HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- On April 27-28, 2023, four Airmen from different agencies across the wing participated in a job swap where they shadowed another career field on Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.
This event was put in place to have various Airmen gain knowledge and become better acquainted with the many mission sets other squadrons have. The participants were from the 49th Maintenance Squadron, 49th Mission Support Group, 54th Fighter Group, and the 49th Medical Squadron.
The idea for the job swap came from U.S. Air Force Tech Sgt. Robert Escamilla, 49th Force Support Squadron base training manager.
“I wanted members from other career fields to have a mutual understanding of other, more specific, missions,” said Escamilla. “Because we all work together to move the wing mission forward.”
While this was a test run with a smaller group, Escamilla’s plan is to hold a job swap event once a quarter.
“Even with this being a trial run, the planning was fairly immense,” said Escamilla. “It took a few months to find points of contact within squadrons, volunteers, equipment, and to get set times and dates.”
The turnout was quite successful. Volunteers were able to share a day with other Airmen, taking in as much information about the profession as possible.
U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Iokepa Garcia, 54th Fighter Group unit training manager, was one of the volunteers for this event and landed himself at the 49th Operational Medical Readiness Squadron Dental Clinic.
“This was such a fruitful experience for me,” said Garcia. “It’s important to see what other career fields go through, because I feel that sometimes we might complain or judge other professions based on surface-level observations.”
At the same time, there’s a plus to working in a different field for a day.
“My favorite part was experiencing the other side of a dentist chair and getting to watch dental procedures,” said Garcia. “And the scrubs, they were really comfortable.”
After the day was done, Garcia expressed this opportunity provides a perspective that can ultimately help the Air Force grow in a positive manner. And ultimately, that was Escamilla’s goal for all volunteers.
“It’s essential to know that we can all be multi-capable Airmen,” said Escamilla. “We could very well be tasked with a different job to ensure a project gets done the right way, this event helps build mission readiness in a way that brings Airmen together.”