And back on weekend focus with me today. I have a familiar guest and I have a new guest at first all start with Technical Sergeant Terry Smith is with me with the Air Force. Your position has kind of changed Terry. Yes, sir So now instead of doing just the oh, thank you.
Thank you So just instead of doing the regular enlisted recruiting all I specialize in now is special operations career field So our guys that are going out there actually in combat a lot of our operators going with Navy SEAL teams and other Army Special Forces So a lot of people don't even know the Air Force has special operations But we do really and in sitting to your I guess to your right be across from me the guy next to you He is doing what you used to do we got Sergeant Eddie Shafer Edward Shafer We call you Eddie welcome buddy. It's good to see you first time on the show You've been here at the station before back before the holidays, but actually gonna get you on here today. Absolutely Thanks. I appreciate being here.
Yeah, absolutely now. Where are you originally from? I'm originally from out towards Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Okay, nice area been there a couple times.
Absolutely I'm not out of the city where you know, I get that country lifestyle. Yeah, yeah, Terry you're originally from Oregon I always say North Dakota you came from North Dakota to here didn't you right? That was my last duty station was North Dakota. Okay, so Terry and Eddie when we talk about the Air Force anyone out there listening I know you've been to a lot of local schools across the region Terry you have to in the past.
What's the message? Why join the Air Force? What's uh, tell me some incentives? I know it's rewarding, you know, you got a good maybe kids trying to determine what they want to do It's a good place to start right because they can look at you two and realize how they can move up and really better their future If they want to have a family down the road It still allows you time to do that, but what made you choose the Air Force?
Well for me, it was a ton of things I come from a very military oriented family. Most of them were Navy outside Marine Corps and I grew up right near an army base So I knew a lot of what benefits that what was out there and I mean the education the serving your country the I mean just the freedom the lifestyle. I was 18 years old when I joined okay, and I was working on cars I was a fully certified General Motors technician, but I was still living at home And I was like I'm making a film with high school get me out of here Yeah, and the Air Force was one of the fastest ways for me to get that so that was for me for everybody's different though We have so many different benefits that are out there well and Terry and I know and you both either of you can answer this We just kind of bounce back and forth and this was kind of a misconception that I've always had before if somebody's out there And if they can you know anybody can just join the Air Force that you will take anybody But you corrected me on that one time cuz I thought you know a lot of times I thought you know if somebody's they're not walking straight in there Oh, they're kind of a misfit out in community so to speak well, you know this join the Air Force They'll take you but within reason right so don't get me wrong We do like to help out people help out that we can but there are standards You have to meet and really as recruiters our job is to go out and find the best candidates The people that are gonna help us have the best most powerful Air Force in the world We want to continue that so there are standards you have to meet and there's medical requirements There's physical requirements, and if you're talking my career fields I have to actually test you with a swim run pull-ups push-ups sit-ups There's a whole physical aspect that goes along with that as well Do you have to do that within a certain time? Yes for special operations most definitely And with age groups do you like to take?
Anywhere from 17 to 39 So I'm almost too old, but I'm a diabetic so I can't qualify anyhow I've talked about this before but you guys do bring me donuts so you know your top favorites with guests here with me But I think I could do this one I could do all of that now time no problem no sweat I could do it. I would break records. We'll bring you up to the next test ball I could do the planking challenge everything I have it. I'll leave everybody in the dust.
What do you think Eddie? I think you need to show up to one of these tests. It's a lot harder than it sounds Absolutely It sounds like a stamina test yeah cuz you need you want the best of the best I mean because that's a lot of work, but it's rewarding at the same time Right it is very rewarding and I'll tell you the guys that I have and girls for that matter These positions are open to women as well now So the people that I have testing for these career fields don't know what it means to quit And that's what we're really looking for we can train physical ability These guys are our professional athletes and we have professional coaches to train those athletes So as long as you have that no quit attitude we can get you where you need to be and I always used to Both of you this could go to both of you when I thought of Air Force I thought you strictly you would fly planes like Air Force Air airplane you always and I was I was floored by all the different positions You don't even have to actually fly a plane or do anything like that right that's absolutely correct Actually the statistic the last one I heard was only four percent of the Air Force are actually pilots really So the other 96 percent of us, you know, they're doing programs like what sarn Smith offers or they're doing something mechanical electronic We have admin workers. I mean we have broadcast journalists.
