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A voice pierces through the constant buzz of aircraft engines. Squinting trainees listen intently as to not miss a word while they are led around the body of a Ghostrider.
Combat systems officer trainees with the 479th Student Squadron, based out of Naval Air Station Pensacola, attended an AFSOC Career Day at Hurlburt Field, Florida, Feb. 26, 2021, where they were given a tour of aircraft that they could choose to fly on after
graduation.
“COVID-19 has definitely impacted AFSOC Career Day happening and gotten in the way in terms of students getting on the aircraft,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Riley Feeney, an instructor pilot with the 73rd Special Operations Squadron. “I know previously we would fly our aircraft out to NAS Pensacola and give briefings there every four months but COVID has put the guidelocks on that in the past year.”
Regardless of the circumstances the mission doesn't stop, to limit exposure AFSOC Career Day was held at Hurlburt field where all safety measures were taken during the tour of aircraft.
“What these students are learning at AFSOC Career Day is the big broad strokes of the mission and what is on each plane,” said Feeney. “We are trying to give them the ‘nuts and bolts’ and let them know what they would be doing in each of these aircrew communities.”
CSO’s train at the 479th STUS for navigation school, which includes: in-route navigation, basic navigation, aircraft capability, weapons systems, electronic warfare, and other aspects of flying that help keep the planes on track, on time and on target.
“This AFSOC Career Day is super helpful because we are making big life decisions early on in our careers,” said 2nd Lt. Ricardo Sosa, a CSO trainee with the 479th STUS. “We are trying to figure out what aircraft we want to be on, and physically seeing, touching and hearing information about different aircraft helps us determine what we fit well with as well as what aircrew community fits well with us.”
There are a variety of airframes that CSOs can fly on, and of those, AFSOC has the U-28A Draco, MC-130H Combat Talon II and the AC-130J Ghostrider gunship.
“This is an amazing opportunity to see firsthand what the AFSOC mission is and see what our role in that mission would be,” said Sosa.
| Date Taken: | 02.26.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 03.05.2021 08:48 |
| Story ID: | 390449 |
| Location: | HURLBURT FIELD, FLORIDA, US |
| Hometown: | CHELSEA, MICHIGAN, US |
| Hometown: | TAMPA, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 130 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, CSO trainees congregate for AFSOC Career Day, by SSgt Joseph Leveille, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
