Dorm duty

  • Published
  • By Deborah Silliman Wolfe
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Every NCO has the ability to affect younger Airmen in a positive way. And those NCOs who choose to apply for the special duty of dorm management can have a huge impact on Airmen living on base. Luke Air Force Base's dorm managers know the responsibility they hold and are proud of the job they do daily.

"The good thing about this career field is that we get to see a really unique view of the Air Force because we see how these young Airmen live," said Staff Sgt. Kevin Zois, 56th Civil Engineer Squadron dorm manager. "We build a rapport with them, and we get to deal with some very unique issues. Basically, we help them with quality of life issues. At a fighter wing base like this, it is very important that Airmen are happy both on- and off-duty. When they are off-duty, it's good to make sure their morale is good while they are living in their rooms."

Dorm management is a two-year special duty, with the option to extend an additional year. Two years is a good amount of time, according to Sergeant Zois, because dorm managers are all from different career fields and after two years, they can go back to their main career field without worrying they have been gone so long that they have become uncertified.

Staff Sgt. Zachary Hildebrand, 56th CES dorm manager, worked as a crew chief on the flightline before taking on the special duty.

"I wanted a break from the flightline and this job gave me the chance to explore the rest of the Air Force outside of my duties as a crew chief," he said. "I like it a lot and being here allows me more time to go to school and study since we don't have to worry about deploying, or worry about doing exercises. We really focus on the dorm residents and in turn we have a little extra time to go to college and pursue education."

To become dorm managers, Sergeant Hildebrand and Luke's three other dorm managers had to go through a detailed application process in which they had to submit the last five enlisted performance reviews, get a recommendation from their commander and have an interview with the dorm superintendent, Master Sgt. Jason Ford, 56th CES NCO in-charge of dorm management. But not everyone on base realizes the effort that goes into applying for the position.

"There's a stigma with dorm management," Sergeant Zois said. "This used to be a job where they would send people who got in trouble or who weren't doing what they were supposed to be doing. It was just a place to stick someone when they really weren't fitting into what the Air Force wanted. It's not like that anymore at all. That was the old way of dorm management."

Sergeant Zois said that Sergeant Ford has spearheaded millions of dollars of improvements in the two years including the new basketball courts, new roofs, new parking lots and the brand new dorm that the dorm managers manage.

"We have done so many different things," Sergeant Zois said. "There are people that respect what we do, but there are still some who don't realize what goes into it."

According to Sergeant Hildebrand, daily dorm management duties include customer service, in and out processing, acting as a liaison between Airmen and first sergeants, working the bay orderlies, and taking requests when something beyond their scope is not working in the dorms.

Day-to-day things Airmen living off base do at their own houses, like changing light bulbs, are also things the dorm mangers take care of for the 780 Airmen living in the 11 dorms on base. Daily, they receive between 20 and 30 services request from dorm residents that they deal with directly or submit work orders to the correct people on base. In November, dorm managers switched out 240 old mattress in the dorms with new ones.

Dorm managers work from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and one manager is always on call 24/7. On-call duty rotates weekly between managers.

Staff Sgt. Leon Russell, 56th CES dorm manager whose career field is working in the pharmacy, has been in dorm management for four months.

"I love it, he said. "Every day is different -- it's not tedious. I'm a hands-on kind of guy, I love fixing things and enjoy mentoring Airmen. This job gives me a chance to do that."