Keesler Air Force Base use as backup basic training site during COVID to end in Nov.

The Air Force will stop using Keesler Air Force Base as an extension site for its basic military training after its last class of recruits graduates, the Air Force said Monday.

Since June, Keesler has received about 60 recruits a week as a way to reduce pressure on Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio and to adhere to social distancing required by the pandemic.

Previously Lackland was the only location where the Air Force provided its new recruits their first eight weeks of basic military training, but coronavirus outbreaks in Texas made it more difficult to ship recruits there from across the country. Social distancing measures required reducing the number of recruits in classrooms, dormitories and cafeterias which prompted the service to use Keesler as an additional location.

“Our plan right now is to receive our last shipment of recruits the last week in September and for our final graduation here for this fiscal year’s production to be in November before Thanksgiving,” said Maj. Gen. Andrea Tullos, commander of Second Air Force, which is based at Keesler and oversees training of enlisted airmen.

Tullos said that after the last class of graduates moves on, the Air Force will close down the program at Keesler, but keep it as an option if another COVID-19 outbreak occurs.

As recruits were sent Keesler, the base had each dormitory set up for wireless internet so that training could continue online if there was a COVID outbreak or weather interruptions due to Hurricane Sally. It is unusual for recruits to have access to the internet during that intensive military immersion.

“Right now we don’t plan to need the added production at Keesler next year — but COVID gets a vote,” Tullos said. “If we have challenges and we see spikes and outbreaks and the CDC issues guidance that causes us to lose our ability to use San Antonio as our sole production point we’ll be prepared to reopen that capability and resume again next year.”

This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 2:19 PM.

Tara Copp

McClatchy DC

Tara Copp is the national military and veterans affairs correspondent for McClatchy. She has reported extensively through the Middle East, Asia and Europe to cover defense policy and its impact on the lives of service members. She was previously the Pentagon bureau chief for Military Times and a senior defense analyst for the U.S. Government Accountability Office. She is the author of the award-winning book “The Warbird: Three Heroes. Two Wars. One Story.”