RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
The first Basic Sensor Operator Training class featuring fresh alumni of Basic Military Training graduated Feb 12.
During the 11 a.m. graduation ceremony held at the 559th Flying Training Squadron, two of the 14 graduates received awards for achievement.
Master Sgt. Larry Naso earned the Distinguished Graduate Award and Airman 1st Class Joshua Davison earned the class's Top Graduate Award.
The students' chief instructor said subsequent classes will have big shoes to fill because this class of graduates simply excelled.
"We didn't know what to expect at first with having fresh graduates from basic training in the group," said Tech. Sgt. Michael Arroyo, Detachment 1, 12th Operations Group's chief BSOT instructor. "And yet, the 14 class members, eight of them fresh from BMT, in all had a 96.5 percent academic average. They were hard-working and they showed a remarkable drive. This class definitely set the standard."
The high academic standard -- a grade of 85 was barely passing -- came from taking exacting tests on material covered in long class days that ended at 4 p.m. In those classes, BSOT students were taught an introduction to remotely-piloted aircraft, sensors and communications, geospatial referencing, an orientation to remotely piloted aircraft, full-motion video orientation and target referencing and an introduction to joint reconnaissance and surveillance operations.
After 4 p.m., unlike in BMT, came time off. That was a good thing, the students agreed.
"At first it was kind of hard to adjust to getting more freedom," said Airman 1st Class Scott Mitchell.
Airman Mitchell and some other non-prior-service BSOT students agreed on one point. The first-term Airmen all said with the newly-found, post-BMT freedom they experienced at the Air Force's newest technical school came growth in the form of self-discipline harnessed to study a lot of information imparted to them in a short time.
"You had to study," Airman Mitchell emphasized. "Per block, you'd absorb so much material. You'd finish reading three chapters and after chapter three, with that material fresh in your head, you'd have to go back and re-fresh yourself on that block's chapter one, because chapters two and three of that block were so long."
Airman Basic Corey Manning agreed with Airman Mitchell and said he too, had to study.
"It was a lot of information packed into 21 academic days," he admitted.
Airman Basic Michael Solo echoed Airman Manning and said what helped him master the information was the way it was presented.
"Sergeant Arroyo kept us entertained while teaching us. It was kind of a way to sneak information into our brains," he added.
Airman Manning said it was beneficial to have prior service Airmen who were non-commissioned officers in the class for encouragement when things got challenging.
"If you strayed, they'd remind you how lucky you were to be a part of all of this," he said.
Sergeant Arroyo added the Air Force expects to send ten classes of BSOT students through training during FY 2010 and said BSOT graduates will next attend Remotely Piloted Aircraft Fundamentals Course at Randolph for 21 academic days, where they will be paired with their RPA pilot counterparts.