The “Commando Warrior” schoolhouse of 7th Air Force’s 60th Training Flight at Osan AB, South Korea, helps train Pacific Air Forces airmen in everything from weapons tactics to night operations and convoy duty. Among its three courses is an 18-day ground combat course, designed primarily for security forces airmen, but other airmen do attend, according to air base defense instructor SSgt. Thomas Williamson. Many of the 1,000 or so airmen who go through the school each year are on their way to either Iraq or Afghanistan. What makes the Osan school unique, says Williamson, is that it prepares “troops for two scenarios: going to war in the Middle East and in Korea.”
Amid a high-profile recruiting crisis, Air Force leaders and experts have increasingly noted the challenging long-term trends the service will face in enticing young Americans to sign up—decreasing eligibility to serve, less propensity to do so, and less familiarity with the military. But while those same leaders say there’s no “silver…