M.I.A. - Part II: JASOC

For the past 8 weeks I have been attending the Air Force Judge Advocate Staff Officer Course (JASOC) in Maxwell, AL. Again, I apologize that it has taken me so long to write this down. I will attempt to adequately summarize the past 8 weeks and preview the upcoming week (our last week of JASOC).

JASOC

Unlike COT (see below), JASOC has been more like school and less like Boot Camp. At JASOC we spend most of the day in class learning about our new job as a JAG. We learn about Military Justice, Civil Law, and Operational Law, all of which have numerous subcategories. I usually arrive at school between 7:00 and 7:30 and leave to return home between 5:00-6:00. We have homework, tests, quizzes, and moot courts. It has been very interesting learning about what I will be doing as a JAG officer.

Like COT, we are divided into flights, this time with about 15 people per flight. However, we have far less time in our flight room and more time is spend in an auditorium setting with the entire group.

Although the classes have been very interesting, the highlights of the course for me have been the two trips we made. First, we took a bus down to Florida to visit Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) and Hurlburt Field. While we were there we we able to visit the AF Bomb/Drug Dog training facility, a GIANT hanger where they can recreate any type of weather condition on the planet to test military equipment against the elements, a flight simulator where we all got to "fly" a V-22 Osprey, an old AC-130U we could climb around in, and we also were able to see some really cool bombs and other weapon-related stuff.

Although I wasn't able to bring my camera into some of the places we visited, here are a few pictures I took during the Florida trip. Most of the pictures were taken in and around the AC-130H we got to get in. For those who want to see an actual AC-130U, here it is:

Here I am in the cockpit ready to go off into the wild blue yonder.

Here I am with Lts Dilworth and Mumford in front of the "little" gun on the AC-130U. This is a 25mm 5-barrel Equalizer Gatling Gun. This little fella can shoot about 3,600-4,200 rounds per minute.

But the AC-130U has some bigger stuff if the 25mm doesn't get the bad guys' attention. Maybe dropping some 40 mm rounds at 80-100 rounds per minute might work.

If the bad guys need a little more persuasion, this 105mm round comin' at them from the M102 Howitzer on the AC-130U should do the trick. Although this gun can fire at a rate of about 10 rounds per minute, I would imagine that after one of these bad boys knocking on your door, you wouldn't need much more persuading.

The valiant crew of the AC-130 U standing on the tailgate.

We were also able to take a tour of a park that had a number of historic Air Force Special Operations air craft. Here are some of my favorites:

This is the only jet ever used by Air Force Special Ops. The reason: Special Ops needs slower planes to be able to drop people and things down to the ground and the jets go too fast.

Our second trip during JASOC was to Washington D.C. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera in Alabama and wasn't able to take any pictures. However, I am hoping to get a few pictures from the trip and will post those as soon as I get them.

LAST WEEK

I am now about to begin my last week of JASOC. We have our final exam on Wednesday, a Dining Out (A fancy AF dinner like the one I described during COT below), and finally, our graduation ceremony on Friday. After that, we hop on a plane on Saturday to fly to Germany. We are really excited to get over there and look forward to the new adventures that await.