Leaders learn wartime skills

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Nicholas Benroth
  • 23rd Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  Three weeks of firefights, dealing with ambushes and suicide bombers were just a fraction of what students in the newly-formed tactical leader's course dealt with.

This course was created by the 820th Combat Operations Squadron and this course is giving future leaders an opportunity to better prepare for contingency operations overseas. .

"The purpose of this course is to train small unit tactical leaders for warfare," said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Todd Cooper, 820th COS NCO in charge of operations and training. "It's not enough for them to be just tactically proficient, they must also be able to lead their Airmen through missions and train them to be proficient as well.

"We want them to come away with confidence in themselves and their leadership abilities," he added.

The scenarios during the course were a representation of the most probable and worst-case situations that they could face downrange.

"Our exercise scenarios were developed jointly with our intelligence shop," said Cooper. "They took our training objectives and found real-world events where similar tactics were employed by either the enemy or U.S. forces, then tailored the details to build the events."

There were 25 Airmen from the 820th Base Defense Group and 23rd Security Forces Squadron who successfully completed the course, which is held quarterly.

This will be the first time training in a situation like this for Senior Airman Kenneth Shanks, 823rd Base Defense Squadron fire team leader.

"This course has really helped me prepare for not only handling different tactical situations but also taking on a leadership role if the situation calls for it," said Shanks. "This training will be very beneficial to each of us when deploy."

The tactical leader's course was created to incorporate the previous squad leader's course, which trained members to be better leaders in a deployed environment. This course not only ensures leadership but also applies the pressures of combat situations and trains the students' bodies and minds for those stresses.

"More than anything, the tactical leaders course is an opportunity for the group's small unit leaders to look in the mirror," said Cooper. "It gives them an opportunity to self-critique their own strengths and weaknesses as leaders and tacticians.

"Regardless of what the instructor staff says during the course and in the after action review, each of them know where they performed well and which areas they need to improve upon. Ultimately, they have to take the responsibility for their own development."