We have law enforcement you name it I mean the Air Force if you've never been to an Air Force base, it's kind of like a small community small city Anything that's needed to allow that city to function we have it Where are some of the local Air Force bases closest to this area? I don't think I've ever asked that I don't think I don't know So close to here. There's there's not too many so we do have a reserve base up in Pittsburgh But your actual active duty base the closest one's gonna be right Patterson Air Force base, Ohio Okay, so let me walk me through this Eddie. I know Terry you used to walk me through this too But I'll ask you Eddie you go to a school somebody, you know, there's young guy out there or young gal They're interested in sign up for their force or you know, they want to learn how do they do that?
Uh, what's the process walk me through? You know, give me contact information if anybody's out there listening to the show and they they're interested in seeing what you guys are all about How do they do that? So the first step absolutely is you just said it's sharing contact information There is a lot that goes into the process and communications key. Okay, so we would explain I would give you my information Where I'm currently located is here in wheeling.
It's 53 14th Street inside the Riley Center Uh, Kayleigh Center, right? Kayleigh Center. I apologize. I moved offices recently.
So it's a little confusing. Yeah, I'm over at the Kayleigh Center Um, and my cell phone number is 724 255 4386 Um, anybody who's looking to to potentially join ask questions, you can call or text me anytime Um, so they set up an appointment and you say hey, you know what paul come down Tuesday morning at 930 Okay, I show up. How's that process work? So I'm really seriously seriously interested in considering joining.
Okay, so typically, um, I need to get my my pre-qualification questions out of the way Okay, just to make sure we don't get too deep into the process Uh, and have something like your diabetics stop you from from joining. Um, so I ask those questions Uh, I answer any questions that you have go over concerns. Um, talk about some of the various benefits whether you know them No, about them or not. Um, and then we start the paperwork Uh, there's so much paperwork involved with this job because uh, my job as a recruiter is to get you to a federal building The closest federal building to here is up in Pittsburgh, uh, and the whole purpose For me is to help you get through a process that otherwise without me you would not be able to get through Um, I mean there are stacks of paper stacks of papers with every single applicant Wow, okay, and if somebody can't make it up there this guy said next to you, he'll personally go to their house and pick them up and drive them right?
Yeah, I just volunteer and Terry for everything here Well generally, so I personally don't do house visits that often. I mean we can But we try to keep that to a minimum for safety reasons as well. So But we do our best to help out our applicants So we do have a shuttle service that takes them from our office up to Pittsburgh Or if the shuttle service can't take them we do we are issued government vehicles So we can't take people up there as well. So they're not on their own for transportation getting to the federal building How long have you been in the air force Terry?
I've been in about eight and a half years now, okay And eventually where's your goal? Give me your goal and I'll ask you this too. I mean, where's your goal? Where do you see yourself, you know several years from?
Are you where you want to be? Or do you plan on advancing or trying to advance more? So that's one of the great things about the air forces There's always opportunities to advance and progress move into new positions. So I haven't been a recruiter in my whole career I haven't been this ranked my whole career in fact I've made six ranks since I've been in the air force so I promoted six times I've held several different positions I've held everything from being the guy out turning the wrenches on a jet to training those individuals Running a shift of a whole bunch of guys out working on aircraft.
I've ran programs now I'm I was an enlisted recruiter now. I'm doing special operations recruiting So I'm one of those guys. I don't like to sit stagnant I get bored with one thing pretty quickly And that's one thing that's great about the air force for me I get to move around I get to learn a lot of new things and I'm constantly keeping my mind going learning and progressing This guy sitting next to you. Are you playing on following Terry's footsteps at him or what direction do you want to go?
There's definitely a different path for me. I will tell you both of us started off very similar He was electronics worker all on B-52 bombers and so was I wow station pretty much halfway across the country from one another This is the first time we got to you know meet but After my recruiting tour I plan on returning back to that. I love fixing airplanes I love the the thrill the excitement if you will of an airplane about ready to take off got to do whatever mission it is and It's broken. It's got to be fixed.
