{"id":20898,"date":"2020-05-26T22:06:24","date_gmt":"2020-05-26T22:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/05\/26\/basic-training-will-continue-at-keesler-air-force-base-during-coronavirus-crisis\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:31:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:31:52","slug":"basic-training-will-continue-at-keesler-air-force-base-during-coronavirus-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2020\/05\/26\/basic-training-will-continue-at-keesler-air-force-base-during-coronavirus-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Basic training will continue at Keesler Air Force Base during coronavirus crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Air Force will keep holding basic military training<\/a> at a secondary site at Keesler Air Force Base<\/a> in Mississippi to help it keep creating new airmen during the coronavirus crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Air Education and Training Command announced Tuesday that it will start bringing in 60 new recruits each week to Keesler for basic training on June 2, and could continue through the end of September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 1968, the Air Force has conducted BMT \u2014 its boot camp \u2014 at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. But in April, as the coronavirus pandemic spread and officials growing increasingly concerned that it needed to spread out basic training to alternate locations, the Air Force launched a proof-of-concept test at Keesler to see if it could work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That initial class of nearly 60 new airmen, from the 37th Training Wing, Detachment 5, graduated on May 15. And in a conference call with reporters, 2nd Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Andrea Tullos said the experiment was a success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tullos told reporters that basic trainees will ship directly to Keesler, and after they graduate, will stay in the Keesler area for their follow-on technical training. This will allow newly-graduated airmen to avoid having to pass through transit stations such as airports or bus terminals on their way to technical training, reducing the likelihood of them catching or spreading coronavirus, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keesler conducts technical training for about 160 career fields, including personnel, cyber, financial management, electronic communication systems, air traffic control, weather, and airfield management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tullos said Keesler will train active, Guard and Reserve airmen, and will have reached full operating capability when it has 360 airmen in the pipeline, which will likely happen in mid- to late July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conducting BMT at Keesler doesn\u2019t just spread out training in case of a COVID-19 outbreak at Lackland, Tullos said. It also frees up some space at Lackland to deep-clean and repair some of its older infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it will help Lackland be ready if the coronavirus comes back, perhaps in the colder winter months and flu season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are going to be under COVID conditions for perhaps a lot of the year,\u201d Tullos said. \u201cWe have to be prepared for waves of this \u2014 we go through a period where we\u2019re allowed to relax a little, but we might have to go back into a more restricted lockdown. To the extent that we can get additional production through the pipeline before the winter months come in … we\u2019re in a much better position.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while training at Keesler is going well for now, Tullos said, it still requires additional logistical, medical and administrative support. As a result, she doesn\u2019t think it would be a good idea to keep BMT going at a second location in the long term, even while the coronavirus is continuing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force wants to graduate 12,800 total force airmen, including 9,400 active duty, from BMT between now and the end of the fiscal year, Tullos said. To meet that goal, Lackland and Keesler combined will have to bring about 700 new airmen into the pipeline every week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Tech. Sgt. Eileen Gail Echaluse, 37th Training Wing Detachment 5 military training instructor, leads trainees at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, April 17, 2020. Nearly 60 Airmen completed the six-week basic military training course. (Kemberly Groue\/Air Force)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

BMT graduation ceremonies at Keesler will remain closed to the public, as they are at Lackland, but will be livestreamed, Tullos said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tullos said one of the biggest questions before the proof-of-concept test in April and May was how the COVID-19 pandemic might have affected the health of incoming recruits \u2014 such as their fitness after extended lockdowns, and whether they would be stressed or fatigued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To adjust, Keesler instructors tried to acclimate new basics slowly. They moved some of the more administrative lessons, which typically were conducted later in the course, to the beginning so basics could ease into training.<\/p>\n\n\n\t