In a major step toward the goal of engraining the Total Force concept into its leaders, the Air Force Officer Training School conducted its first graduation ceremony incorporating Active Duty, Reserve, and Air National Guard trainees. The Oct. 10 ceremony at Maxwell AFB, Ala., commissioned 193 new second lieutenants, including 73 Active Duty and 12 Reserve candidates who completed the Basic Officer Training course, and 108 ANG trainees who finished the Academy of Military Science, according to a release. For the first time, all the officer candidates went through parallel eight-week training courses, rather than the 9.5 week program for Active Duty and Reserve and six weeks for ANG. “The simultaneous training provided the same great training to two great officer candidate groups,” said Col. Scott Lockwood, OTS commandant. The Total Force integration also is shown in the staffing and command at OTS, where the commandant’s office rotates between an Active Duty and an ANG officer. OTS is working to merge the BOT and AMS programs and training into a single culture.
A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber flew from Europe across the Middle East to the Persian Gulon July 25 in a 32-hour flight, as conflicts continued to roil the area with U.S. troops coming under attack in Iraq and Syria on July 25 and July 26, U.S. officials told Air…