First Airmen with no prior military experience tackle CEARF course

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Phyllis Keith
  • Kirtland Public Affairs
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  Three Airmen who are the first service members without prior military experience to go through the Career Enlisted Aviation Rotary-Wing Fundamentals course recently graduated from the 23rd Flying Training Squadron, Fort Rucker, Alabama.

Airmen 1st Class Adam Flaucher and Brandon Mathis, and Airman Connor Farrell, special missions aviators-in-training, took their first flights in TH-1H Huey helicopters March 2. Special missions aviators are flight engineers and gunners.

Before arriving at Fort Rucker, the three completed basic training, aircrew fundamentals and the special missions aviation course at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

Flaucher, who has a bachelor's degree in law enforcement, said he was glad he had the opportunity to train at Fort Rucker and learn the fundamentals of being an aircrew member before advancing to the graduate-level course at Kirtland.

"Our job here is to set them up for success through our program and to determine their ability to complete follow-on training at Kirtland," said Tech. Sgt. Adam Stubbs, a flight chief and instructor with the 23rd FTS.

On their first flights, Flaucher, Mathis and Farrell, along with cross-trainee and class leader, Tech. Sgt. Brandon Harrison, practiced approaches, crew communication, running aircraft performance charts and calculating fuel requirements.

"One of the big things is when we're landing, we have to be able to see what's going on outside the aircraft, so we have to scan and see if there are any obstacles on the ground or any slopes, and if it is unsafe, you call a go-around," said Mathis, who enlisted straight out of high school.

Stubbs said in the past, enlisted aviators would arrive at Kirtland for their graduate training with no flight experience. Due to the high washout rate, the CEARF course was started in April 2013 as way to give Airmen the tools to succeed before sending them on to Kirtland.

Stubbs said the initiative to bring brand-new Airmen into the career field was a huge benefit to the Air Force.

"By the time these Airmen are staff or technical sergeants, they will be seasoned aviators," Stubbs said.

Previously, the course was only open to prior-service Airmen who wanted to cross train, so students were staff and technical sergeants with little aircrew experience.

"Flaucher, Mathis and Farrell attending CEARF finally brings the program up to full speed," said Lt. Col. Jerry Crigger, commander of the 23rd FTS. "In a little over three years, we have gone from an initial cadre building syllabi, developing regulations and attaining (Community College of the Air Force) accreditation to a full-up training program that has proven its worth. The small cost of this program is overshadowed by the tremendous savings created. I would love to see CEARF used as a template for other enlisted undergraduate programs."

In May, when the trio finally arrives at Kirtland, they will be selected for training in the CV-22 Osprey, HH-60 Pavehawk or UH-1N Huey. Harrison, a former aerial gunner instructor on the AC-130U Spooky, has already been assigned to graduate level training on Hueys with follow-on orders to the 37th Helicopter Squadron at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.

By giving them the tools to understand helicopter and tilt-rotor flight, all four should be well-prepared for graduate training at Kirtland, Stubbs said.

The 23rd FTS is a geographically separated unit under the 58th Special Operations Wing.