JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas -- Approximately 200 students from 13 Partner Nations, the U.S. Air and Space Forces graduated from the Inter-American Air Forces Academy in a ceremony here, Aug. 7.
The service members earned certificates from 21 courses in professional military education and leadership, aircrew training and technical disciplines. This training cycle was the first time the academy offered the Defensive Cyber Operations course, a six-week cyber intermediate course that IAAFA leaders describe as “providing both highly technical academic and hands-on training in Spanish to partner nations in the realms of network defense, host defense, vulnerability assessments, security audits, and incident response.”
According to Capt. Carlos Esteves, commander of the Information Warfare Training Flight, IAAFA established the course to address the growing danger posed by serious cyber threats to our mission partners and increase our partners’ ability to sustain operations amid an increasingly complex and challenging cyber environment.
The graduates celebrated their accomplishment with a ceremony and banquet. Military and civilian leaders from the local community joined the graduates. Maj. Gen. Fábio Luis Morau, Brazilian Defense and Air Attaché, was the guest of honor at the evening banquet.
In his speech, Morau emphasized Brazil’s 200 years of bilateral relations with the United States and stressed the importance of partnership through education and training.
“It’s important to reiterate that more and more efforts must be made to ensure that our students, instructors and our countries are studying, working, developing and progressing together in a process of continental synergy,” Morau said. “Together we are stronger, and we can ensure that the strength and peace of our Americas can reflect the joint actions and objectives of all of us, as we brilliantly celebrate today at this graduation.”
IAAFA leadership recognized top-performing students at the banquet including Oficial De Mar Primero Luis Miguel Contreras Casapia of the Peruvian Air Force, who earned the Academic Achievement award in the enlisted category; and Teniente Sebastian Cruz Martinez of the Ecuadorian Air Force, who won the same award in the officer category.
Col. Bryan Tuinman, IAAFA commandant, praised the graduates, and called them the newest members of the IAAFA family.
“IAAFA continues to serve its role as a key element of the United States Air Force’s security cooperation enterprise,” he said. “I ask you to serve as a center of excellence for your nation’s defense and security mechanisms. Take the knowledge you learned at IAAFA and apply it to make your organization and those around you better.”