Other Courses

[SAR-EMT1]

Aside from the AFIADL courses our own PME - SLS CLC etc...  'CADREs' "Air and Space Power Course" and the FEMA virtual Campus stuff
are there any other 'free' courses / certificates offered by USAF/CAP/Army/US Govt etc ? that you would be willing to recommend?

- Thanks

[arajca]

State-run FEMA-developed courses are good. I highly recommend Basic PIO. This (ond other FEMA "G" series course) are put on by your state emergency management folks. Each state handles it differently, but in CO, if you are a volunteer, you can attend for no cost. And, if you live more than 50 miles away from where the course is being held, the state will pick up the hotel bill. You still have to pay for meals and transportation, though.

After Basic PIO and some experience, you can apply for the Advanced PIO residence course at EMI. If you're into the whole PIO thing.

I recommend doing ICS 200 - 400 in person in addition to online (for ICS 200). Check with local fire or law enforcement agencies to see if they have space.

[SAR-EMT1]

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[Stonewall]

Our local Fire Dept allows our squadron 1 slot a year (or is it per course) to attend ICS resident courses.

American Red Cross may offer or sponsor some local DR courses, I know they did up in the DC area.

[SARMedTech]

There are also about a gazillion NIMS/ICS courses at the FEMA/DHS/EMI online that I have found to be really good.

I always recommend ICS 100, 200 and 700 along with online free WMD course. I believe that EMI has free onlines for Incident Commanders as well.

[O-Rex]

Army/USMC courses are available, but you have to have a .mil email address.

I'm currently enrolled in web-based Naval War College, but you have to fill out the application, to include positions held, where you got your Bachelor's degree (non-waiverable) etc.  They initially turned me down ("Civil-who??") got a letter from my LO, and they let me in.

It's not for the faint-of-heart or for tire-kickers: you enroll, you are expected to complete.  It's alot of reading, and term-papers, term-papers and more term-papers.  Grades and crtitiques are no-BS tell-it-like-it-is deals: the professors don't pull punches.  I graduated cum laude from College, and averaged in the 90's in USAF PME, and I struggle for a B+ average in this program.

Cool part is online chat sessions with your fellow COHORT students: you get insight  and "I'm there now" perspectives from the folks who are doing this 24/7 (one of our classmates was chatting from the sandbox, another from a CVN cruising in the Gulf.)  There are deadlines, rather than working at your own pace within 18 months, like SOS/ACSC (both of which I took, this is harder.) 

Also, you have to enroll for each course, Fall-Spring semesters just like College. Total actual course length is about 56 weeks.

I'm about 2/3 the way through, will take Spring 08 off, then take the last course in Aug to Graduate in Spring 09.

Fantastic educational experience for those so inclined and disciplined: it's one of those "I love it/I hate it" deals. 

"Love-me wall" cert-collectors: seek life elsewhere.

[PA Guy]

Try: www.teex.com

They offer a multitude of free courses on-line, at your location or on their campus at Texas A&M and many come with CEUs.

[mamadinos]

I recommend the CERT (citizen's emergency response training) program.  They teach disaster procedures for the citizen, some basic first aid and triage, some search and rescue - like in a collapsed building.  I went to this program once a week for a month or so and then there was a final Disaster exercise on a Saturday.  It was informative and free.  I hope to attend again sometime.  https://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/

[CAP_truth]

The national fire academy has course with FEMA on terrorism. Also, there are many free college courses available on-line.

[SARMedTech]

I can testify to the rigors of online study. Im doing my masters through the American Military University. Even if you have a bachelor's degree or even another masters from a university that you actually attend (as opposed to online) Im finding that online can get really hairy and tiring. Even having a half of a masters degree already from a brick and mortar university (or two ) I would say that this work is putting my student skills to the test.

There are good aspects too: One of them is the course offerings at AMU. They tend to focus on more military type studies like logistics, intelligence, emergency management, homeland security, etc, so if thats what youre looking for AMU is great because so many of the professors are AD/retired military or are leaders in their given field. You can also access the online library which is something like 25,000 volumes. You do get the chance talk with your cohort as was previously mentioned and I have already made some friends that are in my classes that I talk with on the phone or IM on a regular basis. The other great thing is that since there are no actual "classrooms" the professors are both teach and actively working in their field. One of my professors is an intelligence/terrorism analyst with the DoD. Having professors who are working day to day doing what they teach is invaluable.
They also offer certificates in some of the above mentioned areas both at the graduate and undergraduate level.

The biggest thing in distance education is discipline in terms of your work ethic because from the very first class, its sink or swim and when you dont have to face your professor in the classroom every day, you either have to exercise the discipline you already have or develop in [darn] quick.

One final thing for those of you working on ES/Emergency Management etc...there are several universities that offer these degrees (Philly U, St. Louis U, E. Kentucky State) and some of them require that you spend a certain amount of time on campus for table top exercises, drills, etc. At first that was a big deal to me, a big drawing card. But, if you are in CAP, or a DMAT team, a CERT team, etc you are going to get this kind of experience anyway and much more than you would at the university level, so in the end I decided not to let that being a deciding factor, since I am in the field once every couple of months for some sort of training or another anyway.

[The Hawk]

There are also about a gazillion NIMS/ICS courses at the FEMA/DHS/EMI online that I have found to be really good.

I always recommend ICS 100, 200 and 700 along with online free WMD course. I believe that EMI has free onlines for Incident Commanders as well.

I'd add the newly-revised IS-800.A (National Response Plan) course to the above list, as well.

The National Response Plan, or NRP, describes how the Federal Government will work in concert with State, local, and tribal governments and the private sector to respond to disasters.

If you've got a broadband connection (and it doesn't have to be a particularly fast one), the following website does a nice job of providing the ICS / NIMS courses in a "limited multimedia" format:

http://emilms.fema.gov/

[Dustoff]

There are also about a gazillion NIMS/ICS courses at the FEMA/DHS/EMI online that I have found to be really good.

I always recommend ICS 100, 200 and 700 along with online free WMD course. I believe that EMI has free onlines for Incident Commanders as well.

I'd add the newly-revised IS-800.A (National Response Plan) course to the above list, as well.

The National Response Plan, or NRP, describes how the Federal Government will work in concert with State, local, and tribal governments and the private sector to respond to disasters.

If you've got a broadband connection (and it doesn't have to be a particularly fast one), the following website does a nice job of providing the ICS / NIMS courses in a "limited multimedia" format:

http://emilms.fema.gov/

Now called the National Response Framework.

I'm looking for 800.B to be released soon.......



Jim

[CadetProgramGuy]

Doing the FEMA classes myself.  Most of it is Good Stuff.