| ROBINS
AIR FORCE Base in central Georgia is a key maintenance and repair
center for the Air Force’s F-15 fighters, AC-130 gunship and
the huge C-15, C-130 and C5-B cargo carriers.
And Middle Georgia Technical College is right in the middle of it. “My job is to provide ongoing training to the civilian personnel who do the maintenance and repairs,” says Middle Georgia Tech Robins program Director Don Slee, whose 24-member staff ensures that about 16,000 workers are kept up to speed in aircraft maintenance, avionics and computers. By comparison, he notes, there are only about 3,000 active-duty personnel present on the base. “The flight-line and test pilots are military,” says Slee, “but otherwise we’re almost all contract employees here.” The coursework is specifically developed for the Robins program, and many of the classes are taught in well-equipped classrooms in the base’s original 1941-vintage hangar. “It’s a one-of-a-kind program,” says Slee. Jim Newton, VP of Economic Development for Middle Georgia Tech — himself a former Air Force pilot — says the training contract cements a relationship that has long prospered between the school and the base. “We also have a co-op program,” he says. “Middle Georgia Tech students can enroll, and after two quarters, if they’ve got a ‘B’ average, they can interview with the base. “It’s
a great benefit for our students, and really about the only way
somebody who’s not ex-military can get a job there.”
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Some, like Columbus Technical College and Valdosta Technical College, teach coursework on base at Ft. Benning and Moody Air Force Base, respectively. And a few, like Augusta Technical College, have opened offices on base to be closer to a constituency that is increasingly seeking out technical education.
“Our daily presence here has been critical to our success,” says Augusta Tech Director of Community and Public Affairs George Lightfoot, who spends a large part of each week recruiting, counseling and testing at Ft. Gordon’s Learning Center. One soldier, Staff Sgt. Luis Figueroa, exemplifies the servicemembers taking advantage of the classes available at Augusta Tech. “I’ve been taking air-conditioning classes about six months,” says Figueroa. “I’m trying to get more skills and knowledge while I’m still in, so I’ll have them when I get out.” Under the Defense Department’s Servicemembers Opportunity College program, says Ft. Gordon’s Chief of Education Services Jim Zills, soldiers and their families are offered a range of courses.
And what technical colleges have to offer has become increasingly popular with soldiers and their families. “Military personnel do seem drawn to technical courses,” observes Laura Lerdell, who coordinates the outreach program at Moody Air Force Base for Valdosta Tech, one of a handful of Georgia technical colleges that teach regular classes on bases. “Air-conditioning, automotive, electrical and computer information systems are very popular.” Similarly, Columbus Technical College uses classrooms at Ft. Benning — a situation that will expand when the current base commissary and post exchange complex relocates, according to Columbus Technical College Director of Instruction for Technology Ray Mercer. “We’ve always had people that came to us,” says Mercer, “but we really wanted to take as much to them as we can, because we’re on the other side of town from Benning. For some of the younger soldiers who may not have cars, that has been a challenge.” Since the increase in deployments overseas, technical colleges have found their services in increasing demand by those left at home. Columbus Technical College, which offers two computer and lecture courses at the Army Infantry Center, also partners with the base’s huge Martin Army Hospital to provide dental hygiene instruction. “A lot of them are trying to improve their healthcare certification for service advancement,” notes Columbus Technical College’s Director of Marketing and Institutional Advancement Carolyn Marlow. “There’s such a demand across the country.” She cites the example of young women like Kenda Whittingham, the wife of a drill sergeant at Ft. Benning, who will soon graduate with an associate degree in Dental Hygiene. It’s just such students that Ft. Gordon’s Zills hopes to reach. “We’ve all heard the horror stories of servicemembers being deployed somewhere while a spouse ends up seeking food stamps or welfare because of having no marketable skills,” says Zills. With
the help of Georgia’s technical colleges, Zills says, “We
want to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
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n recent years, many of
Georgia’s technical colleges have begun dedicating resources
specifically to serve military personnel and their families. Savannah
Technical College works with both Ft. Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield;
Athens Technical College has developed an aviation system course
in cooperation with the U.S. Marines and the nearby Navy Supply
School; and both Albany Technical College and South Georgia Technical
College seek out corpsmen from the Marine Corps Logistics Base in
Albany.
“A
soldier walking through the Learning Center doors can go from GED
to M.A. in six years,” says Zills.
