News

FTAC Airmen tour Dover AFB

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Zachary Cacicia
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  When first-term Airmen arrive at their first duty station, they are typically not far removed from high school and are hundreds or even thousands of miles away from home.

To better help these Airmen adjust to Air Force Life, the 436th Force Support Squadron’s First Term Airman Center and the 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs community engagement staff, now provide them a tour of Dover AFB facilities and programs.

Staff Sgt. Bryan Beckwith, 436th Civil Engineer Squadron structural supervisor, has worked as the FTAC team lead since October.

“Right now, the direction of FTAC is getting tech school students oriented with the installation, programs, and basically networking among the Airmen, getting them introduced to the Air Force in general,” said Beckwith. “The program is slowly developing Airmen through different briefers and functions. Now it’s basically Airmen orientation to the Air Force and the base.”

FTAC’s propose is to act as a stepping stone for these Airmen, as they transition from their technical training into the operational Air Force. During the five-day course, the program provides briefings from representatives from organizations including Sexual Assault Prevention and Response, Equal Opportunity and the Airman and Family Readiness Center, where they learn about the rules of the base, resilience, budgeting, and the many opportunities the base has to offer.

Beckwith saw that many of these Airmen would take this information, but do nothing with it. That is when he and Dawne Nickerson-Banez, 436th AW Public Affairs community engagement chief, came together to develop this tour for the Airmen.

“It was a need I saw that needed to be filled,” said Nickerson-Banez. “I saw an opportunity for us to show them, while they are getting all these other briefings throughout the course of the week, the base that they are going to live on and become more familiar with it.”

Beckwith also explained that the tour also encouraged the Airmen to get out and explore.

“This gets them out of their dorms,” Beckwith said. “A lot of people go into that hibernation mode because they are away from family and friends, and this gets them out.”

This new tour takes place on the fifth and final day of the FTAC course, immediately following their briefing from the wing commander. The tour route takes new Airmen around the base and gives them a brief stop at the Outdoor Recreation Center. Airmen are familiarized with the location of major base infrastructure and facilities.

Airman 1st Class Hunter Bourgeois, 436th Aerial Port Squadron air transportation technician, is one of these Airmen new to the Air Force and Dover AFB. A native of Louisiana, he is more than 1,000 miles away from home and has only been at Dover AFB for a little more than four weeks.

“Whenever I first got here, I didn’t know about a lot of these facilities, like Outdoor Rec,” said Bourgeois. “The tour was very informative and opened my eyes to a lot of stuff on base that I didn’t know was here.”

Airman 1st Class Jamie Kavanagh, 436th Communications Squadron knowledge management technician, concurred with Bourgeois.

“The tour was very helpful for me,” said Kavanagh. “I learned the layout of the base and just learned where I can go. Having this detailed and thorough tour helps a lot.”