Integrated training smoothes future joint operations

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Christian Michael
  • 1st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
QUANTICO MARINE CORPS BASE, Va. (AFPN) --  As the face of battle has changed with more and more multiservice operations, interservice training for all ranks is becoming an increasing necessity to win the fight on global battlegrounds, officials said.

Command and staff war colleges have been holding integrated training for decades, ensuring upper-tier officers know how to operate together in joint environments. To purposefully prepare our forces for the joint-operations world, training in both leadership and technical studies has begun in joint integrated classrooms across the military from the highest commander in Washington to the newest Airman in basic training.

The Staff Noncommissioned Officer Academy here has admitted one Air Force student in every class for the past year to gain a greater understanding between services.

Master Sgt. Carl Elder, of the Air Combat Command Regional Supply Squadron at Langley Air Force Base, Va., graduated from the course recently. As the seventh Air Force student to graduate the academy, he said he considers it a great benefit to have attended the school.

“I’m more well-rounded because of this course,” Sergeant Elder said.

Past Air Force attendees include an Air Force flight attendant, an NCO academy instructor and a first sergeant.

Marine Master Sgt. Kevin Finch, chief instructor of the advanced course, taught the majority of the Air Force students.

“We’re moving into a joint war-fighting environment, so it’s good for everybody to work together,” Sergeant Finch said. “Seeing the different ways (Airmen do) things as compared to how (Marines) do things brings a fresh perspective.”

The course is leadership-oriented, with a focus on warfighting skills, including offensive and defensive operations, expeditionary operations, combat arms, land navigation and battle studies.

“We take the students out to local battlefields, teaching them how to conduct battle studies,” said Marine Master Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Warren, staff NCO in charge of the advanced course. “Locally, we have Chancellorsville and Fredricksburg Civil War battlefields, but we go as far north as Gettysburg so students can perform assignments involving surveying the battlefields and determining how the battle took place.”

Battlefield training is not typical for most Airmen, but Air Force students adjust quickly to that environment and the course’s other curriculum, Sergeant Finch said.

“Academically, (Air Force students) perform very well,” he said. “While they’re a little behind us when it comes to physical training at the start of the course, they’re often physically on par with us by the end. We don’t run them ragged, but instead we bring them up slowly and work as a team.”

Despite the new environment, the Air Force students work hard to rise to the challenge, with a little help from their Marine classmates.

“The Air Force students perform outstandingly,” Sergeant Warren said. “The master gunnery sergeants take them under their wing with study groups.”

Joint training works both ways, Marine officials said. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Edward Marotske, NCO in charge of the sergeant’s course here, recently was the first Marine graduate of the Air Force Senior NCO Academy at Maxwell AFB, Ala.

"I left there after eight weeks, and I was enamored with the professionalism of people down there, and I’m a better Marine because of it,” Sergeant Martoske said.