Q&A: Major General K.C. McClain

Written by Ted McKenna

Major General K.C. McClain
Commander
Air Force Personnel Center

McClain earned her Air Force commission through officer training school and began her career as an administrative officer, later cross-training into personnel. She has commanded the 314th Support Group at Little Rock AFB, Ark., the 17th Training Wing at Goodfellow AFB, Texas, and the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, Colo. Additionally, she was the commander of the joint task force sexual assault prevention and response at the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for personnel and readiness. Her staff tours include major commands for Air Staff and U.S. Pacific Command. Prior to her current assignment, the major general was the director of force management policy, deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel, U.S. Air Force headquarters.

Q: The primary focus on the center is making sure the Air Force has the right personnel for the right missions. But another aspect of the center is preparing personnel for all aspects of life, in or out of the military, correct?

A: Right. The personnel center basically takes the personnel policies that are crafted in the Pentagon and are given to us to develop a program to implement those policies. That’s been our traditional mission since we were established in San Antonio back in the 1960s. So we basically handle personnel actions for the military and civilian members assigned to the Air Force, from the moment they enter the Air Force or begin employment with the Air Force, until the time they leave, either through separation or retirement. In between those two events, entering and leaving, we take all the personnel actions. For instance, we classify them as to what series or specialty they’re going to be in. We run promotion boards. We record their evaluations of their performance so that those go to the promotion boards for military. We record their decorations and awards they win. We maintain their records, in effect. We do everything, basically, that is personnel-related to the military civilian or member.

We’re going to do even more in the future as we take some transactional work that has traditionally been done on a face-to-face basis at base level, and now is being done electronically, and we are doing that work from a remote basis. It’s an exciting time for transformation in the personnel center as we help our customers do business differently. And they help us do business differently, quite frankly.

Q: And doing things electronically, is that just a matter of efficiency, or because you have personnel all over the world?

A: It’s efficiency. Just as many civilians in commercial organizations are leveraging technology that allows people the flexibility to do the work from that institution when they want to—we’re doing the same thing. Rather than saying you can only do your personnel actions from 7:30 to 4:30, when our offices at base level are open, we are now trying to give them the opportunity to do personnel actions whenever—24 hours, seven days a week. Just like you no longer have to go to the bank from 9 to 3 for your banking but anytime you want over the Web, we’re trying to harness that same technology for our customers. It gives them a lot more flexibility and quite frankly saves the Air Force manpower to be reinvested in other missions.

Q: Whatever the aspect of the personnel, whether they are in the service or preparing to leave, is there some philosophy behind it all being just as important?

A: Yes, because truly as people leave, we want that to be a good experience for them. One, to thank them for their service to the nation.

But secondly, they are our recruiters. They are the ones that will be out talking to family and friends and neighbors and saying, yes, join the United States Air Force, it is a good opportunity, a good experience. So in addition to wanting to thank them for their service, it really is taking the long view for us to say, “Here are potential recruiters, and we want you to leave us feeling good about the Air Force.”

Q: In education in preparation for leave, are there any trends you’re seeing, or things you’re doing to help people?

A: We’ve had a long-term transition assistance program that quite frankly through the years has gotten better and stronger in the services we provide to our airmen who are transitioning out. We at the personnel center provide oversight to that program, the guidance to it. Then the people attend the transition assistance program at their local level, through the Airmen and Family Readiness Center. They provide pre-separation counseling to all airmen. The airmen then have an array of opportunities that they can take advantage of, such as working on an individual transition plan with the counselors. We have supplemental workshops, such as how to do salary negotiations, interviewing skills, networking. We will help them write their resume. We will help them target some career planning assistance.

Q: Such as trying to figure out where to go to school?

A: Exactly. They may say, “This is what I want to do.” And we may help them by saying, “Well, you’re going to need to take some courses in order to be competitive in that,” or, “You’re going to need to finish your bachelor’s degree, if that’s your long-term goal.” We’ll also help them with customized financial planning, spouse benefits, and try to make that transition as seamless as possible for them.

Q: Do you have an assessment about how well servicemembers are prepared for going into civilian life?

A: I think it’s up to the individual what he or she wants to take advantage of, and how much they want to go to these workshops. They’re there; it’s voluntary for them. We think it’s an outstanding service for them, and we really encourage them. Our feedback—I don’t have surveys at hand, but the anecdotes I’ve gotten is that everyone who has attended has found them very, very helpful. I attended one a couple of years ago because one of our former chiefs required that all new two-stars go to transition assistance program. That was trying that purposely because he wanted people to understand that it’s OK to start planning; you’re not signaling when you go to transition assistance programs that you’re leaving.

Q: People don’t want to seem like they’re quitting if they’re not?

A: Right, they don’t want people to think that hey, I’m hanging it up and no longer competitive. Most of the time what people find when they go to the transition assistance program is that, “Oh, my goodness, I’m behind the power curve, I should have started sooner.” So we’re trying to help individuals understand, here are some tools for you, take advantage of them, to help that transition.

