AETC team calls for sharp Airmen to help ‘Shape tomorrow’s Air Force’

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Nearly 50 Team Mildenhall Airmen attended a Feb. 19 briefing in the 100th Operations Group auditorium here to learn about opportunities to help shape tomorrow's Air Force.

The briefing - hosted by two members of the Air Education and Training Command Recruiter Screening Team from Randolph Air Force Base, Texas - covered the benefits of becoming an Air Force recruiter or military training instructor.

"We're here to plant the seed," Senior Master Sgt. John Bryant, AETC Recruiter Screening Team superintendent, said. "Some people may not be leaving here for two years, but they'll come to the briefing today, become interested and decide they want to join, and two years from now we'll sign them up."

How to apply

According to Sergeant Bryant, applicants wishing to be considered for a special duty assignment as a recruiter or MTI should contact the team a year before returning to the states. They should also visit the Web site at www.rs.af.mil and complete the special duty application, giving detailed career and personal information. Along with the application, a copy of their last three enlisted performance reports, medical information and a full-length photo must also be included.

"From there, we review the package, and if the person is tentatively qualified, then we'll request a release from their functional career field for the four-year controlled tour," Sergeant Bryant said. "Once they get approval for release from their career field, we'll schedule a face-to-face interview to assess communication skills and look at their military image. We'll ask them why they want to be an MTI or recruiter, then decide if we want to hire them or not."

The superintendent said recruiters have about a 75 percent release rate, while MTIs have about a 90 percent release rate. Each position requires certain traits, and the recruiter screening team looks for those in each prospective new recruiter and MTI.

"A recruiter needs to have an outgoing personality, should truly love the Air Force and be ready to go out and tell the Air Force story to people who've never heard of it," said Sergeant Bryant. "They also need to be extremely career-minded, have above-average communication skills, and obviously have a personal appearance which portrays the military image we want to present."

He added that applicants must be able to work unsupervised, because as a recruiter they won't be at an Air Force base, but in the middle of America somewhere, in a recruiting office with no direct supervision.

"We need people who are self-motivators and self-starters," he said. "That especially applies to those wanting to become MTIs, because they're going to be responsible for training 50 people at a time to be Airmen, and they have to be able to do a lot of that training on their own. They also need an awesome record of achievements and self discipline, because that's what we're trying to instill in our new Airmen." 

Helpful for career progression

The superintendent said those accepted for recruiting and MTI special duty assignments will serve a four-year controlled tour, which is beneficial to Airmen's careers.

"They're going to broaden their career knowledge and their knowledge of the Air Force, in addition to gaining a lot of skills - including business and communication skills," he said. "When these people start looking at being a senior master sergeant or a chief master sergeant, they'll be much more attractive to a board."

The sergeant said that's because they stepped outside their career field and really broadened their horizons a more than someone who stayed in the same career field the entire time.

Senior Airman Cornell Frazier, 100th Civil Engineer Squadron, was among those who attended the briefing, and said he came to find out about other ways to contribute to the Air Force, and about the possibility of becoming an MTI.

"I'm interested in having the opportunity to train and mold young Airmen and help set up their careers for success," he said. "Initially when people come in the Air Force, it's a whole new world and a lot of times, it's their first time away from home.

"I think I have the ability to listen to people, lead by example, and inspire people to be their best, which are a few things that will make me a good MTI," he said, adding that he is considering submitting a special duty request package when the time comes. "The ultimate goal would be to send units highly-qualified Airmen who follow the standards."