Typical day at work requires a lot of attention to detail, answering phones, scheduling appointments, attending meetings, organizing meetings, managing responsibilities.
I would usually from 7 through 4, 5 days a week. I would take apart our equipment. Find the problem, fix it and put it back together. I would also expect all our units to make sure they are running well and everything is ok. While I would inspect these units; I would have to refill liquids, wash, replace, paint, stencil, and fix them. I learned how every piece of equipment worked and how to fix it. When I wasn’t working in the shop I would also drive a gov’t truck around to deliver the pieces of equipment I was working on to aircrafts and hangers.
A typical day included controlling aircraft in multiple positions, training, and other facility related tasks. The hardest part of the job was during training to become a rated air traffic controller. The job was very enjoyable and challenging.
If you want a job where you get handle bombs, ammo, missiles, rockets and all types of gun ammunition step right up. Be warned, however, that you will be outside in the heat of the day in the summer and the middle of the night in the dead of winter. You will be on your feet anywhere from 6 to 10 hours out of your 8-12 hour day. Your back, knees, shoulders and feet will more than likely end up, at best, getting you on a desk work profile for a month, and at worse getting hurt so bad you’ll end up getting medically discharged (seen it happen to at least a dozen people). I personally have had to have extensive physical therapy for my knees, back, shoulders and feet over my 7+ years in this job. You have virtually no free time for family, school, or working out, and are expected to still manage to get your job-related associates degree and pass your Physical Fitness test despite this. As far as the actual work, loading is great and all, until you are the only crew on shift because everyone is at appointments or too injured to work, so your 3-person crew is responsible for loading all 14+ jets that will be taking off in a few hours. There is also the maintenance side, which is about 2/3 of everything we do. Every single piece of weapons system equipment on aircraft require periodic inspections. These can be anywhere from once a week to 1.5 years. These consist of tasks as simple as wiping the gun down with lubricant to removing parts that require up to 12 hours of follow-on maintenance and operational/functional checks. For example, to remove the gun system from the A10, it takes about 6 hours to remove the entire system, another 8 to clean the gun bay on the aircraft, 24 hours+ for the off-equipment maintenance shop to fully disassemble and reassemble the entire gun system for their inspections, then about a full day for quality assurance to inspect and normally reject the gun bay cleaning, which you then have to re-accomplish, another 6 hours to reinstall the system, then 8 more hours to fully inspect the entire bay post-installation, only for quality assurance to inspect it and fail it again, then, and ONLY then, after it passes the inspection, do you begin the follow on operational and functional checks which test the electronics and mechanical functioning of the system. So, all in all you’re looking at about 60 hours of work, and that’s when everything works the first time.It’s basically the same overall process for every. Single. Piece. Of equipment on that aircraft. In addition to that, sometimes something just doesn’t work and nobody knows why, so you have to break into wiring diagrams and schematics and chase fault codes, trying to figure out what exactly is broken, because just because one thing doesn’t work doesn’t mean that’s whats broken. Don’t think if you’re not on the A10 you’ll escape this, every airframe is just as complex and needy, the A10 is just older and more prone to breaking than newer platforms.
Honestly, it’s challenging, but it’s also pretty rewarding knowing you’re the reason those planes are mission-ready.
A typical work day would consist of a morning meet in which we would discuss the agenda of the day and order of importance that maintenance needs to be completed. After each morning meeting each member is assigned to either maintenance or inspection and released to carry out there wok either by themselves or in pairs.
What I enjoy most is the mix of hands-on work and teamwork. One day I might be repairing a piece of flight gear, the next I’m training with aircrew on how to use survival equipment. There’s always something new to learn, and it feels good knowing that the pilots trust us with their safety.
The military was fun but ultimately not for me I did my time. I came to California with a dream in my heart and I hope in my eye. They did a lot of stuff to make it hard for me and they definitely help me pave a lot of new avenues for my future but above Ali definitely and glad that everything that happened went the way it did. It allowed me to leave my comfort zone in Louisiana. To go to countries all around the world and spend some quality time with the one I’ve come to love.
