 My road to join the Air Force was actually a pretty long time because I was working multiple jobs as a civilian And I just wasn't feeling like I was in the responsibility that I deserved about a year after being out of high school I went to a career and I spoke to him We got the ball rolling that way just because I didn't feel like there was a clear path of a career Where I was before and in the military. It's like very like structure. It's structured like you can see Exactly where you're gonna be in a few months years, etc. I wanted a career career progression Well that and like finances like not necessarily that I wasn't doing well, but because With the military I can structure out like I was telling you like when we hung out the other day that With the TSP and like all that stuff like I can set it up so that way I can retire Finances are yeah, it's so much structure. Yeah So I've been in for two years. I'm an A1C E3 and I'm loving it so far how much longer until you put on senior man March 2020 almost another year from now. Yeah I'm aerospace ground equipment or we just like to call age for short and the AFSC is to alpha 6x2. I signed an open mechanical and They were trying to push me to do four years But I knew me as a person I would want to do six years because I knew that there's gonna be parts of any job That you work for even civilian wise that you're gonna hate and or dislike And so I've realized that for me if I were to do six years It would force me to kind of go along and see what yeah commit it and see what it's like So yeah, I did six years open mechanical and then as I was signing my contract. He said oh congratulations, sir You get E3 right out of tech school and I was like I didn't even know that okay Yeah, yeah, and then he's like oh and you get a $2,500 bonus. Yeah, holy crap. I get all this money I mean it didn't end up being that didn't end up being a lot of money, but like it was still something yeah It was like $1,800. Yeah got me home for a for a visit with my family, so I Don't remember everything. Where was age then on that one? I'm pretty sure was last those last pretty sure was last Yeah, I was like cuz I remember getting called into the TI's office And he's like congratulations. You got aerospace ground up and then I was like Yeah, I was like oh it's like I think that's like then I'm looking back I'm like I'm pretty sure that's why I put it in there But um I had ammo I had a bunch of crew chiefs jobs, which I'm glad I didn't get Because being age you know we have a rivalry with with crew chiefs as I'm sure you know But it's all I love but Like so it was all crew chief jobs for like f-16s and stuff like that But the cool thing about my job is that like I'm not limited to an airframe. Yeah, I can go to any base Yeah, cuz crew chiefs get shredded out. Yeah, like even people that I worked with over in Beale they're coded to the U2 and The 810 mm-hmm because apparently like I didn't even know they only get to go to like five bases Yeah, there's like Korea some places, you know overseas and Beale. Yeah, like that's it So tech school was at Shepherd in Wichita Falls, Texas So tech school was like about five months. I believe it or so, you know It's been a while since I've been in but it was five to six months So it was right on the cusp of like I know you and I'm sure you know that you got BTP and then like you got ATP With age we were right on the cusp of like being up being able to move out of the dorms like the regular dorms for For training and go into the ATP dorms where like we can don't have to do Formation we can drive a car to to class and stuff like that We were there like we we missed about a month or something like that from what I was told Yeah, that kind of sucked, but I mean at the same time you're only there for a few months Yeah, yeah, it would have been pretty cool, but you know I Enjoyed it. I did feel like it wasn't as in depth as it needed to be But I mean Well, yeah, and you kind of need that to be like that because not everybody's gonna have a mechanical background I mean, I didn't really have a mechanical background either. Yeah, so like I mean, I did a lot of Autodesk Inventor stuff I don't know if you know what that is. So it's like 3d printing 3d modeling and designing on the computer So I am actually certified in Autodesk Inventor, which is a program for that For the Air Force and so like that kind of stuff helps you think in a certain way So I was very I'm a very very visual learner seeing everything on on the board Touching the equipment looking at all the wiring that really helped me and I did pretty well in Tex school I I think the only block or class that I struggled in was hydraulics Like I you need like a 70 to pass I got a 70 on hydraulic but everything else was like 80s 90s hundreds 80s 90s hundreds and then 70 and I was like So what's so difficult about hybrids? Well, it was a combination of like the the teacher that was doing it didn't really link up with my Learning style. It was kind of just