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Air Force adds to Maxwell training programs

All Air Force officers, except those at the Air Force Academy in Colorado, now will train at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., before entering the officer corps.

The Academy of Military Science, located previously at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base, Tenn., is setting up shop at Maxwell, the Montgomery Advertiser newspaper reported. The move is the latest in a series of steps to consolidate officer training at the base. Last year, all summer ROTC field training was moved to Maxwell, and the Officer Training School trains and commissions active duty and reserve officers.

The Academy of Military Science will be known as Detachment 12 at Maxwell. The move will bring about 500 officer candidates to Maxwell each year. The first class of 126 begins the six-week training program today. About 20 full-time Air Force positions also are part of the move.

Trainees will share the OTS complex, and the programs plan to share best practices and develop similar training programs.

The move is a Chief of Staff of the Air Force initiative that began in 2006 to ensure a “common shared experience” for officer training in the Air Force, said Gen. Stephen Lorenz, commander of Air Education and Training Command in Texas,

Maj. Gen. A.C. Blalock, adjutant general of the Alabama National Guard, said the consolidation of training is similar to an Army initiative to have similar officer training for active duty and Guard officers.