Cadets experience summer school for warriors

  • Published
  • By Capt. Thomas Crosson
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  Summertime for university students is normally the chance to relax and unwind after surviving grueling semesters of cramming for exams and researching term papers. Some students spend this time at home with their family; some travel to tropical vacations spots.

Some students go to a war zone.

Nineteen U.S. Air Force Academy juniors and seniors embarked on a summer intern program of sorts on June 5, when they arrived in Southwest Asia to begin a nearly four-week, hands-on orientation with the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing at an air base supporting operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom and Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa.

Every year, through Operation Air Force, academy upperclassmen have the opportunity to visit Air Force bases throughout the world. Last year marked the first time cadets were selected for Southwest Asia air bases. While cadets are not permitted within Iraq or Afghanistan, the locations they will visit will be close enough to give them the perspective they will need to lead tomorrow’s expeditionary Airmen. The 386th AEW will host two groups of cadets this summer, mentoring 37 students.

For one cadet who will become an aircraft maintenance officer when she graduates in 2007, a flightline at an air base in Southwest Asia is exactly where she wanted to spend her Operation Air Force tour.

“I wanted to get a feel for what I’ll be doing (upon graduation), said Cadet 1st Class April McDonald. “I wanted to see what it was like to be deployed.”

During their visit, cadets will be exposed to a variety of career fields, including pilots, aircraft maintenance, security forces and contracting, to see firsthand how each function works in order to accomplish the Air Force mission. They will also receive mission briefings, go on C-130 Hercules static tours, visit the local U.S. Embassy and other area military installations and attend cultural awareness events.

“This is a phenomenal program. It gives our future officers the most realistic and intensive picture of what they will be doing for the next four-plus years of their lives,” said Capt. Aaron Gibson, 386th AEW executive officer and Operation Air Force project officer. “This is a great opportunity for our Airmen here to interface with the cadets to show off what they do and to help mold the cadets into great officers.”

While the cadets are here, they’ll each be paired up with a company grade officer in a career field they are interested in learning more about. They’ll work the same jobs alongside company grade officers and NCOs during the duty day to gain insight and experience about that particular Air Force specialty they would never receive in a classroom.

Some cadets choose to pair up with a career field they have been selected to join or hope to join when they enter active duty, while other cadets chose a completely different career field to shadow.

Cadet First Class Matt Jasinski is one of the 525 members of the Class of 2007 who will attend undergraduate pilot training after graduation. But rather than embedding with a flying squadron, Cadet Jasinski chose to join up with the 386th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron.

“I don’t want to be a know-nothing lieutenant on day one (on active duty),” Cadet Jasinski said. “I’ve talked to plenty of pilots at the academy. I’ll have the chance to shadow plenty of pilots at (undergraduate pilot training.”

For Cadet 1st Class Stephen Boyd, a future intelligence officer, he wanted to shadow the 386th ESFS to gain better insight on what security forces troops in the field do.

“I might be over here right after technical school,” he said. “Why not take the opportunity to what is going on…to get a better understanding of what is going on here?”