By Airman 1st Class Rochelle Clace
19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
Approximately 25 Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets arrived at Little Rock Air Force Base Monday to participate in the first session of a three-session, three-week program designed to introduce the cadets to the operational Air Force.
According to ROTC officials, the Operation Air Force program is designed to give Air Force Academy and ROTC cadets first-hand experience with everything an operational Air Force base has to offer. Cadets are immersed into the Air Force way of life through tours, hands-on experience and by shadowing Air Force personnel in a variety of career fields.
“The program is designed to immerse cadets into Air Force life, whether that is the mission, the facilities, different units or the people,” said Maj. Daniel Barrows, 61st Airlift Squadron assistant director of operations. “The idea is to give cadets an exposure to what a junior officer’s duties and responsibilities will be and prepare them for their officer duties once they do commission.”
Major Barrows is currently in charge of coordinating Operation Air Force.
Operation Air Force benefits both the cadets and the Air Force because the future officers are able to gain military experience before they become commissioned officers.
Major Barrows speaks from personal experience when he touts Operation Air Force. He had the opportunity to go on two Operation Air Force programs while he was a ROTC cadet at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“It introduced me to a lot of career fields. I have a better appreciation of the Air Force’s different missions and how they combine together to give us our total force capabilities,” he said. “I think if cadets come in with an open mind they can learn quite a bit.”
The program shows the cadets how the lessons learned in ROTC apply in the operational Air Force.
“It gives me an insight of what the actual Air Force does as a whole by allowing us to shadow different [career fields]. It gives us an understanding outside of what we’ll learn from the textbooks and we’ll actually be able to experience military life,” said Cadet Nicole Brewer, Clarkson University Detachment 536.
“I see it as beneficial to my career because it’s allowing me to see first-hand what the military is really like, where as in the ROTC we don’t get the full experience,” said Cadet Kirk Dial, Utah State University Detachment 860.
Major Barrows is proud the program gets plenty of support from Team Little Rock through people offering innovative ideas and volunteering their time to the cadets.
“We have over 45 officers and senior NCOs who volunteered to support the program from operations, mission support, logistics to medical. We have a broad range of career fields so it gives them a broader understanding of their career choice,” he said.
Operation Air Force has changed in focus throughout the years since its inception in ROTC and the Academy.
“It was more of a senior or junior-level program in the past,” said Major Barrows. “Now it’s turning into more of a sophomore, freshman-level program where they want to introduce the cadets earlier to what Air Force life is like. You can’t really make effective career decisions if you don’t know what’s out there, what the responsibilities are or even what the mission is.”
Many of the cadets came to the base already with an idea as to what career field they would like to get into and some of them are open minded to all the different careers the Air Force has to offer.
“[The briefers] have been really good about coming in and talking to us. It’s fun to see the passion on their face. It really makes you appreciate all their career fields and it gives you a better look at what you may want to do,” said Cadet Adam Niederhiser, Kent State University Detachment 630.
“At the moment, I’m just keeping my options open to get a full screen of what’s out there and what will work best for me and how I can most benefit the Air Force while doing what I want to do,” said Cadet Dial.
“My dad was a [police officer] in the military and it lead me towards actually wanting to pursue it as an Air Force career,” said Cadet Brewer.
Major Barrows explained that once the cadets get a broad introduction to the base through briefings they will spend the next three weeks experiencing the Air Force through activities like life-support training, orientation flights and simulator tours.
“[I’m looking the most forward to] the incentive rides. When they told us we were going to go up there I was pretty excited,” said Cadet Niederhiser.
“I’m looking forward to going up in the flights as well as just seeing the Air Force first-hand. I’m excited to be in Arkansas and learn more about the base and its aircraft,” said Cadet Dial.
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