 I'm Lieutenant Tim Albrecht. I'm serving my first assignment as an electrical engineer for the National Air Intelligence Center here at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Specifically I work in the Acquisition Integration Division where I manage the production of intelligent documents which provide both the weapon system acquisition community and the warfighter with up-to-date information on worldwide threats to the Air Force mission. I'm pretty much concerned with anything that poses a threat to weapon systems or to an Air Force mission area such as electronic combat or air combat. These threats can come from any number of systems, from surface-to-air missiles to hostile aircraft, from radar jamming equipment to laser weapons. My job is to find out who has what, how well they maintain it, and how well they know how to use it. Since most of my work is classified and I won't be able to share many details with you, I thought maybe a historical example would give you a better idea of the work I do. Of course when you're talking about Air Force history, we at Wright-Patterson are lucky to have the Air Force Museum so close by. It's quite a place and it'll make it easier for me to show you how my work with foreign systems helps keep our forces on top. During the Korean War, our fighter pilots scored many kills flying the F-86 Saver against enemy pilots who were flying the Russian-built MiG-15. The result would not have been the same had US jet technology not advanced so rapidly after the end of World War II. Our success came from knowledge we gained from something called reverse engineering. Near the end of World War II, the Germans developed the world's first operational jet fighter, the Messerschmitt 262. Fortunately for us, the technology was deployed too late in the war to be of much use to the Axis powers, but it was right on time for engineering types like myself. After the war, we brought several of the German ME-262s back here to Wright-Patterson. Our guys took them apart piece by piece and found out exactly what made them work. As a result of their reverse engineering effort, we developed the F-86, and now as they say, you know the rest of the story. ROTC gives cadets great opportunity to develop leadership. I think it's probably one of the greatest lessons you learn as a cadet is how to deal with people, how to deal with peers that you're in charge of. I happened to be the core commander of my senior year, and that gave me great experience and great understanding of how difficult it is to lead a group of people. With the ROTC scholarship I had, I knew I was going to be tied to the Air Force for at least four years, and that in those four years I would get more experience and more responsibility than would an engineering student freshly graduated in the civilian world. When I first came on to active duty, while my clearance was coming through, my job was reverse engineering on certain foreign assets, and that was real hands-on engineering, and what I learned in college in laboratories with electrical engineering and circuit design and that sort of thing really helped me understand or have a better understanding of what was going on in this job while I waited for my clearance. My double E background has helped me with my job now too. I work with electronic combat systems which are jammers, radars, lasers, that sort of thing, and having a good understanding of the engineering behind those systems enables me to, I guess, to be more confident in my job. One of the opportunities I do look forward to is getting a master's degree in the Air Force, whether that's at the Air Force Institute of Technology, which is here at Wright-Patterson, or using the Tuition Assistance to fund an education at a private school. Coming on active duty is like a breath of fresh air. ROTC and active duty are very dissimilar. You have, first of all, you'll have a paycheck, which is nice, because in ROTC the $100 a month doesn't go very far, plus you're unable to go and do things you want to do because you're having to go to school. Going to work every day is trying at first, but then you get used to it, but at Wright-Patterson it's been a lot of fun. When I'm not working, well, I enjoy playing volleyball. They have a really good intramural program here at Wright-Patterson, as well as base competition, and I got to coach the unit, NEIC's volleyball team, and then I played on the base team, so that's been a lot of fun. You play in the summer outdoors. They have really good programs around here. I've got a great job, and I'm working on some interesting projects. I can guarantee that new engineers working in the private sector don't have any other responsibility that I have as a junior officer in the Air Force. I feel I make an important contribution to the defense of America, and the work I do is possible because of the start I got at debt 195, and though I haven't been able to tell you too much about my specific job, I can tell you that ROTC is a great way to get you where you want to go. Trust me.