U.S. Joint Forces Command seeks officers for special duty

  • Published
  • By Robert Pursell
  • U.S. Joint Forces Command Public Affairs
NORFOLK, Va. --  U.S. Joint Forces Command is seeking 240 qualified officers from the different reserve components to join its Standing Joint Force Headquarters Core Element here.

These drilling reservists train and must be available for possible deployment within 72 hours to support global contingencies during a predefined period of the year. These "alert windows" provide them predictability.

Officers participate in unit training activities that support the daily mission throughout the year. They are integrated into both Core Elements Alpha and Bravo.

"This is a unique opportunity for the directorate to work with reservists, especially when it comes to leveraging some of their civilian skills," said Navy Capt. Craig Petersen, SJFHQ Core Element Bravo deputy chief of staff. "We feel that there is an opportunity to bring some reservists in that may have skill sets beyond the typical full-time, active-duty servicemember, and enable them to be fully productive members of the team.

Captain Petersen explained that the task force is looking for experienced reservists who are comfortable working at a high tempo operational level and are flexible and prepared to rapidly deploy. He said joint experience is helpful but not essential.

"Hopefully, they've had command experience," Captain Petersen said. "They need to be the resident expert in their own field, and they also need to fully understand the joint environment because when (the task force) deploys, the members are expected to know the joint planning process cold."

Captain Petersen said it's the perfect assignment for people who enjoy mission planning and using the skills they learned in joint professional military education. "Professionally, we believe this will be a springboard for jobs of increasing responsibility down the road," he said.

Element reservists help support transition of service headquarters to joint task force headquarters around the globe. A core element consists of command and control experts to integrate air, land, maritime, information operations and interagency cooperation in a joint task force headquarters.

To learn specific requirements for each service, reservists can send an e-mail through the command's online feedback form at http://www.jwfc.jfcom.mil/webapps/forms/USJFCOM/feedback.jsp. (Air Force Reserve Command News Service from a USJFCOM news release)