319 Comm Squadron Airmen get AMP’d

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Lawrence Cernicky
  • 319th Communications Squadron
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Do you know how many types of live bait Grand Forks AFB Outdoor Recreation has to offer? The AMP'd Airmen from the 319th Communications Squadron can tell you.

In lockstep with the wing's "Bring It" theme, the 319 CS developed an Airmen Mentorship Program (AMP) to address both the professional and personal life development skills and goals of its Airmen. The program initially focused on the professional nature of the Air Force but quickly evolved into a whole-person, on and off-duty mentorship concept.

During the most recent AMP session, the squadron visited outdoor recreation to get a better understanding of the services offered to relieve stress during this period of high operations tempo and ever-demanding mission.

Mr. John Gorman, outdoor recreation manager, opened the eyes of Airmen as to how much outdoor recreation offers. Mr. Gorman was so successful in his ski outing pitch, Airman 1st Class Allan Larrimore, 319 CS, participated on a recent weekend trip to a local ski resort.

"The trip was great and painful as it was my first time I'd ever gone snowboarding," Airman Larrimore said. "I'm going again next weekend!"

AMP is contagious. Airman 1st Class Brian Colantuono, 319 CS, has also taken Mr. Gorman's challenge and organized a ski trip for 16 unit Airmen through outdoor recreation...a second mile leader stepping up to the plate.

AMP is in its third month and is growing at the 319 CS. To date, sessions covering the various topics of AEF tempo banding, fitness, safety, equal opportunity and personal finance have been presented in AMP sessions. The sessions are developed not so much as a one-way presentation of information, but as a forum for discussion of personal experiences allowing everyone to participate.

Airman Colantuono has learned much from these sessions so far. "For the finance and LES session, I can say that it was a great inspiration to finally get my finances on a permanently secure track. With the new tempo banding, it was extremely informative and useful to understand what my deployment future may hold."

To keep the flow of information going, the unit publishes all AMP information on a SharePoint ® page devoted to the Airmen Mentoring Program. Airmen can refer back to it or add comments about their experiences after the AMP session.

Through these informal mentoring sessions, more experienced Airmen in the communications squadron hope to educate, inspire, and prepare next generation Airmen for the exciting and challenging Air Force journey.

If you are still wondering, outdoor recreation has six types of live bait.