Female Controllere Tactical A

Vanity

[Chainmail]

Hi Ben

I have three Honorable Discharge certificates: one at the end of my four year enlistment, another at the end of my reserve commission, and one at my retirement at the end of my regular commission.

I would find it odd that the young lady “can’t find” her DD214 - we were taught to keep that document safe and to make many copies. Little hard to apply for Veteran’s” Benefits without it.

[taxcontrol]

AirForce Times says that the first female JTAC GRADUATED in spring 2019.

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/02/27/first-female-tacp-could-graduate-this-spring/

That might factor into her timeline / story. Just saying.

[DilJective]

Army soldiers can go from Active Duty to Reserves to Active Guard Reserve and get DD214s from each stint. Also, Reservists are supposed to get DD214s for any period of active duty over 179 days.

I know the AF has a Reservist program that is basically Active Duty and they may fall under similar guidelines.

I was shocked to read that any job in the Air Force requires actual physical training... (just kidding!)

[redlegplanner]

Agree. Me thinks I detect boooooooollschiesse.

I was a lordly Artilleryman (we lend dignity by our mere presence to what would otherwise be naught but an ugly brawl...) but anytime someone sez “SF”, “Sniper” etc my BS detector goes into high alert. While there are SF and Snipers out in the real world, I think this is similar and warrants a gimlet eye.

[Alas Babylon!]

This story was linked right under your story:

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2016/09/28/first-woman-to-attempt-tacp-training-left-after-injury/

An “unnamed enlisted woman”.

[Alas Babylon!]

Also, I made a dozen copies of my DD214 and took them with me EVERY time I went to a job fair, informal offer, formal offer, etc.

Like American Express, don’t leave home without it.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Not related but during the “old days” in the USAF whenever a person reenlisted they were discharged, given a DD-214, and an honorable discharge + certificate. So some old timers would have a few DD-214s and Honorable discharge certificates in a twenty year career. They stopped doing that some time in the late 1960s or early 70s. Now a person will only have one of each when they get out.

[higgmeister]

I don't want to split hairs here but I was a USAF Tech Controller 30770 and about the time I was separating out in March of 81 I heard that they were sending some of us to tactical units to troubleshoot the remote links to airborne weapons systems with a title of a tactical controller. And this was different from the Forward Air Controllers in Vietnam that later became TACP. This would be a job that is performed on the other end of the Comm links that the TACP use from the battle field.

Just keeping an open mind because the USAF is a big place.

[mylife]

my dd214 entitles me to nothing other than a lifetime membership at the VFW, and I had to pay for the membership

[mylife]

God bless all the Military

[DilJective]

That’s interesting. Things change. But, the DD214 is still one of the most important documents a veteran will ever have.

[pfflier]

You might have nailed it. Tech school training is at Keesler, or was anyway. The AFSC was just shut down.

Does this sound like your job?

Tech controllers called themselves "jack of all trades, master of none," with the basic duty description of "operates, monitors, secures, and controls the physical, data link, network, and transport layers of garrison and tactical communications-computer systems, encompassing local and wide area networks, end-to-end telecommunications and circuit switching systems, long-haul transmission, and the global information grid; intoperforms, coordinates, and supervises their design, configuration, operation, restoration and improvements; analyzes their capabilities and performance, identifies problems and takes corrective action; operates cryptographic equipment; fabricates cable assemblies; performs C-CS control facility quality assurance evaluation; (and) directs and makes operational adjustments to C-CS equipment."

She did get "air" into it though.

[Svartalfiar]

It just didn't smell right and I asked about her training. She said Keesler AFB.
...
She is not the right physical stature, very slight and not bulked up like you would expect for all the physical training involved. She also claims to be 25 YO and has been discharged last year after 7 years active duty. I don't even think that AFSC was open to women in 2012.

Pretty sure Keesler doesn't do any kind of combat air control stuff. Most of that is at Lackland, and SOC wasn't even opened to females until Jan 2016. (Unless she was initially in in another MOS, then transferred over at some point, but I doubt it.) It's up to three years of training, unless she was an MOS-transfer, so at best she might have been one for 2-3 years. (Ignoring the other posted stories about how the first female to graduate the class might be in 2019.) Prior to Lackland, I believe this training was hosted by Elgin. Still not Keesler.

If you're still considering her, it should be easy to look up some basic information about her job. Was she JTAC-qualified? Is she claiming any other common CAC quals like Airborne (required I think), Air Assault, Pathfinder, Jumpmaster, Combat Diver, Sniper, PJ? Does she have a unit she was assigned to that can verify her information at all? Many TACPs are assigned to Army/Marine units, since they're the guys on the ground that a TACP would be attached to. Especially for deployment.

And all that said, unless she has some verifiable paperwork, I wouldn't believe her story. Also, why did she get out? Seven years is an odd time frame for most enlistments. Usually it's a four or six-year initial, then two-year extensions, almost no one does a one-year extension because there's no bonus pay. Of course, if she was the special female who graduated in 2019, she wouldn't be allowed out - in the Army at least, you are REQUIRED to have at least two years time in service remaining after completion of a MOS school, for them to send you to that school. Fancy stuff like SpecOps (what TACPs fall under) sometimes have even longer time-remaining service commitments to be sent to school.

https://www.airforce.com/careers/detail/tactical-air-control-party-specialist-tacp?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclsrc=aw.ds

[mylife]

spec ops is spooky ****

[mylife]

spec ops is spooky ****

[Vermont Lt]

Not sure you can hire vets “exclusively” unless a security clearance is necessary. But even so, if she said on he application she was a vet you can ask for proof.

Not sure how what you describe is team building. Sounds like a waste of work time. But, you know best.

[WhattheDickens?]

I went inactive reserve after an honorable; got a DD214 the day I separated, (1989).

Anyone who hems and haws about a DD214 isn’t qualified for more than minimum wage, even if she did serve somewhere, somehow.

For what it’s worth, I was commissioned when men still griped about women being commissioned. Served with plenty of male chauvinists, but it was the wives and other commissioned women who made my life hell.

[Robocop5626]

As the DD214 is the gold standard of proof of military service, you would think she would appreciate your offer to provide her a copy. Unless the old one was used as a fish wrapper in a “the one that got away” fishing tale.

[pfflier]

Hiring vets only is all in how you make the job description. Qualifications can specify experience in areas where a college art major just can't qualify. For example experience in operations and maintenance of specific a range telemetry systems.

This wasn't team building. It was a weekend open house for prospective job applicants. A beer and a tour.

[T. P. Pole]

Hey, you won’t believe my story either...

I was just thinking that. If I ever told my real story it would pretty much not be believed except for the small handful of other folks involved.