{"id":28184,"date":"2020-03-17T19:56:32","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T19:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/03\/17\/bmt-flying-training-to-continue-during-coronavirus-crisis-for-now\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:19:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:19:39","slug":"bmt-flying-training-to-continue-during-coronavirus-crisis-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/coronavirus\/2020\/03\/17\/bmt-flying-training-to-continue-during-coronavirus-crisis-for-now\/","title":{"rendered":"BMT, flying training to continue during coronavirus crisis \u2014 for now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Air Force has deemed Basic Military Training, technical training and flying training operations mission-essential, so they will continue \u2014 at least, for the time being \u2014 during the coronavirus outbreak<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Air Education and Training Command said Tuesday it is taking steps it hopes will mitigate the chances of spreading the respiratory illness called coronavirus disease 2019<\/a>, or COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All technical training and undergraduate flying training students will still outprocess after graduation and move on to their first duty station after they finish training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although officials at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama said in a Facebook post last week that the Officer Training School there had paused operations due to a possible case of COVID-19 on campus, OTS has been deemed mission-essential and will continue, as will Reserve Officer Training Corps operations. That OTS Facebook post has since been taken down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AETC spokeswoman Marilyn Holliday said in an email Tuesday that the OTS Facebook post was made in error and that OTS operations were never paused. The next OTS class will start March 31, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AETC officials have decided to hold BMT graduations on Thursdays, rather than Fridays, at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas beginning this week. BMT graduations will continue to be closed, not open to family members, guests or other members of the public, but they will be streamed on the 37th Training Wing\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AETC also said the commanders of installations that handle technical training will decide when it is safe for those airmen to travel off-base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for flying training students, all related training will continue, including permanent change-of-station and temporary duty travel for aircrew students and career enlisted aviators.<\/p>\n\n\n\t