Keesler Air Force Base, located in Biloxi, Mississippi, is the home of the 81st Training Wing, continuing a tradition of training and education at Keesler since 1941. Here Air Force and other personnel, including 300 international students, can take courses in electronics, communications, information management, aerospace command and control, and air traffic control. Keesler also maintains the Department of Defense weather school and the second largest medical training facility in the Air Force.

Beginning with radio communications and radar, and moving into the computer age, Keesler turned out its one-millionth graduate in 1968 and kept on going. The major concentration is on technical subjects such as electronics, astronautics, and airborne warning and control systems. There were also occasional periods of training pilots.

The Keesler Medical Canter

The Keesler Medical Center is a training facility with a staff of over 2,000, and sees approximately 26,000 outpatients each month. Under the auspices of the 81st Medical Group, the Center conducts eight graduate medical education programs, complete with state-of-the-art training and research. The Center is one of only three Air Force facilities with a formal clinical investigations program. Their research facility and clinical research laboratory support more than 260 separate investigations.

Two other specialized facilities are the weather school and the air traffic controller school. Keesler began training all of the Department of Defense's weather forecasters and observers in 1992. During the 1981 professional air traffic controllers' strike, military controllers trained at Keesler were ordered to take over for the striking staff members. The strike was eventually settled without any major air accidents occurring during their absence.