Transforming Basic Developmental Education

<p>Today's Air Force faces manning cuts and constrained budgets while the global war on terror continues to produce an extremely high operations tempo. Many in the Air Force believe that these force shaping initiatives and empty coffers constitute a serious crisis but the real danger to the Air Force institution might be lurking in the shadows. The actual crisis might lie in the bedrock of the Air Force officer corps with its Company Grade Officers (CGOs) . . . the lieutenants and captains. At any given time USAF CGOs are conducting military operations in over 100 countries worldwide. The challenges they face are immense and the nation expects and needs them to perform at the highest levels of excellence each and every day. Unfortunately today's CGOs are not adequately prepared to deal with the leadership challenges they are encountering in a more complex warfighting environment. CGOs in 2007 have greatly increased developmental needs compared to those of their pre-9/11 counterparts. They must be tactical leaders of a leaner smarter more lethal team. Current Basic Developmental Education (BDE) programs accomplish much but they are not enough. The increased developmental needs of today's CGOs cannot be satisfied with two schools the Air and Space Basic Course (ASBC) and the Squadron Officer School (SOS). Combined these two programs only provide eleven weeks of Professional Military Education (PME) out of an officer's first nine to ten years of service. Frequent deployments early Air Expeditionary Force (AEF) leadership opportunities and a worldwide scope requiring depth in culture and language have presented young officers with unique challenges.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>