RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
The Air Force is on track to make its recruiting goal this year, marking the seventh consecutive year the service has brought in the right number and mix of new Airmen.
To date, 25,645 people have enlisted in the Air Force and entered active duty in fiscal 2006. That puts the Air Force on pace to send 30,750 men and women to basic training and technical schools to fill jobs in more than 150 areas.
In response to the Air Force's force shaping, fiscal 2007 recruiting goals have been reduced by 9 percent compared to fiscal 2006 goals, but the drive is still on to bring in quality Airmen.
Around the base, Air Force recruiters also did extremely well, said Staff Sgt. Jim Bass, a recruiter out of the Summerville office.
"With Charleston Air Force Base right here, we have C-17s flying overhead all the time and that keeps local youths intrigued about what we do," he said. "Having the base so close keeps our potential recruits excited about serving in the Air Force."
According to numbers provided by the 336th Recruiting Squadron, the recruiting flight responsible for the Charleston/Summerville/Beaufort area shipped 127 new enlistees to basic training, 106 percent of their 120 enlistee goal.
One of those recruits is Airman 1st Class Robert Cloys, who is now doing recruiter's assistance duty. He's a Summerville recruit who will be assigned to the 435th Communications Squadron, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, as a satellite/wideband communications technician.
"The base was a constant reminder of the opportunity I had in the Air Force," he said. "I'd see the jets in the sky and think to myself, 'these guys really have it together. I wonder what else is on the other side of that base fence.'"
From October through September 2007, the Air Force will seek another 27,760 high school graduates or the equivalent, ages 17 to 28, to join its enlisted ranks and 482 college graduates to join the officer corps.
There are more than 200 enlisted career field openings from which to choose. Security forces, mechanics, administration and electronics are the most plentiful career opportunities for 2007, with about 10,200 available positions. Hard-to-fill enlisted career fields include air and ground linguists and special tactics, such as combat controller, survival instructor and pararescueman.
"The Lowcountry recruiters also do very well in these areas," said Master Sgt. Robert Dixon, 336th RS marketing NCO in charge. "It helps out a lot to have all the influencers from the base sharing the good news about why it's great to be an Airman in today's Air Force."
The officer career fields with the most available positions are pilot, combat systems officer (navigator), air battle management and electrical engineering. Chaplain and medical fields remain hard to fill.
For more information about Air Force careers, visit www.air force.com. The interactive Web site offers links to enlisted and officer career information and a chat line. Locally, Sergeant Bass can be reached at 832-8614. (Capt. Christopher Moore also contributed to this story.)