Page 12 - Aerotech News and Review – September 12, 2025

12 September 12, 2025
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SF-WTIC graduates forge tactical excellence at Nellis
AEROTECH NEWS
by Airman 1st Class Michael Sanders
Nellis AFB, Nev.
Class 25-A of the Security Forces Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course, or SF-WTIC, graduated Aug. 8, 2025, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., after 18 weeks of rigorous training designed to produce expert tacticians and integrators for the Security Forces career field.
SF-WTIC develops weapons and tactics instructors who plan, integrate and lead the employment of strategies, techniques and procedures across mis- sions that directly support Agile Combat Employment, or ACE. Candidates, both enlisted and officers, must pass a selec- tion board requiring tactical expertise, advanced communication skills, a fitness score of 90 percent or higher and expert weapons qualification. With an attrition rate of 45 percent, SF-WTIC remains one of the most demanding courses in the career field. Class 25-A started with 22 students and graduated 13.
The structure and rigor of SF-WTIC intentionally mirror the high-caliber expectations of the Air Force Weapons School, including F-16, Joint Terminal Attack Controller, Intercontinental Bal- listic Missile, B-52 and C-130 programs, to ensure alignment with the broader weapons enterprise.
“Our biggest components adapted from Weapons School are the processes, structure and drive to build expert tacti- cians and integrators,” said Capt. James Stocks, SF-WTIC commander. “We’ve tailored these to integrate our functional community while maintaining the over-
Air Force photograph by Airman 1st Class Michael Sanders
U.S. Air Force Security Forces Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course (SF-WTIC) graduates pose for a photo with U.S. Air Force Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, back center, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, during the SF-WTIC graduation ceremony at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Aug. 8, 2025. Graduates of the course serve as expert advisors to military leaders on integrated base defense and tactical operations.
and operational situations,” said Capt. Colin Hoveln, Class 25-A’s distinguished graduate.
Graduates emerge as critical thinkers, tactical advisors and instructors who syn- chronize Security Forces capabilities with joint operations and Air Force strategic objectives.
“SF-WTIC graduates return to their units equipped with essential skills, elevating the standard of readiness and integration in every mission,” said Se- nior Master Sgt. Patrick Gonzales, 203rd Ground Combat Training Squadron superintendent.
The graduation ceremony featured a keynote address from Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command. His presence underscored the strategic importance of SF-WTIC and its origins within the command.
“The course was originally conceptu- alized and stood up with Global Strike Command support,” Stocks said. “We wanted to show our appreciation by inviting Gen. Bussiere as we hit a major milestone toward our goal of eventually becoming part of the Weapons School.”
In his remarks, Bussiere emphasized the evolving role of Security Forces in joint operations.
“Today’s fight demands leaders who are lethal, agile and connected, not just to their weapon systems but to the broader joint and coalition mission,” Bussiere said. “SF-WTIC produces exactly that: Security Forces professionals ready to lead in the most demanding environments we can expect to face.”
all esprit de corps of the greater weapons communities.”
SF-WTIC began at Camp Guernsey, Wyo., in 2020, then moved to Fort Bliss, Texas, from 2021 through 2024. In 2025, the course transitioned to a split model between Fort Bliss and Nellis. The syllabus was designed to be geographically flexible, but the long-term plan was to permanently stand the last phase of the course at Nellis.
“Our first priority was to refine the syl- labus, then, gradually transition phases to their ideal location,” Stocks said.
At Fort Bliss, students faced high-
end threat scenarios including live-fire exercises, convoy operations, airfield defense and force protection across training ranges that simulate deployed environments. The course culminated at Nellis with exercises on the Nevada Test and Training Range, paired with large-force exercises like Red Flag, offer- ing an unmatched test of integration and adaptability in complex, multi-domain operations.
“The biggest challenge has been man- aging time and consistently learning doc- trinal principles to apply them in tactical
VETS, from Page 3 _______ attacked the U.S. Fleet, killing
2,000 Americans and destroy- ing or damaging a score of ships. The attack plunged America into World War II. The next day would usher in the full force of the American nation. Four days later, Adolf Hitler declared war on the United States.
With Hitler dead by suicide and Germany in ruins, the Nazis surrendered May 8, 1945. Some of our neighbors who contrib- uted to that victory included Quartz Hill football coach Lew Shoemaker, a draftee who land- ed with the Big Red One on Omaha Beach on D-Day.
Shoemaker was terrified. “It may be hard to believe, but if you’re lying face down, there is a certain amount of time you can breathe dirt.” Wounded before the Battle of the Bulge, he sur- vived to meet the love of his life in an Army hospital stateside.
They spent their lives together as teachers in California.
Other D-Day veterans of the Antelope Valley included Henry Ochsner of the 101st Airborne Division, and John Humphrey of the 82nd Airborne, troopers who landed by glider and para- chute still busy liberating Eu- rope when the Nazis folded on May 8, 1945. Others who made it home were Adolph Martinez and his best friend Roy Rogel, two paratroopers captured as POWs, who both made their escape from Nazi prison camps.
“Roy said ‘We better go. I have a bad feeling.” They busted out, made a run for it, and lived. They escaped once from a POW camp, and once from Nazi forces crumbling at war’s end.
Recently, World War II pi- lot Ken Placek, who flew P-47 Thunderbolts, visited with Air Force Brig. Gen. Douglas Wick- ert at Edwards Air Force Base.
The war ended with Japan’s
complete surrender Aug. 14, 1945.
A family friend, Marine Palmer Andrews, fought in the last major battle of World War II, the battle for Okinawa in preparation for invasion of the home islands of Japan.
Women risked their lives as combat nurses on invasion beaches, or Women’s Airforce Service Pilots flying missions to free up men for the air war. Ty “Tiny” Killen, Florabelle Reece, Irma “Babe” Story, they also lived here after the war. So did Patricia Murray, who packed parachutes for the Marines, and Lou Moore, who secured D-Day airfields in France. Like the other heroes, they are gone.
It is estimated that 50 mil- lion people were killed, includ- ing six million Jews of Europe murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust, and up to 27 million Russians in Germany’s war of annihilation.
It is hard for people born in the decades after World War II to grasp how the world would have changed for the worse if the Nazis and Japan had triumphed to usher in what Churchill called “A New Dark Age.”
It is equally hard to grasp that we continue to live under a nuclear sword of Damocles, and how the world would plunge into devastation and ruin if that genie escapes that bottle, sword in hand. It is, in a word, unthinkable.
Albert Einstein said after nu- clear war, future battles would be fought with sticks and stones. But the world we live in today, troubled, turbulent but with all its aspirations, better angels, and achievements lives on because a half million mostly young Americans left their mortal lives on invasion beaches, in the sky, and at sea.
Sixteen million served, and for those who returned, their
lives were forever changed. They built the country and defended the freedoms we Americans still benefit from today.
Art Wallis and Art Ray? Both were builders who lived adventurous lives, Art Ray ski- ing and hang gliding. Wallis, a gifted musician, built the Ante- lope Valley Press plant, homes, buildings. Near end of life, a young social worker asked Wal- lis his proudest achievement.
He smiled, and answered, “Well, we won the war.”
Eighty years later we need to remember that and give thanks that they did.
Editor’s note: Dennis An- derson is a licensed clinical social worker at High Desert Medical Group. An Army veteran, he is studying for a Masters’ Degree in World War II history administered by Arizona State University and the National WWII Museum.