MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (USTCNS) --- For enlisted service members looking to spread their wings, there are several positions available in aviation specialties.

These positions, which include boom operators, loadmasters, flight engineers, communications operators, systems technicians, aerial gunners, battle managers, and flight attendants, provide enlisted service members with the extra advantages of incentive pay benefits, better opportunities to travel, and character-building challenges.

The pay benefits are provided through the Career-Enlisted Flier Incentive Pay Program (CEFIP), which began in October 1999.

The CEFIP program was developed to compensate enlisted service members in this career field for the hazardous nature of their job, as well as to provide an incentive to attract individuals to aviation specialties and retain them throughout their career.

The program enables military members in specific career-enlisted aviation specialties that are designated by the service secretary to receive continuous flight-incentive pay as long as they meet prescribed operational flying requirements.

CEFIP is paid in place of certain other money, such as hazardous duty incentive pay and special duty assignment pay.

The incentive pay, unlike HDIP and SDAP, also continues when a member is assigned to non-flying duties. Ultimately, this provides enlisted fliers with increased compensation over the course of their career, from $150 up to $400 per month.

For career-enlisted fliers, programs such as CEFIP are an added bonus to a job they love to do.

"I've been to a lot of places, and I've seen a lot of things," said Tech. Sgt. Frederick E. Fox, a C-17 loadmaster with the 15th Airlift Squadron at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. "To be able to travel and get paid is great."

Fox also said he liked having the added responsibility of being loadmaster. "Even though you're in a squadron, when you're on the airplane you're in control of the situation."

Tech. Sgt. Carl Helbig, a loadmaster with the 437th Operations Group at Charleston AFB, agreed. "Even as an airman, a loadmaster is in a supervisory role," Helbig said.

"We have more freedom and responsibilities than many others in the Air Force," Helbig said. "An airman who comes in as a flier can start making a difference right away."

The one drawback of being in this career field, however, is the number of days spent on temporary duty assignments.

With the missions Charleston aircrews endure, Fox spends around 180 days a year on temporary duty assignments. Missions may include anything from local training flights to three-week missions in either the Pacific or European theaters carrying supplies to deployed troops across the globe.

"The TDYs can be sporadic," Fox said. "Sometimes, you don't know when the next mission will come up and you have to be really flexible.

"Things could change while you're out in the system," Fox said.

Fox said those who are considering entering or retraining into this career field should really weigh the pros and cons of becoming a flier. Commitments to family and off-duty education are two important factors to weigh before vying for a set of wings.

For those, like Helbig and Fox, whose scales tip favorable toward the positive side, there are a significant amount of openings in these aviation specialties, said Senior Master Sgt. Steve King, chief of aircrew enlisted assignments, at the Air Force Personnel Center, Randolph AFB, Texas.

"Many of these career fields have been under a chronic critical status for a long time," King said. "One field has been under this status since 1993.

"The best part of this for folks wanting careers in aviation is that new opportunities abound-the fields are open. Of our current eight CEA career fields, every one of them has numerous retraining-in quotas, and many of them also accept new recruits. For instance, the two flight engineer fields are looking for over 150 retrainees for the fiscal year 2001," said King.

Interested new recruits with or without prior service and retrainees can apply for one of these positions through either their local recruiter or their military personnel flight.

For many of the enlisted aviators, being in this career field may make the difference between having an Air Force career and enjoying one.

"I couldn't think of another job in the Air Force that I'd like to do," said Fox. (FROM AIR MOBILITY COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).