LeMay class directly supports Middle East effort Published March 25, 2009 By Capt. Jennifer Lovett LeMay Center MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- When the Iraqi Air Force requested training, Lt. Col. Dustin Ashton got into gear. Americans working with the Iraqi Air Operations Center received a request from the Iraqis to provide any type of training that would be good for Iraqi military members working at the IAOC. "(The Iraqis) need to learn more about the Western-style Air Operations Center and its operation, as well as how to go about planning to properly use its Air Force," said Colonel Ashton, who is deployed to on a one-year tour to Iraq as part of the Coalition Air Force Training Team in the International Zone of Baghdad. "Lt. Col. Rob Bamberg, the CAFTT chief, and I thought a modified Joint Air Operations Planning Course would be a big benefit for a solid training plan." The JAOP course is a two-week course taught here at the LeMay Center that teaches concepts and principles required to develop the air portion of a joint or combined campaign plan. "It will be a modified JAOP course because I will not do the normal course exercise scenario but a more applicable exercise for the Iraqis," he said. Currently, they will teach 10 to 15 Iraqi officers the course in Iraq in English. "The language barrier is not an issue since the Iraqis at the IAOC get regular English language training, so I will teach the course," said Colonel Ashton, who is a JAOP instructor here. "Then we're hoping that the Iraqis will send more officers to take JAOP and the Contingency Warfare Planning Course at the LeMay Center." Once the decision was made to implement JAOP in the Iraqi's training, Colonel Ashton requested course information from the LeMay Center Warfighting Education Directorate. "When [Colonel Ashton] called, the directorate was very excited to help out with the effort downrange," said Lt. Col. Kjäll Gopaul, JAOP instructor. "The JAOP course is a great course for anyone involved with contingency planning and the process in the Air Operations Center. As we in the Air Force on the whole are helping the Iraqis rebuild their Air Force and their processes, we were more than willing to get as much information as possible to him." There has been a rise in demand for the JAOP course with the continued presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Lt. Col. Rita Schell, JAOP course chairman. "It's an opportunity to integrate the United States with Iraq in a combined effort to rebuild the nation and provide stability." In addition, other Middle East Air Forces have requested seminars in air campaign planning from the U.S. that the LeMay Center's JAOP section plans to support. "With more focus on these type of activities, it is a great opportunity for (the LeMay Center) to directly support the Defense Secretary's Theater Security Cooperation effort," Colonel Schell said. "An air campaign planning seminar will go a long way to boosting our relationship with the Middle East," said Mr. Dan Swayne, desk officer at U.S. Central Command Air Forces. "The course for other nations is very similar to the Iraqi course," Colonel Schell said. "Through this initiative we are helping improve their mission readiness by understanding how to establish priorities and translate those to the AOC level. We're basically teaching them the best way to run an air operation."