A typical day is usually full of tasks to complete, and also waiting for management to give orders. So, half of the time you are working, then the other waiting around, but you have to appear busy.
I enjoyed my time in the Air Force. I was blessed with many great opportunities to learn and improve myself. Not only did I learn how to fight fires and perform rescues, I was also able to improve my personal traits (discipline, leadership, teamwork, etc). At the fire department we responded mostly to aircraft emergencies and medical emergencies. In addition to those we also had some structural, hazardous material and automobile emergencies. My co-workers were great people and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with them. I enjoyed the training I received the most of all but I am also taking pleasure in the benefits I received from the military.
Being a firefighter in the Air Force is honestly one of the coolest jobs I could’ve asked for. Some days we’re doing routine stuff like inspections or training, and other days we’re running full-scale drills that get your adrenaline pumping. We cover everything from regular building fires to aircraft emergencies, so the training is intense but it keeps you sharp.
What I like most is the crew. You really become family with the people you work with, and that trust is huge when you’re facing dangerous situations together. We push each other, joke around when it’s calm, but when it’s go-time, everyone’s locked in and ready.
On top of that, I’ve gotten certifications and experience here that set me up for a solid career after the military, whether I stay in firefighting or branch into something else. It’s tough work, but I wouldn’t trade it, there’s nothing like knowing what you do directly keeps people safe and mission-ready.
I would arrive at work make sure all my subordinates were there and then proceed with my work day. Involving checking listings and reports from the previous shift and finishing what they could not in their work day or work that had arrived at the end of their shift.
I learned much about team work, leadership, safety, and productivity. How to give constructive criticism and how to motivate my fellow workers. How to give feedback and performance reports as part of our promotions and progression.
The most enjoyable part of my job is returning deployed members to their families. I have learned quite a bit in the logistics field and I feel I can be a good asset to a civilian logistics company.
Client intakes, counseling sessions, group therapy sessions, managing troups, high level of taking on additional responsibilities as needed. Constant need for deployed members to respond to high risk areas in volatile countries like Afghanistan.
As a Security Forces Patrolman, my primary duties were to conduct base security and law enforcement tasks. Unfortunately, I am unable to go into too much detail of what my daily tasks involved, but I can assure you that I exceeded every task that was assigned to me and because of my outstanding service, I was even promoted to the rank of Senior Airman six months early. While conducting security details was the primary purpose of our mission, maintaining a professional image in the eyes of the public as well as my peers was something I was recognized for more than once throughout my career. My favorite thing I will take away from what I learned in the military was how to communicate with others, even those who many saw as deviant and “unmotivated.” I’ve always had a knack for earning people’s trust and in a stressful environment such as the military this was a great tool to have. The military taught me how to remain calm in the most stressful environments and to get the job done in the most efficient manner possible. My ability to communicate and gain the trust of my peers was well-known throughout my squadrons and for that reason, my flight chiefs and supervisors would often ask me to “make sure morale stayed high” through harsh working conditions. I’m a very positive person and a natural leader and my troops would always turn to me in our times of despair. I always did what i had to do to keep my troops morale up so they could focus on the mission at hand. The hardest part of the job for me was definitely the long hours (sometimes working up to 90 hours a week), but was not something I could not handle. My friends and co-workers were the main reason for this. They were easily the best part of my career and most others who “sign the dotted line” would agree. I love making work fun so that it does not feel like work at all and I feel like even in the high-tempo operation like the Air Force I was able to do that thanks to the wonderful people I was able to work with.
Depending on what shift you are own depends on the time of day you have to be at work…usually starts with roll call and then you are assigned your duties.. I’ve learned a lot being on the flight-line and have turned my mechanical skills to the best of my abilities while I was working for the USAF. Management was cooperative to a point . Co-workers were entertaining because we did whatever we could to keep our moral up during the long work days. The hardest part of the job was the time constraints to have broken jets fixed for flights in the next 4 hrs. The enjoyable part of the job is knowing that you are apart of something a small cog in a machine to a ever grown field.