KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Serve well, live well. That is the Air Force recruiting slogan showcasing work-life balance along with a career in the Air Force. The service takes work-life balance seriously, as a burgeoning group of human performance programs now includes a focus on helping Airmen to strike a healthy medium between work, families and a host of responsibilities connected to both.
Ultimately, it’s down to each Airman to make good choices and communicate regarding family, duty and professional development, according to 1st Lt. Joseph Foreman, 377th Maintenance Group executive officer. Difficulty and stress can vary from job to job.
“It’s important to communicate expectations, because you are not going to be doing the same thing year-in and year-out,” Foreman said. “But communicate expectations to your family and your bosses. You don’t want your boss to be surprised if you wife is going to have a surgery. But mainly to your family, because they are the ones who are going to be frustrated when you don’t get home when you said you would.”
Capt. Alane Ruud agrees. The 377th Air Base Wing executive officer cited communication as key to managing demanding jobs and lives.
“As far as family goes, being a dual-military couple with a young child poses its own unique challenges,” Ruud said. “Communication is key. We regularly coordinate and de-conflict schedules, but sometimes we simply have to ask for additional help. We are very fortunate to have family and friends that are available to help us.”
While Ruud discussed the challenges of a family with both parents in the military, she said that successes were shared along with the challenges.
“Whenever one of us accomplishes something, the other does too,” she said. “We always win and lose as a team.”
Foreman has likewise teamed with his wife to achieve work-life balance as an enlisted communications troop and metals technician in the Kansas and Missouri National Guards, and as a missile munitions maintenance officer since his commissioning in October 2015. Like Ruud, he’s now also working on this balance as a commander’s exec. The Foreman’s have five children, ages seven to two months.
He said demanding jobs can pull the balance toward work, but when the load is lightened, it should tilt toward family.
“When you get into one of those lower tempo jobs, you do need to be able to put that back in your family, and adjust the balance the other way,” Foreman said. “And for some people that gets to be hard because they may not be used to that role, but you need to do that, you need to pay back.”
Ruud said that adjustments to the day’s conditions are essential.
“The best advice I have been given about achieving a work-life balance is find what works for you,” Ruud said. “Sometimes our line of work becomes demanding and that’s okay. No day is ever going to be perfectly balanced. So if that means carving time in your schedule to go to the gym or taking leave to spend with your family, do it.”
Out-of-balance demands are better confronted toward the beginning of a career, Foreman explained. His first year at Kirtland was spent earning a master’s degree, essential for career progression. For a year, most of his off-duty time was filled with studying.
“That was probably a little out of balance, but it was agreed upon, temporary and strategic,” Foreman said. “We agreed that it was better to get it done earlier [in my career]. That’s something I encourage young Airmen to get done, because you don’t want to be spending your family time to do this--because you don’t get more time, you never get more time down the road.”
In addition to being strategic about difficult periods, making good choices at the end of the day is also essential. With the exception of urgent mission requirements, work-life balance is about time management and choices, Foreman explained.
“There are times when you have to say, I’m just going to leave, because that problem will still be there tomorrow. And there are probably rare instances where that is not the case. I think that our Air Force culture pushes us to feel like we need to always push ourselves and compete for awards, and sometimes you need to say, ‘you know what? I have to take a step back from that to take care of life’,” Foreman said.
Ruud said work-life balance is a challenge across the spectrum of Air Force specialties and positions.
This means that every Airman has to learn sacrifice for family as they do for country.
“When you have a job that can be as demanding as the military can be, that means when you get home your time doesn’t belong to you,” Foreman said. “And your time does belong to them.”