JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas -- If you have spent any time around a military community, you may have heard being a military spouse is not for the faint of heart, but being a military recruiter's spouse can be even more daunting.
That's why Air Force Recruiting Service has a military spouse's guide to help make a recruiter’s family life less intimidating. The updated guide helps those married to new recruiters understand the new, often-demanding job their spouse will now have.
Oftentimes Airmen will come to Air Force Recruiting Service from a specialty that had a fairly routine schedule. As a recruiter, afterhours and weekend events are the norm. So flexibility is the key to success and helping a spouse understand this new dynamic is important.
"As a new recruiting spouse myself, I want to ensure all of our recruiting spouses are informed and understand what their Airmen do for the Air Force in this all-important mission," said Dinah Thomas, spouse of AFRS commander, Maj. Gen. Ed Thomas.
Thomas' goal is to ensure every spouse in AFRS has a personal copy of the guide.
"I've met spouses who've been in recruiting for nine years and didn't even know there was a spouse's guide," Thomas said. "I want to ensure our new spouses aren't in that situation."
Unlike other duties in the Air Force where most Airmen are assigned to an installation, recruiters are sometimes several hours away from a military base.
“I am so grateful we had the opportunity to live away from a base in 2010, however, it’s a different dynamic with unique challenges," said Thomas.
Living far from military installations in communities unfamiliar with military life generates questions in a spouse’s mind like 'how do I get an updated ID card?' or 'I'm unsure how to use TRICARE since I'm not near a base.' This guide has information that helps answer those questions. It also explains acronyms and terms unique to AFRS.
"The Air Force speaks a whole different language and our spouses need to understand that language as well," Thomas said. "This guide is so helpful with things like that. I'm so thankful we have this tool to share with our recruiter spouses so they won't feel so overwhelmed when they arrive at a new location, far from other military spouses."
Spouses of Air Force and Space Force recruiters are encouraged to read over the guide as well as get to know their recruiter's first sergeant, unit leadership and the unit key spouse.
A copy of the guide can be found HERE.