Though he doesn't necessarily see a national security threat associated with the change, he said it may create some lag. 'It makes it a little harder for someone arriving at a unit to accept the sacrifices that might be entailed in service in the field.' 'The kinds of things that they've had to cut out.are the military skills, the warrior skills that let people know that they are now in a very different kind of environment,' Cancian said. Without that, they might not be mentally prepared for what's next, he said. Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center For Strategic and International Studies, a bipartisan think tank in Washington, DC, said traditional military training helps teach airmen about hardship and teamwork. 'Especially if they're going to deploy into contingency.'īut critics argue that curtailing basic training is a problem. 'They get all that…when they get to their home station anyway,' Wilson said. He said there'll be other opportunities down the road, like during an airman's vocational training or before combat deployments. Rockie Wilson, commander of the 37th Training Wing at Lackland, said basic training is supposed to work as an orientation to the military, not a final lesson.

'Having that mindset kept the stress of change kind of to a minimum.'Īir Force leaders say the upheaval in basic training won't affect readiness. 'You just got to go into it with the attitude of 'I'm not here to know exactly what's going to be happening, I'm here to be trained,'' said linguist Zachary Maples, who finished basic military training in November. With new health and safety guidelines coming down all the time, both trainees and instructors have had to roll with the punches. Trainees now have to use dummies to practice applying tourniquets and bandages, which used to do with one another.ĬARSON FRAME / AMERICAN HOMEFRONT Air Force trainees use M-16 rifles at a Joint Base San Antonio range as part of their weapons familiarization in this undated photo. So trainees don't get to practice striking techniques and grappling with one another.Ĭombat casualty care has changed, too. Training sticks and boxing gear are also difficult to clean, and hand-to-hand combat techniques bring trainees into close proximity. But because the gas masks can't be properly sanitized between uses, that activity is now off-limits. Under normal circumstances, recruits spend nearly a week in a simulated warzone environment, setting up camp and reviewing combat lessons and procedures they've learned.Īs part of that, trainees normally are exposed to tear gas, and they practice putting on protective equipment. Social distancing requirements have also forced changes to BEAST, or basic expeditionary airman skills training. Alexandra Springman, a military training instructor. 'We always say, 'Flexibility is the key to airpower.' That's really been a true statement,' said Tech Sgt.

Basic training army tracker