Airmen train to help Iraqi air force rebuild

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Robbie Arp
  • Air Force News Agency
SAN ANTONIO (AFNEWS) --  Air Force instructors at the Army's Camp Bullis are training Iraq-centric and basic warfighting skills to students from a host of different career fields.

The focus of this training is to teach students a unique blend of training techniques so they can help the Iraqi air force rebuild their technical schools.

"This (training) is different. Now we're affecting students who are going to train the next (Iraqi) air force," said Tech. Sgt. Robert Miller, NCO in charge of intelligence at the camp's basic combat convoy course.

The two-week course trains students on a multitude of tasks they'll use to set up technical schools in Iraq and, in turn, teach Iraqi security forces to do the same.

"As a military training instructor, I'm very excited to go over there and show that country that we are behind them," said Tech. Sgt. Walter Hodges, a technical instructor and a student at the course. "We are looking to help them set up their infrastructure."

Everyone in the class is motivated to start their mission, he said.

"I can speak for the whole team, this is something we are really looking forward to," Sergeant Hodges said. "This shows the world we (Airmen) are just as much a part of this fight as the rest of the military."

The training idea came from a combination of sight assessment and a boots-on-the-ground perspective, said Senior Master Sgt. Greg Jones, the course's air advisory training manager. But most importantly, it was "different agencies coming together for a common goal," he said.

"This is a combination of leveraging a bunch of organizations that have stepped forward to support this training," Sergeant Jones said. "Lots of teamwork. Lots of folks have stepped up to help us make this happen."

Observations, so far, have been fairly positive, Sergeant Jones said. Now, officials are looking for the three-month feedback from students to get a better idea of how the operation is progressing. Sergeant Jones says it is about showing the Iraqis a new and positive way of doing things.

"We're trying to harvest human terrain: Hearts and minds," Sergeant Jones said. "That's what we're trying to prepare these Airmen to do."

In the future, the course will combine with the camp's coalition battlefield Airmen course. The students will get their combat skills training which they will progress to the air advisor training course. The total course time will become three to four weeks.

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