Curriculum
The USAFSOS curriculum is directed by the AFSOC Commander to meet USSOCOM validated educational requirements. USAFSOS follows the USAF Instructional Systems Development model for course design and delivery.
Currently, courses are focused in one of four areas: asymmetric warfare education, regional and cultural awareness, SOF professional development and joint operations.
Asymmetric warfare courses educate SOF personnel on adversarial threats and operational and technological countermeasures available for consideration. Asymmetric warfare courses include crisis response, information operations, psychological warfare, force protection, unconventional warfare, international terrorism and space operations.
Regional and cultural awareness courses are geared to SOF areas of responsibility and trace their roots to the very first course taught at USAFSOS. The purpose of these courses is to orient the SOF warrior to the cultural, historical, political, economic and security issues of a particular region.
Career development and maturation of officer and enlisted personnel is the primary focus of SOF professional development. Courses in professional development include an introduction to special operations, staff orientation, professional military education and command preparation.
The joint operations courses educate SOF personnel in the areas of SOF doctrine, command and control, mission planning, battle management and civil-military operations.
As USAFSOS expands to meet an increasing demand for "thinking warriors," the number of off-station courses (both formal courses and courses tailored to unit needs) has increased. USAFSOS is increasing its use of distance-learning technologies to expand course availability. Video tele-instruction and web-based courses are becoming increasingly important in reaching USAFSOS’ students.
Most courses use expert guest speakers to ensure the most timely and relevant information is provided to the students. Over 700 such guest speakers, including former ambassadors, distinguished academicians, and active duty and retired flag-rank officers, support USAFSOS.
Read more about this topic: United States Air Force Special Operations School
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