Q: It seems that the military provides great educational experience that translates into the civilian world very well. It may not be immediately apparent to the civilian world, though, hence the importance of things like certifications.

A: What we find is that employers want to hire military members. One, we have provided a lot of training. Two, there’s a belief that [servicemembers] have proven discipline, because we have been successful in the military, which has very high standards as far as coming to work and performing. Therefore, we find a lot of employers actively seek people with military experience because we believe they have proven discipline. That they were in the military suggests that they have skills that someone who hasn’t been in the military may or may not have. We’re also finding, though, that sometimes our military members— and this is why it’s important to go to these resume-writing classes— don’t understand the skills and talents and experiences that we bring to the table and how to highlight those to civilian companies, so that they understand that it’s more than just, “Well I was a flightline mechanic.” There are other skills in training opportunities that we have.

Q: Or they may use terminology that doesn’t match what’s used in the civilian world.

A: Exactly. And they may not put in all those classes they’ve attended, and not realizing that, I have skills and knowledge I gained in those classes, and you may not see the direct correlation to the job you’re applying for, how to use those skills and knowledge, how to represent that in such a manner that the hiring official says, “Oh, I see how this individual may have some unique skill sets.”

Q: What’s your take on the new GI Bill or the other educational benefits? I’m guessing it’s something you work to make sure everyone takes as much advantage of it as they can?

A: Exactly. The sign up for the post-9/11 GI Bill just began May 1, so there are still lots of questions about that. We encourage the members to go to the education center at their local base to get full counseling and comparison of what the Montgomery benefits and post-9/11 GI Bill and then weigh those as to what the individual wants to do. There are certain things in the Montgomery GI Bill that you cannot receive under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, so you have to go get that counseling to understand which one is the best fit for you.

Q: It’s not necessarily an obvious thing about going with one or the other.

A: There are a few slight nuances. Like with the Montgomery Bill, you can get some vocational certifications that you’re maybe not able to get under the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

Q: Do you have a sense yet of the general interest in this? And are there also a lot of questions?

A: There’s a lot of interest. Questions, too, lots of questions. Most of it’s being handled through the VA, but we’re trying to field those, and sending people back to their education centers for their in-depth ones. The thing that’s most exciting to a lot of people about the Post-9/11 GI Bill is the transferability of it. There’s a lot of interest in that. That does not begin until August 1, but we’re expecting there to be a huge surge of interest come then, because we would be the ones to validate that the member has one, served the requisite amount of time, and two, has an authorized family member to transfer it to.

Q: Are family benefits something of particular importance to you?

A: Yes. This year is for the Air Force the Year of the Family. So we have many efforts that we are focusing on with family members, because as we say, we recruit the individual, but we retain the family. We’re asking a lot of our families. It’s not just some member that makes sacrifices, but our families also, so we want to ensure that we are meeting their needs as well.

Q: Because if their family lives aren’t working out, they look beyond the military?

A: Right. I always believe that you’re either pushed out of the service because there’s something that’s not working for you, or you’re pulled out of the service—something attracts or draws you out. Family is a very large part of that. If the family feels that their needs are not being met and the things that are inherent in a military career are not worth the return that they’re getting, then they will be encouraging members to go do something else. We try very hard to also educate the family members and meet their needs as to what’s going on, and make them feel part of the Air Force family. Most of my friends that I’ve talked to after they either separate or retire, one of the things they consistently mention is that they miss that sense of family, the force family that they didn’t realize how important it was until they no longer had it.

Q: Education would certainly seem to be a big issue for parents in the military, and might be something that drew them away from the service if they felt they couldn’t afford the kind of education they wanted for their kids.

A: Exactly. That’s why we’re very pleased about that feature of the Post-9/11 bill. That does allow members to provide that college education by transferring that benefit to them. We’re just beginning to work some issues where school officials have come to the center to express an interest in attracting our military separating or retiring—more likely separating—to come to their university or college because, again, they like the discipline that is inherent in the military members, and want to use them as role models and perhaps campus leaders. We thought that was very interesting.

Q: What did they want to know exactly?

A: They wanted to know how they can tap into that, how they can help military members know about an opportunity, to go to this institution.

Q: What are you saying to them?

A: We literally just got contacted earlier this week, [with] questions about how do we do this, are there transition fairs. How can they plug in, is what they’re really asking, to talk to these individuals. Now we’re looking at how we could hang that information out on a Website where it would be reachable by these institutions, so they can see that there are, say, job fairs at these institutions, where they may want to send a representative.

Q: Is there anything you would recommend to schools who want to send a message to servicemembers that they are a school worth considering? Something in particular to emphasize, such as qualities about a school?

A: Just the fact that we value your service, we recognize that as a quality we desire in our students. I think an institution that sends that message very clearly, that it does value the skills and talents and experience that members bring to their campus. I think an organization that would incorporate that message would find that they are better able to attract the separating or retiring veterans. ♦

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