AU History

Air University
History

The post-Vietnam War era marked a significant turning point in the history of Air University. For even though the conflict in Southeast Asia had ended, the Cold War lingered and the potential for future violent confrontations remained and in some ways increased. It was in this very volatile environment that Air University re-energized its mission of "educating and producing such planners and future leaders ... [capable of designing] an Air Force so adequate that it need never be used."

Doing this required major changes in the command's educational system. For as Lt Gen Raymond B. Furlong, the AU commander, noted, "with a command motto of 'Progress Unhindered by Tradition' we had too often become traditionalist." He concluded, for example, that the emphasis at the command's senior PME school had drifted away from how to fight an air war to high level policy and decision making. Thus, during the mid-1970s, the general launched a three-year campaign of curriculum review and overhaul that became known as "putting the 'war' back into the war college."

This new "think-war" mindset quickly permeated the entire AU community. A commitment and eagerness to seek new horizons and to play a more significant and imaginative role in the exploitation of aerospace power could be sensed among the faculty and staff of the entire AU family. Everywhere, there was a ferment that was reminiscent of the early days of the Tactical School.

This aura of excitement, created by the emphasis on airpower employment, swelled beyond the perimeters of the PME schools. Throughout the base there were enthusiastic talks and discussions about the proposed Command Readiness Exercise System, a highly automated futuristic system designed to provide a decision-making environment in which emerging air commanders and battle staffs could examine war fighting processes. Implemented in three phases, the system became fully operational in 1989 and provided a real-world wargaming capability for the Air Force.

The same excitement also characterized efforts to establish the Airpower Research Institute. In concert with the Air Command and Staff College, the Air War College began in 1979 to implement the charter of this newly established research body, whose mission called for cooperative research on airpower relative to the attainment of national objectives by permitting a closer association between Air University and the operational commands.

Air University's post-Vietnam War period was also marked by continuous organizational growth and development. Effective 1 October 1975, for example, the Air Force established the Air Force Logistics Management Center (AFLMC) and assigned it to Air University. On that same day, a new organization called the Leadership and Management Development Center (LMDC) also joined the AU family. The following year this center merged with the AU Institute for Professional Development but retained its same name.

The command also gained two other units during this time. HQ Civil Air Patrol-USAF, located at Maxwell became a member of Air University on I July 1976. following the inactivation of Headquarters Command. Seven days later, on 8 July 1976, the Air Force Judge Advocate General School became a named activity and was assigned to the Leadership and Management Development Center for administrative control. Thus, 1975 and 1976 saw the establishment of five new functions at Maxwell, which greatly expanded the roles and missions of both the base and the command.

But perhaps one of the most significant developments in the history of the command occurred two years later when HQ USAF realigned Air University under Air Training Command. This realignment took place on 15 May 1978 when Air University became an ATC subordinate organization. Though several efforts had been made in the past to combine Air Training Command and Air University, this was the first time in Air University's history that it actually lost its major command status.

ROTC Students Being Fitted for Flight Suits

For the next five years, Air University remained an ATC subordinate unit. Then, on 1 July 1983, the Air Force separated Air University from Air Training Command and the former regained its major command status. However, HQ USAF reassigned the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, which had been a part of Air University since 1 August 1952, to Air Training Command. This loss of a major subordinate unit, was somewhat offset by the establishment in early January of a new AU organization called the Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research, and Education (CADRE). The center was responsible for researching and analyzing current and future issues of concern to the Air Force and its major commands; developing and testing concepts and ideas of airpower doctrine and strategy; and publishing these findings in articles, monographs, and books.

Squadron Officers School Students participating in Seminar

Another change came on 15 August 1983 when HQ USAF redesignated the Academic Instructor and Foreign Officer School as the Educational Development Center. The mission of the organization, though, did not change. Three years later, on 1 August 1986, Air University merged the Leadership and Management Development Center with the Educational Development Center. On 6 August 1987, HQ USAF again changed the name of the center. Its new designation became the AU Center for Professional Development. A few months later, on 24 December 1987, HQ USAF redesignated the organization as the Ira C. Eaker Center for Professional Development.

