Warrior of the Week: Airman 1st Class Jacob Wallin

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Derek VanHorn
  • 319th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Born and raised on a "wannabe farm" surrounded by cornfields in northern Indiana, this Grand Forks Airman flipped the script when he discovered his new "home away from home" - the base Fitness Center here.

"I am addicted to fitness," said Airman 1st Class Jacob Wallin, the latest Warrior of the Week at Grand Forks. "Yeah ... it's definitely an addiction.

"I like getting into intramural sports, swimming, running, rock wall climbing, and I just recently started gymnastics because I felt like doing flips and spinning around on bars and things like that," he said.

He spends10-15 hours in the gym each week, and of all the activities Wallin participates in, there is one activity that trumps them all.

"My favorite thing to do physically is martial arts and it has been for years," said Wallin, who is a black belt in taekwondo. "I have studied and done tai chi, jujitsu, boxing and mixed martial arts. It's by far the most fun stuff I've ever done."

He said he hopes to become a martial arts instructor someday down the road, and in the meantime he continues to work as a referral management clerk with the 319th Medical Support Squadron. Some of his duties include TRICARE referrals for customers and retiring records for anyone who separates.

"As a support squadron, we have a lot of administrative and paper work," he said. "Besides the referral aspects of the job, a larger part of what I do is working on travel.

"If a patient gets referred outside a 100-mile radius, it is my job to brief them on how they can get referred and reimbursed, along with putting in orders and vouchers for both dependents and active duty members," he said.

Wallin said being stationed at Grand Forks is pleasant and he is happy with his job - especially considering many of his friends from technical training are working strictly in records rooms. It's the variety here that keeps him going.

"The best part of the job is the fact that it's not the same thing every day," said Wallin, a recent Diamond Sharp award recipient. "There are enough small things that are constantly changing every day that make it interesting. Names change, priorities change, and everything works in waves."

Wallin is no stranger to variety when it comes to the workplace. Before joining the Air Force in December of 2010, he worked at a four-star restaurant where he said he was able to learn many new trades and discover a personal love for what keeps many of us awake every day.

"Most people don't know how much I like coffee," said the Warsaw, Ind., native, who enjoys traveling and trying new foods. "While working (at the restaurant), I learned how to work a French press.

"Now I've got seven bags of different varietals of beans, a coffee grinder and a French press. So when I want coffee, I make the good stuff. You can't make coffee with anything else but a French press - that's the way to do it."