Air Force BEAST Week was a four-day field exercise during Basic Military Training that simulated a combat deployment and tested everything recruits had learned to that point. Its formal name was Basic Expeditionary Airman Skills Training. The Air Force retired it in late 2022 after 16 years and replaced it with a new capstone exercise called PACER FORGE.1U.S. Air Force. Forging the Next Generation: BMT Leads the Way If you’re heading to BMT now, you won’t go through BEAST. You’ll go through its faster, more dispersed successor.
What BEAST Week Was
BEAST ran during week five of the 8.5-week BMT program at a dedicated training site on Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland’s Medina Annex.2Joint Base San Antonio. Air Force Debuts New BEAST Site The site was built to look and feel like a deployed location, with mock villages, limited infrastructure, and tents instead of dorm rooms. Hundreds of trainees moved through together in one large encampment, living in the field for four continuous days.
The exercise packed in a lot. Trainees practiced tactical movement, defended positions against simulated attacks, and staffed entry control points around their zones. They trained in tactical combat casualty care and learned to identify unexploded ordnance.3Air & Space Forces Magazine. Air Force Beefs Up Basic Training ACE Exercise to 57 Hours Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense was a core component, including donning protective gear and operating under simulated contamination.437th Training Wing. 737 Training Group Mission Brief
Two signature elements stood out. Pugil stick training paired recruits in padded staff combat, testing aggression and composure. The CLAW, short for Creating Leaders, Airmen, and Warriors, was a series of field exercises that forced teams to solve problems and move through obstacles together under pressure. Both ran alongside weapons familiarization through Combat Arms Training and Maintenance and combatives applications.
The environment layered on psychological stress. Sleep was limited, simulated attacks came at unpredictable hours, and intelligence briefings kept shifting the scenario. Recruits built and tore down their own defensive positions. The point was to create enough friction that trainees found out how they performed when tired, uncomfortable, and uncertain.
Why the Air Force Retired BEAST
BEAST was built around the threats airmen faced in the Middle East: incoming mortar rounds, car bombs, roadside explosives, sniper fire, and complex attacks on forward operating bases. That fit two decades of counterterrorism operations, but the curriculum stayed largely unchanged even as the strategic picture shifted toward competition with China and the need for more adaptable forces.5Air & Space Forces Magazine. Air Force Drops BEAST Week From Boot Camp in Favor of ACE Exercise In late 2022, the BMT commander assessed that BEAST was too narrowly focused on a specific kind of war and ordered a redesign.1U.S. Air Force. Forging the Next Generation: BMT Leads the Way
What Trainees Do Now: PACER FORGE
PACER FORGE stands for Primary Agile Combat Employment Range, Forward Operations Readiness Generation Exercise. Where BEAST sent hundreds of trainees into one large camp, PACER FORGE splits them into smaller, dispersed teams that mirror how the Air Force expects to operate in a contested environment against a near-peer adversary.
The exercise runs during the sixth week of BMT and walks trainees through the steps of deploying from start to finish.6Air Education and Training Command. A New Chapter in Readiness: PACER FORGE Provisional Before arriving at the former BEAST site, trainees complete a bag drag, hazmat training, and weapons qualifications, essentially preparing for a deployment the way they would in the operational Air Force. Once on the ground, scenarios test flexibility, information-seeking, decision-making, and teamwork within those small teams.
The core concept is the multi-capable airman: someone who can perform tasks outside their primary career field, operate from remote or austere locations, and move quickly when the situation changes.5Air & Space Forces Magazine. Air Force Drops BEAST Week From Boot Camp in Favor of ACE Exercise BEAST trained airmen for a relatively stable base with established infrastructure. PACER FORGE assumes the base might not exist yet and your team might need to build it.
The current version, called PACER FORGE Provisional, runs 57 hours across three days and two nights, up from the original 36 hours.6Air Education and Training Command. A New Chapter in Readiness: PACER FORGE Provisional It uses an airfield-centric environment where trainees perform tasks that support flight operations, including building tents, executing radio procedures, and carrying medical litters during missions. Space Force recruits, called Guardians, go through BMT at the same Lackland facility and participate in PACER FORGE alongside Air Force trainees.
If You’re Shipping Out Soon
You don’t need to train specifically for the field exercise before you leave, but arriving at BMT in good physical condition makes everything easier. The Air Force expects recruits to meet aerobic and body composition standards on arrival, and those who fall short risk separation before training begins.
The more useful preparation is mental. The exercise is designed to be uncomfortable, disorienting, and tiring. Recruits who accept that going in, and who focus on working with their team rather than powering through alone, tend to perform better. The scenarios reward people who communicate, share information, and adapt when the plan falls apart. That’s the whole point. The Air Force isn’t testing whether you can tough it out by yourself. It’s testing whether you can function as part of a small team when nothing goes the way you expected.