AEDC's Rick Trull graduates from prestigious FBI National Academy course

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  AEDC's Manager of Emergency Services, Rick Trull recently graduated from the 252nd Session of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Academy Program at Quantico, Va. He was the first Arnold Police Department officer to graduate from the 78-year-old academy's program.

"It was a once-in-lifetime experience, no doubt about it," said the Manchester resident, who joined AEDC's workforce in 2002 after completing a 25-year career with Air Force Security Forces.

Internationally known for its academic excellence, the National Academy Program, held at the FBI Academy, offers 10 weeks of advanced investigative, management and fitness training for selected officers having proven records as professionals within their agencies. On average, these officers have 19 years of law enforcement experience and usually return to their agencies to serve in executive-level positions.

Besides enjoying the challenge of high caliber and fast pace training, both academic and physical, Trull felt honored to receive his course completion certificate from FBI Director Robert Mueller and hear anti-terrorism presentations from such noted authorities as former USS Cole Commander Kirk Lippold and the heroic U.S. Army pilot Michael Durant, who was portrayed in the movie "Blackhawk Down."

"It was an opportunity to share and become familiar with how other people [in law enforcement] deal with the same types of situations and events that we have right here at Arnold Air Force Base and to learn from their experiences to make ourselves better," Trull said.

Trull found the pace of the classes a challenge, but one that brought out the best in the students.

"You had four to five classes a day, each one of those classes had multiple research papers that were due over a 10-week period," he said. "And there were multiple presentations - you really had to stay on a pretty tight schedule to be able to stay up with it. As a side note, I continued my master's program studies through Bethel University. I want to be able to graduate in December of this year, so I had to continue to be able to make my goal."

Trull said a lot about the FBI program impressed him.

"I got to meet some great dynamic speakers, people who have really been involved in the thick of things," he said. "Besides the more well-known speakers, we heard from retired police professionals such as the former police commissioner from New York and Los Angeles - those guys who have dealt with much more significant problems than we have."

Classes included lessons, presentations and workshops - practice sessions - on topics like terrorism, both foreign and domestic and leadership psychology.

Trull has been busy since returning from the program to implement the lessons learned from the FBI National Academy Program.

"I've passed quite a bit of information back to our shop and the leadership lessons are ones you take with you every day and have the opportunity to tailor them to the needs we have at Arnold," he said.

Trull added, "The neat thing about this program is it doesn't matter if you've got a 10,000 person department in a city like New York City or Los Angeles or if you've got a 55 person department in rural Tennessee. The issues are the same, crime is crime, and terrorism is terrorism. Asset and resource protection is the same regardless [whether] it's a pharmacy on a downtown street in Los Angeles or if it's a test facility at Arnold Air Force Base. Asset management and security is what you're talking about.

"A lot of the issues are the same, but it's just the scale. So, the opportunity to share and exchange with folks who face the same issues that you do, it's just priceless."