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[LEAD IN SCRIPT] The Mississippi National Guard is helping active duty Air Force to safely train military skills to its new service members during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the past six months, the Air Force has conducted Basic Military Training at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center. Public Affairs Specialist Danielle Thomas tells us how this partnership provides effective training while maintaining social distancing requirements.
[PKG SCRIPT] IN THIS EXERCISE SIMULATION, THE MISSION IS TO RESCUE DOWNED AIRMEN. AIR FORCE TRAINEES MUST PULL FROM ALL THE WEAPONS, TACTICAL, AND CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS THEY’VE LEARNED TO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE BASIC EXPEDITIONARY AIRMEN SKILLS TRAINING, ALSO KNOWN AS BEAST.
Logan Richardson – Trainee “Going back to the training and adapting to the situation. Taking that training and kind of just stretching it and molding it as you need to as you go on just to complete the mission.”
IN ORDINARY TIMES, THESE TRAINEES WOULD FIRST GO TO LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE IN TEXAS FOR BASIC TRAINING, THEN ON TO KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE IN BILOXI FOR TECHNICAL SCHOOL. THE AIR FORCE WANTED TO REDUCE TRAVEL DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, SPARKING A NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH THE MISSISSIPPI NATIONAL GUARD AND CAMP SHELBY TO CONDUCT SOME OF THE MORE HANDS-ON LEARNING AT THE BASE.
Tech Sgt. Katie Callen – Military Training Instructor "When COVID kicked off I know a lot of the branches kind of froze. Then we had to plan and figure out how we were going to go about things. Keesler Air Force Base, since it’s one of the largest technical school bases we have as far as technical training it made sense. The base is stable enough. There is enough support with the local community and having Camp Shelby up here that we could support a basic military training operation out here."
EVERY WEEK A NEW GROUP OF 50 TO 60 TRAINEES ARRIVES FOR FIVE AND A HALF WEEKS OF SKILLS DEVELOPMENT. AT LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, TRAINEES TYPICALLY NUMBER 700 TO 800. INSTRUCTORS SAY SMALLER CLASS SIZES HAVE BENEFITS.
Tech Sgt. Katie Callen “We can provide so much more one on one training for the trainees. We can explain things a little bit better. We have a better oversight of them so we can make those corrections and make them a lot more comfortable.
AS OF NOW THE AIR FORCE TRAINEES ARE SCHEDULED TO TRAIN AT CAMP SHELBY THROUGH THE END OF OCTOBER. FOR THE MS NATIONAL GUARD I’M DANIELLE THOMAS
| Date Taken: | 09.28.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 10.20.2020 12:58 |
| Category: | Package |
| Video ID: | 769041 |
| VIRIN: | 200928-Z-LV709-001 |
| Filename: | DOD_108016222 |
| Length: | 00:02:00 |
| Location: | CAMP SHELBY, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Downloads: | 14 |
| High-Res. Downloads: | 14 |
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