Game plan offers assignment choices for reserve colonels Published Jan. 8, 2009 By Maj. Miki Kristina Gilloon Air Force Reserve Command Public Affairs ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Certain qualified Air Force Reserve line colonels will soon be able to select from an a la carte of job vacancies when a new website goes online in January 2009. The Web-based job announcements are part of a program called the Reserve Line Colonel Assignments Gameplan 2009. The game plan is a first for Air Force Reserve Command. "We've never had a website like this before where people can see if they have qualifications for a job. Before they were lucky if they could find one that was available to them," said Billy Carroll, chief of the senior leader management division in Headquarters AFRC's A1 Directorate of Manpower, Personnel and Services here. The purpose of the game plan is to offer maximum career opportunities by providing a centralized website advertising open O-6 billets worldwide. This game plan is for line colonel-selectees, colonels not filling O-6 billets and colonels assigned to the Participating Individual Ready Reserve program. "The game plan centralizes vacancies and provides an opportunity for people who are looking for their first O-6 positions," Mr. Carroll said. "In the case of the Participating Individual Ready Reserve, it allows people to get back in the game because they lost a position." Of the 220 to 250 individuals identified as being affected by the game plan, 124 are colonel-selectees - those who have been selected and are waiting to pin on colonel or are newly selected. "We have over the last few years had a backlog of colonel-selects, who in some cases, had great difficulty finding a position," Mr. Carroll said. "This will facilitate the placement of those people into the jobs and give the command a better possibility of placing the right person in the right job." With the click of a button on the website, individuals will be able to easily view a list of positions by varying Air Force career specialties with minimum qualifications related to the specific job. "The biggest difference is that previously, you were on your own," said Capt. Phil Hathcock, deputy chief of the senior leader management division. "Now, colonel-selects can review all the vacancies. It's not a hit and miss game." Eligible colonels are encouraged to participate in the game plan and apply for more than one position in order of preference. After people submit their applications, the senior leader management division staff will determine if applicants meet minimum qualifications. Applicants who meet minimum qualifications are forwarded to hiring officials. Once position owners nominate an officer for a position, the assignment request is forwarded through command channels to the senior leader management division. The vice commander of AFRC is the final approval authority. Command billets will continue to be managed by the Reserve Command Screening Board and are not part of the game plan. According to Mr. Carroll, eligible individuals have been identified and will receive personalized e-mails from his division, outlining the game plan's process and timelines. "I think that the game plan really does give the command the best possible shot at getting the right person in the job and for any one of these individuals, it gives them much more opportunity than they've had before," he said. Game Plan 2009 jobs can be accessed through the Air Force Portal under the Senior Leader Management AFRC/A1L site at: https://wwwd.my.af.mil/afknprod/ASPs/CoP/OpenCoP.asp?Filter=RC-DP-00-27, but applications will not be accepted until after the U.S. Senate confirms the October2008 Colonel Promotion Selection Listing. More information is available by calling Captain Hathcock at DSN 497-1354 or (478) 327-1354, or Senior Master Sgt. Ricardo Gamundi, division manager, at DSN 497-1347 or (478) 327-1347.