Electronics - Satcom Style

As I mentioned, my career field in the Air Force was satellite comm. You have to go thru a six month tech school just to learn the basics of electronics. What is a volt?  What does it do?  What is an amp? Which one can kill you? What is a resistor?  What is a capacitor?  All of these things and many, many more are needed to know how electronic stuff works and how you can fix it. As in most career fields in the Air Force, you become two things; an operator, and a maintainer. You not only have know how to operate all the equipment, but how to fix it when it's down. That's the critical part of your job. Sometimes the Navy breaks this into two separate career fields. It works for them I guess.

The next step, after tech school, is an assignment to who knows where.  There you will learn about the equipment you will use by doing hands-on training, or OJT (On-the-Job-Training). There is no better way to learn.  You can only learn so much by listening to someone talk about it. You have to get in there and figure it out for yourself.  Do I know what I'm talking about? You better believe it, as I was a trained Instructor in Tech School, and became a Master Instructor for Satcom. When I worked for Harris Corp, I had to train ALL the techs, and monitor them. Then I moved on to Quality Control and had to prep all the shops for DISA inspections.  They are not easy to pass, and people can, and will, lose their jobs over the ratings received.

Electronics is still my favorite, and I still fix things just for fun. But don't think that your training will be just enough so you can fix a toaster, a rice cooker, or a TV.  Satcom equipment is much, much more sophicated, and state-of-the-art than that.  Most of it I can't even talk about now, as it is not for the civilian world, and mostly it is classified. It is a war fighter support system that gives advanced comm to the military.

It's good to be both an operator and maintainer. The best example I can give is this;  you're in the desert running your equipment.  It overheats and breaks down.  You have a mission to do, and it's vital.  Could mean lives. You're isolated and there is no way to talk to anyone. It's just a pile of junk if you can't fix it and get back on the air. As you may be able to tell beforehand, confidence and training should take over. Then you're up and the mission is a success. You and your unit survive.  Yes, it can be that critical. Never take your training lightly.