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Article: Down-to-earth training for the wild, blue yonder.
- Article from:
- The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, OH)
- Article date:
- January 22, 2007
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 The Columbus Dispatch. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Jeb Phillips
Jan. 22--In a little room at a drab office complex in Worthington, Air Force Special Operations instructors were learning how to make their elite forces stronger. Five of the instructors -- four retired Special Operations troops and one on active duty -- sat at tables, listening. They live around Hulbert Field in the Florida Panhandle, near Fort Walton Beach, where they prepare future combat controllers for combat dive school. Combat controllers are inserted behind enemy lines to handle air traffic, among other jobs. They have to parachute or swim in, and stay alive. There are about 365 Air Force combat controllers. It takes two years of ...