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Dream jobs: A look at the sweetest AF gigs

The career front can look like the war front at times. A new policy that cuts dwell time after yearlong deployments. Air Force Chief of Staff Norton Schwartz agreeing to more long war-zone tours if U.S. Central Command asks. And a raging recession that’s keeping re-enlistments up and bonuses down.

What’s an airman to do? Don’t despair. You have a job and you can get an even better one — without leaving the service. Ones that delay deployment, let you rub elbows with celebs and even have you working on the beach.

Thousands of you are eligible for each of these eight dream jobs — and Air Force Times gives you some tips on how to land them.

Now, read on. Then go reach for that big brass ring.

Enlisted aide for Air Force chief of staff

Locations: The Pentagon and Fort Myer, Va.

Throw a party for foreign dignitaries one night and jet off to Iraq with the chief of staff the next day. That’s the life of Senior Master Sgt. Frank Rodriguez, senior enlisted aide to Schwartz.

Four enlisted airmen work for Schwartz, ranging in rank from a staff sergeant to Rodriguez, who has been selected for chief master sergeant. Their main job: plan and execute events at Air House, the chief of staff’s residence at Fort Myer, and accompany the general as personal assistants on his many trips.

Schwartz has one to two dinners or receptions at his house each week, and every one involves planning the food and drink menus, cooking the food, decorating the house and table, setting the table, seating the guests and making sure a good time is had by all.

“Culinary shock and awe,” Rodriguez said of the strategy of the aides. “We want our guests to walk out of here with a great impression of the Air Force and its many talents.”

Being an enlisted aide is a special-duty assignment, and all enlisted aids are volunteers. Air Force-wide, there are about 80 enlisted aides because every three- and four-star general has at least one aide.

Most of the aides come from the services career field, but the job is open to all airmen. Most have some kind of culinary background, so Rodriguez recommends airmen interested in the job attend cooking school and earn a certification. To apply for the job, airmen submit a special-duty application package. Once you’re in the job, Rodriguez said, success is all about attitude.

“If you have a can-do attitude, you’re going to succeed,” he said. “Sometimes the general will come home … and ask you to do something, and you might not know how to do it, but if you figure out a way and have the right attitude, then you’re going to succeed.”

Thunderbirds team member

Location: Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.

Everyone on the Thunderbirds — pilot, maintainer or support officer — is part of the team, and they all get one-of-a-kind experiences, like wowing kids at an air show or traveling around the world to show off American air power.

While Thunderbirds pilots get much of the attention, nearly everyone on the team is part of the show. Aircraft maintainers, like the pilots, wear sharp uniforms and perform carefully choreographed routines that place them squarely in the admiring eye of the public. Maintainers, communications airmen and other support personnel also travel for air shows and visit places — stops in the Far East were on the team’s 2009 tour — that they might never get to otherwise.

But being a member of the Thunderbirds also takes a lot of work to perform to the team’s lofty standards.

“There’s a lot of pride and professionalism with what we do … and it’s a lot of repetition,” said Chief Master Sgt. Thomas Mical, chief enlisted manager for the Thunderbirds.

Enlisted team members serve four-year assignments; officers — the pilots, the flight surgeon and a public affairs officer — serve for two years. Maintainers usually come from F-16 squadrons since the Thunderbirds fly Falcons, but pilots come from any fighter cockpit.

To apply, candidates must fill out a 30-page form and get multiple recommendations. The selection process can take several months.

“All Thunderbirds are hand-selected based on a proven record of service, capabilities in their field and a demonstrated commitment to excellence that matches the airmen we strive to represent daily,” Lt. Col. Greg Thomas, the Thunderbirds commander, said in a statement. “We select the most qualified individuals to join the team based on their overall capabilities and ability to represent all airmen.”

Experimental test pilot

Locations: Edwards, Calif.; Eglin, Fla.; and Holloman, N.M.

Perhaps no job in the Air Force has the mystique of being a test pilot. Their lineage goes back to legends such as Chuck Yeager, and the gig has been glamorized in such movies as “The Right Stuff.”

