Sep. 26—As businesses and organizations continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, many are struggling with staffing shortages. In St. Joseph, the 139th Airlift Wing is no exception.

"I think we're normal with the industry today," said Col. John Cluck, commander of the 139th Airlift Wing. "Everybody's having help wanted signs out in the windows. We've got a really big help wanted sign outside the 139th and we're down a little bit. We think we can address it and we can recruit and bring more people on board."

Like other businesses, the Airlift Wing held a hiring fair at Rosecrans Memorial Airport this week to connect with a potential workforce. The organization brought together students and individuals for three days last week to explore job openings and opportunities the Missouri Air National Guard has to offer.

"We've had over 500 students sign up to come out over these three days," said Michael Crane, senior master sergeant and public affairs superintendent for the 139th Airlift Wing. "On Tuesday, we had over 200 people show up. We have a lot of students out here from the St. Joseph area schools, some from the Kansas City area and just the surrounding area schools."

Crane said the guard's recruiting numbers have been down the past two years with the pandemic.

"This year, our numbers have been higher," Crane said. "A lot of that is the schools opening up and our recruiters being able to go back into the schools. Also being able to open our doors and allow the schools to come here and we get to show off all the equipment and jobs and show off our airmen that we have here."

The 139th Wing decided to take a new approach to recruiting events this year.

"We're using this like colleges do for their visit weekends," Cluck said. "We want to bring members of the local area and high school kids out to show them what we have to offer and do it on a grander scale. Hopefully, we will get more impact from the event."

Crane said there are two main goals with hosting the career fair.

"It lets the students meet our airmen and they get to put a face to a name," Crane said. "They also get to learn about our benefits. Anyone who joins the Missouri Air National Guard, we offer 100% tuition assistance for any Missouri university or college."

One of the unique aspects of the National Guard is all of the members live and work in the community, Crane said.

"Most of our people one weekend a month will suit up, put on their uniform and come here to do their work," Crane said. "Then when that weekend's over, they'll go home back into their community. The National Guard is a community-based force."

Crane said the career fair had a great turnout.

"A lot of our students are getting to meet our airmen and learn about the 50-plus different careers that we have out here and the benefits as well," Crane said.

The recruiting event started with a presentation introducing members with different roles at the 139th Wing. Following the presentation, the guests walked down to the hangar where they could explore all the different aspects of the guard.

"We have a C-130 that they were able to go on and take a look at," Crane said. "We're taking them to different shops on base. Some of the jobs we have over there include civil engineering and plumbing. We also had HVAC heating and cooling so a lot of trade skills. Even if someone doesn't want to go to college, we have a lot of trade jobs."

Airmen representing the guard's various careers attended the event to interact with the guests. Some representatives included security forces, aviation, civil engineering, aircraft and vehicle maintenance, firefighting, communications, medical, air traffic control, food service and more.

Vail Fruechting, a student at St. Joseph Christian High School who attended the career fair, said he would consider pursuing a career in the guard after his visit.

"The college education is really nice," Fruechting said. "Always just having a job right after school to go into is always nice. I think it's definitely a possibility."

Jaren Padgett, also a student at St. Joseph Christian, said his visit sparked his interest.

"When we were inside and they were giving the presentation, I really liked the benefits that they have with the health insurance," Padgett said. "I never thought it would be like a job working at the guard and so I thought that was really cool."

Plattsburg High School student Emily Cameron also said she enjoyed her day visiting the base.

"One guy was talking to me about rafts and how they worked and about how the parachutes work and how we get to put them together and stuff like that," Cameron said. "I would definitely come back again and am actually considering joining after school."

For more information about the open positions at the 139th Airlift Wing, the Missouri National Guard and the benefits, visit the website at www.139aw.ang.af.mil/About-Us/Recruiting.