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A first for enlisted airmen. Graduates of the JTAC Weapons Instructor Course at Nellis will be able to wear Weapons School graduate patches.
Air Force joint terminal attack controllers will now be able to wear the famous Air Force Weapons School graduate patch after graduating from the course, the Air Force announced this week.
Five students in the JTAC Advanced Instructor Course at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, will be able to wear the patch after receiving their diplomas on June 27. Twenty-four prior graduates of the advanced training course will receive patches, according to an Air Force news release.
The airmen will be the first enlisted airmen allowed to wear the weapons school patch in the 66-year history of the school, according to the Air Force.
"(These airmen) have saved lives because they are very good at what they do," Gen. Hawk Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, said in the release. "Wearing the WIC patch gives them instant, noticeable credibility as experts in air-to-ground tactics, techniques, procedures and in the integration of all aspects of theater air, space and cyber power."
The U.S. Air Force Weapons School is the service's premiere advanced training program for airmen, and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh has called graduates of the program the services Ph.D.-level warfighters.
The JTAC program at Nellis lasts five and a half months, and includes 23 full-mission profiles and 752 total hours in a classroom and on ranges. The first class graduated in December 2012. The weapons school as a hole graduates about 100 officers and enlisted specialists, who return to their units as experts.
