Your Chamber’s Military Affairs Council and Aerospace Committee recently held a joint meeting to discuss important initiatives to attract and train pilots in the Air Force as well as focus on key career areas supported by the Space Force. The meeting was hosted at the North East ISD’s Institute of CyberSecurity & Innovation and led by 2023 Chairs Rick Crider, EVP Airport Railport & Military Relations, Port San Antonio, and Scott Gray, President, Elevate Systems. Guests were afforded a unique opportunity to hear of the exciting efforts of the United States Air Force and Space Force recruiting missions and also discuss the unique challenges and great strides in pilot training over the last few years.
Lt Col Kelly McNerney, Commander, Detachment 1, Air Force Recruiting Services spoke of inspiring, recruiting, and engaging the next generation of Air and Space Force professionals and highlighted goals of attracting and recruiting talent from diverse backgrounds, developing and retaining the best rated aircrews while leveraging data driven approaches. They accomplish these goals through events and engagements and creating strategic partnerships in the surrounding communities.
Talent acquisition is becoming more challenging and more expensive and American youth are increasingly disconnected from and less trusting of the military. Important components that reveal the recruiting challenge are:
- 5% Unemployment rate in the U.S.
- 46% of influencers would recommend military
- 39% of young adults (ages 17-35) do not comprehend the most basic military fundamentals (i.e. ranks, officer/enlisted, standards & requirements)
- 11% of young adults (ages 17-35) can name All DoD Active Duty Services
- 13% of 16-24 year-olds with a parent who served
- 10% youth propensity and 2% propensed & qualified 23% of youth are eligible to enlist without a waiver
Lt Col Marcus Stevenson, Chief of U.S Space Force Recruiting, then spoke about the Space Force focus of recruiting the brightest minds across technology, engineering and aerospace to fulfill their mission and evolve operations across the globe. Enlisted careers include: Space Operations, Aeronautical Engineering, Acquisitions, and Science and Engineering, while Officer careers include: Cyber Operations, Cyber Security, Information Technology, Program Management and Electrical Engineering. Civilian careers are also an option in Intelligence, Geospatial Intelligence, Financial Management and Contracting. More information on the efforts of these important military missions can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaJN2e3-UTc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9bzFKHrQoo
The meeting concluded with a conversation led by Col Jay Johnson, Air Education and Training Command’s new Chief of Staff. Col Johnson discussed Undergrad Quality Initiatives highlighting flight and simulator instruction, human weapon systems focus and increased device access to help with training future generation of pilots to meet immediate needs. He also discussed the T-7A Red Hawk Trainer and the timeline of the eventual beddown of this state-of-the-art training aircraft.
For more information on the Chamber’s Councils and Committees and to become involved visit www.sachamber.org and click on the membership tab.
The Military Affairs Council’s mission is to promote San Antonio by engaging the greater San Antonio community and especially its business community to demonstrably support, maintain, celebrate and grow the military presence in San Antonio.
The Aerospace Committee builds, connects, and convenes the San Antonio commercial and defense aerospace industry through initiatives that lead to a more robust workforce, foster collaboration across industries, highlight regional capabilities, and ultimately grow the aerospace industry in the Alamo City.