AU provides curriculum, manpower for Iraqi officer training

  • Published
  • By Christine Harrison
  • Air University Public Affairs
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFPN) --  When Air University officials received a request in November to develop a curriculum for two Iraqi air force officer training schools, it produced the material in less than three months.

"It took 79 days from beginning to end," said Dr. Charles Nath, director of curriculum at the Air Force Officer Accession and Training Schools. 

"We worked through Christmas to develop two courses with more than 900 total hours of curriculum," he said. "The syllabus included lesson plans, slides, reading materials, everything that they would need to conduct an initial officer training course."

The request came from the Coalition Air Force Transition Team in Baghdad through Air Education and Training Command Headquarters, said Brig. Gen. Alfred K. Flowers, the commander of the Air Force Officer Accession and Training Schools.

"The curriculum that we developed is essentially the same leadership curriculum we teach here to our officer trainees," General Flowers said. "It is the basic principles of leadership that we are teaching to the Iraqi trainers who will then teach their officer trainees. Leadership 101 is Leadership 101 no matter where you are."

While the basic principles of leadership are the same, the curriculum area manager for AFOATS said the curriculum had to be changed significantly based on cultural concerns.

"Cultural sensitivity was a key issue in the design of the lessons," said Kevin Lynn, a retired Air Force chief master sergeant who also worked with the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq and headed up the team of 12 AFOATS curriculum writers.

The curriculum focuses on leadership, communication and fundamental air power theories, Mr. Lynn said. These were the building blocks the curriculum developers used to design the Iraqi air force officer training school programs. The team of curriculum writers was tasked to provide two programs of study for two training locations in Iraq.

The first, a course designed for Iraqi military academy graduates, will serve as the primary pipeline for future pilots; the second course for "straight off the street cadets with no prior military experience" is targeted at training non-rated officers.

The second course is about 100 hours longer than the first course.

Not only did Air University provide a curriculum for Iraq's first officer training schools, but also a plan for training Iraqi instructors as well.

The instructor curriculum was not requested, but the group anticipated the future need, so Bill Nicholas of the AFOATS curriculum staff designed a course for the Iraqi air force patterned after the AFOATS instructor training program, Dr. Nath said.

The program development did not happen only at AFOATS, but was rather a collaborative effort involving resources from across Air University, General Flowers said.

"It wasn't just our folks," he said. "We had help from Squadron Officer College, the College of Enlisted Professional Military Education, the Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy, and the First Sergeant Academy, as well as other schools from around the circle here at Maxwell. It has really been an Air University team effort."

The Iraqi officer training school's curricula provided by Air University is only a part of a much larger program, Dr. Nath said.

"The rest of the puzzle is to establish a basic military training school, a technical training capability and a flying training program for the Iraqi air force," he said. 

Several OTS instructors are currently teaching the courses, and are looking for Iraqi students who may be candidates for instructor positions after they leave, said Col. Matthew Donovan, the OTS commander.

"The important thing is that, as we grow these new officers, we pick the very best and brightest to train as the new Iraqi OTS instructors," he said. "Right now my folks are the flight commanders. Hopefully the next class will have Iraqi flight commanders training and maybe the time after that our guys will just shadow the Iraqis so that we will eventually withdraw from those positions." 

While the trainers are working in hostile and unpredictable areas, he has had no trouble finding OTS instructors who are willing to deploy, Colonel Donovan said.

"In fact, most of the folks who work for me have come down and asked if they can go," he said. "They all want to go, and they all want to be a part of this. It warms my heart because they know it is the right thing to do."

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