Welcome to Alabama Wing's Emergency Services School (WESS, formerly FTX) web site.
WESS’s home is Officer Training School’s Gilbert Hall in Montgomery, AL.

Utilizing the links above, you can see the scope of the training we provide. Our goal is simple - to provide our students, and the wing, with the best quality of training and the best trained operators possible. Our methodology has been developed over the past decade and is refined following every event to accomplish this goal.

The WESS was started in 1997 as a test-site for the National Emergency Services Curriculum and National Ground Search And Rescue (NGSAR) School. Since that time, the WESS has grown to become one of the longest running CAP ground team task training programs in the region.

Members from Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Maryland have participated in the program. We continue to be closely tied to NGSAR, with many of our staff members serving at the national school and implementing the programmatic and methodology changes we develop every year.

I hope you find this site useful and that you develop a greater understanding and appreciation of our program. If you wish to read more about the history of the WESS and how the curriculum has evolved, please read the History of the WESS.

Regards,

Michael Long, Lt Col
Director