Expert: James Bell - 6/14/2009

Question
hey, I am turning 21 in july.currently serving in the AF reserves. June marked my 2 yr anniversary. I pass my physical testings with flying colors and am pretty much in great standing. I was luckily placed in the aircraft maintenance career field which suites me perfectly. & I am pursuing it as a civilian. I made plans to go back to school this august to get my Airframe & Powerplant license because 1)its required for civilian mechanics and 2)I want a solid education to fully grasp the field to be more contributive & profitable. I am in a very flexible position and would like to explore all options in this deteriorating economy. I would love to get on orders but that seems impossible lately. So I considered retraining to another aircraft with less limitations (I work on C5, considering C17), to a different career field (considered loadmaster), or even a different branch if I could be activated. So question is: what should I do?

Answer
Dominique -

From what you have presented, you have a good number of options available to you.  First and foremost GET YOUR A&P.  That alone will provide employment to you in the future, anywhere from a small regional hometown airport to the major airlines.  To be certified to turn a wrench on ANY airplane requires that all-powerful A&P.

Once you have gotten your A&P, if you want to switch over to the loadmaster career field, it provides a large number of opportunities that would not be available now.  Being on any cargo aircraft -- or tanker aircraft as a boom operator -- provides more opportunity for travel, you see a greater overall picture of your role in the Air Force mission and, at the end of the day, you can see the tangible results of your work.

Another option is an aircraft flight engineer.  Your current job allows you to retrain into that field.  Once there, you can also get your FE ticket from the FAA and that, coupled with your A&P, would allow you to get a job as a PFE (professional flight engineer) with any cargo carrier (FedEx, UPS, Evergreen, Gemini, etc.).  As a former flight engineer, I know the PFE opportunities are out there and the salary is quite nice.  I would have gone that route myself, but since I came in as a loadmaster and switched to FE, I never had the maintenance background to get my A&P.  To be a PFE, you must have both of them.

All in all, I would look at three different jobs: Aircraft Loadmaster (AFSC 1A2x1), Inflight Refueling Operator ([Boom Operator] AFSC 1A0x1), and Flight Engineer (AFSC 1A1x1).  Other than looking them up in the AFI, here are links to each ...

Boom Operator (AFSC 1A0x1)
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/airforceenlistedjobs/a/afjob1a0x1.htm

Flight Engineer (AFSC 1A1x1)
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/airforceenlistedjobs/a/afjob1a1x1.htm

Loadmaster (AFSC 1A2x1)
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/airforceenlistedjobs/a/afjob1a2x1.htm

Good luck and don't hesitate to write back if you have more questions.  It looks like you are well on your path to good things in your future ... just make sure you have fun while you are doing it.

Sincerely,
James Bell