| The Aerospace Basic Course (ABC) was chartered in 1997 to address concerns presented by Air Force leadership at the Fall 1996 CORONA Conference held at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The primary focus of this dissertation is upon the ABC and how it could serve as a catalyst for organizational change within a broader military education and training context. In this work, the ABC is used as a case study for the purpose of developing lessons learned and policy implications within the education and training environment. Likewise, this dissertation recognizes broader policy implications such as the type of institutional changes that may have to occur to support the infusion of education and training during the organizational transition. It is highly unlikely that the introduction of a single course like ABC will accomplish the overarching task by itself. Viewed in this light, the ABC concept could be one of several methods necessary to facilitate organizational change---others include changes to the officer commissioning programs, the professional military education (PME) structure, revision of the career development process, and many others. Along these lines, the major components of this research are to analyze the purposes of the ABC in greater-depth, assess how well the course achieved its objectives, and analyze the policy implications associated with implementing the course (or a hybrid) on a broader scale in Fiscal Year 1999 and beyond. Specifically, this dissertation will address the following research questions: (1) What is the historical context and need for an ABC related course? (2) What is the content of the ABC and how was it developed? (3) What are the impacts of the course upon the trainees who attended it? (4) How will ABC fit into the current model of officer education and professional military development and what are the ramifications to the Air Force? (5) What other institutional changes may be required to support the knowledge that is gained from the ABC?... |
