Cadets experience life in the Air Force

Published June 28, 2007
By Erin Lewis
22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. -- By the end of summer approximately 75 cadets will have visited McConnell as part of Operation Air Force. The program is designed for United States Air Force Academy and Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets to get a closer, more in-depth look at the Air Force.

OAF is conducted at several AF bases world-wide to help cadets develop a greater appreciation of the duties, responsibilities and training they will encounter after graduating, according to the AFROTC website.

There will be a total of three different cadet rotations throughout the summer and each session is three weeks long.

"It is an opportunity for them to experience the real-world Air Force life," said Capt. Jennifer Williams, 22nd Air Refueling Wing base director of OAF.

The program consists of four distinct courses designed to provide them with useful insight into officership and AF service. Cadets are divided into the four courses according to their year of graduation.

"OAF allows us to meet with officers, non-commissioned officers and Airmen to get their perspective," said senior Cadet Ross Hopkin.

The non-commissioned course for sophomore cadets allows them to experience the enlisted AF member perspective through direct participation in an enlisted member's job. Members of the non-commissioned course will spend the majority of their time performing duties that build their appreciation of enlisted teamwork and culture.

For junior cadets, the 3rd Lieutenant course is designed to expose them to the life and duties of a company grade officer. This course is designed to help them appreciate CGO's at the squadron level and to show the importance of teamwork between operations and support personnel to mission accomplishment.

Rising senior cadets are able to experience their specific career-field interest in the Brevet Lieutenant course. Cadets have committed to the AF by their junior year and this course gives them the chance to see what they may be doing in their forecasted career.

Office of Special Investigations is a special internship and a prerequisite for the OSI career field. This course is for rising senior cadets and is spent with OSI members the entire time they are at McConnell.

"OAF is a huge recruiting tool, especially for the [sophomores]. They have not contracted into the Air Force yet so this makes an immense impact on them," said Captain Williams. "For seniors, it's getting the opportunity to take a breather from USAFA life and it gives them the extra incentive to complete their academic career."

"You get bogged down with so much to do at the academy that you kind of forget what they [enlisted and non-commissioned AF members] actually do. I look forward to my career in the Air Force," said Cadet Hopkin.

It may seem like all work and no play for the cadets, but while on base they get to participate in several extra curricular activities that are sponsored by the Friends of McConnell; bowling, cinema, water park and baseball tickets are provided for their entertainment.