Joining the 13S Career Field

I have touched on some of the specifics about the 13S career field, but I thought I would do a post which outlines the general journey a 13S takes after they commission.  We have a very diverse career field but the core of what we do is pretty much the same regardless of where you end up.

Arriving at your First Duty Station

Back in the day the Air Force had an extremely robust sponsor program.  An individual sponsor was assigned to each person who was scheduled to arrive at a unit.  As an A1C, I would sponsor other Airman who were supposed to join our squadron.  It would be my job to meet them at the airport, take them around base so they could in-process, and introduce them to leadership.  I would help them get a dorm setup and make sure they had everything they needed to get settled.  These days most units are too busy to provide this level of service.  Additionally, in the 13S career field you are assigned to a training unit first (e.g., Operations Support Squadron) before you are assigned to your permanent squadron.  The sole purpose of this unit is to train you to up to the “operator” level, so you only may be in this squadron for 6-12 month, to include the 3 months away at tech school.  Needless to see, the camaraderie many experience in operational units is virtually nonexistent in this case, which makes me sad.

Casual Status

As an enlisted guy there was NEVER a time where I wasn’t gainfully employed (especially as a cop).  If there was nothing better to do our TSgt would make us clean the toilets or polish the brass.  If we were caught being lazy on the couch we would have to pick up cigarette butts.  It I wasn’t studying my Career Development Course (CDCs) like I was supposed to, someone would pass the exercise duress word and I would spend the next 60 minutes jacking someone up (cop speak for challenging and apprehending someone).  I had to earn that paycheck.  As an officer, there is this magical thing called “casual status.”  If you arrive at your base and there is nothing for you to do, they will make you up a job and call it “casual status.”  The casual jobs can be anywhere from being an Executive Officer for a squadron to being assigned to do odd jobs for Protocol or the gym.  While you are there, your job is to do the random things which come up which you are capable of doing.

It is easy to think of “casual status” in a negative light, but in reality it is actually a sweet gig.  The job is what you make of it.  If your job is to help the wing inspections section and they don’t have anything for you to do, shred that pile of papers that has been there for six years.  If the in/out board is messed up, update it with names of current personnel.  Do all of the things people are normally too busy to do, and do it with a great attitude.

Tech School Date

Take advantage of the time you have in casual status, because once you start training the wheels will start turning again.  This means that while you are in casual status you should be getting your house/apartment set up, get your stuff unpacked, get the kids in school, catch up on medical appointments; do whatever you need to do.  Tech school dates are managed by the Unit Training Manager, who may delegate it to someone else.  There are three commissioning sources:  Air Force Academy, ROTC, and OTS.  For whatever reason, I have heard OTS has the lowest priority for 13S tech school, so it could take several months to get a class.

There are some subtle ways you can stay plugged in even if you are an OTS grad with no hope of getting a class date.  There is usually a list of all of the tech school dates for that year.  Try to get your hands on that so you get a feel for the tempo and timing of how the classes are blocked and scheduled.  Pay attention to people who have a class date who want to trade or swap, or who can’t attend at all due to leave, illness, etc.  If someone can’t go for a valid reason, it is easiest for leadership to find the closest person and send them instead.  If you’re paying attention, that person could be you.

Here are some more posts on the 13S tech school.

Initial/Mission Qualification Training (IQT/MQT)

After tech school you will return to your home station and complete IQT/MQT.  Back in the day IQT was at Vandenberg after tech school (Undergraduate Space Training), and MQT was at home station.  Now, they have combined it to be solely at home station, and some bases call it IQT, some call it MQT.  Regardless, this is your system specific training for whatever operational squadron you are going to.  The timeline varies greatly depending on the unit, but expect another 3-6 months of training for IQT/MQT.

The class dates for IQT/MQT are usually aligned with what we are calling the Space Mission Force (SMF) construct.  The gist of SMF is for one set of operators to do the job and fight the fight for four months, and then swap out and do advanced training for four months, kind of like a deployment.  This essentially means that the squadron is divided into two separate groups and each group takes turns fighting the fight and clicking the buttons.  Bottom line, expect IQT/MQT dates to align so your graduation date will put you on track to start on the next four month rotation.

Certification Process

The space certification process usually entails a practical evaluation and a certification briefing.  The practical evaluation is a technical evaluation accomplished on your system.  You will go through normal and emergency procedures, and be evaluated on your ability to follow your checklist and keep the system running.  This is almost always done on a simulator in a controlled environment, to give you a better shot and doing well.  The evaluation is usually done as a final action by the Operations Support Squadron.

After the eval you will do a certification briefing or “Cert Brief” with your operational unit.  This is with your operational unit commander but sometimes you will brief the Director of Operations (DO) or sometimes even the Assistant Director of Operations (ADO).  A Cert Brief is where you explain your knowledge of your system and how your system fits into the mission at the unit and headquarters level.  It is usually a formal briefing where you tell them what you know and they pick your brain to see if you really know  your stuff.  Traditionally it has a very formal and negative reputation, but IMO these days it is more of a sanity check to make sure you aren’t crazy and you truly know what you are doing.

Quality of Life

While you are in casual status life is usually pretty laid back.  You can usually work out at the gym for 90 minutes, three times per week, if you want to.  This can vary to 60 minutes/once per week to 90 minutes every day, just depending on your leadership.  There may be some sort of formal OSS PT or meetings you have to attend, and you may also end up being “voluntold” for a lot of extra curricular activities, but for the most part, life is good.  Your duty day is usually 0730-1630 but you can usually take care of whatever appointments you need to.

Life in IQT/MQT is usually a notch down from what you experience in tech school.  Usually there is PT 2-3 times per week, and one day may be a formal organized group PT while the other day may be “self PT” where you are free to do your own thing.  The duty day is a little more strict in this environment because your job is to train, not to do other things.  If you must take care of a medical issue you can usually schedule the appointment, but you may get push back because they want to be sure you complete the training on time.  The duty day is usually a more strict 0730-1630.  You may have more strict squadron PT, more mandatory attend events such as wing formations or promotion ceremonies, you are more of a pipeline.

Once you complete all of your training, life is great and you are an adult again.  Our crew schedules rotate due to 24/7 manning requirements but you are operational so you go to work when you are supposed to work, and are free to do whatever you need to when you are off.  Shifts are days/swings/mids 8 hours shifts usually, however some units are working days/mids 12 hour shifts.

Conclusion

This post was longer than I was shooting for and it covered a lot of the same stuff covered on SilentD’s reddit post, but I hope it was useful.  My overall goal was to just get you thinking about what is next after OTS and give you a starting place for asking questions.  As always, hit me up on the “contact” form of this blog, by leaving a comment, or by email at airforceotsguy@gmail.com if you have any questions.