GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- This spotlight features Tech Sgt. Jennifer Davis, 315th Training Squadron target coordinate mensuration course chief. She enjoys camping, gardening, and spending time with her kids.
1. How does your job support the 17th Training Wing's mission?
My job at the 315th TRS is to lead and maintain the target coordinate mensuration course here at Goodfellow AFB. Target coordinated mensuration is a skill typically taught outside of the Air Education and Training Command by the Air Force Precise Point Positioning Program for the target analysts. By bringing the course to Goodfellow, we are reducing the amount of travel expenses needed for the AFP4 team required to facilitate courses for the target analysts. Our students are provided the opportunity to obtain a certification that will allow them to directly contribute to the war effort, day one, at their first duty stations. These students are also armed with the foundational knowledge needed to fully develop their lethality and become fully certified to operate in a three-dimensional environment.
2. What do you find most rewarding about your work?
I love watching students become more confident and sure of what they are doing before they graduate our course. When our students begin working in the 3D environment, we have some students that can see right away and need little assistance, while others require various techniques to begin to see. The amazing thing about my course and what I instruct is that once a student “sees,” they cannot “un-see.” This light bulb moment can be momentous for a struggling student. Knowing that my team and I are able to share this moment with the students is extremely rewarding.
3. What has been your biggest challenge in the military, and how did you overcome that challenge?
Being a single-mom responsible for my two kids and all the military requires can be challenging. I overcome these challenges by leaning on the military support networks like the Military Family Life Counselor, my flight leadership, co-workers, friends, family, Force Support Squadron, and school age care. I tried doing this on my own and only relying on myself. Trying to work that way can become very overwhelming and isolating. Leaning on the military is what makes the military a family. The amount of resources available, general understanding from those around you, and the helpful nature that comes with a volunteer force allows me to do what I do. I couldn’t do half of the things I do each day without the military support systems.
4. What has been your most memorable experience in the military?
I could write a novel of all the crazy things I’ve seen or done. My most memorable experience would have to be the first operational employment of the Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-off Munition. I answered basic questions about the JASSM and what the 20th Intelligence Squadron does, as part of the 363rd Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing. I communicated between forward deployed members while also managing my team to verify the information we create for the possible employment of the JASSM. One night, the President walked from his situation room to the front lawn of the White House, I watched as the aircraft carrying the first JASSMs to be launched after 20 years of waiting, turns towards its target for munition employment. When the target was a confirmed hit I felt a sense of pride in knowing that I had worked on that information, it was that moment that my team had trained for.
5. What is one piece of information or advice you would like to pass on?
One thing the military has taught me in my time so far is that change is constant, for better or worse. If you’re going through a rough time, whether it’s with your job, supervision, co-workers, etc., know that it will pass. Good things could be right around the corner.