Capt. Shannon Williams is a C-21 pilot, an Air Force Academy graduate, and \u2014 as of Feb. 26 \u2014 a new mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And with the help of a new program called the Career Intermission Program, Williams will spend the next three years tending to \u2014 and hopefully further expanding \u2014 her new family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Williams, at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, said if CIP hadn’t come along, she probably would have left the active duty, and possibly even left the Air Force entirely. She was looking into the Palace Chase program, which allows airmen to serve out the rest of their careers in the Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve, or holding out hope for another round of voluntary separation payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But now that she will be able to take three years off to raise her new daughter, Jillian \u2014 and, she hopes, have a second child fairly soon \u2014 Williams said she plans to stay in the Air Force for a full 20-year career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I still love flying, and I’m pumped that the Air Force has this program where I can come back to it,” Williams said in an interview the day before she gave birth. “It’s great that this program can help me balance the two [starting a family and having an Air Force career] \u2014 and hopefully not have too negative an impact on either of them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Career Intermission Program \u2014 one of nine initiatives to improve opportunities for women, minorities and enlisted members highlighted March 4 by Secretary Deborah Lee James \u2014 is the Air Force’s first attempt at a multiyear sabbatical program that will let airmen put their careers on hold for up to three years while they pursue personal goals. In a March 2 interview at the Pentagon, Col. Rob Romer, chief of the Air Force’s military force policy division, said that 32 airmen \u2014 14 officers and 18 enlisted \u2014 will take part in the first round of CIP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of those, about 70 percent are taking time off to go back to school, and 30 percent are taking time to start a family \u2014 like Williams \u2014 or care for a family member. They are taking anywhere from one year to three years off, and the average time off is 25 months, the Air Force said. An equal number of men and women are taking the sabbaticals, although Romer said the Air Force wasn’t aiming for a 50-50 split.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the program, airmen will enter the Individual Ready Reserve, and continue to receive their usual medical and dental coverage. They also receive a small stipend of 1\/15th of their usual monthly basic pay. The Air Force will pay to move an airman from his or her duty station to any location in the U.S., and then move the airman to his or her follow-on base at the end of the program. They will be required to check in with the CIP’s program manager once a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When they return, airmen will be required to spend twice as long in active-duty status as they spent in CIP. That means Williams will be required to serve another six years after she returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Romer said the program’s selection panel last November considered 46 airmen \u2014 15 officers and 29 enlisted airmen. One of the officers was in the Air National Guard, and one of the enlisted airmen was a reservist. They chose 34 of those airmen \u2014 all of the officers, and 19 of the enlisted airmen, including the reservist. Later, one active-duty officer and one active-duty enlisted airman who were picked decided to drop out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“When the panel met, they looked at performance, they looked at leadership, and they also took a look at the ability of the airman to continue to develop and contribute to the Air Force,” Romer said. “Because ultimately, they’re going to give back two months for every one month that they’re gone. So they need to be able to come back recharged and be ready to resume their Air Force careers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The panel did not consider the reasons airmen wanted to take a sabbatical. Performance reports and decorations were some of the factors the board considered, Romer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The application period for the second round of CIP will be held Aug. 15 to Oct. 15, and this year’s selection panel will again meet in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I feel pretty confident that the next go-around, once we start getting some feedback in from airmen, I think you’ll find that more people will participate,” Romer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Williams was interested in the program as soon as she heard about it last summer for many reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She wanted to spend time at home raising her daughter during her first few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I grew up with two military parents, and I don’t remember a lot of missing them when I was younger,” Williams said. “But I grew up hearing my mom always saying she wishes she had been home more, she wishes she could have gone to this, or could have gone to that. I want Jillian to have a stable home life when she’s young, but it’s also for me, so I don’t have to miss all the major milestones like walking, or her first smile, or her first words. I don’t have to be at risk of deploying when she’s learning how to potty train, or having to wait to have our second kid because I have a deployment coming.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And one of the most frustrating things about her pregnancy, she said, was not being able to fly during her first and third trimester. She was limited to office duty, which left her feeling like she wasn’t contributing as much as she could. That is why she plans to start trying to have a second child this August, to ensure her second pregnancy happens during the sabbatical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It was really hard to be in a flying squadron and not be able to fly,” Williams said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Williams also wanted to take some time off from the Air Force to allow her husband, Kevin, time to better establish his career. The Williamses met their freshman year at the Air Force Academy in their Engineering 100 class, and graduated in 2009. Kevin was also hoping to become a pilot, but didn’t make it and he was not reclassified. His commitment was waived and he left the Air Force in December 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Williams said Kevin wasn’t able to gain traction on his own career while following her on her assignments. Kevin worked odd jobs when Shannon was stationed in Texas, and got his master’s degree last May while she was stationed at Scott. He started a new job in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Williams’ time flying C-21s was going to come to an end this year, and if she hadn’t entered into the pilot program, they would have had to move this summer. If they went anywhere other than the East or West coasts, Kevin would have had to find a new job, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And since Kevin had supported and followed her around the country, Williams said she’s glad she’ll be able to return the favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It’s just nice for him to have a stable three years with one company, build up his r\u00e9sum\u00e9 a little bit, before we have to move and he has to go into the job market again,” Williams said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Capt. Shannon Williams is a C-21 pilot, an Air Force Academy graduate, and \u2014 as of Feb. 26 \u2014 a new mother. And with the help of a new program called the Career Intermission Program, Williams will spend the next three years tending to \u2014 and hopefully further expanding \u2014 her new family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":42761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[12,16,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3320],"class_list":["post-34794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-transition","category-news","category-your-air-force"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"OWYBKD4UTRDJJOY3UJWOU5UVIM","arc_canonical_url":"\/education-transition\/jobs\/2015\/03\/08\/air-force-gives-new-mom-three-years-off\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n