Cape Girardeau native earns his wings

Cape Girardeau native, 2nd Lt. Neal Grossheider, earned his wings Friday as he graduated from Combat Systems Officer training class 11-04 at the 479th Flying Training Group at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.

Class 11-04 is the second-ever class to graduate under the new CSO program at NAS Pensacola. The program is the U.S. Air Force's sole training pipeline for CSOs.

Lieutenant Grossheider, a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University with a Bachelor's degree in Telecommunications and Computer Networking, will go on to serve as a CSO in the HC-130 at Moody Air Force Base, Ga.

The graduation marks the end of the 11-month program, which involves more than 620 hours of academics, nearly 100 hours in a flight simulator, and about 45 flight hours.

"Class 11-04, you've made it this far, but it only gets more challenging from here," said Col. Richard Murphy, 12th Flying Training Wing commander, to the graduates. "Many of you will quickly go on to be mission commanders. Many of you will see combat in less than a year's time. But I know that every one of you is ready to rise to the occasion."

The CSO program merges the navigator, weapons systems officer and electronic warfare officer career fields into one. Upon graduation from the program, each CSO is assignable to various aircraft platforms across the U.S. Air Force arsenal.

The program is slated to produce more than 380 qualified CSOs each year.