like oh read off the board and for me I need somebody to say it and I just see it or so yeah And then it locks in my brain forever But like it was a combination of that and like it was getting towards the end. I was getting burnt out I was tired. Yeah Yeah, I was like, I don't want to do this anymore. I was like, well, I'm gonna pass. I'm just ready to get to my base Yeah, yeah, exactly. I'm fine. I'm ready to find out what my base is. Yeah, and Because I still don't think I knew at that point. We found out like two weeks before. Yeah, it depends in tech school Some people will find out like right away and other classes will find out. Yeah, right for the elite And the thing is they told me like oh, you're going to be ill and the teacher that I had loved to mess with us He'd be like, oh, yeah, you got fighters at Beal and I was like, okay. I looked it up. I'm like, no, we don't it's all reconnaissance What the heck? Like why would you lie to me? Oh, yeah, they do that. They would tell us like well one of you guys are OSI and we'd be like, oh my god We always used to think that's a basic training in tech school. Yeah, so put it here as OSI We used to think there was like microphones hidden in the AC events in the dorms. Yeah, there's nothing I spoke to you an OSI agent at one point not from me or anything like that But it was like a mass briefing like for a generated deploy He's like, you know, I'm sure you heard about, you know us doing this this and this Basic training in tech school is that we don't do that. I'm like, yeah, isn't that something somebody would say? Like it's just like people are paranoid. Yeah, exactly as long as you do the right thing you're gonna be fine Yeah, I mean, that's that's what I try to do. Yeah integrity first. Yeah, you got to yeah So was it anything else about tech school like that stood out to you that you loved about being a shepherd specifically? Cuz I've heard some people hate it some people love it and it's like it's like any PCS You know, it is what you make of it. Mm-hmm Shepherd was really small at least what we were allowed to like see yeah and everything like that It wasn't a bad experience Because like you have the mall you had this one place that we used to go all the time It was a Hibachi place. I can't remember the name. Yeah, so like every weekend Yeah, we go there and like I wasn't 21 yet So I couldn't drink or anything like I would always you know DD for everybody or we take like the van shuttle You start getting paid to DD people. No Yeah, you guys are dry people around all the time because if you didn't have a DD you'd have higher tax So some people like 15 bucks. I'll take all you guys. Yeah, so we're like, okay And then they were making like they go pick people up and then bring people back They're making money all weekend. Well, I didn't have a car in tech school So like I was using like their cars and like this one girl She had a car that her you know dad brought down and we'd always go out like our whole class And we brought to eat and stuff like that like I was like, well, I'm not 21 I'm like one of the only people who's not so I'll just do it I've been DDing for for two years in the military and now that I turn 21. I'm like it's my time to shine So you enjoy tech school overall. Yeah, it was a good experience. Yeah I mean, you got to share a room with people and I mean after basic. It's not really anything different, you know Yeah, it's actually one person in tech school one and it was like it was a good experience It was nice. I'm like, I don't know that as soon as I got to tech school I got to my my dorm and I instantly started talking to my girlfriend at the time who's not my wife But we're just like I was just like, oh my god now. I can talk to you all the time Yeah, and then you know, they're like well no phones in class and I was like man. Yeah, you know, that's pretty standard Yeah, cuz my job my job is the same way tech school Yeah, so everybody just pretty much after school is when you would talk to somebody Yep, I mean we had a we had in our sister class. We had a cross trainer from avionics I guess with the AWACS who's a senior airman and it was like he's got he gets to have his phone in here because you know He's prior sir. Yeah, and I'm like man. I must be really nice like the train Yeah, that must be really nice to cross train and then my supervisor now is actually a Cross train from avionics to age. I don't know where he was before but he's a hard worker You know he works, you know, it works a lot of people in our shop As far as I know, I mean, I don't I know there's a lot of you know bases around you only know what you've experienced Yeah, yeah, so like you can go pretty much anywhere. There's aircraft there If there's aircraft there for sure unless I don't think we can come to Nellis cuz it's contracted No, the rescue unit is not though. Okay, so they do have a small age. Okay. I didn't know that same with my job My job's contracted on all the fighters even but the helicopters we still