Officers share cross-flow experiences, skills

News > Officers share cross-flow experiences, skills

Officers share cross-flow experiences, skills

Posted 3/29/2011

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by Maj. Beth Kelley Horine
Air Force Personnel, Services and Manpower Public Affairs

3/29/2011 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Cross-flowing into one career field from another isn't a new concept for Airmen. Most officers, at one time or another throughout their career, have served in a position or job outside of their original or primary Air Force Specialty Code.

Take, for example, Lt. Col. Ginger Wallace, a former operations management officer working in the C-130 Hercules community as a mission planner and crew scheduler who cross-trained into the intelligence career field at her seven-year point.

"When my 19XX career field went away, I was able to select from critically manned career fields at the time to cross-train into," Wallace said. Intel was my first choice and a perfect fit for me coming from an operational background. Even though I was non-rated, I wanted to stay close to airplanes, and intel offered that. I couldn't have asked for it to work out any better!"

Currently at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces for senior developmental education, Wallace recently completed a tour commanding the 488th Intelligence Squadron at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England. However, at the time she cross-trained, her 0-4 promotion board was coming up soon, and she admits she was worried.

"I thought cross-training right as I was meeting my majors board might hurt me. I almost got out," she said. "But knowing now what I didn't know then about the promotion and personnel process, I shouldn't have worried. Cross-training had no negative impact on my promotability."

Recently selected for promotion to full colonel, Wallace said that her experience from her prior career field only served to her benefit.

"In fact," she said, "as time went on, my previous aircraft-centric, ops background only benefitted me in my career progression as an intel officer."

Another cross-flowed officer, Maj. Tre' Irick, agrees with Wallace.

"Career progression is always an unknown, no matter what career you're in," he said. "So when the combat rescue officer career field opened up in 2001, I took a leap of faith."

Irick was working as a contracting officer when the Air Force created the 13D officer career field.

"I jumped on it," he said.

However, entering a brand new AFSC, Irick and his fellow combat rescue officers started at ground zero, helping to build the new career field from scratch.

"We had to establish everything as we went along -- training plans, guidance, objectives, doctrine, strategic vision," he said. "Fortunately, my background as a contracting officer gave me the ability to effectively define requirements, document processes and work with people from various backgrounds to achieve a single goal. These skills directly correlated to my ability to establish the foundational requirements and strategic guidance needed for 13DXA."

Irick currently is serving on the air staff as the A3/A5 Commander's Action Group deputy director. In July, he will take command of the 48th Rescue Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.

For 1st Lt. Gina McKeen, a new public affairs officer who recently cross-flowed from the force support career field, the opportunity to work in a different career field offered her greater career progression in her specific field of study.

"My background was in television production, and I had always wanted to be a public affairs officer," she explained. "When I entered the Air Force there weren't many available slots in PA, so I went into personnel and manpower. While that job was interesting, I worked with my chain of command and the Air Force Personnel Center to see if there was a way to cross-flow. I lucked out. There was a PA vacancy at a nearby base and my career field manager agreed to let me transfer."

Currently the public affairs chief at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, McKeen cites her force support background as invaluable in her development as a public affairs officer.

"My experiences in manpower and personnel gave me a better understanding of how information is communicated at different levels and where people go for information," she said. "A great part of cross-training is that the more understanding you have about a broad range of things, the better you will be in your job.

"Coming from another career field can benefit you because you have a different perspective," she added. "You have been on the other side and may be able to offer a different point of view that will help when determining the best way to execute or, in my case, communicate something."

Scheduled to deploy in June, McKeen does admit the public affairs career field's high deployment rate might deter others from considering a cross-training opportunity in PA.

"While the rate of deployment is high in this career field, that is not necessarily a drawback," the lieutenant said. "It's a reflection of the importance of what we do in public affairs. The time away from family, friends and familiarity is hard on all who deploy. But, I prefer to see it as an opportunity to showcase an exciting and extremely important part of our Air Force story."

Sometimes officers have the opportunity to move back and forth between AFSCs, often ending up back in their original career field, as is the case with Capt. Ben Norris.

"As a young acquisitions officer at U.S. Strategic Command, I had the opportunity to apply for the Special Experience Exchange Duty, or SPEED, program," Norris said. "It's an operational exchange tour for acquisitions officers to cross-train into the space and missile, intelligence or maintenance career fields. My first choice was intel and I was selected."

After completing the year-long intelligence technical training, Norris moved to Patrick AFB, Fla. for his four-year long assignment as an intelligence officer at the Air Force Technical Applications Center.

"I was somewhat concerned that taking such a long break from my career field would be a detriment, but my assignments team assured me that cross-flowing would enhance my depth of experience, and that officers cross-train all the time in and out of our career field," he said. "They were right. I've enjoyed the experience of being an intel officer, and the AFPC team has been really helpful throughout the entire process."

As part of his time in intel, Norris also deployed to the Joint Intelligence Operations Center in Kabul, Afghanistan.

"What a great experience," he said. "While deployed I had the opportunity to work with (more than) 40 foreign countries at International Security Assistance Forces headquarters. I also had the opportunity to do some political military analysis of some of the areas in Afghanistan."

As Norris awaits the results of his majors board and transitions back into the acquisitions world with a permanent change of station to Hanscom AFB, Mass., this summer, he knows his operational experience will only enhance his ability to perform in the acquisitions career field.

"My intel background will prove very beneficial in my next job, especially given I will be placed at an organization with intelligence as part of its mission," Norris said. "I'll be able to get closer to the users' needs, as I can better understand their requirements, enabling me to go out and get the services and systems needed."

As part of the Air Force's overall changing mission and manpower needs, AFPC officials recently implemented a cross-flow panel to respond to the dynamic requirements within over- and under-manned career fields. The panel selected 73 officers for cross-flow opportunities in the control and recovery, air liaison, intelligence, public affairs, developmental engineer and acquisition manager career fields in February 2011.

"The skills officers learn in other career fields are a huge benefit when cross-flowing into a new career field," said Capt. Greg Hignite, 35P public affairs assignments officer. The PA career field is set to gain nine new officers as a result of the recent cross-flow panel.

"Cross-trained officers have the potential to provide a unique leadership perspective to the Airmen and commanders they work with," Hignite added.

Additional officer cross-flow opportunities may be announced for 2012 and subsequent years. Eligibility criteria and Air Force specialties will vary, depending upon changes in officer manning and future Air Force mission requirements.