Sheppard AFB, Tex., will host a noncommissioned officer academy that is expected to open its doors to technical sergeants in early 2011 and initially graduate about 1,300 airmen annually, Air Force officials announced May 7. The new academy will train active duty, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve airmen. It will give the Air Force a total of 11 NCO academies—including one each in Alaska, Hawaii, Germany, and Japan—that will graduate a combined estimated 11,800 students each year. The Sheppard academy will be housed in a facility on the base grounds previously used for enlisted medical training. That training mission is moving to Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, courtesy of BRAC 2005. (Randolph report)
The Air Force is on track to reach its annual goal of graduating 1,500 new pilots that had proved elusive to this point, one year after the service launched a sweeping overhaul of its undergraduate pilot training program, Air Education and Training Command said Sept. 14.
