Another step on the road to commissioning

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Rachel Allison
  • 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. --  The Ellsworth Company Grade Officers Council hosted its second commissioning mentorship briefing at the Dakota's Club Aug. 27, to provide first-hand experiences to Airmen interested in becoming an officer in the U.S. Air Force.

Similar to the first event held March 15, officers from each commissioning source spoke about their experiences, sharing details ranging from field training to overseas opportunities.

The briefing had a slightly different theme than the previous class, as speakers focused on the commissioning programs themselves rather than walking Airmen through the application process.

"Because we are not all experts on the specific details of the application process for each program, we wanted today's briefing to be more experience-focused," said 1st Lt. Timothy Ramig, 28th Force Support Squadron food service officer and event organizer.

Airman 1st Class Kevin Cabrera, 28th Communications Squadron knowledge operations manager, attended the event looking for information about commissioning as a pilot.

"I wish someone had told me about this a long time ago," he said.

The most recent briefing also included a career day portion, where company grade officers from many different career fields answered questions on how they commissioned and what their jobs entailed.

One of the event's organizers, 2nd Lt. Monisha Ragsdale, 28th Comptroller Squadron financial services officer and CGOC president, stated that the new portion was added in response to interest generated by the previous class.

"We started the event after realizing there was a need for it on base, but there was nothing there," said Ragsdale. "So, we decided to take it up and run with it. The career portion was needed according to the enlisted interest after the last time."

The CGOC plans to offer events like this every quarter, and is open to feedback to improve the class.

"It's a work in progress, but we want to do whatever we can to fill the need," Ragsdale said.

For more information about commissioning, or to provide feedback for the next event, contact 2nd Lt. Jacob Griego, 432nd Attack Squadron intelligence analyst, at (605) 385-3924, or Ragsdale at (605) 385-1485.