Looking for a part-time job? These come with a signing bonus, plenty of benefits

It’s widely known that the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System based at Robins Air Force Base needs new aircraft, but it also needs new people.

Col. Tom Grabowski, commander of the 116th Air Control Wing, has made recruitment a priority. The wing, a Georgia Air National Guard unit, jointly operates J-STARS with the 461st Air Control Wing, an active duty unit.

The 116th has more than 100 vacancies, with about 65 of those for part-time guardsmen. With 1,143 total personnel assigned to the unit, that might not seem like a lot. But unlike other guard units, the 116th is mostly full-timers, with only about 30 percent of unit part time, so that’s a big chunk of the part-time jobs vacant.

The vacancies are not that much higher than in years past, Grabowski said, but volatility of the world today makes it an urgent issue.

“The worldwide demand for these aircraft is insatiable,” he said.

At his recent change of command ceremony, Grabowski’s first act was to issue two directives to his airmen. He told them to “be ready to fight tonight” and to go out and recruit new members.

They have more incentive to do that than just impressing their commander. Maj. Gen. Jesse Simmons Jr., commander of the Georgia Air National Guard, said the vacancies mean guardsmen are deploying more often than they should.

“If we have more people in, then the need to deploy would be less and I think it would help us with retention if we had more people,” Simmons said.

Depending on the specialty, guardsmen can get up to a $20,000 signing bonus. They also can get help with education and other benefits unheard of with most part-time jobs, including life insurance and low-cost health insurance.

So why is it that there are so many vacancies?

Potential recruits can be rejected for various reasons, including felony convictions and failure to pass a drug test. Even some misdemeanor crimes can require the recruit to get a waiver to join.

Another reason is fear of heights.

A unit with a high number of vacancies is the 202nd Engineering Installation Squadron, which does communications work. It can help members get a lot of high-demand jobs in the private sector, but it also involves climbing poles and towers and crawling in tight places.

“You can’t have a fear of heights and you can’t be claustrophobic,” said Master Sgt. Jose Padilla, the wing’s recruiting office supervisor. “You ask those type of questions, and it makes it more difficult.”

For others, those kind of challenges are rewarding. Senior Airman Cristian Valencia, of Atlanta, has been in the 202nd for four years, and he enjoys it. He was at the base Aug. 13 for the wing’s monthly drill weekend, in which the wing’s part-time members come from around the state and elsewhere to practice for war.

“I enjoy the climbing aspect,” he said after making a practice climb on a metal tower. “It’s hard work. We work hard, we play hard. Some days are easier than others, but we are a family.”

Grabowski, who is from Warner Robins, joined the guard as an enlisted man when he was 20. He said he joined because he was going to college in Cochran and wanted the help with tuition.

“I was driving from Warner Robins to Cochran in a beat up, rusty 1976 Monte Carlo and flipping hamburgers on Watson Boulevard.”

On the base he started out working as a cook in the officers club, and he aid he never imagined at the time he would become a colonel. The guard helped him pay for college, and he became a commissioned officer.

Now, he is leading the charge for other young burger flippers to seek a higher calling.

“Your country needs these positions filled,” he said. “It is extremely important that the United States Air Force is ready to fight tonight. Every position matters. Whether you are a supply warehouse logistician, a communications person, the pilot of the airplane, the public affairs officer, it matters not. We’ve got to field the entire orchestra, not just the quartet.”

One of Grabowski’s main selling points on joining the guard is that it offers options. If recruits join the active duty Air Force, they could get sent anywhere, he said. But if they join the guard, they can serve at Robins, and if they like that they came become full time, or join the Air Force and go around the world. He said most of the unit’s full-time airmen started out as part-time guardsmen.

The 116th has a wide range of jobs available, he said, including many that don’t involve flying, and the base has hundreds of job openings for aircraft maintainers. He said people can join the guard, get free training in aircraft maintenance and use that to get a full-time civilian job at the base.

Recruits can join as young as 17 or as old as 39 if they have never served in the military. Those who have served can be older. A first-year enlisted guardsman would make $3,290 annually. They would go through basic training, then work one weekend each month and do a two-week training tour each year. The Georgia Air National Guard has a recruiting office in the shopping center with Home Depot on Watson Boulevard. People can also go to www.goang.com for more information on joining the unit.

J-STARS is the only unit of its kind in the U.S. military. It provides overhead surveillance and battlefield management using the Boeing E-8C aircraft. The unit has been regularly deployed since the Sept. 11 attacks.

This story was originally published August 18, 2017 at 2:17 PM with the headline "Looking for a part-time job? These come with a signing bonus, plenty of benefits."