Figure it out get it done. That's just that's a rush that it's hard to explain How long have you guys been working in the same office together now? It's been what about six months? Pretty close to about six months now, right?
Okay, I was gonna say because it feels like you guys almost like sitting across from brothers here is though We're all counting on our fingers here. Math was never my strong suit We're just gonna go with about because if math if it depends on fixing an airplane, I couldn't do it After the good math We did avionics it does require a very high electronic score and your math will affect that score, so okay Well avionics becomes idiotic when I try to do that But if somebody if they're like me there are certain things you're good at certain things you're not You probably really could find a place to put people right it doesn't have to be good at one single thing or doesn't matter right? Absolutely people come you know they walk in my doors and some want to work under health professions Some just want to be mechanics some want to be cops some now We have all those positions But one of the biggest things to keep in mind is the grand scheme of things is the career that you're signing up for right? It's the air force.
It's not the specific job that you're gonna do right as sartan smith has done and I have done We've we've changed positions multiple times since we've been in um, I'll tell you I've never had a what I would consider a bad assignment Everything has its pros and cons recruiting has been a blast. I've learned a lot Um and I want to continue doing that up until I return back to my old career field And I would tell you two one of the great things like I was saying the opportunity to move around one thing that we joke about every once in a while Is we say I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up Um a lot of people are in that position. They just don't know exactly what they want to do They have a good idea what their hobbies are what they're interested in and this is a good way to kind of get a direction But not be stuck in one route whereas someone who maybe makes that decision dead on early on in their life They're kind of stuck or they you know, maybe they have to start over to go a different direction for us if we go into another career field I'm not dropping a rank. I'm not dropping pay.
I'm still moving forward, but I'm getting to do something else Well, see I like how both of you talking about the air force a lot of our jobs today's day And you know, I like what I do but mine is the same every day mines You know what I do is the same everything some people that's okay But I can I hear from both of you it always can be something different always room for advancement Maybe if somebody's somewhere and think I want to be here hang on keep doing your best You know stick it out because then you always will have that opportunity and another thing I want to point out with both of you You both have family so a lot of people may there's that misconception I can't be in the air force like you know if I want to have a family you two are living proof that You know, you can have families and be in the air force do what you love Do a great thing for the country and still raise a family Absolutely my wife serves in the air force as well. Really? We have a seven year old son together and wow I mean our day to day is like a typical family differences we put on the military uniform to go to work so Wow, yeah, I mean that's that's great The air force focuses on family a lot because part of being a well-rounded individual and well-rounded worker for us quite frankly You have to have that strong family connection. You have to be able to take care of yourself as well If you don't have that you're not going to perform at your top peak So that that's something we focus on and we like to promote again We're talking with a technical sergeant Terry Smith the air force day on we can focus staff sergeant Edward shafer I have to I was caught if you two are adding and Terry to me or your friends So I have to throw the I have to be right there But I always know I never actually give the title every time I address you two So I hope you know I do that because I consider you friends But I still want to go down that it leave eight mom and dad spheres if there's a parent out there listening Maybe if their son or daughter says you know mom or dad I want to join the air force into some parents They hesitate like I don't know about they're scared okay, so Bad in the grand scheme of things if I'm talking to mom and dad your son or daughter is joining the United States military Are there inherent risks with that?
They're absolutely are but not everybody in the air force is going to be carrying a gun Right, you know that misconception that everybody you know as soon as you join the military you're getting sent overseas you can shout out That is so far from the actual truth I've been in the air force for 11 years And I have not shot any firearm for the air force since basic military training Now the reason for that is because they train me in electronics They invested all of their time and energy making me very good at electronics And now it's a recruiter but before when I was operational sure um, I fixed a B-52 bomber That's amazing. Let's sit here thinking just the thought of that Yeah, I mean it has a 175 foot wingspan Wow, it's an amazing aircraft has eight engines. It's been flying around for a very long time It's just uh, it's the old faithful of the of the United States air force Um, but that that airplane needed me to fix it If the air force put a gun in my hand They would be wasting all that time and energy that they you know invested in my electronics training Now if I were to ever deploy to a dangerous location when I have to re-qualify with a weapon Absolutely, but with the B-52 bomber it has long-range capabilities. We were deploying to tropical islands Uh, you know, we're I was going to places like Hawaii, Guam, Alaska, Diego Garcia I wasn't going to locations where there was that risk of beginning shot at Terry were some of the places you've been Well, I did the same job as our shaper here So we kind of our deployments were along the same lines now temporary duty That's a different thing altogether.
