POPE ARMY AIRFIELD, N.C —
The Airmen of the 43rd Air Mobility Operations Group (AMOG) honed their skills through Ready Airman Training (RAT) on Pope Army Airfield and Fort Bragg, N.C. Airmen attended the two-day training event Feb. 7 and 10, 2025, to complete various deployment requirements.
RAT maintains the lethality of Airmen as they prepare for possible deployments. The training covers topics such as basic communication, Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC), law of war and small arms. Airmen accomplish these qualifications between computer-based training and in person briefs.
“Airmen completing their RAT training should expect a list of computer-based training from their unit deployment manger that they will be required to complete followed by a RAT class,” said 1st Lt. Ethan Downey, 43rd Air Mobility Squadron (AMS) maintenance flight commander and director of RAT. “The RAT class is broken into two parts: a day consisting of various briefs and a simulator day. An Airman completing their RAT would attend one of four simulator sessions at an Army Engagement Skills Trainer facility, which are an hour and a half long.”
Participants attend the simulator training after becoming more familiar with the M4 Carbine and Beretta M9 before finishing qualifications at Combat Arms Training and Maintenance (CATM). They work on weapons that are connected to the Engagement Skills Trainer II (EST II) to become more familiar with their weapons. At the squadron level, Airman schedule times to go to CATM to finish weapons qualifications due to limited availability.
The 43rd AMS maintained a deployment program identical to RAT. Downey used the existing program already in use by 43rd AMS as a foundation. Downey organized resources outside of the 43rd AMS to build a more effective training.
“The [43rd] AMS program was built to handle roughly 75 people per a six-month phase, but the group’s program is built for about 150,” Downey said. “The other major difference is who is providing the briefs. Having the program at the group level means better buy-in from other squadrons to provide subject matter experts for the briefs.”
Though RAT is for individual Airmen, it is a piece of how the Air Force as a whole becomes increasingly lethal.
“Having Airmen who can accomplish a broad spectrum of things in a combat environment means that we can employ smaller, more agile teams to accomplish missions. This makes Airmen more lethal and larger threat to our adversaries,” said Col. Brian Steinke, 43rd AMOG deputy commander.
At the conclusion of the training, Airmen completed the two-day training to sharpen their skills in their toolbox outside of their daily duties. Mixing computer-based training and hands on actives, participants left meeting all of RAT’s requirements and are more prepared for a possible deployment. Though RAT is only one action of how Airmen prepare for deployment, it is a necessary step for Airmen to be lethal while deployed.
