 What's up Kyle? My name is Matias, and I am 22 years old. I am stationed in Alaska at J-Bear joint base Elmdor Richardson So I joined the Air Force because I didn't really have anything else to do With my life. I mean, I really wanted to go to college. That was my main goal but I didn't have the money to Achieve that I applied for scholarships, but school was still like ridiculously expensive and I didn't want to spend money on student loans and you know being just Debt so I ended up just being like all right whatever and then my senior year of high school. I Took JRTC took Navy JRTC and I decided that I liked it enough to at least try the military So I enlisted and that's what I'm doing right now So I've been the Air Force for around three and three-quarters of a year technically senior airmen But I actually just got promoted to staff select So I won't be putting on our staff sergeant until much later, but technically my rank is staff select The name of my job is airspace ground equipment and it is two alpha six X two it is most commonly known as age if pretty much around the flight line and if everybody just refers to it as age So when I went to recruiter, I fill out the list for my jobs and I had ten choices my first choice was actually the job that you guys signed for but For my second choice was the job that I got I didn't go in as open mechanic got assigned that job and I Finished high school. I went to recruiters office I waited around six months, and then they told me that I was selected for my job Then I waited another three months, and then I went to bootcamp. So I mean yeah, it takes I would say it takes a while It I know some people that take maybe a year I wanted to go in but I wasn't like I didn't need to go in immediately Like some people definitely who when I go security forces, they just put security forces and they are shipped out within For me it was okay. I didn't mind waiting So as I said earlier, this was a job that I actually did want initially Yeah, I wanted I wanted your job structural man, so I mainly but it was it was mainly Honestly, because I know that your job was for your tech school. It was in Pensacola, and I was like, yeah, man Be down and go to Pensacola So that's why I put it as my as my first job But now I got this job and I don't mind it. I'll talk more about it in a second So pretty much all the jobs that I listed were in a maintenance field I have never even like honestly turned a branch. I didn't even know like what a fill is to head Honestly, I'd had no mechanical background I did score pretty high on the ASBA But I still wanted something mechanical because it's just something that had never dealt with before and I wanted to learn a new skill So yeah, all my jobs were mechanical I didn't really care so much which one I got selected for but luckily it was still pretty high up in my list So I was happy So when I went to the recruiter's office, I Initially did a four-year contract and it literally wasn't until the last minute that I was at meps That they're like, this is your last chance to change your mind We're about to send you off to bootcamp say you want a six-year contract or forever hold your piece So I was like, you know want to do school and I feel like if I do a four-year contract I'm not gonna finish my bachelor's degree So I'm gonna do a six-year contract and I changed my mind And I signed it and then I switch over to a six-year contract. Do I regret it? No, because I did learn a lot of stuff. I got this base, obviously So tech school for age is in Wichita Falls, Texas. It is northeast. Honestly, it's in the middle of nowhere I'm from Texas. So I didn't mind it all that much like I'm from Houston So it was nice for me because I would just drive down to see my family during the weekend sometimes or when we had like really long Like four-day weekends and stuff either I would get a rental car and drive all the way down or well Not all the way down There is definitely limit to how far you can go when you're in tech school So like for us it was you can be further than three and a quarter three and a half hours away from Wichita Falls Or the base is called Shepard. So you could I would drive either to Dallas or I would drive up to Oklahoma City You know, it was it was cool. It was to me. It wasn't that bad just because I'm from Texas Tech school for me really wasn't all that bad But I'm just kind of the type of person that I'm very social I like keeping busy So I would made a lot of friends and then we would go out and do stuff I mean, it is it is a very small town But if you find shit to do then you just will never get bored kind of thing So like I said, I would get a rental car and I would drive with friends either to Oklahoma City or I would drive them down to Dallas I would see my family sometimes there was like a band flight where you could do because I I did band in high school So when they were offering if you wanted to do band flight, I was like, yo, I'll do it So if you're in band you would play for ceremonies or promotions and stuff I also did the teal world program, which was the sexual assault prevention and you would wear this string I don't know how to how to call it But point is if you seize opportunities and you win off base and you did stuff and you made friends It's not all that bad But if you're gonna sit in your dorm room and you're gonna play video games Then you're gonna be pretty miserable. Luckily that wasn't me and I made a