The 732nd Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron—made up of airmen from around the Air Force—at Forward Operating Base Speicher are serving as escorts for truck convoys through the dangerous corridors around Tikrit, Iraq. These escort airmen trained at an intensive Basic Combat Convoy Course at the Army’s Camp Anderson-Peters, Tex., learning ground combat skills and Army small-unit tactics. They qualified with M-4 carbines and M-249 machine guns. Three airmen—a truck commander, driver, and gunner—crew each escort gun truck.
Trainees in Basic Military Training and technical school no longer have the option to try alternate PT drills if they fail an initial assessment, according to a policy change the Air Force made in April. The move is part of a larger shift out of the classroom and into hands-on,…