Air Force engineers with the 557th Expeditionary RED HORSE Squadron in Iraq are teaching former Iraqi insurgents in the town of Hawr Rajab, a former al Qaeda stronghold, basic construction skills so that they may rebuild their communities and learn a trade that offers them a chance of a promising future. The airmen are part of the Multi-National Corps-Iraq village of hope program that provides these Iraqis “another form of technical training to help them get jobs in the community as carpenters, electricians, and plumbers,” said Capt. Michael Askegren from Hurlburt Field, Fla., the site officer in charge of nearby Patrol Base Stone. So far, 210 students have enrolled in the program, 133 of whom have already completed the course. (Hawr Rajab report by SMSgt. Trish Freeland)
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,…