Photo By Senior Airman Keith Holcomb | Cadets take turns flying in T-38 Talon simulators during a base tour Nov. 3, 2017, on...... read more read more
About 80 Mississippi State University U.S. Air Force ROTC Detachment 425 cadets visited Columbus Air Force Base Nov. 3.
The cadets stepped outside their normal training program regimen to see how an operational Air Force wing operates. Visiting numerous squadrons, they were presented the mission at Columbus AFB and how Airmen work to produce pilots.
In ROTC, cadets are in a training environment, living differently than the operational lifestyle they will be living when they are officers.
“The big benefit of them coming to an operational base and seeing how things actually work is they get to put it together,” said Capt. Amanda Barrett, Detachment 425 Operations Flight Commander. “It puts everything we are teaching them into perspective.”
The students were split into groups. Some of them got a close-up look at Columbus AFB’s three aircraft while others received tours of the flying training squadrons as they spoke with experienced Air Force pilots.
A small portion of cadets are chosen to become Air Force pilots, and the few who had earned a pilot training slot were asking many questions, another benefit of their visit.
Others cadets who have not decided their career, were able to speak with members from other squadrons on Columbus AFB.
Almost every squadron had a representative from their enlisted or officer career field to answer any questions or concerns the cadets had regarding their job opportunities within the respective squadron or unit.
“Allowing us to come to Columbus and see some of our jobs, and how they do it, it shows the training value, it shows us how to implement those skills,” said Eric Henry, a senior and cadet at MSU. “For me ROTC has given me so many opportunities. I have definitely been able to see every Air Force career field and really made it an easy decision making process.”
The MSU ROTC program visits Columbus Air Force Base two times a year, offering cadets the ability to see the lifestyle and ask questions that operational officers can answer right away.
At the end of the tour the seniors of the class were given pieces of paper with facts about another cadet in the detachment. The seniors had to find the correlating cadet who then gave the seniors the Air Force Specialty Code they each will prepare to move to.
| Date Taken: | 11.09.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 11.09.2017 13:35 |
| Story ID: | 254818 |
| Location: | COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Web Views: | 66 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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