The 241st Air Traffic Control Squadron reached a new milestone Monday when its first student completed a two-year advanced training program in 18 months.

At the air traffic control training program, Missouri Air National Guard citizen-soldiers train to be active duty Air Force officers.

U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Charles Chapote is the school’s first graduate, said Capt. John Howie, squadron commander. Mr. Chapote had been an enlisted man before entering the Air Force Academy and had prior training in air traffic control, Mr. Howie said. The lieutenant also received a promotion Monday from second lieutenant to first lieutenant.

The graduate will depart later this week for special operations duty at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico.

An Air National Guard selling point to the Air Force was the fact that the unit could provide a school program combined with practical training, Mr. Howie said. Each student has the opportunity to deploy before graduation and put their training to use.

“That means the graduates can hit the ground running instead of being just a raw recruit,” Mr. Howie said.

One of the instructors is Cindy Caughlan, a retired chief master sergeant who came back to the unit as a civilian instructor. The students learn how to work in a tower, handle radar and airfield management, Ms. Caughlan said.

While working in the tower at Rosecrans, the officers gain experience from enlisted personnel who have worked as air traffic controllers in combat zones. Last year Ms. Caughlan and Mr. Howie arranged for students to take a mobile air traffic control unit to the Tarkio, Mo., airport fly-in.

Currently, there are two college Reserve Officers Training Corps graduates, Capt. Melissa Moroney and 2nd Lt. Sasha Goeringer, as well as academy graduates 1st Lt. Sean Conley and 2nd Lt. Miles-Tyson Blocker.

Two more students are expected to be assigned to the air traffic controllers school in July and August.

Marshall White can be reached

at marshall@npgco.com.

Correction: An editor introduced an error into a story about an Air National Guard program that appeared on Page B1 of Thursday’s Midland section. The story’s second paragraph should have read, “At the air traffic control training program, Missouri Air National Guard citizen-soldiers train active duty Air Force officers.”