Career development office here to serve

  • Published
  • By Stephen Delgado
  • Thunderbolt writer
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  There aren't a lot of sure things in life, but if you are in the Air Force, it is a sure thing that you will have interaction with the career development office.

This office's main tasks are re-enlistments, extensions, assignments, administrative separation and the career status bonus -- redux, according to Tech. Sgt. Kendran Thornton, 56th Force Support Squadron NCO-in-charge.

"When an Airman wants to re-enlist or extend, the career development office is here to do the processing for retention," Sergeant Thornton said. "Officers have an indefinite date of separation and enlisted personnel have an established date of separation, which means they must re-enlist or extend. Officers can normally apply for separation or retirement as long as they do not hold a current active-duty service commitment."

More than that, extensions are different than re-enlistments.

"An Airman can have an assignment that requires 12 to 48 months active-duty service commitment to complete, so he or she can extend for that period of time, and when the project is complete the Airman can separate," Sergeant Thornton said.

Assignments are also an important task of the career development.

"When an Airman gets a permanent change of status assignment to a new base, we brief the member on the new assignment and inform them of the required training needed to proceed to their new duty station," Sergeant Thornton said.

Another vital function of the office is the career status bonus.

"When Airmen reach the 15-year mark, they make the decision to take $30,000 and 40 percent of their retirement versus taking the highest three-year base pay," Sergeant Thornton said. "Whatever the Airman chooses will be effective when they retire."

Finally, the career development office facilitates retirement and separations.

"The main retirement process is centralized at the Air Force Personnel Center," he said. "Our only role (at Luke) is handling the on-base out processing, and we print the actual retirement certificate."

The office is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and appointment hours are from 1 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday in Bldg. 1150, Room 2091.

For more information regarding retirement, call the AFPC at (210) 565-5000 or DSN 665-5000. For more information at Luke, call the career development office at (623) 856-7842.