Welcome to the 62EX AFSC discussion blog. The purpose of this blog is to foster discussion between future AF officers interested in this career feild and current officers in 62EX. The views expressed in this blog are solely the opinions of the individual authors and not of the USAF nor the DoD. There are six different kinds of Developmental Engineers (Aero, Astro, EE, Mech Eng, Project, and Computer Systems), this blog has officers representing each of those with posts pertinent to each.
Friday, February 2, 2007
TDY Opportunities
What are the TDY opportunities like? How often do they usually come about, how long is a typical one, and what sort of stuff do you go TDY for?
In a typical engineering job, you'll probably go TDY a few times a year for a week or 2 at a time for training, conferences, or meetings with different organizations. It's pretty controllable, depending on how much you want to travel.
There are some deployable engineers, though. You get specific training & deploy to help do "Air Battle Damage Assessment" with the planes coming back to the deployed locations from combat. One of the guys who is posting has experience doing this with A-10s. I'll ask him to post his experiences.
I've had two different jobs as an engineer--one working in the lab at Wright-Patt AFB and one working as an A-10 structural engineer at Hill AFB. I'll discuss both situations, which are very different.
As a laboratory engineer, I went tdy about once a month, or every other month. I was part of the Adhesives, Composites, and Elastomers team in the Structural Integrity Branch of AFRL/MLSA. What we did was develop better surface preparations and apply bonded composite repairs to metallic aircraft structures. We then would transition this technology to the operational aircraft units. A lot of times my tdys were to attend a conference--like the Aging Aircraft Conference or Aircraft Structural Integrity Program conference. Other tdys were working trips--for instance, helping make changes to the composite handbook--MIL HDBK 17; or as manager for a SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) contract.
My experiences as an A-10 engineer were much different. I was tdy a lot more (usually at least once every month), and I even got the chance to deploy. What we did was answer requests for engineering support from the depot (located at Hill AFB; requests came on Form 202) and from field units (several units based across the country and world; requests came as -107 requests). When we would get requests from the depot, it didn't require a tdy, since the aircraft in question was already at Hill AFB. When answering a -107 request, however, if the problem was bad enough, or perhaps appeared that it could be a fleet-wide problem, it would require a tdy to look at the aircraft in person. The tdys were usually a week or less. Usually the engineer would be the only one to go, and we would have to work with the on-site maintenance personnel to work the problem. Sometimes, if the problem was bad enough to require a depot field team (team of 5 to 10 enlisted maintainers), you would travel as the engineer with the team. I did this twice in my 3 years--once to fix an A-10 wing and once to fix damage due to a 30 mm round that exploded prematurely in the breach of the gun. Tdy's were almost always great learning experiences and great leadership opportunities.
I deployed for OIF as an A-10 Aircraft Battle Damage Repair (ABDR) engineer with a team of 15 enlisted maintainers. We deployed first to Spangdahlem AB, Germany, where we assisted in getting there A-10's ready for deployment. We then forward-deployed into the theater, where we worked on two battle-damaged A-10's. That deployment was the best experience of my career, as it gave me the opportunity to work with, lead, and learn a great deal for enlisted guys, who had a lot more experience than I did at the time. What a great opportunity! If you ever get a chance to deploy, jump on it--especially as an engineer.
My brother worked for Space and Missile System's Center (SMC) for four years during his Lt. days. Their unit supported the National Missile Defense program, and would supply the AF's Minuteman missiles to the Army.
About once a year he would deploy to the island paradise of Kawai, Hawaii for six weeks. His job was to, once a day, check the temperature and humidity of the missile while it was waiting to be launched. The rest of the time was at his disposal. He made over $100 per day per diem, and still complained because he didn't like the time away from home!
I worked nearby Maj Avram at Hill AFB, UT on F-16 Sustainment. I would go TDY about once every two months. These usually involved travelling to Los Angeles, CA to meet with contractors. For example, we had two contractors in LA who were developing replacement parts for the F-16. I went TDY to their plant to inspect their manufacturing facilities, and to check on qualification testing of the parts they were developing. These trips were usually 2-3 days.
One of my favorite TDY's was to Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson Arizon. We were working on a replacement F-16 canopy actuator and we needed to do some testing on the aircraft. Testing on active AF aircraft is a real hassle and is very expensive, but if you go to D-M (the boneyard), you can get around all of that red tape...you just have to know the right people (that's where those older civilians come in handy).
