Air Force cadets visit Eielson

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Rachelle Coleman
  • 354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  Air Force Academy cadets visited Eielson to learn more about Eielson's mission and the operational Air Force as part of the Operation Air Force summer program.

The summer after their sophomore year each cadet's summer is broken into three parts - leave, leadership and OpsAF. The leadership portion allows cadets to visit training environments like basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas or Combat Skills Training. OpsAF is a three-week visit to an operational Air Force base. It is an important tool the academy uses to expose cadets to the operational Air Force and the careers they are considering.

"This program is extremely important to cadets," said 1st Lt. Renae Conley, Eielson's primary point of contact for the program who is assigned to the 354th Operations Group. "In a simply-put level, this program is somewhat of a recruitment program: the majority of cadets have not 'committed' to their commission and their USAFA scholarship, so this program exposes them to the Air Force lifestyle and the awesome capabilities and missions of the Air Force that they may or may not have ever known about otherwise."

During their time at Eielson, cadets learn about the wing's overall mission as well as the specifc missions of the maintenance, support, medical and operations groups, providing them immeasurable insight on the Air Force community they can refer to throughout their active duty career.

"It's so different from the academy, we're able to learn a lot more about what we're going to be doing and what career field we want to go into," said AFA Cadet 2nd Class Matt Masters. "I like the program a lot. It's fun to see what careers are out there and all the different experiences people have in the Air Force."

The cadets are required to experience two different jobs while they are in OpsAF. The first job should be in the operational side, and the second on the support side.

The cadets also attend mentoring sessions with the wing commander or the vice wing commander, all four group commanders, and the Company Grade Officer Association.

Meeting with the group commanders provides them exposure to each of the groups and their missions. Mentoring sessions also allow cadets to ask questions about leadership and hear experiences from our leadership that have led them to their successes.

The most recent group of cadets was also able to meet with the communications squadron commander; in essence they are meeting with all levels of the officer corps leadership. While working in the program they also work alongside enlisted members, offering them direct exposure to the enlisted corps as well.

The cadets currently here can have any number of blue chevrons for rank. The rank is located in the same place as an officer's rank, however, since they are in training and not yet officers, they do not require a salute.

"I loved this program when I attended the academy," said Lieutenant Conley. "I was able to attend two OpsAF sessions. Both programs afforded me the opportunity to learn the processes behind customer-service related professions, which to this day I've learned to appreciate. I made some great friends and contacts and was able to see the U.S. and be exposed to very unique missions in the Air Force."