run. Okay There's only like 12 people in the age shop. Okay. Yeah, because like at Beale metals tech is contracted completely But we just now started getting Military yeah working there. So it's it's yeah as long as there's active-duty Components or slots available at the base we can go there. Okay, so you pretty much Yeah, free to go anywhere So if you want to want the opportunity maybe go somewhere or not Well, if you would run a crew cheat you would have been limited to like five bases Whatever that airframe is stationed at and what a lot of people do is they'll put in orders for Korea and then they'll Have a follow-on to where they want to go. Mm-hmm, especially if they're still considered a first-term airman Yeah, you have a chance of going to a base you might yeah, exactly sacrifice one here in Korea Are you thinking about doing that? Well, I'm thinking about it But since I'm married I take my wife it have to be three years. Yeah, so I asked my wife was okay Would you go with me to Korea and she's like Sure, I was like all right cool bet Happens exactly. I mean with a rate that people are disappearing from our shop. I mean yeah, yeah, it'll happen The best way I describe it to civilians is weird diesel mechanics And so like we work on big generators that put out a lot of AC power and some that put out DC power because they are different power sources the Dash-60 basically what those things do is they provide bleed air to the aircraft. We on an average day We're gonna like we're gonna do inspections on the on the equipment So phase one inspection inspections phase two inspections and those are just basically oil You know checking to make sure the gas isn't or the diesel isn't contaminated you know checking belts and Electronic opponents all that kind of stuff You're just basically making sure that there's nothing out of the ordinary and each a piece of equipment is gonna have like Special requirements like with for the 86 for example, which is just a big generator that we use That's very common for every aircraft plug it into the aircraft You have to make sure that the bolts on the generator are torqued down correctly It's like that's like a specific thing that we would do so I'd be including your yeah And it's in the inspection. I guess yeah, but anything that we would have in our shop is gonna be specifically for supporting Aircraft in their sorties, which is you know, they're flying times on an average day We're gonna do the inspections for that for that support equipment and then you're also gonna have an age driver that is soul or he or she's sole purpose on the flight line is to get a call deliver age get a call deliver age and You're like growth hub. Yeah, we're like we're like Uber Eats for the flight line But you're not delivering food. Yeah, it's like he's like hey, man We need we need a juicy locks car right here. I'm like, all right 15 Mike But yeah, so we will pick up equipment whatever they need to support that aircraft whether it's recovery or launch Because recovery you need equipment doesn't matter what you're doing with an aircraft You're gonna need age. So you're kind of SOL if you don't have age. Yeah, I'd say it's a thing That's a thankless job. So sometimes so yeah, like the the common things that you can get put into an age are You can either drive the line and normally at least that beel will do it for about a month at a time Depending on what if you're a day shifter or night shift So you got you know the dispatcher which is just driving to and from the flight line bring in equipment And then you have spuds which is basically your sole purpose is to Bring equipment that needs to be thick and we bring it to sheet metal or Whichever one is gonna be able to fix that that piece of equipment and normally Generators to us that had bolts that were broken out Rivets would be like loosen a little drill and we'd have to reshoot Yeah, so you'll do spuds which is I don't know I'm sure it's very different between like every base book the base that I'm at will have spuds And we have an inspections lead which you have to get a certain amount of inspections done So you could be put in inspections or you could be put in maintenance where you're basically just sitting there and you'll fix Whatever major thing happens You troubleshoot your troubleshooting your figure out what's wrong with stuff. You're fixing this stuff You're ordering parts. You're putting parts in a lot of times Is it just like one or two parts that go bad like a like a switch or something that breaks? It's it's it's usually very minimal. I know when I first came in I was like, oh the generator is bad I it's got to be and my seven levels like no You should you should keep troubleshoot because you already knew it was wrong. Yeah, and that's how I was like We're not buying a new generator. Yeah, that's how I got good $100 part and you were like, I wanted to replace the whole thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, instead of like, you know $50,000, but then