Westover's most wanted: Air Reserve Technicians

  • Published
  • By Andre Bowser
  • 439th AW/PA
Westover Air Reserve Base -- Mass. --    As the Air Force Reserve Command ramps up for mobilizations in which thousands of reservists will be deployed in support of missions to Afghanistan, the need for full-time support command-wide has highlighted staffing shortages.
  Westover Air Reserve Base is no different, with a virtual "Help Wanted" sign hanging in its window for qualified, full-time, federal civilians who also will work part-time as reservists.

AIR RESERVE TECHNICIANS

     The title of Air Reserve Technician isn't worn easily; many position openings require training sometimes exclusive to the military, and members always serve in the Air Force Reserve as an integral part of their work experience. But no job is as unique or rewarding for the same reason.
     According to the Air Force Reserve Command: "An Air Reserve Technician (ART) carries dual status, working as a full-time Department of Defense civil service employee and as a Reservist performing the same job in an Air Force Reserve Command unit."
     Master Sgt. William Hose, the ART recruiter at Westover, said AFRC wide there are shortages in the ranks of full time ARTs. He said the members act as the glue that binds the Air Force Reserve when traditional reservists are off leading their lives as civilians.
     While several units within AFRC can attest to their own ART shortages, Sergeant Hose said locally there are more than 40 positions available presently at Westover. Most are in the aircraft maintenance field.
     "We have jobs that are in almost every career field," said Master Sgt. Hose, who noted that civilians, current as well as former military are encouraged to apply. "We know that the best applicants we have are active duty members getting ready to separate and traditional Reservists with the needed AFSCs."
     But Sergeant Hose noted that qualified civilians would also be considered for the federal civilian employee positions, which would also require that they remain active in the Air Force Reserve if selected.
     Of the air ART openings at Westover, many fall under the category of urgent to the base's mission given a recent mobilization here, according to AFRC. That means that presently there is a pressing need to fill the dearth in the skilled mechanics that work on the largest U.S. military aircraft. Those professionals would help bolster the number of the existing staff of expert aircraft maintainers.

ON THE FRONTLINE

     On the flight line, Staff Sgt. Page Policastro wears many hats. The recently hired ART said she had served as a traditional reservist for six years while she finished her bachelor's of science in astronomy at the University of Massachusetts, before joining the full-time ART ranks in February.
     As a 439th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief she teams with many specialists in launching aircraft for vital missions.
     "I oversee the different specialty career fields and the work they do," she said.
For her job, which Sergeant Policastro described as tantamount to a jack of all trades, key traits she relies on include: "patience; good people skills; the ability to learn quickly; high standards and integrity."
     The 25-year-old Springfield native and ART crew chief said her work in the reserve prepared her for her current role. She said she applied for the job and handled the lengthy process on her own, including filling out detailed forms called "elements," which allowed her to describe her skills with a variety of tools and on aircraft parts.
     "I had to submit about 15 pages of elements demonstrating my qualifications to work on the C-5," Sergeant Policastro said.
     Serving as an ART is mission-critical to the Air Force because members provide constant support at home stations while also remaining fully deployable to areas of operation, according to AFRC.
     "You can be activated; you can be deployed," Sergeant Policastro said. "But I got to go places I probably wouldn't have gone otherwise," such as El Salvador, among other places.
     Sergeant Hose said while there are many positions available at Westover for ARTs, including out on the flight line, there are critical jobs that extend to the Air Force Reserve mission beyond Westover's gates.
     The regional C-5 isochronal (ISO) inspection facility at Westover has been active for more than three years, and it's about to get a lot busier.
     The ISO is rapidly becoming the sole site for C-5 maintenance in the Air Force Reserve Command, according to Capt. Dusty Dossman, the facilities maintenance commander. He said the inspections done on C-5 aircraft at his site are detailed examinations of the entire aircraft, from nose to tail and wingtip to wingtip.
     Captain Dossman said that aircraft maintainers look for repair problems in every system on the U.S. military's largest aircraft, which has 20,000 working parts.
     "We're about to be the only unit doing this in the Air Force Reserve Command," he said, gesturing to a C-5 parked just outside of the isochronal inspection facility on a recent Friday afternoon. "That C-5 right there flew in from Dover for an inspection."

AN INSIDE JOB

     Inside the ISO, towering scaffolding stands like a dinosaur's skeleton; from secure vantages, workers comb every part of the C-5 -- one of the three largest aircraft in the world.
     Hunched down by a tire, Staff Sgt. James Kelly of Wareham, Mass., inspects the wheel with deft attention for anything out of the norm.
     The 25-year-old former reservist, now an ART, served as a crew chief with fighter jets for five years before joining the ranks of C-5 mechanics at Westover. He's been an ART since February.
     Amid learning the new aircraft, Sergeant Kelly said he was also learning the ropes of a new career that was similar to his time in the active-duty Air Force, yet intrinsically dissimilar.
     "I wear the uniform every day, but I'm a civilian employee during the week," he said.
     Staff Sgt. Demetrius Wilson, who also works in the isochronal inspection facility, said for him the ART position provided a chance to continue what he learned to do in the active duty Air Force over six years, while remaining close to family.
     The 28-year-old ART originally from Springfield, Mass., said at first family asked him why he wanted to return home.
     "When I left Massachusetts and went active duty Air Force, I traveled to places like Utah, Arizona, and I worked on F-16s," said Sergeant Wilson, who confessed that a mixture of homesickness and longing for the seasonal changes of the East Coast drew him back, but not before he found a way to continue working on some of the most advanced aeronautical systems in the world.
     "I did the research and looked for openings, and I put in my [employment] package; it wasn't difficult," Sergeant Wilson said. "It was a lot of paperwork, and a lot of questions about my qualifications, such as 'what hand tools have you used?'"

UP IN THE AIR

     Sergeant Policastro said with her bachelor's degree in astronomy in hand, she would like to someday pursue a commission in the Air Force Reserve, possibly as a maintenance officer -- or perhaps she'd shoot for the stars.
     "Ideally, I would like to become an officer in Space Command," she said with an excited smile. "That would be where I would really like to end up."
     Sergeant Hose encourages all qualified persons to apply to become ARTss to serve their country in a unique and rewarding way -- and to take advantage of the seemingly limitless opportunities.
     "In the Air Force Reserve, we have more chances for advancement and more chances for pay increases" than most other jobs, he said.
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For more information, contact the Westover ART recruiter, Master Sgt. William Hose, at (413) 557-2943 or william.hose@westover.af.mil.