Mobility Operations School plans move Published Sept. 15, 2006 By Jamie Haig 16th SOW Public Affairs HURLBURT FIELD, Fla -- The small building on a side road at Hurlburt Field is the little-known schoolhouse for theater air mobility, the United States Air Force Mobility Operations School, Detachment 1. The school has grown so rapidly, that the building that houses them is no longer sufficient. The MOS has moved into the building next door to their present location for expansion. With the expansion, they will be able to have larger classes and hire more instructors - almost doubling the present staff. Offering 25 courses covering topics in operations, transportation, maintenance, aircrew resource management, and command and control with only 14 instructors, the school stays busy. It's comparable to choreographing a ballet said Lt. Col. Darryl Stankevitz, MOS commander. The unit provides training and exercise support for Department of Defense personnel in the full range of mobility operations. The school promotes continuous improvement of systems, tactics, techniques and procedures for air mobility divisions. "We train personnel that will be doing command and control operations in a deployed location," said Colonel Stankevitz. "What they learn here they will be able to use in any theater in the world." The air mobility student learns to coordinate an airlift control team, airlift refuel team, air medic evacuation team, which need to be in certain places at different times in the same theater. But the training doesn't stop when students graduate. The instructors answer questions for graduates deployed downrange. "It's one thing teaching and preparing the next generation of warriors," said Colonel Stankevitz. "It's another to be able to help out someone in the field immediately. There's a sense of accomplishment, and of gratification." The school tracks mobility system upgrades, and gets the updated information to the right people in time. "For instance, we found out last week about an exercise that was starting in three weeks," said Colonel Stankevitz. "We did a bit of scrambling and were able to set up training in time for the operators involved, to accommodate the exercise." If someone in theater needs to move cargo, the operator must figure out where the planes will come from to do this; whether there's enough fuel to go from point A to point B; and how soon it needs to be moved. "What we do, with our courses, is increase air mobility efficiency in the theater without affecting assets," said Colonel Stankevitz. "And it's been proven to work. We're moving more cargo with fewer planes. We teach the people how to do this."