air Combat Command (COMACC), that the AEW is “certified ready for deployment.” Based on this certification, the AEF/ AEW would have a “hard” certification much like the Navy’s and USMC’s. COMACC would then send the certification message to the regional combatant commanders through the commander, United States Joint Forces Command.
Force Development
In addition to the comprehensive training and capabilities-based certification, the AEFTC could also be an excellent place to certify a variety of competencies under the force-development initiative. During an AEFTC rotation, leaders of all ranks not only will be trained in their core occupational competencies, but also will enhance their leadership skills in a dynamic expeditionary environment populated by a broad range of other specialties. In addition to the functional and universal competencies certified during an AEFTC rotation, ERT and EST areas could be combined to create a new “AEF competency” category. AEF competencies would apply by rank to all personnel assigned to an AEF and would help chart a path toward a goal of a truly “expeditionary airman.” The AEFTC would play a major role in giving leaders a place to learn, practice, and certify these new skills.
The proposed AEFTC is a training complex that takes AEF deployment preparation to a new level by combining the world-class training currently found in Air Force RTCs with the best sister-service training practices. It also builds upon expeditionary cultural change initiatives by training, exercising, and certifying entire AEFs/AEWs as integrated combat teams. This new approach to training is focused on skill certification and molding the hundreds of AEF UTCs and flying units into one AEW team. Hopefully, by training and certifying as a team, these airmen will develop a strong allegiance to their AEF, making it a more cohesive and effective combat force.
Although AEF team-oriented training includes a host of benefits, perhaps the biggest will be realized on the battlefield through the synergistic effects of a cohesive team whose members are trained and certified together. While the Air Force is not required to take this next training step, it will need a methodology to form that AEF team if it truly desires to become an expeditionary air and space force- the AEFTC is simply the most logical choice.
Notes
1. “The Expeditionary Aerospace Force: What Does New Air Force Structure Mean for the Reserve?” Citizen Airmen, October 1998, n.p., on-line, Internet, 3 September 2002, available from http://www.afrc.af.mil/HQ/citamn/Oct98/EAF.htm.
2. Lt Gen Donald G. Cook, Col Robert Allardice, and Col Raymond D. Michael Jr., “Implications of the Expeditionary Aerospace Force,” Aerospace Power Chronicles, December 2000, n.p., on-line, Internet, 3 September 2002, available from http:// www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj00/win00/cook.htm.
3. Aerospace Expeditionary Force Center (AEFC), “Quarterly AEF Update,” PowerPoint briefing, Langley AFB, Va., 2 May 2001.
4. Gen John P. Jumper, “Expeditionary Air Force: A New Culture for a New Century,” address to the Air Force Association Symposium, Orlando, Fla., 26 February 1998, n.p., on-line, Internet, 3 September 2002, available from http://www.aef.org/pub/ ol19.asp.
5. Dr. James M. Smith, “USAF Culture and Cohesion: Building an Air and Space Force for the 21st Century,” INSS Occasional Paper no. 19 (USAF Academy, Colo.: Institute for National Security Studies, June 1998), 13, on-line, Internet, 3 September 2002, available from http://www.usafa.af.mil/inss/ocp19.htm.
6. Ibid., 17.
7. Ibid., quoting Dr. Arnold Kanter’s research, 52.
8. Ibid., xiii.
9. Ibid., 48.
10. Ibid., 49.
11. Ibid., 50.
12. MSgt Todd R. Barrow, “Talking Paper on Warrior Week,” (Talking paper presented to the 737th Training Support Squadron, Lackland AFB, Tex., January 2002).
13. United States Air Force Academy, 34th Training Squadron Web site, “programs,” n.p., on-line, Internet, 3 September 2002, available from http://www.usafa.af.mil/wing/ 34trg/34trs/programs.htm.
14. Smith, 50.
15. USAF, America’s Air Force Vision 2020, 5, on-line, Internet, 3 September 2002, available from http://www.af.mil/vision/vision.pdf.
16. Secretary of the Air Force F. Whitten Peters, Report of the Secretary of the Air Force, 1999, 6, on-line, Internet, 3 September 2002, available from http://www.defenselink.mil/execsec/ adr1999/afstat.html.
17. AEFC, Commanders’ Playbook (Langley AFB, Va.: AEFC, 23 June 2001), 6, on-line, Internet, 14 December 2001, available from http://www.aefcenter.acc.af.mil.
18. Peters, 6.
19. John A. Tirpak, “The EAF Turns One,” Air Force Magazine 83, no. 10 (October 2000): 22.
20. Air Force Instruction (AFI) 10-244, Reporting Status of Expeditionary Aerospace Forces, 19 February 2002, 18.
21. Gen John P. Jumper, “AEF Certification,” PowerPoint briefing, Langley AFB, Va., 13 February 2001, 3.
22. USAF, America’s Air Force Vision 2020, 5.
23. Col Mark P. Hertling and Lt Col James Boiselle, “Coming of Age in the Desert: The NTC at 20,” Military Review, September–October 2001, 64–65, on-line, Internet, 9 October 2002, available from http://www-cgsc.army.mil/milrev/english/Sep Oct01/hertling.asp.
24. Maj Bryan L. Lee and Maj James Lampton, Davis Center for Russian Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., interviewed by author (Trapp), December 2001; and N. Van Taylor, “Why the Marine Corps Needs the NTC,” Marine Corps Gazette, June 1999, 1–3.
25. Capt Thomas Culora, Olin Institute for National Security Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., interviewed by author (Trapp), November 2001–March 2002.
26. Capt Timothy J. Doorey, College of Naval Warfare, Newport, R.I., interviewed by author (Trapp), February–March 2002.
27. Culora interview.
28. Col David J. Mollahan, Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., interviewed by author (Trapp), February 2002; and Kennedy, October 2001, 31.
29. Jumper, “Expeditionary Air Force: A New Culture for a New Century.”
Contributor
Lt Col Bradley D. Spacy (BA, Fresno State University; MS, University of Southern Mississippi) is chief, Joint Staff Security Office, Joint Staff, Pentagon. He has extensive security-force experience, particularly in air base defense and antiterrorism. Colonel Spacy commanded a joint USAF/USMC team in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm and served as an air base defense instructor at the Security Police Academy. His unit was recognized as the best security forces squadron in the Air Force during 1997 and received two Installation Excellence Awards; furthermore, he was selected as the Outstanding MAJCOM Field Grade Security Force Officer of the Year. He also commanded the USAF Honor Guard. Colonel Spacy is a graduate of Squadron Officer School, the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and the National Defense Fellow Program at the Institute for National Security Studies, US Air Force Academy.
Lt Col Michael I. Trapp (BS, Utah State University; MS, Florida State University) is the deputy commander of the USAF Force Protection Battle Laboratory, Lackland AFB, Texas. He commanded five security forces squadrons in the United States and Europe, as well as expeditionary units. Colonel Trapp served on the staffs at Headquarters US Air Forces Europe and Eighth Air Force. He was the recipient of Air Force Space Command’s Lance P. Sijan award; he also was selected as the Outstanding USAF Field Grade Security Force Officer and Company Grade Officer of the Year for Seventeenth Air Force. He is a graduate of Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College, and the National Defense Fellow program at the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Harvard University.
Disclaimer
The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.
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