Special duties at Hurlburt Field: Career assistance advisor

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Andrea Posey
  • 1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  Editor's Note: This is the first in a series about special duties offered on Hurlburt Field.

The career assistance advisor here said he loves his job.

A loadmaster by trade, Senior Master Sgt. Scott Reed, Hurlburt Field career assistance advisor, said he applied for his current special duty position because he enjoys helping others.

"Although this job is completely at the other end of the spectrum, it's an opportunity to give back." he said. "I am a people person."

Officially, career assistance advisors are responsible for retaining and professionally developing Airmen, Reed said. This usually adds up to a lot of career advice, especially for first-term Airmen.

Reed spends most of his time helping Airmen through the retraining process. He also answers questions on topics like commissioning and reenlisting.

Reed also heads a professional development team which offers conflict management, EPR writing, and NCO and Senior NCO professional enhancement courses.

"The NCO programs we teach here bridge the gap between [professional military education] courses," Reed said. "There is a course between airman leadership school and the NCO Academy. And the Senior NCOPE is between the NCO Academy and the Senior NCO Academy."

The career assistance advisor is a senior position which involves a weeklong training course at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. Once assigned, it is a three-year tour, with the possibility to extend to four.

"The best part of the job is when distressed Airmen or NCOs come in here saying they are being told they have to get out of the Air Force because they don't have career job reservations," Reed said. "They come in here and we work things out. They walk out of here going 'Wow, my whole life changed and I don't have to get out; there is still a career for me in the Air Force,' and they smile."

Reed recently assisted Senior Airman Kathleen Toledo, 1st Special Operations Communications Squadron cyber transport systems technician, when she became interested in retraining.

"I felt like [Reed] knew what he was talking about and was there to assist me with all my questions," she said. "If he was unsure about a particular question I had, he made it a point to find out the correct answer."

Unfortunately, Toledo said she wasn't in her retraining window, so she couldn't retrain yet.

"[Reed] still gave me insightful information on what I need to do to get ready to retrain," she said. "That goes to show he not only cares about the Air Force's needs, but also about the Airmen's needs."

Special duties help maintain the mission of Hurlburt Field by being the glue to keep everything together, Reed said.

"It's a great job," he said. "I think if anybody gets the opportunity to do a special duty in their career, they should do it."

For more information about special duties, Airmen can schedule an appointment with Reed by calling (850) 884-3912.