The following year, Air University began making major changes to the AWC and ACSC curricula. As a result of the Department of Defense (DOD) Reorganization Act of 1986, a "Joint Specialty" was established whereby the Secretary of Defense was to designate at least a thousand joint duty assignments to be awarded to officers who had successfully completed a joint military education school and a full tour of duty in a joint assignment. This law created a requirement for an additional 3,500 billets to be filled either by certified specialists or recent graduates of a joint PME course. Since the National Defense University, the major center for joint military education and training, produced only 750 graduates a year, it became necessary for the Department of Defense to devise some plan for coming up with the additional graduates.

One way of doing this was to accredit the various senior and intermediate service schools as "joint" education while at the same time' maintaining their specific service orientation. After considerable discussion, Adm William Crowe, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, decided on a "dual-track" system where only part of a service's senior and intermediate PME programs would meet the "joint-education" requirements. As a result, on 8 December 1987, HQ USAF directed Air University to begin pilot AWC and ACSC programs that met the joint curriculum standards.

Beginning in the fall of 1988, Air University developed courses for these two PME schools using the joint professional military education model. In addition, these schools not only had students from all the sister services but faculty and staff personnel from each branch of the military as well. In the spring of 1989, the Air War College graduated its first students from the new dual-track system.

Meanwhile, on 13 November 1987, the House Armed Services Committee had established a Panel on Military Education. Chaired by Congressman Ike Skelton, Democrat from Missouri, and with Congressman Jack Davis, Republican from Illinois, as the ranking minority member, the panel's charter was to review DOD plans for implementing the provisions of the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 and to assess the ability of the DOD military education system to develop professional military strategists and officers skilled in Joint and combined operations and tactics. After hearings and visits at the various service schools; the National Defense University; and war colleges in the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany, the panel concluded that the DOD system of education was basically sound and was fully comparable to the most prestigious of the foreign PME school systems they had visited.

But Congressman Skelton also felt that the DOD PME schools were not up to the standard that should be expected of the premier armed forces in the world. He felt these schools needed to improve the level of education in strategic thinking, emphasize "jointness" more, and upgrade their overall quality--particularly the faculties. At Air University, the command quickly took steps to hire highly qualified civilian instructors and to ensure that it only assigned highly qualified military officers to the various PME faculties. In a statement he made several years later in regards to Air University's PME schools, Congressman Skeleton summed up the success of this effort when he said "the cream has finally risen to the top."

Students in the Judge Advocate General Course participate in a simulated general court martial at Maxwell AFB.

Another significant outgrowth of the congressional PME review was the establishment of the School of Advanced Airpower Studies (SAAS). Since one of the recommendations of the panel was to improve the level of education in strategic thinking, Air University responded by creating an institution that provided a one-year follow-up to Air Command and Staff College. The mission of this school was to "create soldiers/scholars who have a superior ability to develop, evaluate, and employ airpower." With 25 students enrolled, the School of Advanced Airpower Studies began its first class in the fall of 1991.

That same year. another organization, the Air Force Quality Center, Joined the AU family. The idea first surfaced at the 1990 Corona Conference, where Secretary of the Air Force Donald B. Rice and the USAF Chief of Staff Gen Merrill A. McPeak created a vision of a USAF office to assist with inculcating total quality management principles into all USAF units. This concept, later known as Quality Air Force or QAF, led to the establishment of the center on 1 August 1991 as an AU subordinate unit. The center provided USAF commanders and their organizations with the concepts, methods, tools, and advice to aid them in attaining a QAF culture, as well as QAF education programs, consulting services, training resource materials, and related research and analysis services.

No other significant organizational changes occurred at Air University until 1 July 1993 when HQ USAF reassigned Air University to Air Training Command. This change came as a result of "The Year of Training" initiative. At the same time, the Air Force redesignated Air Training Command as Air Education and Training Command (AETC) to reflect its joint education and training mission. As a part of this major restructuring action, the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, the Officer Training School, the Community College of the Air Force, and the First Sergeant's Academy all became AU subordinate organizations. Similarly, the Air Force also placed the legal and chaplain training programs under Air University's Jurisdiction. For only the second time In its history, the Air Force's education and training programs were within a single major command.

