by Joshua Curtis
Daily Lobo
Students and cadets searched for a high-flying job Tuesday in the SUB at a career fair and conference sponsored by the Air Force ROTC.
Steve Perry, the commandant of the UNM ROTC program, talked to students about their career options. Perry is a UNM faculty member and an active-duty officer in the Air Force.
Perry teaches military classes for ROTC members and is responsible for cadets' progress and behavior, he said.
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"They have to come to me for counseling," he said. "The idea is to correct behavior. You are going to make mistakes, but make them here - to minimize them once you are active duty."
Student Benjamin Moore said his freshman experience has been easier because of the friendships he made as a cadet.
"A lot of people are taken out of a small high school group and thrown into a huge college group," he said. "We (cadets) all have common interests. Everybody knows everybody."
Officers from Kirtland Air Force Base gave presentations to students about their careers in the military, including security forces, pilot programs, acquisitions and the Office of Special Investigations.
Allison Babcock, a forensic scientist for the Office of Special Investigations, gave a presentation about the office's operations.
"OSI is responsible for counterintelligence, force protection and general crimes," she said.
Babcock said there is crime in the military, just like in the civilian community. She said the OSI gathers counterintelligence on base like the FBI does off base.
"Counterintelligence is something you have to stay on top of," she said. "At conferences (on the base), you are going to get a lot of people from other countries. Some people who come to our base are well-known foreign-intelligence
officers."
She said it is common to have people trying to steal information from the base. It is important to be aware of what they want and how they are getting it, she said.
Eyeglasses with video recorders and voice-recording pens are
common, she said.
"We have to protect what we are doing, or we have no advantage," she said.
Student and cadet Heidi Oliver said she wanted to see how she can use what she will learn in college in the Air Force.
"Going to the conference, I can experience different jobs and find out what I can do," she said. "There are so many opportunities."
She said the Air Force offers many incentives that are hard to find in the civilian sector.
"The job opportunities you have are better and more secure," she said. "Anyone can work. They train you. You can do what you want to do, and it is free."