Anyway, we spent a week in the boneyard doing some testing on one of there "used" F-16s. In between tests we had time to wander around the boneyard and check out everything from B-52s to SR-71s.
3 comments:
In a typical engineering job, you'll probably go TDY a few times a year for a week or 2 at a time for training, conferences, or meetings with different organizations. It's pretty controllable, depending on how much you want to travel.
There are some deployable engineers, though. You get specific training & deploy to help do "Air Battle Damage Assessment" with the planes coming back to the deployed locations from combat. One of the guys who is posting has experience doing this with A-10s. I'll ask him to post his experiences.
I've had two different jobs as an engineer--one working in the lab at Wright-Patt AFB and one working as an A-10 structural engineer at Hill AFB. I'll discuss both situations, which are very different.
As a laboratory engineer, I went tdy about once a month, or every other month. I was part of the Adhesives, Composites, and Elastomers team in the Structural Integrity Branch of AFRL/MLSA. What we did was develop better surface preparations and apply bonded composite repairs to metallic aircraft structures. We then would transition this technology to the operational aircraft units. A lot of times my tdys were to attend a conference--like the Aging Aircraft Conference or Aircraft Structural Integrity Program conference. Other tdys were working trips--for instance, helping make changes to the composite handbook--MIL HDBK 17; or as manager for a SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) contract.
My experiences as an A-10 engineer were much different. I was tdy a lot more (usually at least once every month), and I even got the chance to deploy. What we did was answer requests for engineering support from the depot (located at Hill AFB; requests came on Form 202) and from field units (several units based across the country and world; requests came as -107 requests). When we would get requests from the depot, it didn't require a tdy, since the aircraft in question was already at Hill AFB. When answering a -107 request, however, if the problem was bad enough, or perhaps appeared that it could be a fleet-wide problem, it would require a tdy to look at the aircraft in person. The tdys were usually a week or less. Usually the engineer would be the only one to go, and we would have to work with the on-site maintenance personnel to work the problem. Sometimes, if the problem was bad enough to require a depot field team (team of 5 to 10 enlisted maintainers), you would travel as the engineer with the team. I did this twice in my 3 years--once to fix an A-10 wing and once to fix damage due to a 30 mm round that exploded prematurely in the breach of the gun. Tdy's were almost always great learning experiences and great leadership opportunities.
I deployed for OIF as an A-10 Aircraft Battle Damage Repair (ABDR) engineer with a team of 15 enlisted maintainers. We deployed first to Spangdahlem AB, Germany, where we assisted in getting there A-10's ready for deployment. We then forward-deployed into the theater, where we worked on two battle-damaged A-10's. That deployment was the best experience of my career, as it gave me the opportunity to work with, lead, and learn a great deal for enlisted guys, who had a lot more experience than I did at the time. What a great opportunity! If you ever get a chance to deploy, jump on it--especially as an engineer.
Here's an interesting one....
My brother worked for Space and Missile System's Center (SMC) for four years during his Lt. days. Their unit supported the National Missile Defense program, and would supply the AF's Minuteman missiles to the Army.
About once a year he would deploy to the island paradise of Kawai, Hawaii for six weeks. His job was to, once a day, check the temperature and humidity of the missile while it was waiting to be launched. The rest of the time was at his disposal. He made over $100 per day per diem, and still complained because he didn't like the time away from home!
I worked nearby Maj Avram at Hill AFB, UT on F-16 Sustainment. I would go TDY about once every two months. These usually involved travelling to Los Angeles, CA to meet with contractors. For example, we had two contractors in LA who were developing replacement parts for the F-16. I went TDY to their plant to inspect their manufacturing facilities, and to check on qualification testing of the parts they were developing. These trips were usually 2-3 days.
One of my favorite TDY's was to Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson Arizon. We were working on a replacement F-16 canopy actuator and we needed to do some testing on the aircraft. Testing on active AF aircraft is a real hassle and is very expensive, but if you go to D-M (the boneyard), you can get around all of that red tape...you just have to know the right people (that's where those older civilians come in handy).
Anyway, we spent a week in the boneyard doing some testing on one of there "used" F-16s. In between tests we had time to wander around the boneyard and check out everything from B-52s to SR-71s.
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