‘In lieu of’ airmen get new moniker

[308Mike]

Linkarooni

‘In lieu of’ airmen get new moniker

Joint expeditionary tasking replaces ILO
Staff report
Posted : Wednesday Dec 24, 2008 5:56:56 EST

You’re not an ILO. You’re now a JET.

The Air Force has added another acronym that likely will become common lingo when discussions turn to deployments.

Deploying airmen who used to fill ILO positions — short for “in lieu of” — now are filling JET jobs — “joint expeditionary tasking.”

Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz was one of the leaders to enact the name change.

More of this story..............

[blackeagle603]

Airmen? Work?

Ooooo-Kay.


/Shameless Squid Trolling

Seriously, just saw my nephew for the first time since he went to USAF Basic and Hydrastics school. Got himself stationed in Tucson working on Herc's. He's a college engineering dropout, award winning paint and body man, ace fabricator welder, solid PC/SysAdmin/Geeking type and all around excellent wrench with a strong work ethic.

Prolly because of that after only a couple months into his USAF life I can tell he's on the verge of being bored out of his gourd within the narrow AFSC classification system. He's still sounding upbeat though. The Navy's broader NEC responsibilities and smaller shop deployment dynamic would probably have suited him better.

Hopefully he'll keep his attitude squared away and his "A" game on and get recognized/tagged for a college program.

[Rich]

Blackeagle, it is what he makes of it. My first job title was "Airborne Radar Navigation Systems Trainee." That didn't stop me from working ECM, Radio Communications, Fire Control Radar, Assistant Bomb/Missile Humper, Electrician, PMEL Assistance and Crew Chief Helper among other things, whenever we had slack time. The usual attitude from the higher ups was, as long as my assigned work was squared away and my boss knew where he could get ahold of me, I could pretty much work wherever I was welcome. And believe me, some of the shops were very appreciative, and I got to know some of the other side of things.

Oh yeah, when I had my cross service Navy tour, I filled a Navy AT billet, was seconded to ships company and pretty much was the DECM tech aboard Ranger.

And yes, the AFSC classification system is too narrow.

[308Mike]

And yes, the AFSC classification system is too narrow.

And because of that, I figured if ANY service was to get unionized, it would be the Air Force (and they're the most junior of the services).

[randy]

Prolly because of that after only a couple months into his USAF life I can tell he's on the verge of being bored out of his gourd within the narrow AFSC classification system.

May I humbly suggest that he's pretty new in the system (from your description, i.e. first assignment out of Tech School, and less than a year on station) to be "bored". It sounds like he may be too junior to be given much opportunity to expand his horizons. Once he's proved his skills and worth to his immediate and senior supervisors, he'll be given more responsibility and the chance to branch out.

YOU know he's good, but he's got to prove it to the NCOs that really run the shops. Until then, the thing to do is to be patient and to master the depth of his current assigned duties.

Once he's done that, there will be opportunities for schools, courses, additional duties, and special duty assignments.

Maybe he needs to volunteer for a deployment. Seriously. The pace of a deployed unit is MUCH different and the need to do what the mission needs, despite job titles, is a daily occurrence.

As for the AFSC system, I got out just before the current one came into effect, so things may have changed. While it may have been narrow on paper and in strict definition, my basic Intel AFSC got me into a lot of interesting things that were technically beyond the scope of my specific Intel specialty, and a lot of things that had nothing to do with Intel at all. But that didn't start happening until well into the second half of my first assignment out of the School House, and didn't really kick in until a couple of assignments later.

[blackeagle603]

Just seeing the contrast in the AFSC and NEC systems/cultures and reminded of the (good) advice I got to enlist in Navy for max tech growth in minimum timespan. To an outsider the AF system really does have parallels with a Union shop. I remember trying to explain to some AF guys we shared space with at Red Flag what our AT rate did. They couldn't believe our rate was A, B & C shop all rolled up into one -- plus I was one of a couple in the shop who were also Enlisted Aircrew (In Flight Tech and Radar Operator).

He didn't say he was bored. It's still new and just the cultural adjustments will have him hopping for another year or so. I'm just reading into it and seeing ahead. He'll take every challenge/opportunity that comes his way. It was pretty clear how narrow his field is. It's his nature to want to do more. He's got game.
He's been fabricating trailers and tractor parts since 12, has done several frame off car restorations and won a couple shows startin at 17. Had quite a shadetree bodyshop business going for a while. The past few years also was busy rebuilding engines for younger brother who's a national ranked youth motocrosser (now adult desert racer for Suzuki) til he enlisted last year. No wonder he dropped out of college. He had way too much stuff on his plate that was way more fun shortterm.

He's proud to be in the Air Force. His namesake (Grandpa) was Army Air Corp and stayed in to retire from the Air Force as a Tech Sgt in the late 60's. That connection runs deep with him. He'll stay the course and make most of it. I wouldn't be surprised if he makes a career of it and gets back to finish college at night.

[randy]

They couldn't believe our rate was A, B & C shop all rolled up into one -- plus I was one of a couple in the shop who were also Enlisted Aircrew (In Flight Tech and Radar Operator).

Well, your average AFB has just a leetle more room for the quarters etc for the additional personnel to allow specialization than your average Carrier, ya think?

[First Shirt]

Maybe he needs to volunteer for a deployment. Seriously. The pace of a deployed unit is MUCH different and the need to do what the mission needs, despite job titles, is a daily occurrence.

Randy's got it right. The busier a unit is, the more opportunity there is for an individual to expand their horizons, and branch out a little. That also applies to a small unit with a big job, since everybody has to wear two (or three or four) hats.

And the busier a unit is, the faster the real "burners" start to show, and good NCOs look for that.

[cageym]

I was in Combat Communications (in the Army it would be tactical comm) and when wew deployed we had so much to do setting up sites, including site defense, that there really wasn't time to get bored.