Photo By Senior Airman Manasseh Demissie | A professor with the China Aerospace Studies Institute, speaks to Team Andersen...... read more read more
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ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam -- Approximately 70 members of Team Andersen and the Guam Air National Guard participated in a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Fundamentals Course June 23-26, 2025, on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.
The purpose of the 3-day course was to provide attendees with a basic understanding of PLA culture, its various working parts and its war-fighting concepts as the military arm of China.
“We just want to continue adding to our members knowledge when it comes to China,” said Capt. Ricoh Blackmon, the assistant director of operations for the 36th Tactical Advisory Squadron and coordinator of the event. “We want the men and women of Andersen to walk away with a better understanding of adversaries that we face here in the Pacific.”
The course was led by instructors for the China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI), part of Air University, who routinely hosts the event around the country at the requests of organizations who want to increase their member’s understanding the military capabilities of China as a strategic competitor.
It’s the first time the CASI has hosted the course in Guam.
“This course helps explain why servicemembers need to work so hard on a day-in and day-out basis,” said Steven Smith, director of Warfighter Engagement for CASI. “It gives them some contextual understanding of the regional security threats that exist out here in the Pacific and the concerns that exist regarding potential threats to the stability here.”
Airmen in attendance included enlisted and officers, ranging from first-term to 15-year plus career Airmen.
“It’s typically high tempo for exercises here,” Blackmon said. “We wanted to expose our men and women of Team Andersen to some information that would help guide their decision-making and kind of orient them to why we are doing these exercises.”
Day 1 opened with sessions about introductions to PLA and how China thinks.
One of the most surprising parts of the briefing for those attending was that the information provided could be found from open-source material.
“By halfway through day 1, I was pretty surprised by the lack of information that I had personally, even though it was open-source stuff,” said Tech. Sgt. Ethan Martin, a squad leader for 736th Security Forces Squadron and event attendee. “It was a lot of good information.”
Some of the questions brought up by attendees included: How does PLA utilize their reserves? How does the justice system work in China? What was life like in China during COVID?
“We were impressed with the thoughtfulness of the questions,” Smith said. “The variety of questions received indicated that the audience here was educated, engaged, and hopefully we elevated through that engagement, their awareness and understanding of the region and the challenges in the region.”
The second day focused on the various units that make up the PLA. The last day focused on PLA’s information domain, flashpoints of recent notable events and future issues on the horizon.
“All the information that was presented in these 3 days was so broad,” Martin said. “The CASI instructors were critical for bringing that information together and making it digestible, they armed a lot of people with good information that they can now take back to their units.”
Blackmon noted that he hopes Andersen can host the course again in the future.
“The hope would be that we could do this every year to set the stage for the exercises that we kick off every year,” he said. “It’s an extremely great opportunity for folks that are here to really get oriented to the theater.”
For more information about CASI or to schedule a PLA course training with them, visit Air University at https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/CASI/.
| Date Taken: | 07.02.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 12.31.2025 00:44 |
| Story ID: | 555422 |
| Location: | ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, GU |
| Web Views: | 39 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, CASI enhances Team Andersen understanding of strategic competitor: China, by TSgt Kentavist Brackin, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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