Airmen build Iraqi AOC operational planning capability

Capt. Justin Allen, Coalition Air Force Training Team, plans out air operations with Iraqi air force Second Lieutenant Firas and Major Muaamur Fuad at Camp Victory, Iraq April 21, 2009. Major Fuad and Lieutenant Firas are part of ten Iraqi air force officers receiving the first course of U.S. Joint Air Operations Planning. The course is based on a two week curriculum taught at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, Ala. The seven day course is intended to give the Iraqis the needed tools to build an operational level planning capacity for the Iraqi air force. After course completion, the Iraqi officers are going to write the first Iraqi air operations plan. Captain Allen is one of many Air Force advisors helping with the course. Captain Allen is deployed from Tyndall AFB, Fla. and a native of Pryor, Okla. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jacqueline Romero)

Airmen build Iraqi AOC operational planning capability

Coalition Air Force Training Team Airmen come together to teach the U.S. Joint Air Operations Planning course for the first time to Iraqi airmen at Camp Victory, Iraq April 21, 2009. Ten members of the Iraqi air force learn about planning operational-level air operations, which will further help the Iraqi air force Air Operations Center improve its operational effectiveness. After course completion, the Iraqi officers are going to write the first Iraqi air operations plan. The course is also taught in a two week curriculum at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, Ala. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jacqueline Romero)

Airmen build Iraqi AOC operational planning capability

Published April 28, 2009
By Staff Sgt. Tim Beckham
U.S. Air Forces Central, Baghdad Media Outreach Team

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq -- Ten Iraqi Airmen at the Iraqi Air Operations Center recently completed a seven-day air operations planning course taught by U.S. Air Force air advisors. This training enables the Iraqi air force to build their operational planning capability, which is a critical component to increasing the effectiveness of the growing Iraqi air force. The exposure to western-style planning doctrine will also build the foundation for future partnering between the Iraqi air force, other Iraqi security forces and coalition forces.

"We are teaching the course to the Iraqis so they can establish their first operational level air operations plan," said Lt. Col. Greg Sarakatsannis, Coalition Air Force Transition Team AOC air advisor. "These Iraqi air force officers are the first Iraqi airmen to receive this training and will now form the core of their Air Force's operational planning capability."

The course, which is a derivative of the two-week course taught at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, Ala., incorporates everything from intelligence and operations to logistics, communications and maintenance, according to Colonel Sarakatsannis, who is deployed from Aviano Air Base, Italy and is a native of Fort Thomas, Ky.

"We provided practice scenarios that took the Iraqis through each step of the planning process. Exposure to our planning processes will permit them to improve their air operations planning and effectiveness," he said.

Lt. Col. Dusty Ashton, CAFTT A7 Training Advisor to the Iraqi Air Staff, teaches this course to U.S. military members back at his home station at Maxwell-Gunter AFB. He said the concepts and subjects taught to the Iraqis will help them develop their own Air Operations plan.

"Some of the main subjects we talk about are Joint Air Operations planning, U.S. Air Force doctrine and great detail on each of the six steps of the air operations planning process," said the Clyde, Ohio native.

Colonels Sarakatsannis and Ashton said the course has gone very well, with both Iraqis and Americans learning a great deal from each other. They hope to teach more courses in the future as the Iraqi AOC and Air Force continue to grow.