Photo By Mackenzie Brooks | Rank at Retirement/Date of Separation: Captain O-3, separated May 2012 AFSC: 32E...... read more read more
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Rebecca Knolle
Rank at Retirement/Date of Separation: Captain O-3, separated May 2012
AFSC: 32E
Years Served: 10, 2002-2012
Current Occupation: Federal Project Manager Team Lead/Senior Project Manager/Vice President
I was stationed at Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina, Kunsan AB, Republic of Korea, Royal Air Force Lakenheath, United Kingdom, and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. I was deployed to Al Udeid AB, Qatar, and Sather AB, Iraq. I completed my Master’s at the Air Force Institute of Technology.
While on active duty, a large percentage of my time was spent identifying customer requirements, developing those requirements into a project, and getting money and approval to execute the project. One of my first projects in the AF was working with the Dirt Boyz building a temporary road to recover a crashed F-15E in a field. One of my last projects in the AF was traveling to all of the Global Strike bases with a group of military and contractors to evaluate weapon storage areas to produce capital improvement plans to bring the facilities and procedures up to date and into the future.
During my senior year of college, I was on track to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering. Until that point, I was convinced I wanted to be a bioenvironmental engineer. This career in the Air Force seemed to align with my degree, but a new assistant professor who joined our detachment (Det. 060 – Fight On!) gave me a different perspective.
One day he pulled me aside and said, "Cadet Brown, I understand you want to be a BEE in the Air Force. Let me ask you a question: Do you want to be proficient in one thing for your entire Air Force career, or do you want to be the 'jack of all trades?' Do you want to do new and exciting things and go to new and exciting places?"
I said, "Well, sir, I want the new and exciting path."
He responded, "Then Cadet Brown, you want to be a civil engineer."
After one year on active duty, I called my former instructor and thanked him profusely for helping me with that course correction.
Q: What advice would you give to someone interested in joining Air Force CE?
A: I would tell them to do it! It will be the best decision they will ever make. If they're buying new appliances, they should get ones with dual voltage because they'll need them when they eventually make their way overseas.
To be a CE officer, they need to get a degree in engineering or architecture from an accredited program. They should still make the request if they desire a specific location and are unsure if they can be posted there. I'm 99% certain that if there is a military presence, even a small one, there will be a position there for a CE Airman. We are the jacks of all trades, and we can do anything!
Q: What do you miss the most about your time serving?
A: I miss the people and mission the most. It is not easy to understand that you are part of something significant and impactful when you serve daily. However, there is a common understanding among those that serve, and it intensifies throughout everyone's careers. The situations and locations we found ourselves in on active duty produced the most amazing stories without any comparison.
I am lucky to have a job outside the Air Force that still puts me in and around active-duty CEs, but it is not the same as when I was in uniform. The Air Force civil engineering community is strong, and I am so grateful to have been a part of it.
Q: What is the most impactful project you worked on during your time in CE?
A: As one of my last projects on active duty, I participated in a team comprised of military, civilians and contractors. Our task was visiting each of the five weapon storage areas in the continental U.S. to provide facility condition and operations assessments and, ultimately, produce plans for recapitalizing the sites with state-of-the-art facilities, enhancing and protecting our nation's greatest defense assets. It wasn't until working on this project that I understood the true purpose of contractors: to be a force multiplier. I finished that project with a deep appreciation of what these three different groups of people can accomplish when they are in a position to work collaboratively.
| Date Taken: | 11.03.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 11.04.2022 12:36 |
| Story ID: | 432661 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 447 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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