Units
Maxwell AFB is the headquarters of Air University (AU), a major component of Air Education and Training Command (AETC), and is the U.S. Air Force's center for Joint Professional Military Education (PME). The host wing for Maxwell-Gunter is the 42d Air Base Wing (42 ABW). The 908th Airlift Wing (908 AW) is a tenant activity and the only operational flying wing at Maxwell.
Under Air University are three principal schools that provide various levels of Joint Professional Military Education (JPME). The first is Squadron Officer School (SOS), a nearly 2 month program oriented towards First Lieutenants and Captains in the Regular Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard. The second, Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) is a year long program for Air Force officers (to include Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard), Department of Defense civil servants in the grade of GS-13, as well as select officers from other U.S. and Allied armed forces in the rank of Major, Lieutenant Commander, Squadron Leader or equivalent. ACSC is considered "intermediate" level JPME. The third program, Air War College (AWC) is also a year long program and selects students from the same sources as ACSC, but the minimum rank for attendance rises to Lieutenant Colonel, Commander, Wing Commander or equivalent or DoD civil servants in the grade of GS-14. AWC is considered "senior" level JPME.
In addition to the in-residence programs at Maxwell, all three programs are available in correspondence/distance learning formats, while ACSC and AWC are also available in seminar formats at select USAF installations worldwide.
Maxwell AFB also hosts the Air Force Officer Accession and Training Schools (AFOATS), which has oversight for two of the Air Force's three officer commissioning programs, Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC), which is headquartered at Maxwell and Air Force Officer Training School (OTS), which is headquartered and conducted at Maxwell AFB, having relocated from Lackland AFB, Texas in the 1990s. Capitalizing on the new facilities built for OTS in the 1990s, Maxwell is now the only base hosting the annual fall/spring semester and summer Field Training (FT) encampments for AFROTC cadets that they must attend before commissioning. The Civil Air Patrol's corporate and joint CAP-USAF headquarters is also located at Maxwell.
The only operational flying unit at Maxwell is the Air Force Reserve Command's 908th Airlift Wing (908 AW) and subordinate 357th Airlift Squadron (357 AS), which operates eight C-130H aircraft. As an AFRC airlift unit, the 908th is operationally gained by the Air Mobility Command (AMC).
Gunter Annex is a separate installation under the 42 ABW. Originally known as Gunter Field, it later became known as Gunter Air Force Station (Gunter AFS) when its runways were closed and its operational flying activity eliminated. As a hedge against future Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) closure action, Gunter was consolidated under Maxwell AFB to create a combined installation known as Maxwell/Gunter.
Maxwell AFB is also the site of Federal Prison Camp, Montgomery.
Read more about this topic: Maxwell Air Force Base
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