The 505th Command and Control Wing (CCW) graduated the first-ever class of the newly created multi-domain warfare officer career field October 9 at Hurlburt Field, Florida.

U.S. Air Force Colonel Richard Dickens, commander of the 505 CCW, said, "We celebrate another first in the Air Force, the initial cadre of Multi-Domain Warfare Officers. I think we will look back on this and see a shift in the way the Air Force approaches the operational level of warfare."

In order to ensure continued dominance in the air, space, and cyberspace domains, the Air Force created the 13O Air Force specialty code. The 13O initial skills course is designed to produce experts who are trained to plan and execute multi-domain operations at the operational level across multiple warfighting domains.

The 27 newly-graduated officers will fill critical command and control billets in operations centers across the Air Force. The guest speaker for the graduation, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Christopher P. Weggeman, Deputy Commander for Air Combat Command, addressed the graduates, "You are establishing a new Air Force profession. You have forged the 13 Oscar breed and are launching the 13 Oscar brand across the joint force. I believe you will change the game. Make no mistake, your entry in the fight could not come at a more critical juncture, as our nation is thrust into a highly complex, dynamic, and relentless era of great power competition where we are already contested by and engaged with numerous adversaries in multiple domains..24/7."

The operating concepts of the future require a deliberate focus today on developing leaders who are adept at optimizing situational awareness and improving the quality and speed of decision making. "It's not only speed in executing warfare. It's speed in how we're preparing for warfare," said U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein in October 2018. "It's speed in how we acquire. It's speed in changing our concept of operations." The new 13O career path is designed to do this by focusing the Air Force's ability to deliver lethal combat capability across the spectrum of conflict quickly.

The 505 CCW trains, tests, exercises, evaluates, and develops tactics and systems for the joint warfighter to command and control multi-domain operations in a volatile, uncertain, and complex global strategic environment.