Air Education and Training Command
The Air Education and Training Command (AETC) is one of the nine Major Commands (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force (USAF), reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force. It was established 1 July 1993, with the realignment of Air Training Command and Air University.
Air Education and Training Command
22 January 1942 – present
(82 years, 4 months)
- 1 July 1993 – present (as Air Education and Training Command)
1 July 1946 – 1 July 1993 (as Air Training Command)
31 July 1943 – 1 July 1946 (as Army Air Forces Training Command)
15 March 1942 – 31 July 1943 (as Army Air Forces Flying Training Command)
22 January 1942 – 15 March 1942 (as Army Air Corps Flying Training Command)[1]
United States Air Force (17 September 1947 – present)
United States Army (
Army Air Forces, 7 July 1943 – 17 September 1947; .svg){kind=small}
Army Air Corps 23 January 1942 – 7 July 1943)
69,989 Airmen
1,395 aircraft[3]
"The First Command"[4]
"Airpower starts here!"[5]
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AETC is headquartered at Randolph Air Force Base, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. AETC is the primary training and professional education command in the Air Force.
More than 48,000 active duty and Air Reserve Component members and 14,000 civilian personnel make up AETC. The command has responsibility for approximately 1,600 aircraft.
AETC's mission is to "recruit, train and educate Airmen to deliver air power for America."
Air Force Recruiting Service[edit]
AETC's mission begins with the Air Force Recruiting Service (AFRS), an AETC activity also headquartered at Randolph AFB, Texas. AFRS comprises three regional groups and 24 squadrons with more than 1,400 commissioned officer and enlisted recruiters assigned throughout the United States, including territories Puerto Rico and Guam, as well as foreign counties England, Germany, Japan,. Recruiters in more than 1,000 offices worldwide recruit the young men and women needed as both enlisted airmen and commissioned officers to meet the demands of the U.S. Air Force.
AFRS recruitment of commissioned officers is limited to 4-year college/university graduates via Air Force Officer Training School (OTS). Individuals who desire to become commissioned USAF officers and enter the service via the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) and Air Force ROTC (AFROTC) are not recruited by AFRS and are instead accessed via recruitment and application activities of USAFA and AFROTC, respectively.
Basic military training and technical training[edit]
Second Air Force (2 AF), with headquarters at Keesler AFB, Mississippi, is responsible for conducting basic military and technical training for Air Force enlisted members and technical training for non-flying missile launch officers, as well as support officers. The first stop for all Regular Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command enlisted personnel is Basic Military Training (BMT) at Lackland AFB, Texas. More than 36,000 new airmen complete this recently lengthened eight-and-a-half-week program each year.
After completing BMT, airmen begin technical training in their career field specialties, primarily at five installations: Goodfellow AFB, Lackland AFB, and Sheppard AFB in Texas; Keesler AFB, Mississippi; and Vandenberg SFB, California. There are also several cross-service schools such as Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California and the U.S. Army CCBRN School at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri that select USAF enlisted personnel will also attend. A recently established technical training institute at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, also conducts training in several medical career fields. Each base is responsible for a specific portion of formal technical training airmen require to accomplish the Air Force mission. Instructors conduct technical training in specialties such as aircraft maintenance, electronic principles, air transportation, civil engineering, medical services, computer systems, security forces, air traffic control, personnel, intelligence, fire fighting, weather forecasting and space and missile operations.
Commissioned officers not assigned to flight training as prospective pilots, combat systems officers or air battle managers attend technical training courses for similar career fields at the same locations.
2 AF also conducts specialized training for military working dogs and dog handlers at Lackland AFB, Texas, for the entire Department of Defense and the Federal Aviation Administration. Additionally, the Inter-American Air Forces Academy[10] at Lackland AFB hosts more than 160 courses in aviation specialties, taught in Spanish, to students from 19 Western hemisphere countries.
AETC has claimancy and oversight of the following installations:
AETC is also a major tenant at Eglin AFB, FL; Kirtland AFB, NM; Little Rock AFB, AR; NAS Pensacola, FL; and Vandenberg SFB, CA.
Wings
Medical services[edit]
The Air Force's two largest medical facilities belong to AETC: the Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland AFB, Texas, and the Keesler Medical Center at Keesler AFB, Mississippi.
History[edit]
For a history prior to 1993, see Air Training Command
On 1 January 1993, Air Training Command absorbed Air University and changed the command designation to Air Education and Training Command (AETC). AETC assumed responsibilities for both aspects of career development: training and education. Missions such as combat crew training, pararescue, and combat controller training, and (later) space training transferred to the new command, so that airmen would report to their operational units mission ready.
Restructuring the command assumed priority among the issues facing the command staff. The introduction of three new training aircraft, the Raytheon T-1 Jayhawk, Slingsby T-3 Firefly, and Beech T-6 Texan II (JPATS); the addition of joint training; and the BRAC-mandated closures of Chanute AFB, Illinois (a major technical training center); Mather AFB, California (previously USAF's sole Undergraduate Navigator Training base) and Williams AFB, Arizona (an Undergraduate Pilot Training base) were major challenges following the establishment of AETC.
In 1994, AETC adopted the Objective Wing Concept and stood up several wings responsible for crew training in the F-16, special operations aircraft, airlift aircraft, the KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft, and space and missile operations. AETC also began the first Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training (SUPT) and Joint-SUPT courses.
Lowry AFB, Colorado, a technical training center with closed runways that, like the previously closed Chanute AFB, no longer conducted flight operations but conducted both non-flying officer and enlisted technical training, was added to the list of AETC bases closed by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) in the mid-1990s. This was followed by the BRAC mandated closure of Reese AFB, Texas, an Undergraduate Pilot Training base, in 1995. The transition to SUPT was completed in 1996, the delivery of the first JPATS aircraft in 1999, and the discontinuation of the controversial T-3 as an initial flight screening aircraft in 2000 following a higher than average fatal mishap record.
In response to the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, AETC went on a war footing, activating a Crisis Action Team and supplying both fighters and tankers from its wings for combat air patrols in American airspace as part of Operation Noble Eagle. An operational test and evaluation of JPATS began in 2002 at Moody AFB and upgrades to its Training Integration Management System (TIMS) were begun the next year, resulting in retirement of the T-37 Tweet and full implementation of JPATS with the T-6 Texan II in 2007.
U.S. Armed Forces training and education commands