Several other significant organizational changes also took place at Air University during that year. On 15 December 1993, for example, the Air Force established the College for Enlisted Professional Military Education (CEPME) and assigned it to Air University. At the same time, the USAF Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy was assigned to this new organization. In addition, all 10 NCO academies located in the continental United States became operating locations of CEPME. These actions, in effect, essentially placed all of the Air Forces NCO PME programs, except those in the European and Pacific theaters of operation, under Air University's purview.

On 1 January 1995, Civil Air Patrol-USAF began a reorganization by trimming 66 positions from its staff, eight military positions from liaison regions, and all 104 military positions from its state liaison structure. Air Force retirees replaced the headquarters military personnel. The reorganization also converted all but 27 CAP_USAF headquarters slots to Civil Air Patrol corporate positions. With these changes, the USAF role shifted from direct management of the corporation to an advisory, liaison, and oversight role. Prior to the reorganization, CAP-USAF Commander served as the executive director of the corporation. After the changes, the position of executive director shifted to the CAP Corporation and one of its employees filled this important role. The Civil Air Patrol-USAF Commander became the senior Air Force advisor to the corporation and remained a voting member of the CAP National Board and on the National Executive Committee.

Two months later, on 1 March 1995, Lt Gen Jay W. Kelley, the AU Commander, revived the old MAJCOM Vice Commanders' PME Conference which originally met in 1974 and again in 1980. Under a new charter the conference assumed a new identity as the Air University Command Board of Advisors (CBOA). As the primary beneficiaries of Air University's mission, the major commands of the Air Force required a means to voice their educational needs and to express their satisfaction with AU's products and programs: Once again composed of the MAJCOM vice-commanders and the Air Force Director of Personnel, the CBOA provided the avenue to meet MAJCOM concerns and was the perfect means to influence and offer feedback on any and all AU programs. The Board agreed to meet at least once a year to review the curricula of professional military education and accession programs and presented the ideal forum to ensure that AU programs continued to meet Air Force educational needs. By providing feedback from the customer perspective, the Command Board of Advisors complemented the AU Board of Visitors' external review of Air University.

Toward the New Millennium

On 10 Sep 1993 Gen Merrill A. McPeak, CSAF, placed Air University in the unique role as the "maverick thinkers" of the Air Force. In so doing he maintained tradition as AU's predecessor, the Tactical School had been he "intellectual center" of the Air Corps. In 1993 Gen McPeak directed AU to conduct two future studies: SPACECAST 2020 and Air Force 2025.

With respect to SPACECAST 2020, he directed that "the study group.report directly to CSAF." And that it be "chaired by the AU commander and.consist of Air Command and Staff College, Air War College and AFIT students and faculty, as well as staff at the College of Aerospace Doctrine, Research, and Education (CADRE)."

Both of these initiatives dealt with the Air Force's ability to conduct warfare against future opponents while maintaining its "edge" to control the exploitation of air and space. The studies projected the Air Force into the 21st century. SPACECAST 2020 energized the thinking and imagination of experts to produce a set of possibilities to insure the United States' dominance in space. The nation must not only be able to be in space, but it must also be able to act from space and protect space-based assets. Space offered two advantages, unparalleled perspective and rapid access to the earth's surface.

Air Force 2025 identified the concepts, capabilities, and technologies the United States required to remain the dominant air and space force into the 21st century. More than 200 students, faculty, and support staff from the Air War College, Air Command and Staff College, and Headquarters Air University participated in 2025.

As AU continued to grow both in size and stature, the Air Force's premier institute of learning reorganized to keep abreast of new technology and to meet the educational needs of all Air Force members. On 14 February 1997 AU merged AFROTC and OTS. This represented the first in a series of steps designed to restructure Air University so that it would more closely resemble civilian institutions of higher learning. With the activation of the new Air Force Officer Accession and Training Schools (AFOATS), three quarters of the Air Force officer production now resided at Maxwell AFB. By integrating the commissioning programs at Air University, the merger provided maximum flexibility in determining optimum production goals between the two officer accessioning programs. The union also resulted in a more economical and efficient unit and provided immediate dividends to the Air Force in the form of recruitment and initial officer education. As a result of the formation of the new headquarters, better coordination existed between the principal sources of commissioned officers along with a better response to future manpower needs.

