In May 2010, more than 1,025 returning Iraqi airmen participated in a three-week basic military training course at the Iraq Air Force training school in Camp Taji. The course focused on academic skills required for the post-Saddam Air Force.

"I'm proud to be given the chance to work for the Iraq Air Force again," Iraqi Air Force warrant officer Fashel Olam Halaf, a 17-year veteran, said.

The course was meant to recertify the returning airmen, whose ages range from 40 to 55. The course was given by 12 Iraqi trainers overseen by U.S. advisers.

"Our mission here is specifically to advise the Iraqi basic military instructors," Gaffney, an instructor with the 821st Expeditionary Training Squadron, said. "We created the course's curriculum with the Iraqi cadre. We taught them how to teach the courses."

Over the last year, the Iraq Air Force has taken over training responsibilities from the U.S. military. The service offers 32 courses, including everything from pilot to technician training, albeit at a pace much slower than that of the U.S. military.

"They take time off during the training course for vacation, and they have officers and warrant officers teaching basic training, not enlisted," Gaffney said.

Officials said the latest course marked the largest class of returning Iraqi airmen. They said the returnees were divided into two groups to save on training and accommodations.

"They alternate weeks when they go through the course," Master Sgt. Everett Nicholson, the 821st Expeditionary Training Squadron's superintendent and curriculum manager, said.

Officials said the return of thousands of ex-Saddam veterans would bolster the Iraqi military and enhance discipline. They said most of the veterans would return to the same jobs they held before 2003.

"We appreciate the American advisers because they help us build the new Air Force and they want this new Air Force to be successful," Iraq Air Force Lt. Col. Ali Hussein Muhaimeed, the director of a training squad, said. "They have given us everything we've asked for in training and we appreciate it."

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