711 HPW Assists Air Force Recruiting Service in New Ad Campaign

  • Published
  • By Michela Greco
  • 711th Human Performance Wing
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  The Air Force Recruiting Service (AFRS) is currently developing a campaign called "Collaboratory." It's an initiative that encourages Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) inclined students, influencers and people to engage and collaborate with the Air Force to solve real-world challenges in an online community on www.AirForce.com.

These real world challenges will highlight current and future Air Force technologies. Users will have the opportunity to create solutions using creative thinking and problem solving skills right along with subject matter experts (SMEs) and other Air Force representatives. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) will moderate both the submissions and the participation on the site.

The goal of the campaign is to firmly establish the Air Force as one of the most desirable employers for the nation's best and brightest.

To prepare for the website's launch this summer, AFRS visited Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in May to film an array of AFRL programs, including the 711th Human Performance Wing (HPW) Human Effectiveness Directorate's (RH) Battlefield Air Targeting Man-Aided knowledge (BATMAN) and Calamityville program.

The RH team provided demonstrations of its BATMAN prototypes, which have outfitted many of our Battlefield Airmen with equipment from chest-mounted computers, helmet-mounted displays and heated boot insoles.

Calamityville, located in Fairborn at an abandoned cement factory, is operated in conjunction with Wright State Research Institute and serves as a venue for training, rehearsal, and exercise for a variety of military and civilian responders. While on location, the AFRS team captured a Combat Rescue Officer and a Pararescueman rappelling to a crashed airplane, simulating a search and rescue scenario.

Many of these scenarios will be available for users to experience the real-world challenges faced by our Battlefield Airmen and collaborate with Air Force's SMEs and representatives to provide solutions.

The campaign is a great opportunity for AFRL to demonstrate its unique capabilities and, more importantly, to participate in an outlet that reaches young adults. When launched, the campaign will be able to show teenagers and students many STEM opportunities and careers available in the Air Force, an area in which AFRL could greatly benefit.