KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- A First Term Officers Course, the first course of its kind
offered here for new officers, was held at the Professional Development Center here June 1-3.
“I was first a part of introducing the FTOC at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona,”
said Capt. Demitrice Steward, Second Air Force section commander. “We noticed the company
grade officer tier was lacking and needed to be developed. They were starting off with their
degrees and life experience, but didn’t know the military.”
The pilot course was implemented at Keesler to help first term company grade officers develop
job and leadership skills.
“FTOC can be a powerful and very beneficial course to build the foundation and start the career
of new officers at their first duty station,” said Master Sgt. Shenelka De Gannes, 81st Training
Wing career assistance advisor. “It encourages conversation and allows officers to engage with
people from all career fields, backgrounds, ranks and experiences.”
De Gannes said first term officers may find there’s a lot more on their plate then they anticipated
when they step out of the school house or other training environments and into the operational
Air Force.
Though it is currently a pilot course, the goal is for FTOC to be offered twice a year or once a
quarter.
“We want to encourage our leaders to send their lieutenants and captains to our classes,” said
Steward. “We want FTOC to be enduring and to stay here at Keesler.”