The next step in the evolution of the command resulted from a direct mandate from the CSAF. On 12 September 1997 Air University activated the Air and Space Basic Course School to inspire new officers in comprehending their role as airmen. Through a dynamic shared experience, the new school developed lieutenants into airmen who (1) understood and exemplified the inherent strength found within USAF core values; (2) articulated and demonstrated USAF core competencies through a firm grounding in air and space power history; (3) advocated the success and abilities that airpower brings to joint operations; and (4) valued team achievement over individual success. At the first graduation ceremony on 20 August 1998, Gen Michael E. Ryan, CSAF, verbally redesignated the Air and Space Basic Course School as the Aerospace Basic Course (ABC).

The driving force behind the reorganization of Air University was the desire to improve Air Force professional military education. Two initiatives fueled the run to achieve this goal: (1) the pursuit of degree granting authority and accreditation, and (2) the continuum of education. To be recognized as a world-class educational institution, Air University needed the authority to grant the appropriate degrees to its students. This right was vitally important to AU's academic credibility and was a just reward to Air Force officers who dedicated years out of their careers to attend schools such as ACSC and AWC.

Since the academic standards at AU were equal to, if not surpassing, those at the best civilian institutions, the time had come to pursue the right to grant degrees and accreditation. The processes involved in this pursuit allowed AU the opportunity to showcase its excellence. In the lives of most students, the culmination of all their efforts took place when the president of the university presented them with their degrees. Still, the degree by itself meant little without the endorsement of a prestigious agency. To this end, the command approved an action plan to seek degree-granting authority from Congress and to pursue accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

Accreditation was an essential step in the process of being recognized as a first-rate academic institution. Accreditation made a definite statement to the general public and other academic entities regarding the quality of Air University's programs. It also improved the command's ability to attract and retain top-quality faculty, both civilian and military. A major question in the quest for accreditation was whether to seek endorsement for each school individually or to pursue an institutional approach with accreditation candidacy for Air University itself. In the latter case, AU would be subjected to a more comprehensive review by SACS, but the advantage lay in the more straightforward solution to who governs AU since one of the criteria established by SACS included a governing board with broad powers and authority and most military institutions failed to meet this requirement.

Another advantage lay in the opportunity "to consider a more integrated academic organization for the proposed master's degrees (e.g., the appointment of a dean of graduate studies and the identification of a graduate faculty)." Air University's Board of Visitors recommended that the command seek accreditation for the whole AU because this procedure simplified the governance issues and the focus switched to establishing a proper policy-making role for the BOV.

The second step in Air University's drive to consolidate its academic standing was the development of a continuum of education. "Well prepared people are the heart of the Air Force's military capability and will continue to be the most important element of the Air Force's success...," Air University faced the daunting task of educating Air Force people to be the leaders of tomorrow. "This task, however, is much bigger than Air University. It takes the personal commitment of all airmen-a personal commitment to make professional development a high priority task and personal effort to learn as much as possible about the complexities of warfare."

Air University schools needed to instill the intellectual curiosity in airmen about their profession that would sustain them throughout their careers. The Air Force wanted its future leaders to share a full and common understanding of airpower, history, doctrine, operations, joint warfighting and core values. Such a shared understanding needed development through a professional education process evolving as a continuum. To establish that continuum, AU recognized the need for a core curriculum applicable from Air Force Officer Accession and Training Schools through the Air War College and beyond.

The concept of the continuum intended to eliminate the gaps in school attendance of Air Force members, to provide refresher education of the basic concepts, and to avoid unnecessary duplication. Initial steps in eliminating the gaps in PME included new course initiatives. Beside the Aerospace Basic Course, AU established the Squadron Officers Course, the Air and Space Power Course, and the Senior Officers Course. "The Continuum of Education is the Air Force's responsibility for all our people to have a seamless professional military education system that carries them through the course of their professional lives in the U.S. Air Force We need to make sure we are providing students with the right information at the right time in their careers," stated Lt Gen Joseph 1. Redden, the AU Commander and the prime mover behind the continuum. The continuum defined a cradle-to- grave system of professional educational development for Air Force men and women.

All the efforts put forth by Air University to re-establish itself as the premier military academic institution began to bear fruit when in December of 1999 the School of Advanced Airpower Studies received its accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The school initially established as a part of the Air Command and Staff College for specific graduates also became an independent institution on 15 September 1999. Accreditation validated SAAS' superior faculty, the quality of its students, and its outstanding curriculum and program. The placement of its graduating students was also very impressive.

