ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Oklahoma -- After a long day in the scorching heat, first-term Airmen need a place to relax and decompress. Some might call this a “home away from home,” but most know it as the dormitories the U.S. Air Force provides. The responsibility of maintaining the dorms falls to the Airmen dorm managers who are ready to help an Airman with his needs or problems.
The dorm managers at Altus Air Force Base don’t just take care of the dorms, they provide for the Airmen living in them.
“Dorm management is ensuring that Airmen have a place to live while maintaining a 95 percent occupancy rate,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. William Harrison, 97th Civil Engineer Squadron Airmen dorm leader. “We check the inbound roster and make sure there are rooms for those inbound and for the eligible Airmen, move them out. We also coordinate with 97th CES to make sure work orders are being completed in the rooms for both dormitories.”
Newcomers meet with dorm management to review standards for living in the dorms as well as what the dayrooms have to offer.
The dayrooms are maintained daily by Airmen selected by their 1st Sgts. to perform bay orderly. Bay orderly is a week long period in which two Airmen are assigned to clean the dayroom, vacant rooms, the area around the dorms and perform other tasks the dorm managers have for them.
“What they do on a weekly basis varies,” said Harrison. “In the fall, leaves in the yards are more of a priority. Sometimes the bushes outside need to be trimmed, but the daily stuff is pretty much the same. The only variation is the secondary tasks we assign them.”
One task the dorm managers do is check the rooms of deployed Airmen to ensure everything is in order.
“When an Airmen goes on deployment their room stays the same,” said Harrison. “It stays however they leave it. We generally go in once a month and make sure the air conditioning is not leaking and their stuff stays dry while they’re gone. When they come back, they’ll go right back to the same room.”
Dorm management has a lot to look forward to with construction of a new dormitory scheduled in 2019.
“Basically, people are going to have four suite-mates sharing a kitchen with their own bathrooms,” said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Christopher Higdon, 97th CES Airmen dorm leader. “You could say they’ll have more of an apartment feel to them. Currently, they are scheduled to break ground in 2019.”
Dorm management is a special duty assignment, meaning they had to apply for this position. As with most special duties, each dorm manager hold his own reason for applying.
“The thing that makes this job enjoyable for me is getting to know the Airmen who live in the dorms,” said Higdon. “My job is finance, so before this, I didn’t get much interaction with the new Airmen who came on base unless they were a part of finance.”
Dorm management is ready and willing to help solve issue brought to their attention, working hard each week to ensure the comfort of first-term Airmen.