For Maj. Pete “Shay” Vitt, an A-10 and F-16 test pilot with the 40th Flight Test Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., the work is every bit as cool as he had hoped it would be.

“It is actually my dream job,” he said. “I’m living a dream right now.”

Developmental or experimental test pilots fly new aircraft or test new weapons or software for existing aircraft. After performing their tests, they write technical reports and work with the engineers who designed the products.

The pilots must be equally conversant with engineering principles and flying jargon.

“A lot of times I think of myself as an interpreter, kind of interpreting the engineering side for the rest of the pilots and interpreting the pilot side for the engineers,” Vitt said. “It’s really more of someone who can translate between both worlds.”

Test pilot isn’t a job you can just jump into. To even apply for test pilot school, you must have a bachelor’s degree in engineering or a science such as physics. And, of course, you must be an exceptional pilot.

“Flyingwise, you just have to be the best that you can be,” Vitt said.

Most test pilots also hold master’s degrees in engineering, so Vitt said earning a master’s will make you more competitive for the job. It also helps to have experience flying multiple airframes.

Flight attendant or radio operator on VIP aircraft

Locations: Andrews Air Force Base, Md., and other bases

Being a flight attendant on an Air Force aircraft flying the vice president, Secretary of Defense or Secretary of State is not like serving peanuts and Coke on a commercial airline.

“It’s definitely five-star service,” said Staff Sgt. Emily Henyon, a flight attendant with the 99th Airlift Squadron at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. “We’re everything from hot towels to serving the wine to five-course meals that they want.”

The best part of Henyon’s job is meeting and interacting with high-level officials, many of whom get to know the flight attendants on a first-name basis.

“It’s definitely pretty awesome,” she said. “We get to see them on a very personal level on the jet, and that’s really cool because most people don’t see them in that type of environment. We almost get to hang out with them for the couple hours that we’re around.”

The travel is another perk: Henyon has been to 15 countries in the two years she has been in the job.

Air Force flight attendants often cross-train from other flying career fields. They may also cross-train from non-flying fields, but they must be able to pass the class 3 flying physical required to attain flying status. For her previous job, Henyon was a communications system operator on the same aircraft that she now works on as a flight attendant.

Staff Sgt. Brent Mahaffey, also with the 99th Airlift Squadron, is a communications system operator responsible for running the communications links that allow officials in the air to talk with anyone they need to anywhere in the world.

It’s not a job for the faint of heart; when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wants to talk to someone, she doesn’t want to hear about radio problems.

“There’s a lot of fun times, but there’s also a lot of high-pressure situations we get put in as well,” Mahaffey said.

Most communications system operators cross-train into the field from other flying jobs, but there are a limited number of openings for airmen coming straight from tech school.

Military broadcaster

Locations: Bases worldwide

The life of a broadcaster for the American Forces Network is full of excitement — extensive travel, meeting new people, experiencing other airmen’s career fields and telling cool stories.

It’s the perfect job for those who are curious about anything and everything, said Tech. Sgt. Kevin Dennison, a producer for Air Force Radio News who has also worked in television.

“You’re just seeing what’s out there and learning what’s new,” Dennison said. “[Most people] don’t get to see what we see.”

Air Force broadcasters are assigned all over the world, from stateside bases to installations in Europe and Asia. But getting out of the office and into the field is the key to being a successful broadcast journalist, Dennison said.

“You can sit at a headquarters and be assigned stories and probably put something decent together,” he said. “Or you can track down something that you … find really interesting and that no one really knows about, and you go after that story and you make something really good out of it.”

All Air Force broadcasters are in the public affairs career field, and many are assigned to be broadcasters during the recruitment process. But it is also possible to get into broadcasting from another part of public affairs or a different career field altogether.

Interested airmen or recruits must submit an audition tape to the Defense Information School. If you’re accepted, you’ll be on your way to the school to begin training for a career as a broadcaster.

Aggressor pilot

Locations: Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., or Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska

What could be more fun than pretending to be an enemy MiG pilot flying against an F-22 Raptor? Not much, if you ask Capt. Brian Mead, an F-15C pilot with the 65th Aggressor Squadron.

