NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. – For Nellis AFB, the 99th Force Support Squadron manpower section is in charge of determining the amount of Airmen that are allotted to each unit.
Throughout the Air Force, the Manpower Requirement Squadron will conduct studies on each career field to determine if a squadron is manned at the appropriate level.
“Manpower is determined by the amount or complexity of the work being done,” said Staff Sgt. Brandon Rainford, 99th Force Support Squadron manpower analyst. “The Manpower Requirement Squadron conducts a study on each career field at different locations to determine the manning earned and publishes standards to keep all career field functions across the U.S. Air Force from becoming undermanned or over manned for the amount of work they do.”
With Nellis AFB being in the Southwest part of the United States, manning across each base may also vary depending on geographical location.
“In some cases there are variances to the standard. For example, a Civil Engineer shop here and a CE shop at Minot AFB, North Dakota, may have the same workload but Minot AFB could earn more because of the winter weather, making their job more complex,” said Rainford. “The base level manpower implements these standards across their perspective base.”
With manpower in charge of the manning at each unit, they also work with re-training as well as the critically manned career fields.
“For first term Airmen, when they complete 35 months of their current enlistment of a four year contract or 59 months for 6-year enlistees, but no later than the last duty day of the 43rd month of their current enlistment or 67 months for 6-year enlistees,” said Rainford. “Each career field will have its own retraining quotas, determined by the Air Force Personnel Center. If a member is not a first term Airmen, it is up to the member's career field functional to release them for retraining.”
With manpower being a career that Airmen must cross-train into after serving in another career field, they are always looking for Airmen who may want a new change of scenery.
“Prior to joining the Manpower career field, I was an aircraft armament specialist. As much as I enjoyed that job, I didn't see it leading to the life I wanted after retirement or leaving me with the type of skills I desired to have as a civilian,” said Staff Sgt. Joshua Goodwin, 99th Force Support Squadron manpower analyst, mission team. “When I started looking into changing my career field and found Manpower, I was immediately interested. After talking with the local Manpower Office and hearing about the big picture type impact they dealt with and also the process improvement side of things I switched my focus to doing everything I could in order to become a part of the Manpower community.”
For Airmen who may be interested in contacting or cross-training into manpower can call 702-652-9066 for more information.