really a ton of friends I'm still really good friends with many of them through Facebook. So So the really cool thing about age is that if there's aircraft, there's age And we are not tied to a specific aircraft Like there is different career feels like for example Crew chiefs who they're trained on a single aircraft and then they have to stay with that aircraft Unless they're trained on on another aircraft like so I work with the f-22s But just because I work with the f-22s doesn't mean that I can only go where f-22 airplanes go I could go literally with any planes not not even just fighters I could go heavies or I could go with helicopters like it does not matter So you really with age you could go anywhere and you could it's just yeah, you could just go anywhere Even though you're not tied to a specific aircraft There is gonna be different age for different aircraft So f-22s have a couple different units and ground equipment That's different from a lot of like the like a10s or f-15s But even even then they'll still train you so like you're good You can still switch over from aircrafts like it does not matter The simplest way I can explain my job is that And this is what I tell people that have no clue what the Air Force is I'll tell them that first of all, I'm not a pilot And second of all, I don't fix the plane I fix the stuff that fixes the planes So I'm not technically held responsible for the plane I just fix the stuff and then the crew chiefs hook up that stuff to The airplane and then I'm good if we're really gonna get that to it My job is actually to maintain, we fix And we also deliver all the ground equipment that is in the flight line So there's different units and all these units I would say we have like maybe 15 different types of units And they all do different things So like these units are there to like for example, we have generators We have hydraulic test stands We have night cards We have air cards, oil cards Just different types of things that maintain the airplane And keep it just good to go Not only that, but we also fix any type of ladder or stands That are near the airplane We also fix the bomb lifts and maintain them So the bomb lifts are the what it sounds like It's like little cards They're the little cards that can they lift up the bombs That are then put into the airplane Times up what you can expect for this job I think when you first come in as an airman The first thing they're gonna do is They're gonna show you the basics of what each equipment does And then they're gonna put you in a truck You're gonna spend pretty much the first two years of your career in a truck Yeah, honestly, that's pretty much all everyone we're doing You don't really do any maintenance They show you how to do a couple of inspections You learn as you go pretty much But most of the time you're gonna be spent in a truck Where you're gonna tow all this equipment That is gonna be called through the air radio So they're gonna give you radios And you're gonna get calls from different people around the flight line And they'll tell you, hey, we need this over at this location So you're gonna have those radios And then you're just gonna deliver the equipment over there Keep an open mind Be adaptable There's gonna be a lot of people who are gonna be very negative You're gonna come across a lot of people who are negative You're also gonna come across a lot of people who are washed out People that were in special career fields And then didn't make it A lot of them do get washed out into age And they're gonna be honestly fucking miserable There's gonna be people that didn't want to be aged But got age Which I wouldn't say successful in my career field Like, I think successful is just very vague Because I don't really understand what the question is Like, am I personally successful? Am I getting awards? Am I doing really good on my EPRs? Am I like a stellar airman? I would say no I've definitely fucked up in my career I've definitely had paperwork And that's just kind of how it is That's kind of maintenance in a nutshell Like, it's gonna happen And I would say not be afraid to make mistakes Like, everybody has them, but just learn from them I would also say to communicate with your higher ups How I was saying that I'm not really successful in my career field I would say I'm successful, I think, as a person Because I actually got really lucky And I met a lot of really good people here in Alaska And I became really good friends with a lot of people I work with And they're people that I trust So in that sense, I consider myself lucky And I consider myself successful Because I am in an environment where I can work with people So if you guys want to follow me I'm probably linked down below My Instagram, it's Matias I'm actually thinking of making YouTube videos Or at least a couple Because not only am I stationed in David And I'm a staff select But I'm also a transgender So that comes with a whole new set of problems Especially with the transgender band going in And luckily I did it Or I started transitioning Before the band even started taking effect So I'm actually able to transition in And take this off-stream My career goes on So I don't have to stop Kyle, if you ever want to collab Do a video with me about that I would totally be open about it But I think that this is all I have to say about my job I will send you the description in a second But thank you so much for reaching out And having me in your videos