The US Air Force has extended Basic Military Training at a secondary location until the end of COVID-19 surge operations after a successful proof-of-concept trial run at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, which began April 7.

Beginning June 2, the next Keesler BMT class will be held there under Detachment 5 of the 37th Training Wing at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas.

USAF BMT also supports the US Space Force with basic training for its new enlisted recruits in addition to those from the active USAF, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard.

Until the end of the surge, 60 new recruits from across the total force will undertake six weeks of BMT. The shortened requirement, down from 8 1/2 weeks, is due to the physical layout of the BMT area, the small number of recruits and a surge schedule, which trains Airmen 10 hours per day, six days a week, versus the notmal eight hours per day.

“This capability was a deliberately-developed option to disperse the delivery of BMT during contingencies to provide surge capacity and introduce agility in the training pipeline construct,” said Maj Gen Andrea Tullos, 2nd Air Force commander. “This move also helps ensure the health and safety of our trainees and instructors by allowing proper safety controls, like physical distancing and deep cleaning.”

The location was chosen because Keesler AFB is home to the 81st Training Wing where so many technical training schools exist. Newly accessed AF trainees won’t be exposed to potential infection during travel from BMT to tech school. Consequently, most of those attending BMT at Keesler will be those who will remain at the base for further training.

Although Keesler AFB BMT is a contingency option and is not designed to be implemented longer than 180 days, it may be kept in place for longer periods, if required.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 29th, 2020 at 16:00 and is filed under Air Force, COVID-19 Pandemic, Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.