TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- There’s a new team in the 507th Air Refueling Wing called the Cube, whose aim is to positively impact recruiting, readiness and retention.
The Cube team brings together four key players in the Reserve’s quest to meet its manning challenges. The new program is being fielded in all Air Force Reserve Wings.
The Cube in the 507th Air Refueling Wing is comprised of: Master Sgt. Michelle Bonilla, career assistance advisor, Mrs. Carol Davis, civilian personnel liaison, Maj. Amanda Hacman, senior force support officer and Senior Master Sgt. Neil Lambrecht, the recruiting flight chief.
“For me, it’s personal,” Lambrecht said as he described the Cube program.
Lambrecht serves as recruiting flight chief in the Central Recruiting Squadron. He and his team of recruiters cover a large geographic area to include Oklahoma and parts of Kansas. Collaboration between the Cube, commanders and currently serving Airmen is vital to increase talent retention for the Air Force Reserve, according to Lambrecht.
“The aim of the Cube is to drive at the beginning and the end of the retention life cycle – to place qualified Airmen into vacancies and retain them using all the flexibilities and opportunities available within the Air Force Reserve,” said Col. Lisa Craig, the director of manpower, personnel and services at AFRC headquarters, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia.
The goal of the Cube is to manage talent more effectively within the Reserve. Informed Decision Briefings will be offered to Airmen as they navigate their Air Force career in terms of re-enlisting, cross-training, and commissioning. More information will be provided regarding briefing times and location in the near future.
Here’s a look at the duties and responsibilities of each of the four key members of the Cube:
Force Support Officer: Maj. Amanda Hacman
The senior full-time member of the Force Support Squadron, Maj. Amanda Hacman, serves as the lead for each wing’s Cube. She is the wing’s manning subject matter expert and manages the manning plan through coordination and input from the base recruiting squadron flight chief, career assistance advisor and civilian personnel liaison.
Hacman is also responsible for facilitating monthly manning meetings with the wing commander and ensuring all Reserve Management Vacancy System vacancies are advertised. The FSO’s goal is establishing a culture in which retention is first but recruiting is always timely and effective.
Career Assistance Advisor: Master Sgt. Michelle Bonilla
The wing career assistance advisor, Master Sgt. Michelle Bonilla, will manage and serve as the principal advisor to commanders, supervisors and Airmen on retention, benefits, incentives and reenlistment programs. Bonilla will coordinate with wing leadership concerning retention issues related to loss trends and determine whether current efforts are supporting attainment of goals specified by the Air Force Reserve’s Human Capital Management Leadership Team.
She will also educate wing personnel and their families by coordinating with program officers and presenting benefits and entitlements briefings. She will also provide consultant services relating to career opportunities, progression and planning through symposiums, workshops, conference and organizational visits.
Finally, the most important role of the wing CAA is to serve as a counselor to Airmen making vital life-changing decisions regarding their military career and to ensure the decisions they make are well informed.
Civilian Personnel Liaison: Mrs. Carol Davis
The civilian personnel liaison, Mrs. Carol Davis, will help the wings navigate the civilian personnel processes. She is the conduit between the wing, the civilian personnel flights and the Air Reserve Technicians and serves as the civilian subject matter expert in tenant unit wings.
Davis will work with all supervisors to submit requests for personnel actions, ensure position control is accurate, work unit manning document clean-up and help with position description reviews.
She is source of information on key management tools like recruitment, relocation and retention incentives and superior qualification appointments. CPLs will track and update leadership on the status of any ART or civilian request for personnel action.
The goal of the CPL is to ensure full-time resources are retained whenever possible and recruitment is timely and effective when necessary.
Recruiting Squadron Flight Chief: Senior Master Sgt. Neil Lambrecht
The recruiting squadron flight chief, Senior Master Sgt. Neil Lambrecht, is the lead accessions subject matter expert. As a key manning advisor, he provides critical manning expertise and analyses on the unit’s strength, collaborating closely with unit leaders and Cube partners to provide actionable data and management methods to improve human capital health and capabilities.
Lambrecht also provides hiring process and systems guidance and training. His insight and counsel is critical to influencing the unit’s human capital environment and positively impacting unit readiness.
(Air Force Reserve Command contributed to this story)