A Booming Legacy: AFCOMAC hits 300-class milestone during historic 40th year Published June 30, 2026 By Airman 1st Class Tyjaih Wallace 9th Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Combat airpower isn't born in the sky. It is built by hand. It starts here, in the gravel and dust of the Northern California hills. Under a relentless sun, joint service members wrestle with heavy bomb bodies, guide them onto roller-based assembly lines, and transform crates of raw components into the munitions used in combat operations downrange. For the 300th time since opening its doors, the Air Force Combat Ammunition Center pushed a new wave of munitions leaders out to the field. Class 26-006 graduated here June 19, 2026. History stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the students this year. As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, AFCOMAC is marking its 40th year of operations. The milestone graduation of its 300th class pushes the schoolhouse’s historic roster past 21,000 alumni. U.S. Air Force Capt. Thomas Easter, 9th Munitions Squadron AFCOMAC director of operations, noted the heavy weight of those converging milestones. "As we graduate the 300th AFCOMAC class during the 40th anniversary year of the schoolhouse and the 250th anniversary of the country, it’s a reminder of how far we have come as not just an Air Force, but as a joint enterprise," said Easter. "Every AFCOMAC class has now incorporated four sister-service seats per class to enable joint collaboration, further pushing the envelope of what the munitions and ordnance fields are capable of." The school wasn't built by accident. U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Leo Marquez, U.S. Air Force Headquarters Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics and Engineering at the time, ordered its creation after the Vietnam War exposed a critical flaw: the military’s ability to mass-produce munitions in a combat zone had severely degraded. Today, the threat has changed. Carpet-bombing is largely a relic, replaced by precision-guided munitions. To stay ahead of modern adversaries, the curriculum had to evolve. That adaptation takes the shape of Exercise Iron Flag. It is a four-day, high intensity training in a simulated deployed environment. This exercise is the crucible of the course. Instructors intentionally engineer friction into the capstone event, forcing students to hit their physical and mental limits in the demanding outdoor environment. They have to build over 1,000 live munitions under severe operational constraints, while racing to meet simulated wartime mission sorties. For Class 26-006, that friction hit early. "We saw resilience at its best," said Easter. "The first day of Iron Flag, they had a few operational constraints that slowed their production processes and put them behind. The next day they altered their plan, resolving the constraints and executing their scheme like a well-oiled machine to meet the mission." Out of 300 classes, only 25 have achieved a 100% perfection rate. However, the true measure of success is not a perfect scorecard. The real victory lies in failing, adapting and mastering the 60 desired learning objectives that these troops take back to their home units. Gathering together as official AFCOMAC graduates, Class 26-006 carried the gritty heritage of the 299 classes that came before them. That history now serves as the blueprint for tomorrow's battlefield. For leadership, this historic milestone marks a starting line rather than a finish line. "As we look to the future of AFCOMAC, the next 300 classes and the next 40 years, the schoolhouse will be a cornerstone in the development of munitions tactics and doctrine for the ever-evolving contingency operations around the globe," said Easter. Armed with lessons learned through manufactured chaos, the graduates are heading back to their units. They are ready to build, fight and prove that the joint force remains the most lethal in the world.