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Course prepares mobility team leaders in deployment command and control

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
  • U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center Public Affairs
FORT DIX, N.J. --  Of the 57 in-residence and on-line courses offered in the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center's Mobility Operations School, one course targets future leaders in mobility command and control. 

The Mobility Air Forces Mobile Command and Control Leadership Course, offered in four sessions a year with 16 officer and enlisted students in each seven-day course, "provides leaders of the mobility air forces mission support forces training on operating in the deployed environment," said Tech. Sgt. Charles Sherman, course director. 

"Students are trained in Air Force doctrine, pre-mission planning, deployment, employment, mission management, reporting, force protection, airfield surveying, financial planning and deployed legal responsibilities," Sergeant Sherman said. "For many of our students, this is the first chance they get to fill a leadership position and be responsible for Airmen in the field. 

"Also, for many of them, it is a revelation because they begin to see things from the eyes of a team leader," Sergeant Sherman said. "It's rewarding to see them transform from thinking like members of a team to thinking like leaders of those teams in the field." 

Many of the students have backgrounds in some of the Air Force's newest organizations - contingency response wings and contingency response groups. Sergeant Sherman said the course is required for all contingency response element commanders and contingency response team chiefs. 

"We teach these future mission commanders and team chiefs all the fundamental aspects of mission planning - from gathering information about the location, to identifying the mission requirements, to building the team they need to do the job." 

Students in the course come from all around the Air Force - to include Air Mobility Command, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Pacific Air Forces, and the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, Sergeant Sherman said. It's the class diversity of shared experience and ideas that also helps groom the future leaders. 

"This class teaches the Total Force, not just select personnel from a certain command," Sergeant Sherman said. "We strive for the best student environment we can provide." 

Staff Sgt. Jason Trussell, 573rd Global Support Squadron, Travis Air Force Base, Calif., who was a student from the most recent course completed in early June, explained what he learned in the course. 

"This course helped me to be better prepared for mission deployments and gave an understanding of the working process of a CRG," Sergeant Trussell said. "The course gives students the necessary skills and guidance for future missions or exercises. Additionally, the capability (the class has) to bring real world deployment experiences into the classroom from other students also aids in student preparation." 

As one of the class' field exercises, students go to the McGuire Air Force Base flightline and practice performing an airfield survey. Sergeant Sherman said this type of hands-on training aids in supporting classroom instruction. 

"The airfield survey exercise shows the students how to perform an initial inspection of the airfield," Sergeant Sherman said. "The students are taught to construct aircraft parking plans to maximize space and still maintain safe conditions. Creating a parking plan is one of the first tasks accomplished at a deployed location." 

It's those initial deployment requirements that students find to be the most useful.
"A practical exercise like that gives us the chance to mission plan before the real thing," Sergeant Trussell said. 

Building successful mobility team leaders for tomorrow is the ultimate goal of this course, Sergeant Sherman said. "Like everywhere else in the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center and the Mobility Operations School, we want to give the best training possible, and I think this course is a great example of that achievement," he said. 

According to its mission statement, the USAF EC's "Mobility Operations School is an Air Force Center of Excellence dedicated to prepare every graduate to perform their mission by educating, training and exercising Department of Defense personnel in the full range of expeditionary operations. Using both resident and Web-based instructional media, the MOS offers 57 courses, including the Director of Mobility Forces Course and the Advanced Study of Air Mobility Intermediate Developmental Education and graduate program. Other courses cover topics in operations, tactics, intelligence, transportation, maintenance, aircrew resource management, and command and control from both a global and theater perspective. In addition, the MOS sponsors a range of exercises and the mobility piece of Joint Readiness Training at Fort Polk, La. Finally, the MOS is the USAF EC's focal point for instructor and curriculum development and student logistical support."