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Expeditionary course helps prepare senior leaders for deployment

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Paula A. Paige
  • Air Mobility Warfare Center Public Affairs
FORT DIX, N.J. (AMCNS) --  Thanks to the new Expeditionary Mission Support Group Commanders’ Course, senior Air Force leaders can polish their skills before deploying to a wartime environment.

Offered by the Expeditionary Operations School housed at the Air Mobility Warfare Center here, the 3½ -day course is designed for colonels who are primed for deployed mission support group commander positions overseas. Funded by the Warfare Center, which will cover travel, lodging and per diem costs, the first Expeditionary Mission Support Group Commanders’ Course is scheduled for Feb. 7-10 and will enroll 18 students. The target students are colonels and colonel-selects.

“When I was a Mission Support Group commander, I felt I had the skills and knowledge to command my group at home, but I was not as confident of my abilities if I had been called upon to open a base in a deployed environment,” said Col. Shelley Christian, commandant of the Expeditionary Operations School. “The Expeditionary Mission Support Group Commanders Course is the next step in training, verifying and validating the competency of our Expeditionary Combat Support forces.

“The Mission Support Group commander’s job in the in-garrison environment is very different from that in the expeditionary environment,” Colonel Christian said. “We never had a course that covers the broad spectrum of responsibilities of the deployed group commander, nor have we provided the opportunity for seasoned Expeditionary Mission Support Group commanders to share their experiences and thoughts first-hand. We aim to provide our Mission Support Group commanders with every possible tool to meet the extremely tough mission in the area of responsibility.”

“We need to get the word out to the prospective students,” said Ms. Pat Refsdal, the course director. “The teaching methods include briefers from the Pentagon, experts from the Joint Staff and individuals returning from the expeditionary environment. We rely heavily on past EMSG commanders. There are student quotas for all major commands, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve.”

The Expeditionary Operations School educates and trains Expeditionary Combat Support personnel in deployed operations. The school is responsible for developing and conducting EAGLE FLAG exercises, Expeditionary Combat Support and logistics formal training courses. It is the subject matter expert for providing Air Mobility Command's contingency skills and “Raven” aircraft security training.

The Air Mobility Warfare Center is Air Mobility Command’s premier educational, training and innovation institution. Reorganized in 2003, it consists of the Air Mobility Battlelab and three functionally aligned schools: the Mobility Operations School, the Mobility Weapons School and the Expeditionary Operations School. Holding it all together is the Resources Directorate supporting every function, including manpower, funding, facilities and communications infrastructure.

Students may enroll for the EMSG course through their major commands. For more information about the course, contact Patricia Refsdal at (609) 754-7365, or e-mail patricia.refsdal.ctr@mcguire.af.mil; or Michelle Bernett at (609) 754-7375, or e-mail michelle.bernett.ctr@mcguire.af.mil