The Air Force Reserve performs 20% of the work of the USAF and offers a variety of jobs for officers, enlisted personnel, and civilians. Jobs can be full-time or part-time, with options for those with or without military experience. Specialized areas include aviation, personnel recovery, and intelligence.
The Air Force Reserve performs about 20% of the overall work of the United States Air Force (USAF). Reservists include officers, enlisted personnel, and civilians. Members of all branches of the military can participate, even if they have not served in the Air Force, as well as those without military experience. There is a wide variety of jobs and areas of interest. Air Force Reserve jobs can be full-time or part-time and include aviation, personnel recovery, and intelligence.
Most traditional Air Force Reserve jobs are part-time. In this category, reservists typically serve in the area where they live one weekend a month. Additionally, they will typically have temporary duty two weeks a year, although it may not be served in the area they live.
Another option is full-time employment – two types of Air Force Reserve employment fall under this rubric: Air Reserve Technicians (ART) and Active Guard Reserve (AGR). ARTs work as public service employees during the week and hold the same jobs as reservists on the weekends they serve. These full-time positions help maintain reserve consistency and continuity. ARTs represent 15% of the force, providing daily leadership and administrative and logistical support. The AGR is a smaller group, made up of individuals with previous military experience, who are ordered to participate full-time.
Individual Mobilization Augmentees (IMA) are a select group used to supplement active duty units. Most have undergone special training, have unique skills, and often have prior active duty experience. IMAs meet individually and work according to personalized schedules in designated locations around the world.
Many Air Force Reserve jobs involve or focus on aviation. Currently, the Reserve uses 13 different types of aircraft designed to meet a wide range of requirements and operational missions. Two main areas of aviation are air transport and specialized missions.
Air transport refers to the movement of people and equipment around the world. There are two types of air transport: strategic and tactical. Air Force Reserve jobs in strategic airlift involve transporting equipment and troops from a neutral area to an area of operation. Tactical airlift jobs require equipment and troops to be transported from one area to another within the theater. To execute these missions, teams of pilots, maintenance crews, technicians and ground operations units are needed.
Specialized missions unique to the Reserve and not practiced in the Air Force are weather reconnaissance and aerial firefighting. Air Force Reserve jobs in these areas also include pilots, scientists, technicians, and maintenance personnel. The teams that perform weather reconnaissance are known as hurricane chasers. Hurricane hunters fly directly into storms to record and transmit data that helps plot paths, direct design, measure intensity, and estimate time to landfall. Airborne firefighting teams fight fires that cannot be contained by local volunteers and civilian firefighters; this function includes spraying fire retardant or dropping large amounts of water on fire.
A highly specialized area within the Reserve is personnel rehabilitation. Pararescue, or Parajumpers (PJs), are an elite unit that perform conventional and unconventional rescues. Typically, this Air Force Reserve job involves rescuing aircrews who are behind enemy lines. In addition, PCs perform natural disasters and rescues at sea, mountains, and deserts. Pararescue has strict requirements that include long, intense training that can take up to two years.
Intelligence support focuses on preventing attacks and surprises. Responsibilities of Air Force Reserve jobs within this field include planning or conducting aerospace operations, mapping, mapping, developing objectives and requirements, providing guidance and supervision. Intelligence personnel collect and analyze data and information, taking into account industrial, technological, geographic and sociological factors. This information is used to support planning, operations and special missions and is provided to other services and agencies.
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