IMA positions offer a different way to serve

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Chance Babin
  • AFRC Recruiting Service
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  With Air Force Reserve Command's end-strength increasing by 2,100 Airmen from fiscal year 2015 to 2016, Reserve recruitiers are striving to meet their goal of 8,500 new accessions for FY16.

One strategy recruiters are using involves trying to get people to transfer from the unit program to the individual mobilization augmentee program.

Unlike traditional Reservists who serve one weekend a month and two weeks a year, IMAs, who are assigned to active-duty Air Force units, respond to a training schedule based on the needs of their host organization. IMAs are assigned to funded positions and participate with the host organization for 24 to 48 training periods each year. They often complete their annual training requirements all at once.

IMAs receive military pay, benefits and retirement points just like their traditional Reserve counterparts.

With the unit program, which consists of air reserve technicians and traditional Reservists, currently at 107-percent manning, and the IMA program at 86-percent manning, the Recruiting Service is targeting Reservists in overage positions and getting them to consider opportunities in the IMA program.

In the middle of 2015, key leaders from the Air Reserve Personnel Center, Headquarters Readiness and Integration Office and Recruiting Service collaborated together in order to target the under-execution of the IMA program, said Capt. Robert Bruce, Recruiting Service chief of operations and training at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. "With end-strength on the rise, the Recruiting Service hired eight seasoned recruiters (two per squadron) to specifically target key vacancies in an effort to robust IMA manning while at the same time effectively manning AFRC."

For many, the IMA program is an attractive option since it offers greater flexibility when completing inactive duty training. In addition to flexibility, the IMA program offers many other advantages, including force-development opportunities, promotions, the opportunity to complete all annual requirements in one shot and getting more job experience.

Critical-skills recruiters involved in the process of working the packages for Airmen wanting to transfer from the unit to the IMA program takes a lot of work off of the shoulders of members of the force support squadron.

For more information, email gary.lopriore@us.af.mil or holly.smithson@us.af.mil or call 609-444-6727 or 609-491-9750