Wings Information

A follower wrote this up for me.  Let me know if you have anything to add and I will either add it to this post or create a new post.

In order to slightly shorten the length of OTS, the WINGS course was introduced.  The WINGS course is essentially made up of prerequisite work that must be completed, and is used to get the cadet ready for OTS.  Upon receiving a class letter, a cadet will receive log in information to their WINGS portal through the Holm Center.  Within this portal are many useful pieces of information to prepare a cadet for OTS, including the OTSMAN and the HAWK, as well as Reporting Instructions and a Physical Training Guidance, which essentially gives a run down of the exact PT that will be done at OTS.  Also included are several in-processing documents, which will need to be printed and filled out prior to attending OTS.  These are mainly questionnaires that need some basic information, or just documents that need signed saying “I agree”.  One very informative document hidden in this section is the Line Accessions Base Availability Listing.  This document provides cadets with information regarding what base they could go to as determined by their AFSC.

The prerequisite work itself is fairly easy, just time consuming.  It consists of a combination of readings, slideshows, and videos on various topics.  The work the cadet will be going through involves learning about effective communication and leadership, dress code, and the history of the air force and airpower.  The cadet will also be familiarized with what will be expected of them, in terms of how they represent the Air Force and to take pride in the position they will be holding.  Throughout all of this, there is a note taker, and the cadet is expected to take notes on the material.  The note taker is more of a fill in the blank, and 95% of the blanks are fairly obvious within the readings and slides.  There is said to be a test upon arriving at Maxwell AFB on the WINGS material, so taking notes is extremely important in order to review it all, as there is a lot of information.

As the course is still new, there are still various issues.  A lot of cadets were having problems with logging into the site, as it was down fairly often.  I only experienced one time where I could not get the site to load, but once I cleared my browser cookies I was fine (which they suggest doing).  They also give warning when the site will be down for any sort of maintenance, so a cadet can prepare ahead of time.  The website will also track the cadets progress, and a certificate is rewarded at the end of the program that must be printed and saved as proof of completion.  Unfortunately, the site itself can be slightly tricky to find documents, and takes a bit of getting used to.  The biggest problem I personally encountered was every time I clicked to view course material, it sent me to a page that did not have my course material on it.  I would have to close out of that, and click on course material again before it would finally load the correct page.

– Civilian Select, Slotted for TFOT Class 18-02, Authored September 2017

Here are some additional comments followers from the Facebook group wanted to add:

Two things. First, if you’re using chrome as your browser, you can set up a separate “user” browser. There are specific steps that they give you to set up your browser so things work the smoothest. If you set up a separate user (I called mine “Air Force”) like they suggest, things work much better. I suggest doing this so your regular browsing doesn’t mess with their site, and you don’t have to clear cookies every time you want to log in.

Second, there’s a note on the site currently that says that the course material is being reworked. And anyone going after the OT03 and OT04 classes will have different material, which should be ready the middle of January. So, you can familiarize yourself with the material, but any work done before the new stuff gets pushed out won’t count to completing the course.

And another:

The new course should roll out in November. There are slight changes in some of the sample of behaviors. Not to many drastic changes. The biggest change is that the prerequisite course web base training will now include the real test inside the material and there may even be a challenge test to test out of it. This will eliminate taking a test at OTS on the prerequisite course material.