Sky Brigade
Life in the Air Force
By Jordan Alexander
By Jordan Alexander
From the age of 18, anyone is able to enter any branch of the military. Whether or not they want to finish college is up to them, but they can always go back after they’ve completed their military services. Working many hours on projects that could take up to six months or more, these chosen men and women are trained both mentally and physically to challenge themselves at all times.
When speaking with Rochelle Rose, an officer of the Air Force, she said “In my opinion, the Air Force is the cream of the crop when it comes to all of the military services”. Clearly, she was happy to enlist when she did and has no regrets. Although, she also said “My first two years I was in charge of personnel so I was at work 10-14 hours a day”. To me that seems like a long time to be working every day. It’s basically two days of school in one day. It’s pretty obvious that any sort of work in the military is either physically or mentally demanding no matter who you are, and as stated by Rochelle, she has been working on a project for the past 6 months and still hasn’t been completed yet. Rochelle stated that when she’d turned eighteen, she still wanted to go to college, so she left San Diego to search for her own interest. Hearing about the incentive in which Uncle Sam would pay her school dues if she’d done 4 years of active duty, she’d decided to try it out. From the time she was very young, Rochelle was always surrounded by a couple of family members either in service or retired. These “couple” included her Grandfather, Henry Rose, deceased veteran, and her Aunt, Pandolla Hicks, who retired from the Air Force about 5 years ago. While her grandfather is now deceased, Ms. Hicks is still with us, but is currently retired from duty and is now working as a nurse in Boston, Massachusetts. Although, even in death, Rochelle’s grandfather still manages to influence her, along with her retired aunt. Seeing as how successful they were while they were in service, Rochelle become hooked on the whole thing and thought life in service to her country wouldn’t be all bad. From the present all the way back to the year 1969, the Air Force has stationed themselves in San Diego. Within their ranks, there are at least 312,453 active duty officers. Sometimes, this branch of soldiers will even cooperate with the Navy, whether for certain programs or other special and covert operations/services each need help with. According to an Air Force Census/Demographic, originating from the Air Force Personnel Center, 42% of its members enlist below the age of 26, meaning not too long after or during college. Plus, only 14% of officers are below the age of 26, meaning you’d have to be pretty lucky to become an officer younger than this age. This site was equipped with all types of information like when women first began pilot training and fighter pilot training. It also included information such as age of retirement and enlistment, and even percentages of men and women in the force. This very informational site isn’t exactly the actually data foundation for the Air Force, but it does contain enough information to inform you about who joins and what they may do, and is updated from time to time. While both sexes may have made progress in their services to the public, women especially, have made substantial progress and development in their ranks. As you probably already know, the military is a male-dominated sort of area altogether. But it’s not as though women have no place there, but simply that there aren’t that many of them there in the first place. In the year 1976, women were finally allowed to begin their flight training, and then able to begin navigator training in 77’. Although, they were not able to start their pilot training until 93’. During the interview with Rochelle, she said “I believe its hard being a woman in the military period. There's definitely a male mentality in the military. However I believe of all the services, the Air Force is the best service for women. We have a standard promotion where they look more at the file than the gender. You see more women in higher ranks now than 10 years ago. It's a good feeling.” Clearly, even a woman as dedicated to her job as Rochelle is still feeling the pressure of being a woman. But, as said in her own words, women especially have grown in the ranks and are promoted a lot more than the male contenders. Obviously, the Air Force has been receiving many more women than any other military services over the last few years. There are even commercials you may see on television about the Air Force where women mainly appear. As you may already know per the military, each individual is always a part of a platoon or team. Each team has a leader, and each leader has their subordinates. With her platoon, Rochelle works to maintain, watch and contract the air force UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), since her main job is to provide governmental oversight of them.
On Tuesday, November 25th, I went with Rochelle to her department of work. What I thought was an Air Force base was actually many contracting buildings; each building creating one portion of the UAV that would eventually be put together in the main building. When I was there, I had the lucky opportunity to going into the main building. In there, I viewed the UAVs or unmanned aerial vehicles, which were actually larger than I originally thought. When I was there, I got to see the work stations of each individual, the jobs they do, the inside wiring of the UAV, the piloting seats and controllers and even had the chance to attend a 15 minute meeting about which UAVs passed or failed their tests. Each UAV is controlled by one person or pilot, but, each pilot is granted one other to provide scanning. Scanning meaning that person tells the pilot how many targets there are around them or in their line of sight; for extra protection. Also, each UAV is given a front camera you’ve probably seen in pictures. That camera is round and can view things in a multiple array of sights like infrared and night vision. For those of you that don’t know, infrared is when you view things with a specific heat temperature. Since we as humans have a very distinct heat signature, it makes it easier for a drone to find us. There are those responsible for making the UAVs parts, those who put the parts together, the ones conducting the flight system tests, those from the government who tell the workers what they want to see and etc. Since Rochelle’s job is to provide governmental oversight, she’s the one who tells the people manufacturing the UAVs what the government wants on their drone(s). She is also responsible for making sure every part is there. When I was there, I noticed she took note of everything she’d heard work-wise and listed everything she needed to go over. Also, the work environment is very strict, but a very fun one as well. Everyone is nice to each other and makes jokes about things, but when they really get down to it, they become a team and get the job done. Most of the time, everyone is always working on something so I take it they don’t get that much free time, but when I went there, the environment seemed a lot more mellow than I originally expected. I was most surprised to witness the friendliness of each individual. Everyone looked like they’re having a good time and cast out any form of tension. The atmosphere of it all made it worthwhile. |