An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Military spouses can find employment in AFRC, other DoD avenues

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Emerald Ralston
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  The Airman and Family Readiness Center has many programs and even job opportunities available to Airmen and their families. In the financial section of the AFRC, works Courtney, spouse of a Logistics Readiness Squadron member.

Courtney is working on her financial analysis certification through a program she found in a spouses newsletter while her husband was deployed. The Association for Financial Counseling Planning and Education provides the accreditation and training, while the Department of Defense pays for Courtney to work at the AFRC while she earns her 700 hours of training and internship.

"What is neat about this situation is this company is using DoD dollars to pay for her to come and get this certification," said Eddie Steetle, AFRC community readiness consultant. "That is a sweet deal - it's a win-win situation. She wins and the AFRC does too. We get to train her and utilize her services and when she gets spun up, she is going to be teaching and doing all the things we do here."

Courtney works about 20 hours a week, but intends to bump that up to 40 hours a week soon.

"I currently work 20 hours a week listening to counseling, attending classes, studying the reading material, doing Web-based classes for debt counseling and finishing my personal finance classes," she said. "I found out about this while my husband was deployed and I got a newsletter from an LRS spouse. I saw a blurb from the National Military Family Association about this program and it said people with MBAs are priority. I have my MBA and I was interested, so I ended up being one of the 200 family members they chose world-wide for this education."

One of the main reasons this appealed to Courtney is because she enjoys the prospect of helping people on base.

"I've been a stay at home mom since we got to Fairchild," she said. "I used to have a career, I like the component of working on base, especially in this readiness center. Not only am I learning, but the people who come in here really need assistance. It's really rewarding when they come in here upset and leave with some hope. I love working on the base and being able to help people, so it has really been a blessing."

Not only does this program benefit Courtney personally, but it impacts her family, the AFRC and the members of Team Fairchild who utilize the resources therein.

"The DoD wants to see the spouse gainfully employed," said Mr. Steetle. "This isn't the only program to help that happen. If the spouse is employed, the family is better intact financially, and that actually improves the resilience of the active duty member when they aren't worried about their finances. Then, they can handle military stress a lot easier when they aren't worried about financial stress."

The AFRC is impacted as well, as they have another person to help with training, analysis, counseling and programs that are run by the AFRC.

"I'm brand new to this," said Courtney. "I sit in on financial counseling sessions, review the classes s I can take over and teach some of the classes eventually. I don't do anything on my own yet, I'm just doing a lot of learning and observing."

Eddie and Courtney both agree the AFRC is one of the best places to work.

"I love this job," said Mr. Steetle. "You get to see the light come on for people and 99 percent of people walk out of here glowing and finally seeing some hope for their finances."

This, along with many other programs, is available to military spouses. Contact the AFRC for more information.