Air Commando completes year of college in one month

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Krystal M. Garrett
  • 1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD. Fla. --  In 31 days, an Air Commando completed 24 credit hours equating to one year of college and earned a two-day pass.

Airman 1st Class Phillip Beatty, a crew chief with the 901st Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, utilized Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES) Subject Standardized Tests and College Level Examination Program to earn his college credit hours.

The 901st SOAMXS challenged Airmen to work toward academic success by holding a contest to see who could pass the most DANTES DSST and CLEP tests in a month.

“I saw this opportunity as a way to get Airmen in the books and begin a path toward their [Community College of the Air Force] degree,” said Maj. Jeffrey Westerman, commander of the 901st SOAMXS. “The goal of the contest was to increase morale in the unit through healthy competition, while putting an emphasis on the importance of striving to achieve a higher level of personal and professional education.”

The idea for the challenge came from Senior Airman Christopher Reed, an integrated instrument and flight control systems apprentice with the 901st SOAMXS, after he received an email from DANTES DSST offering a free retest to any Airmen who had previously failed. Normally, Airmen would have to pay for a retest.

Reed said he figured having a contest was a great way to get other Airmen excited about their education so he took the idea to his leadership.

Beatty was not alone in his quest for college credits. Collectively, 21 Air Commandos in the squadron completed 129 semester hours during the month-long competition.

The competition gave Airmen who aren’t usually focused on school motivation to get in the books and increase their overall knowledge base.

“This competition increased the critical thinking and knowledge base across the unit and impacted the mission in a positive way,” Westerman said.

Beatty took on the challenge in hopes of winning, and achieved his goal.

“Seeing as how most people don’t usually participate in squadron challenges, I decided I would and could potentially win,” Beatty said. “Before this challenge I wasn’t really into school [because] I’ve been working on my [Career Development Courses].”

Studying and testing doesn’t end with this contest for Beatty. He plans to use his two-day pass to study for his CDC end of course test.

For more information about DANTES tests contact the Education Center at (850) 884-6724.