Airman 1st Class Kirshell LaCroix considers herself a “Green Mountain Boy,” a Vermont Air National Guard moniker, despite not being a Guardsman, or from Vermont, or being a quarter of a century younger than most people in the unit.
In fact, she’s becoming one of the more well-known Green Mountain Boys, especially after arriving there last summer as part of a test phase of a new program called “community basing.”
The program involves assigning active-duty members as an active associate unit to the Guard base, and the local community around Burlington, Vermont, provides the normal active-duty base support, not the military.
Active-duty associate Airmen based in Vermont are members of Detachment 1, 20th Maintenance Squadron, 20th Fighter Wing, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.
For Airman LaCroix, that means she works as an electronic and environmental maintainer for F-16 Fighting Falcons during the day, then relies on nearby Burlington for her creature comforts like billeting, eating and entertainment.
The program is the first of its kind in the Air Force. So far, everyone likes it, especially Airman LaCroix and the 11 other active-duty Airmen involved. If the program is approved and takes hold in other states, it may open up future possibilities for active-duty Airmen to volunteer for duty in states that don’t have active-duty bases.
Guinea pig
“Emotionally, it was all new to me,” said Airman LaCroix. Being the first active-duty maintainer to arrive on station, she received rock star attention from everyone, including the media.
“I liked it,” she said, “even though I didn’t know what I was getting into.”
Once the newness of the program wore off and she was given time to comprehend everything, she realized community basing was a good idea.
“After my friends heard about it, they wished they could be in the program, too,” said the Airman who has been in the Air Force for one year.
While her friends stay in billeting and eat in base dining facilities, 20-year-old Airman LaCroix shares a two-bedroom suite with another Airman in an extended-stay hotel located just outside the base. They also receive extra money from the government to eat off base.
A majority of the first-term Airmen in the test phase of community basing like living off base, dorm-free, but some miss the dining hall.
“The living conditions are awesome,” said Airman 1st Class Maranda Shaw, a 20-year-old avionics technician. “The rooms are nice and we get free cable and we have a swimming pool.”
The Airmen live in an extended-stay hotel minutes from the base. In addition to free cable, they also get free use of the Internet, fitness equipment and a daily breakfast. Each room comes with its own bathroom, and two share an expansive living area that includes a full kitchen.
The hotel was picked for its strategic location to stores, malls, restaurants and movie theaters.
Airman Shaw clips coupons and buys what’s on sale to save money. She just doesn’t care to cook.
“ I’d prefer to go to a dining hall and get three square meals a day,” she said. “I like to cook, but not all the time.”
On the other hand, Airman 1st Class Shawn Nelson loves to cook — so much so that another Airman buys most of the food if he agrees to cook it.
“I don’t have to wait for the dining hall,” said the 20-year-old egress systems journeyman from Montana. “I can eat whenever I want.”
Although they receive limited maid service to replenish supplies, the Airmen still have to clean their rooms and receive room inspections. But none seem to mind.
Six months into the program, and with packed snow on the frozen ground, A1C Shaw is still trying to get used to the cold. What didn’t take her long to warm up to was accomplishing the operational mission.
Once she settled in, the Green Mountain Boys’ experience began enveloping her like a warm Chinook wind.
Experience surrounds her
Most of the Air National Guard personnel in her shop have been aircraft maintainers longer than she’s been alive, 20 to 30 years.
“Everybody in the shop trains me,” Airman LaCroix said. “One will train me on a certain specialty that he’s good at, while another will train me on something else.”
Senior Master Sgt. Dwight Rolston has been a Green Mountain Boy avionics specialist for 18 years after spending time on active duty. He says the Guard has a lot to offer young Airmen.
“In this program, we can use our work experience,” he said. “With a 30-year retirement, that’s a lot of experience we can pass on to younger Airmen.”
