Cyber Training Stands Up Published Oct. 1, 2009 By Angela Cutrer 81st Training Wing Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- On Monday, Keesler opens its physical - and virtual - doors to the first students in its new cyber schoolhouse. The expected 95 students will be the first to be trained for duties in a more resourceful and practical route in what's been called the largest training development effort Air Education and Training Command headquarters can recall. The project stands up 19 new cyber courses, replacing 13 existing communications courses. It impacts two training wings, four training squadrons and one detachment. To date, $6 million has been spent. Several enlisted communication and information career-field Air Force Specialty Codes will be transformed into the new 3D-series AFSCs, along with their respective courses that begin Monday. However, this is not a short-term project. Over the last 18 months, officials have been busy defining new career field requirements, aligning career field education and development paths, developing curriculum and moving around ideas and physical aspects to better suit the students' training. "This initiative began long before I arrived, and I've been extremely impressed with the level of effort put forth," said Col. Lynn Connett, 81st Training Group commander. "On the content side, our folks have built entirely new courses, while revamping curriculum for others. They've identified instructors and provided training to ensure each is qualified to teach the new courses. On the facilities side, we've renovated classrooms and installed training equipment, and we are expanding our sensitive compartmented information facility to ensure our infrastructure meets the needs of the new training programs." The cyber initial skills courses that begins Monday are for all enlisted cyber students, who will attend an information technology fundamentals course prior to their AFSC skill course. Cyber maintenance and operations courses realign existing communications skills into new AFSCs. There is space for 120 students each week - 20 students per room - with six instructors standing by. Following their AFSC skill course, cyber students will now graduate with technical/security certification required to meet Department of Defense requirements for personnel with administrative privileges to the network. This certification is mandatory in January. Currently, students obtain certification training, a process that can take several months, only after reporting to their first assignment. Cyber students will now report to their first assignments with all the skills and certifications necessary to make an immediate impact on their unit's mission, said Maj. Sean Ellars, 81st Training Support Squadron, who's been the lead for the project. This entire transition supports the move from traditional communications and information roles to cyber operations that will better meet the organizational, technical and security demands of a network-centric Air Force, Major Ellars explained. "The purpose of this transformation is to be in line with the changes requested by the chief of staff of the Air Force, to realign skill sets to maintain challenges we face and will face in the cyberspace domain, and to make us more responsive to the expeditionary environment," Major Ellars said. "To accomplish these goals, we realigned skill sets to reflect the changes in communications organizations and technology that have occurred in the last 20 years and added new skill sets that allow us to attack and defend within cyberspace." Student-instructor composition will be dynamic, as the 81st TRG will increase instructor authorizations by 40 and the total student throughput will increase by around 550. Fiscal 2009 communications students totaled 4,748, while the FY10 cyber student seats will number 5,300. The facility changes include satellite tower simulations and room modification to relocate 338th Training Squadron wideband/satellite communications training from its Detachment 1 at Fort Gordon, Ga., to Keesler in January; expansion of the secure compartmentalized information facility to accommodate top secret training; and improvements to outdoor training locations to accommodate increased expeditionary training requirements. Training material and equipment for Keesler cyber courses were sourced from the 364th Training Squadron, Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas; the 338th TRS detachment at Fort Gordon; the Air Combat Command Undergraduate Computer Warfare Training Center, Hurlburt Field, Fla.; and existing 81st TRG courses. The project had several constraints. Courses had to be up and running by this month, the training bill couldn't be increased for instructors or student man hours, equipment needed to be reused or virtualized whenever possible and the production of graduates couldn't waver during transition. Since all of this needed to be done with the least amount of expense, many things had to be salvaged and reused. "We reused the physical equipment that we could," Major Ellars said, "and we had to keep training students without a break in graduates. That's why this entire project has been full of key players and great teamwork. This is an 81st Training Wing accomplishment, not solely a training group project. We couldn't have done this without the 81st Mission Support Group." Colonel Connett agrees. "This is an historic period for the Air Force as we prepare to instruct our first cyber warriors, and an exciting time for those of us in the 81st Training Group," she said. "While the focus has been on the efforts within the training group, our success stems from the teamwork found throughout the wing. We could not have stood up the cyber courses without the support of Team Keesler. It's been impressive to watch that teamwork in action and this is an incredibly exciting time to be a part of the 81st Training Group and Team Keesler." The standup of the information technology fundamentals course in the 332nd TRS is just the first of many stepping stones to implementing the cyber vision. During the next year, another 18 cyber initial-skills courses will come online, culminating in the new officer and enlisted cyber warfare courses in October 2010. In June, Keesler was chosen for the training due to a comprehensive site survey team's assessment. The team evaluated billeting, dining, classroom facilities and base team support, including utilities, community planning, communications capability, environmental planning factors and antiterrorism issues. In August, Keesler played host to more than 40 Air Force subject matter experts for a weeklong training planning team conference. Its purpose was to develop training and development activities and force development roadmaps for future cyber officer students. Cyber warfare courses will concentrate on skills needed to design, secure, assess, exploit, attack and defend.