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Warfare Center offers online courses

  • Published
  • By Capt. Tom Freeland
  • Air Mobility Warfare Center Operations School
FORT DIX, N.J. (AMCNS) --  Ever wondered how wartime planners decide the best ways to organize and deploy air mobility forces and assets? For instance, who goes in to start a bare base operation, security forces or the tanker airlift control element and flight? What are the variables in determining how many pallets you can load on a fully tanked KC-10 Extender?

The answers can be found easily at www.amwc.af.mil/student_info.asp, the interactive distance-learning Introduction to Air Mobility Operations Course, or AMOC, offered by the Air Mobility Warfare Center’s Mobility Operations School at Fort Dix, N.J.

Comments from the course critiques have been full of praise for both course content and software design.

“This was the best designed online course I have taken,” said Capt. Cliff Cunningham from the 452nd Airlift Control Flight, March Air Force Base, Calif. “Good job on providing ample cross-references within the course to improve the explanation of information.”

Captain Michael Holdcroft, a C-5 pilot from the 436th Operations Support Squadron at Dover AFB, Del., added: “I thought it was a great course. I really liked the ‘outside the box’ ways of quizzing and teaching the objectives."

And a fellow Dover pilot, Capt. Todd Larsen, said, "Excellent course! This was a very educational course. It was very informative on the ‘big picture’ of Global Reach.”

The course takes roughly eight hours to complete, according to course planner estimates. Open to active, Reserve and civilian Department of Defense members of all ranks, it is designed for new to mature mid-level Air Mobility Command and U.S. Transportation Command leaders. Interested users can browse the course for valuable information or officially complete it by going through all the modules and passing the end-of-course assessment.

Additionally, military members and authorized contractors deployed or stationed overseas can use the online AMOC for refresher or initial training. Knowledge checks along the way help reinforce the recently taught information prior to the final assessment, which requires a 70 percent or higher score to graduate and receive the course certificate.

“It provides a superior introduction to many of the mobility concepts our people face every day,” said Col. David Lawton, commandant of the Mobility Operations School. “For example, personnel from any DoD service can gain valuable information on AMC processes, such as how we load aircraft or procedures regarding shipment of hazardous material.”

A key planner in creating the online course, Maj. Steve Polomsky wanted the online AMOC to be relevant for a variety of career fields. “Be it the global mission to the theater mission, doctrine to finance, planning to execution, we covered the fundamentals on all of them,” said the mobility operations division deputy. “It’s a great opportunity for people to learn new facets of air mobility outside of their particular stovepipe.”

Previously, AMOC students attended a two week in-residence course at the Warfare Center at a cost of approximately $2,000 per student, charged to the unit. The class was limited to 60 students per class and was offered five times per year. With the on-line course, the Warfare Center in cooperation with the Air Force Institute for Advanced Distributed Learning program, located at Maxwell AFB-Gunter Annex, Ala., makes this training available to students worldwide. Since its inception in August 2004, 1,125 people have accessed the online AMOC course and more than 450 people have graduated.

The Introduction to Air Mobility Operations distance learning course also serves a prerequisite for people who want to take mobility education to the next level with the in-residence Advanced AMOC. In this course, students will comprehend the complexities, requirements, limitations and resources available in planning and conducting air mobility operations.

“We also bring in cutting-edge guest speakers to talk on the latest concerns facing the command,” Colonel Lawton said.

The course is offered five times per year and graduates approximately 200 students annually.

For more information about AMWC distance learning, call the Mobility Operations School at DSN 650-7722 or commercial (609) 754-7722 or (609) 754-7722; or e-mail
AMWCdistancelearning@mcguire.af.mil.