Another milestone in AU's quest to demonstrate its academic excellence took place on 5 October 1999 when President William Jefferson Clinton signed the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2000. The legislation gave the AU Commander the authority to confer the Master of Strategic Studies degree to resident graduates of the Air War College and the Master of Military Operational Art and Science degree to resident graduates of the Air Command and Staff College. Both schools had undergone a rigorous review by the Department of Education. Since only the resident programs came under the review, the commander could only grant the degree to resident graduates. The prestige of the two schools would only rise with Air University's quest for accreditation.

Early in the year 2000, several significant events took place at Air University. On 1 February 2000, the Air Force established the Air Force Institute for Advanced Distributed Learning. With the emergence of distance learning, Air University saw the need to unite its former Extension Course Institute programs with the Air Force Distance Learning Office. Since the concept of distance learning was the use of technology to deliver instruction to students, its marriage to the AU correspondence education program made sense. At the basis of distance learning was the development of interactive courseware and video te1etraining. Combined with the correspondence courses' ability to reach vast numbers of military members, AU envisioned an education and training pot of gold-a means of reducing the cost of both education and training and a way of increasing readiness. Also the growing Internet access offered in the computer age presented a viable means of delivering various courses to people stationed around the world. Web delivery had become a reality. The new organization was a significant step in harnessing the power of the information age for education and training.

Participants in Distant Learning Seminar

Shortly thereafter the Squadron Officer College (SOC), composed of the Aerospace Basic Course and the Squadron Officer School, stood up on 8 February 2000. With the merger of the two schools under one command, the new college offered the first step in professional military education for newly commissioned and junior officers. The college was designed to produce graduates who advocated the importance of aerospace power in future conflicts and who valued their vital role in the profession of arms. Fitting nicely into the continuum of education architecture, the Squadron Officer College placed "the right student, in the right course, at the right time." Combining ABC and SOS led to a complete revision in the latter's curriculum to avoid duplication. The new curriculum focused on five fundamental areas to include the Profession of Arms, Leadership and Management, Military Studies, Communication Skills and International Studies.

Next in a move reminiscent of Air University's past, the Air University Library once again became a subordinate unit when the Office of Academic Support inactivated on 1 February 2000. On the same day a new Air University Academic Office officially stood up assuming most of the responsibilities of the Office of Academic Support, in addition to the duties routinely performed by chief Academic Officers at major universities. In short, the Chief Academic Officer of AU assumed primary responsibility for the development and interpretation of policy on matters of education and training for Air University.

The Academic Office consisted of four divisions: Academic Affairs, Registrar, Faculty development, and the Academic Instructor School. In addition to implementing the continuum and drive for accreditation, the Academic Office strove to engender an educational environment to attract, develop, and retain a preeminent faculty. It also sought to keep AU up to date by combining state of the art technology with the curriculum in the classroom. Finally, maintaining academic records, developing institutional effectiveness programs to provide feedback to decision makers, coordinating the guidance of AU's governing and advisory boards, and managing the Academic Instructors School rounded out the Academic Office's official responsibilities.

One of the organizational changes that took place at Air University in 2003 was the decentralization of the Academic Instructor School. The majority of the instructor positions were reassigned to the various colleges under Air University. It was argued that by having their own instructors the various schools would be better able to meet their respective needs. AIS, the named activity, and the remaining instructors were realigned to the CPD on 1 October 2003. At this location it provided instruction for CPD, CADRE, and external customers.

The following year brought the long awaited accreditation of Air University by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The decision rendered on June 24, made accreditation retroactive to 1 January 2004. This was a significant milestone in the continuing evolution of Air University as an institution, because it was now possible to offer graduate degrees on an equal basis with other accredited academic institutions.

Throughout all Air University has attempted to avoid traditional thinking in the development of its courses' content, lest the Air Force fight future conflicts as it had fought previous wars. As General Fairchild once put it, Air University was "a pre-war educational system, not a post-war school." Gen John R. Regni who assumed control of Air University in 2004 reflects these sentiments as he seeks to maintain and enhance the traditional role of Air University as the intellectual center for critical thinking in the Air Force.