36th CRG completes beta test for USAF's only Jungle Course

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Adasha Williams
  • 36th Wing
ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam --  

The 36th Contingency Response Group and the 736th Security Forces Squadron completed a beta test for the new Jungle Agile Combat Employment (JACE) Course in the latter weeks of July.

This will be the only U.S. Air Force jungle training course and one of three jungle training courses in the U.S. Department of Defense.

This new course took knowledge from the U.S. Marine Corps Jungle Warfare Training Center and the Lightning Academy in Hawaii and tweaked it for non-combatant career fields to be prepared under the USAF’s Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concept.

The practical training will equip service members with essential jungle survival skills. It also provides an arena for units to put their Mission Ready Airmen skillsets to the test.

“Some of the things they learn are water purification shelters, they learn jungle tactics, tracking and land nav skills for any operations they might be conducting out here in the jungle.” said Senior Airman Christopher Bennett, 736th SFS JACE Course instructor.

Getting comfortable with the discomfort of jungle operations is the primary goal of the training and being able to practice in a safe and controlled environment is why Andersen AFB was the choice for beta testing the course.

The outdoor environment allowed Airmen in multiple career fields to test their equipment and capabilities in a realistic environment and in real time. The environment will build the confidence of small teams tasked with large operations that could be possible in a real-world scenario.

“This course is important because under the Agile Combat Employment scheme of maneuver for PACAF (Pacific Air Force), Airmen can be in isolated units, in small teams that have to be survivable and mission effective.” said Captain Wyatt Huff, 736th SFS operations officer. “If you can’t thrive in the environment that you’re working in, you can’t be effective towards those goals of agile combat deployment.”

The 36th CRG and 736th SFS hopes to host beta course 2.0 before the end of the year.