JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO - RANDOLPH, Texas – The Air Education and Training Command’s Historian team won the Air Force History and Museums Program 2022 Outstanding Historical Publication Award for their study, “The History of Air Education and Training Command - The First Command 80 Years Strong, 1942-2022.”
The Outstanding Historical Publication Award recognizes those historians who have produced an outstanding historical study during the previous calendar year.
“As a team, we feel honored and humbled by the award,” said Pat Parrish, AETC deputy command historian. “While putting the book together, we thought back to the work done over the last 80 years by all of our historians, including our former teammates Richard Emmons and Ann Hussey. Without their dedication, this book isn’t possible.”
The project came about after former commander Lt. Gen. Brad Webb asked the command’s chief historian, Gary Boyd, to produce a special publication marking the 80th anniversary of the command, Parrish said.
The command’s historian team performs and manages historical activities, programs, and functions and provides historical research and reference services for the command. The historian may also deploy and perform research, interview personnel and prepare analytical historical publications.
“We are fortunate to have such an amazing historian office supporting our mission in AETC,” said Col. Matthew Leard, chief of staff at AETC headquarters in announcing the team’s win.
Members of AETC celebrate the command’s 80th anniversary this year, honoring the Air Force’s oldest major command and all of the students and trainees who have been recruited, trained and educated at First Command.
The birth of Air Corps Flying Training Command, now known as AETC, directly led to so many of our nation’s major successes of the last 75 years – the Doolittle Raiders, precision daylight bombing, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, worldwide aerial logistics and a global reach, the Berlin Airlift, MiG Alley, Operation Linebacker, Desert Storm, Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom, to name a few.
For AETC’s complete history, visit the Air Force Historian’s publications website here.