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The first part of AETC’s mission belongs to the Air Force Recruiting Service. We have approximately 1,400 recruiters at over 1,200 recruiting facilities around the world who will bring on over 31,000 highly qualified, new enlisted members and approximately 1,900 officers this year. More than 99 percent of our enlisted recruits are high school graduates, with the remainder possessing equivalent certifications.
After recruiting these new Airmen, we provide them with initial military training. 2nd Air Force, headquartered at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, is responsible for the basic military training of all air force enlisted personnel entering Active Duty, Reserve and Air National Guard.
These recruits complete our intensive, eight and a half week basic military training course at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. This program emphasizes discipline, physical fitness, expeditionary skills, and academic instruction in Air Force organization, history and standards of conduct. It also instills our core values of integrity, service and excellence through an interactive environment emphasizing character development, the profession of arms, and our Air Force heritage.
After recruiting and initially training our Airmen, AETC’s mission continues with technical training. 2nd Air Force provides a full range of formal technical training to new enlisted and officer personnel at these locations:
2nd Air Force, Keesler AFB, Miss.
17th Training Wing, Goodfellow AFB, Texas
37th Training Wing, JBSA-Lackland, Texas
81st Training Wing, Keesler AFB, Miss.
82nd Training Wing, Sheppard AFB, Texas
602nd Training Group Provisional, Keesler AFB, Miss.
Special Warfare Training Wing, JBSA-Lackland, Texas
Our most diverse training mix is handled at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. There, we conduct a wide variety of training for our Air Force and sister service specialists to include the aircraft and nuclear weapons maintenance, civil engineering, and the explosive ordinance disposal career fields. The 82nd Training Wing is also the parent unit for a Space training unit located at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi is the hub of training for various cyber fields. There, we qualify Airmen, soldiers, sailors and marines to operate or repair communications, computers and other electronic systems. Of note, all department of defense weather forecasters are trained at Keesler.
In addition to basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, we provide instruction in several airbase support career fields. JBSA-Lackland's largest technical training mission is Air Force security forces training. The base also conducts dog and dog handler training for the department of defense and the transportation security administration.
Due to the ever changing combat environment, our Airmen are being utilized in positions traditionally manned by army personnel. In order to prepare for these non-traditional taskings, 2nd Air Force directs joint expeditionary tasking training at two army installations across the United States.
Our fourth major training site, Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas, is the center of Air Force intelligence training. Historically, almost one-third of Goodfellow's graduates have been from sister services, allied and partner nations. Goodfellow also operates a Joint Firefighting School . . . Training world-class fire fighters for the department of defense.
2nd Air Force is also responsible for the Defense Language Institute English Language Center, which teaches English to over 3,100 international students from over 113 countries. The Inter-American Air Forces Academy’s courses in aviation specialties are taught in Spanish to nearly 1,000 students from 21 countries in the Caribbean, central and South America.
Our command's role in training Airmen in their technical fields extends well beyond the instruction we provide at our own bases. We have over 48 field training detachments located throughout the continental United States and overseas. Day in and day out, we're in the field, around the world teaching new techniques and procedures to more than 290,000 people each year.
In addition to Basic Military and Technical Training, AETC also conducts flying training under the direction of 19th Air Force. Flying training encompasses the complete training of aircrew members - from initial flight training and earning their wings to showing up, mission ready at their first operational base. We conduct flying training at these locations:
19th Air Force, JBSA-Randolph, Texas
12th Flying Training Wing, JBSA-Randolph, Texas
14th Flying Training Wing, Columbus AFB, Miss.
33rd Fighter Wing, Eglin AFB, Fla
47th Flying Training Wing, Laughlin AFB, Texas
49th Wing, Holloman AFB, NM
56th Fighter Wing, Luke AFB, Ariz.
58th Special Operations Wing, Kirtland AFB, N.M.
71st Flying Training Wing, Vance AFB, Okla.
80th Flying Training Wing, Sheppard AFB, Texas
97th Air Mobility Wing, Altus AFB, Okla.
314th Air Mobility Wing, Little Rock AFB, Ark.
Cadets at the United States Air Force Academy accomplish flying training under the responsibility of AETC as well. These programs include soaring, powered flight and free-fall parachuting.
The foundational step in military aviation is our undergraduate flying training programs. Officers selected for pilot training go through a challenging program beginning with Initial Flight Training. IFT is an 18-hour program that ensures standardization and streamlines our students’ path to the primary phase of pilot training.
After initial training, the T-6A “Texan II” is used to teach students the basic flight skills common to all military pilots.
After the primary phase, students are divided into one of three selected tracks for their advanced training. We have a track for fighter and bomber aircraft, one for tanker and transport aircraft, and another track for helicopters. The training in these tracks is designed to teach student pilots the operational skills required in their future assigned aircraft.
AETC is also responsible for the Euro-Nato Joint Jet Pilot Training program at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. There, instructors from 13 member countries train over 500 pilots annually for the United States and other NATO nations.
In addition to the training we provide at Sheppard Air Force Base, AETC conducts flying training with instructors and students from over 50 countries around the world. Each year, almost 500 international aviators receive their flying training from one of 8 AETC locations across the country.
AETC is also responsible for training combat systems officers, known as CSOs. At Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, CSOs gain foundational skills in Airmanship, weapon systems employment, navigation and electronic warfare using the T-1A Jayhawk and the T-6A Texan II.
After awarding their wings, AETC provides nearly all our aircrew with follow-on training in their specific major weapon system. Pilots headed for fighter assignments first attend introduction to fighter fundamentals, where they develop skills in basic procedures and techniques of fighter employment.
We are the First Command!
Air University
42nd Air Base Wing
Jeanne M. Holm Center for Officer Accession & Citizen Development
Curtis E. LeMay Center for Doctrine Development & Education
Ira C. Eaker Center for Professional Development
Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education
Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center
AF Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio
School of Advanced Air & Space Studies
360th Recruiting Group, New Cumberland, Pa.
369th Recruiting Group, JBSA-Lackland, Texas
372nd Recruiting Group, Hill AFB, Utah
502nd Air Base Wing, JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, Texas
59th Medical Wing, JBSA-Lackland, Texas
340th Flying Training Group, JBSA-Randolph, Texas
944th Fighter Wing, Luke AFB, Ariz.
149th Fighter Wing, JBSA-Lackland, Texas
150th Special Operations Wing, Kirtland AFB, N.M.
162nd Fighter Wing, Tucson IAP, Ariz.
173rd Fighter Wing, Kingsley Field, Ore.
189th Airlift Wing, Little Rock AFB, Ark.