ABM students earn wings

  • Published
  • By Captain Nate Sukolsky
  • 325th Air Control Squadron
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Lieutenants from the 325th Air Control Squadron completed the first of six new syllabus flights April 27 that will allow Air Battle Manager students to earn aeronautical wings while training at Tyndall.

"The flight was incredible," said 2nd Lt. Luke Sheets, ABM student. "I have never experienced anything like it. Every time we go up it will fill in more and more of the blanks and it will also allow us to be ahead of the game."

In the beginning of 2010, the ACS instituted a new syllabus, and Air Battle Managers will now be awarded aeronautical wings upon graduation. This is the first time in Air Education and Training Command history that all three rated officer training courses will result in wings being awarded.

Before, ABM students had to wait another year to get their wings at their gaining units at Tinker AFB, Okla., or Robins AFB, Ga.

"This change won't require more instructors, but their qualifications will be different," said Capt. Ben Peterson, 325th ACS basic military aviation flight commander. "On the flip side, the students will have to undergo less training at their first base."

The inaugural ABM class is made up of 12 individuals from diverse backgrounds, including prior enlisted officers, Air National Guard officers, and officers commissioned from Reserve Officers Training Course and Officer Training School.

The new course, in stark contrast from the prior, engrosses students in aviation and an Airmanship mindset. The training establishes a baseline air sense, better prepares the students to integrate air power and aviation operations, and allows for greater possibilities in future leadership positions.

Before this first flight and the new syllabus, ABM students only experienced aviation and the air picture through technical training and a computer interface. The addition of flights in the syllabus allows for diversity of experience and for the greater understanding through an aviation perspective.

The first two flights will be familiarization sorties, allowing students to become acquainted with aerodynamics, flight controls, instrumentation, and navigation. The second phase of flight training gives students a pilot's perspective of an air-to-air engagement, while their fellow classmates provide control from the ground.

The students will perform an air-to-ground mission on their fifth sortie and will receive dynamic tasks and target talk-ons from their classmates back on the ground. The final, and sixth flight, will be a culmination of all their flights and assess the student's knowledge in aviation skills.

The new syllabus enables the Air Battle Manager career field to evolve and better meet the needs of current Air Force demands in multiple theaters of operation. Air Battle Managers are now graduating as true aviators with fundamental skills based on aviation.

Air Battle Manager students attend a nine-month-long course at the 325th ACS. The schoolhouse is the oldest function at Tyndall and has been producing command and control warriors for decades.