Welcome to the Services AFSC discussion blog. The purpose of this blog is to foster discussion between future Air Force officers interested in the Services career field and current officers in Services. The views expressed in this blog are solely the opinions of the individual authors and not of the United States Air Force nor the Department of Defense.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Questions
Cadets, please post questions here as a comment on this post that you'd like to see turned into new threads for discussion.
I have had too many best days to count. Services does so much on a base - food ops, lodging, rec programs, clubs, golf, fitness, child care and youth programs, readiness, etc. Being involved with all of those means you get so many opportunities to lead and try new ideas. Some of my best days were as a squadron commander - visiting with the troops, giving out awards, commanders calls, and so forth. There is nothing better than leading a large group of people and seeing the amazing things they can make happen. You learn so much. I got to work at the Pentagon and at the MAJCOM level. My current job is running the Services officer schoolhouse - interacting with the junor officers and making sure we give them what they need to get started right. So lots of good days...
Since Services manages the mortuary affairs program there have been some very sobering times too. My worst days were those where we lost one of our AF family. But even at that it was so good to know that we were there to help the family, inform them about benefits, take care of arrangements. They were always so appreciative in spite of their loss it was humbling.
SVS officers gets lots of leadership opportunities, and we often get them earlier than our counterparts because we own so many programs and facilities. Our officers deploy pretty much every AEF cycle, so you will also lead troops in that environment. We are just about to merge with the personnel career field, so all the "people" programs will be under one umbrella. I think that will only broaden those opportunities - you will still be able to lead as a section chief, flight chief, deputy, and commander - only with a bigger unit now. In many cases, we will be one of the largest units on the base, so plenty of chances to take the lead from the Lt to the LtCol level.
2 comments:
What has your best day so far been like?
And your worst day?
What kinds of leadership opportunities are available in services?
I have had too many best days to count. Services does so much on a base - food ops, lodging, rec programs, clubs, golf, fitness, child care and youth programs, readiness, etc. Being involved with all of those means you get so many opportunities to lead and try new ideas. Some of my best days were as a squadron commander - visiting with the troops, giving out awards, commanders calls, and so forth. There is nothing better than leading a large group of people and seeing the amazing things they can make happen. You learn so much. I got to work at the Pentagon and at the MAJCOM level. My current job is running the Services officer schoolhouse - interacting with the junor officers and making sure we give them what they need to get started right. So lots of good days...
Since Services manages the mortuary affairs program there have been some very sobering times too. My worst days were those where we lost one of our AF family. But even at that it was so good to know that we were there to help the family, inform them about benefits, take care of arrangements. They were always so appreciative in spite of their loss it was humbling.
SVS officers gets lots of leadership opportunities, and we often get them earlier than our counterparts because we own so many programs and facilities. Our officers deploy pretty much every AEF cycle, so you will also lead troops in that environment. We are just about to merge with the personnel career field, so all the "people" programs will be under one umbrella. I think that will only broaden those opportunities - you will still be able to lead as a section chief, flight chief, deputy, and commander - only with a bigger unit now. In many cases, we will be one of the largest units on the base, so plenty of chances to take the lead from the Lt to the LtCol level.
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