Balancing a civilian career and a Reserve military obligation isn’t easy. Sometimes schedules collide. Usually, Air Reserve Component Airmen are asking civilian employers to let them go for military duty. Less often, the military supervisor is asked for time away to work at the civilian job. The give and take is usually weighted toward the military side but military supervisors increasingly understand that the equation is dual-sided. Recently, an Air Force Reservist and an Air National Guard Airman had to ask their military supervisors for time away from military duty to work at their civilian jobs. The reason: to fly the last commercial flight, on a chartered airliner for then President-elect Barack Obama.
“The civilian boss normally doesn’t have a choice,” says Air Force Reserve Colonel Pete Maynard, civilian airline pilot and Reserve Individual Mobilization Augmentee. “I tell him I have to go and he has to let me, that’s the law.”
The military doesn’t have that restriction but keeping the supervisor relationship on solid footing is important. “He told me he may need to leave to go fly but, at first, didn’t tell me what it was for," says Col. David Delgado, Director of Programs and Requirements and military supervisor to Colonel Maynard. “When he told me I said, ‘this is a great opportunity, you have to take it.’”
Colonel Maynard, an individual mobilization augmentee, was serving on active-duty orders as deputy director. The next member of the charter air crew was Major Jon Bryant, a pilot with the Air National Guard in Nashville, Tenn. He was also on military orders when advised of the potential assignment to fly then President-elect Obama.
“I was doing some pre-coursework at my unit in Nashville,” says Major Bryant, who is assigned to the Air National Guard’s 105th Airlift Squadron. “I told my commander that I had this special opportunity. I didn’t tell them exactly what it was because I wasn’t sure it was going to actually happen.”
Major Bryant wasn’t sure he would get to fly that charter because pilots at his civilian job have to apply, or bid, for flights and until the selection is made, they are not guaranteed any specific flight. Additionally, to fly the president elect, Bryant would have to take two days of military leave.
“My squadron commander is very understanding,” says Major Bryant. “He is very user friendly and understood exactly what I needed and that it wasn’t going to impact my training.”
The impact on training or mission requirements is always the first consideration. “We always try to balance what their requirements are and work with the employers,” says Lt. Col. Chuck Echols, 105th AS Commander and Major Bryant’s supervisor.
Colonel Echols understands the balance with airline industry and pilots personally. He is currently on a leave of absence from his civilian airline pilot job and, for now, the arrangement works.
“It’s all about supply and demand,” says Colonel Echols. He explains there are numerous civilian pilots on furlough throughout the industry. He was able to take a leave of absence and preserve a position for another pilot. Currently the civilian airline industry is on the low end of pilot demand, but the Air Force is hiring. There was still one more spot to fill on the civilian air crew. Air Force Major Irby Rivera, was the third pilot chosen to fly the chartered flight. He is assigned to the Non-obligated Reserve Section at the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, Colorado. Though Major Rivera is not currently a drilling Reservist, he had served in both the active component and the Selected Reserve.
“It was neat sitting there knowing we are all three members of the ARC,” says Colonel Maynard. Colonel Maynard is used to working with a mix of active-duty, Guardsmen and several categories of Reservists because that happens every day on his military job because of the flexibility of the civilian employers. This time, flexibility from military supervisors allowed the three to work together at their civilian job. Providing enough flexibility to preserve a balance in the lives of Reserve Airmen is a high priority for the Air Force Reserve.
“Preserving the viability of that triad is extremely important,” said Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner, Chief of Air Force Reserve, at a late January briefing to AFRC leadership. “You’ve got an Airman… a Traditional Reservist who is civilian employed, military employed, has a family; and that triad also means we have take care of the Airman, have to take care of the family, have to take care of the employer.”