So a lot of times we have aircraft go to other bases for a short creative time When those aircraft land if they have an issue they have to send us there to fix them as well So I've been all over the us. I've been to Diego Garcia. I've been to Guam I was supposed to go to Australia. Unfortunately that trip got canceled on me But we've been all over the place and as far as the you know calming apparent spheres I would tell you so a lot of the positions that I personally recruit for are those combat positions Okay, but the guys we're looking for and girls were looking for in those positions are volunteer only So they don't come to me and say hey, I want this particular career field.
They're not going to be in that They don't just get automatically sent into something like that. Exactly and in fact They're because of the nature of what they are and the difficulty of the training even once we send them out if they say you know what Yeah, I want to be a pair of rescuemen or I want to be a combat controller when they get to training And if they decide at that point This isn't what I want to do these are one of a few career fields that they can actually raise their hand and they say who y'all sergeant I quit and they're going to be reclassified into another air force specialty We're not going to keep them in these combat positions if they don't want to be there Because we need people who do want to be be there who are going to perform under that pressure And since I'm talking about the University of today, we talk about the air force if anybody is interested in learning more About any Terry what you guys are talking about give me some phone numbers how they can get in touch with you Okay, oh once again, uh, this is uh, sorry shaper here. Uh, my uh, the guys with authority That's right. Uh, my cell phone number is seven two four two five five four three eight six You can reach me via text or call post hours or nine to six So please be mindful of that as I said earlier.
I have a family But I have that phone pretty much only all the time same with me This is sardin smithier and my cell number is seven two four six seven eight eight seven nine zero And just as sardin shaper told you I do have my cell on me at all times I can call you again right now. I have a family So please don't call me at two in the morning that phone does it by my bed so I gotta ask you i'll be you know sargent smith. I you know sargent shafer right now i'm being technical but um Sargent smith have they you've actually got the fire again. I have so if you basically hit your target Believe it or not.
I'm just giving you a hundred I'm a hunter to the picture myself. I know you like outdoors I've qualified a couple times with the firearm like sardin shafer said It's really not inherent to the job that we did sure But I qualified in basic training and then they had an open slot and asked anyone if they wanted to go qualify later on And I went and qualified with an m4 as well I know so if you can hit a target you'll invite me out hunting with you right and you'll show me that you can hit a target right You'll say hey paul go stand over there and then i'll know that you hit a target square on right Give me a phone number again in case anybody's listening It is 724 678 8790 and that would be for anyone interested in our special operations career fields and sargent shafer that phone number for you again Yeah for all the other enlisted sessions positions the number is 724 255 4386 So you know I want to say you know personally while I give you guys a rough time I appreciate everything you do. Thank you for your service Uh, I just call you the guys with authority because there's a lot of respect that comes with you guys I had someone say one time all you know you just say first names and I feel like you know like I'll sit down with like three brothers in the room here If people hurt us off area we have a lot of fun so and you always bring me donuts so I appreciate that It's always a lot of fun in here. We enjoy coming down Well, I enjoy to any final thoughts guys as we wrap up here.
No, I appreciate you having us All right, well sargent shafer not too bad you'll come back and talk again. Don't you absolutely all right sargent Smith I would just say anyone out there who's interested in these special operations career fields Don't be afraid to give me a call just because you call me doesn't mean you're going into one of these career fields I'd be more than happy to explain to you what the different positions are There are only six positions that I actually work with and like I said all of them are volunteer only So there's a lot of qualifications that go into that I can explain that I can explain what the career fields are what each of those individuals do in those career fields And some of the risks and and some of the excitement that goes along with it as well Perfect. Well, I appreciate both of you taking time out of your busy schedules coming in here today to talk with me and we'll do it again soon Absolutely. Thank you very much