Keesler: Alternate BMT test plan

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas - Part of an ongoing Air Force contingency response to COVID-19, and with restrictive movement protocols for new recruits in basic military training (BMT), the AF has implemented a revised approach to how recruits enter the training pipeline. New recruits will be brought in based on a 4-week repeating cycle with restricted movement guidelines and the testing of an alternate BMT location at Keesler AFB, Miss. Under the phased-in plan, normal student loads of 650 to 800 students will report for BMT during the first two weeks and immediately enter into the 14-day restriction of movement protocol. The first week of the plan began March 17. The March 31 plan will be rescheduled. In April, about 460 trainees will arrive at BMT weekly. Plans are to send 60 trainees to a Keesler AFB-based detachment under the direction of the 737th Training Group at Lackland to demonstrate a proof of concept. “We are deliberately developing options to disperse the delivery of BMT during contingencies to provide surge capacity and introduce agility into the training pipeline construct,” said Maj. Gen. Andrea Tullos, 2nd Air Force commander at KAFB. The contingency option at KAFB is designed to be implemented along an initial 180-day surge timeline, but is not intended to be an enduring construct, Tullos said. All BMT graduation events are currently closed to the public, but livestreamed on USAF Basic Military Training Facebook page. “These changes are part of our operational mindset to fight through COVID-19 and mitigate force health risks,” Tullos said “We continue to carefully balance the need to deliver mission-ready forces to our operational commanders … and the extensive network of communities across our nation we call home.” KAFB is located at Biloxi, Miss., and is home to the 81st Training Wing that trains for over 160 career field specialty courses in addition to eight operating locations in the U.S. KAFB trains more than 28,000 students annually. (Source: Air Education and Training Command 03/26/20) https://www.aetc.af.mil/News/Article/2126112/air-force-bmt-adjusts-schedules-locations-to-sustain-mission-readiness/  UPDATE: It's not the first time that the AF moved BMT outside of Lackland, Texas. A bacterial meningitis outbreak at Lackland in the winter of 1966 led the service to transfer portions of BMT to Amarillo AFBase, Texas, AETC told Air Force Magazine via email.