“The flying in general is just absolutely awesome,” he said. “I get the opportunity to go up and do basic fighter maneuvers with an F-22, dog fighting … against the Air Force’s newest, latest and greatest generation of fighter.”

Aggressor pilots study the fighter aircraft and tactics of potential adversaries and fly against Air Force operational units to help train them in air-to-air tactics. It’s equal parts brains and skill: The pilots must study the latest intelligence reports to learn about potential enemies, and then they need the cockpit skills to fly an F-15 or F-16 as if it were a MiG or Sukhoi.

But when it comes to selecting new pilots, Mead said, the aggressors look for three main qualities: modesty, friendliness and integrity.

“It does goes back to teaching [operational pilots about] the threats that are out there,” he said. “If you’re not a humble, approachable, credible kind of person, then you may not be taken as [seriously].”

Aggressor pilots serve standard three-year tours and are usually selected after their first assignment with an operational squadron. Interested pilots, Mead said, should just list the job on their assignment priorities list and must have demonstrated skill in the cockpit and a reputation for being hard-working and studious.

The good news for pilots wanting to become aggressors: Both aggressor squadrons at Nellis are planning to grow in 2010.

Recreation staff member

Location: Bellows Air Force Station, Hawaii

If you’ve ever wanted to live and work just steps from a white-sand beach and warm, turquoise waters, then Bellows Air Force Station on the island of Oahu is for you.

The station conducts training for the Air Force, Marines and other agencies, but its main role is to serve as a place for service members and their families to relax and unwind. Bellows offers 107 cabins and hundreds of campsites on 435 acres where you can lie on the beach, kayak and play virtually every game from mini golf to basketball to tennis.

“My job is to take care of these people when they’re trying to relax and get away from the hectic day-to-day atmosphere and stress,” said Capt. Rick Pelzl, commander of Detachment 2, 18th Force Support Squadron. “It’s their place to relax, and it’s my [job] to make sure they get to relax.”

One of the biggest perks of Pelzl’s job is the housing.

“I have probably one of the nicest houses in the Air Force,” he said. “It’s about 100 yards from beach.”

About 30 airmen are stationed at Bellows, including 26 security forces airmen, four civil engineers and a services enlisted airman. The security force and civil engineering personnel get the assignment by requesting it as they would any other job, but Pelzl’s position and the enlisted services slot require a broad background in services.

Pelzl said having worked in lodging or at a fitness center are useful experiences as are any service positions where you learn to work with non-appropriated funds.

Another way to get a leg up on the competition is to take classes and earn a certificate in hotel management or another kind of recreation management, he said.

Entertainment liaison

Location: Los Angeles

Have you ever hung out with Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox at work? Probably not. That’s the kind of opportunity you can only get as an airman assigned to the Air Force’s entertainment liaison office in Los Angeles.

The handful of public affairs airmen assigned as entertainment liaisons work on movies, television shows, video games and other electronic media that depict airmen or the Air Force. They read through scripts, review production ideas, coordinate movie shoots on Air Force bases and even tutor actors on how to dress and act like airmen.

Capt. Bryon McGarry, deputy director of the office, thinks the job is unlike any other in the public affairs career field.

“I was lucky enough to be the Air Force project officer for ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,’ ” he said. “A boyhood fantasy is standing next to Optimus Prime on the Holloman Air Force Base flightline or having him loaded up onto a … C-17. You can’t describe that in words.”

But it’s not all movie shoots and red carpets, McGarry said. Most of the work is ironing out mundane details with producers rather than schmoozing with the movie stars.

“There’s a certain mystique surrounding this office in general … just because it’s very interesting,” he said. But “it’s a job. It’s a lot of work … that you can’t necessarily train for in a reg.”

Anyone in the public affairs career field can become an entertainment liaison; apply as you would for any other assignment. McGarry said the best ways to be competitive for the assignment are to make sure you’re current in your training, keep abreast of big-picture developments in the Air Force, and know the messages and stories Air Force leaders want to communicate to the public.