it's almost like working on a car like when your car stops working You're not like the whole motor is bad. Yeah, you got it. You're like, oh, it's something Two sensors bad. Yeah, like replace O2 sensor. Yeah. Oh, it works now And then you can also have support inside the the age shop. So support is basically gonna be hey, you know I need it's like a tools crib. Yeah Yeah, you need a they just are in charge of the tools and like usually they're in charge of the programs of the Shop like I know I just got put on fall prevention And so I got to make that from scratch because I I've never I've never made a program before But it's gonna be a first time. But yeah, so like they'll do a lot of programs like has and stuff like that Step one don't fall. Yeah Step one don't fall, but you have to have like a whole pro like a whole book. Yeah binder on fall prevention Yeah, exactly. So you got to create a whole binder now. Yeah Well, I mean luckily it's with my supervisor. So he's gonna he's gonna show me how to do it So I know in the future. Yeah, so that's what he's good Get your license get your license before you join before you join get your license You know, no one's gonna fault you for fault you for living in an area where you you know Like New York where you're not gonna have your license normally But if you get in and you don't have your license Make the effort to try to get your license as soon as you can because it just puts more work on your Co-workers to have to bring you to and from work and like that's not that big of a deal But the fact that you can't drive the flight line That's like 50% of your job is driving the line So if you can't do 50% of your job, you're gonna have a bad time. Yeah, you're like, I know I knew somebody who didn't get her license for a while and she was put on 12. Yeah Like a month and a half or something like that. So she got it and you're impeding the shop at that point Exactly not and so they they will put you on a mandatory duty to make sure that you get yourself them Because that's a requirement is yeah have a license. Well, that's the the weird thing is that it's not a requirement for age You can get an age without having a license or if it's a requirement once for the yeah Which is like I think that's wild to me like why we wouldn't say hey 50% of this job is is you need a license So so we should know this job. Yeah, but I mean, you know, it's it's all about you know Getting people in and like they'll eventually get their license. It's not that big of a deal But on top of making sure you have your license I would say make sure you're willing to learn with any job that you get in the military You just need to make sure that you want to learn because if you're not gonna like put in the effort to learn your job You're not gonna promote. You're not gonna do, you're not gonna go on the cool TDY's like I didn't work hard I would not be on this TDY here. Yeah, you know and so just work hard Even if you don't know what you're doing just best foot forward, you know, and you're gonna you're gonna have a good time All right guys, that was my interview with Austin. I appreciate you for one Coming here to thank your base for sending you TDY here. So you were able to do this interview It's isn't this crazy what what it looks like from somebody that's in to somebody that's not It looks so funny when I'm next to somebody else like in regs and then like me. I was like, I I looked like this Seven months ago. That's that's crazy. I mean and like the thing is before I joined I didn't have like a crazy beer anything but like I had a nice goatee going on and I miss it so much Yeah, that's what I never had this yeah, but now I do. I'm jealous. I'm gonna definitely have to do that when I get out Yeah, most people do But I actually had longer hair in middle school I grow it out. I grew it out to like right here That's my goal. That's what I'm trying to get to it's a lot of work though. Yeah, you learn how to do the whole like tell Yeah, I'm like once I get there. I'll probably like alright. I'm getting rid of it now So you just wanna grow out once but yeah, thanks for coming here and talking you were super comfortable on camera Which is really cool because a lot of people are kind of nervous But you seem really comfortable you guys should comment down below anything that you learned about this anything that you liked Or if you have any questions comments or concerns about this Comment them down below because there might be other age people that watch this video too And they can kind of help out in the chat Let you know the the real things or whatever that you're seeking answers for that we maybe didn't I definitely don't know You know, I've only been in for two years, so I got a lot to learn. Yeah, and it's always a learning process Nobody knows it all so and every base is gonna be different Alright guys, that was everything for the video be sure to leave a comment down below click like and subscribe And I'll see you guys in my next video. Peace out