714th TRS IMSO team recognized as Air Force’s best

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Aaron Irvin
  • 19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. -- The 714th Training Squadron’s International Military Student Office was recognized as the 2020 Air Force IMSO team of the year in the small activities category for their service to more than 50 international students.

Serving as the nation’s tactical airlift “Center of Excellence,” the 314th Airlift Wing’s C-130 schoolhouse specializes in training aircrew members from the across the Department of Defense, Coast Guard and 47 partner nations.  

In 2020, the IMSO team hosted the most international students in the Mobility Air Forces enterprise, welcoming 54 students from 12 different countries.

“We are extremely proud of this team and their accomplishments,” said Col. Joseph Miller, 314th Airlift Wing commander. “The fact that the Air Force recognized our IMSO team confirms what I’ve come to see firsthand over the last year in command. Our IMSO team, although small, punches far above their weight and we are humbled to have them as part of the 314th Airlift Wing.”

Will Hughes, 714th TRS international military student officer, alongside Maj. Jared Sorensen and Tech. Sgt. Greg Bishop, are charged with facilitating the student’s transportation, ensuring a smooth transition onto the installation, maintaining documents, and upholding their morale and understanding of American culture.

“The IMSO team has been extremely helpful in ensuring a smooth process for getting my family and I here,” said German Air Force Capt. Stefan Ackermann, a C-130J Super Hercules pilot. “It’s very important to have that single point of contact that I can contact at any time, knowing that they will have the answer and assist me through any means necessary.”

The team also fills the role of first sergeant and life coach, managing any administrative, academic, financial, medical, and personal issues or concerns the students and their dependents may face.

“We are essentially super sponsors,” Hughes said. “Our job is to make sure that every student is fully taken care of so that their focus can be placed solely on the primary objective — training.”

In addition to fostering a positive educational environment, the IMSO team also operates the field studies program, which is designed to immerse students into American culture through events and outings on base and in the surrounding areas.

Miller said that the impressions and relationships fostered from this team serve as a key factor toward enhancing the United States’ long-standing relationships with its allies.

“It’s critically important to build upon our relationships with international partners,” Miller said. “The Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Q. Brown’s Action Orders explicitly discuss the vital role our allies and partners play in helping the Air Force compete in a world where, we must ‘accelerate change or lose.’ Our IMSOs are the ‘face’ of our partnership and help fortify these relationships each and every day.” 

While the office of three may be small, their role is a critical component toward ensuring the U.S. military and their allied partners can integrate operations.

“This team has cared for international partners when borders were closed for COVID, laid the groundwork for international Block 8.1 training, and quite frankly have made a really tough job with serious implications if done poorly, look incredibly easy,” Miller said. “In the 314th Airlift Wing, we like to say ‘Herk Nation Starts Here,’ and for our international partners and allies who fly the mighty C-130, Herk Nation starts with the 714th IMSO team.”