Members from 7th AF selected for service-level EWI program

by Master Sgt. Marelise Wood
7th Air Force Public Affairs

10/19/2014 - OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea -- Two members assigned to 7th Air Force have been selected to participate in the Education With Industry program, an Air Force-level developmental education program managed by the Air Force Institute of Technology. 

The program, per its handbook, is a highly-selective and competitive non-degree educational assignment where the member is placed within an industry related to his/her career field.

For Capts. Alyson Busch and Jonathan Walsh, that means an assignment in a civil engineer related field.

Busch is currently the 607th Materiel Maintenance Squadron base civil engineer.  On learning she was eligible to apply for the EWI program for the first time, she jumped at the opportunity.

"Air Force Personnel Center sends out an e-mail with all the special program opportunities available and lists eligible year groups," Busch said. "This year was my first year to be eligible. I looked into it a little bit and decided to apply."

Walsh, currently assigned to the A-Staff, did not pause either when the opportunity presented itself.

"The bulk of my career has been unique ... so, it was right up my alley to do something different," Walsh said.

As selectees to this program, Busch and Walsh can expect to make a permanent change of station move following their time here. They will be assigned to a company for 10 months in which time they will be expected to garner management skills, technical expertise as well as study best practices.

"It's working with our industry partners," Walsh said. "I always like to find better ways of doing things. That is our mission to go into a company and pull out the good things and figure out how to apply them to the Air Force."

Busch is also looking forward to being able to see and make change, but in a different way.

"A lot of these companies are not in areas that have a military presence, so it's also a good opportunity to ... be there representing the Air Force ... to civilians who may never have had any interaction with military personnel," she said. "It's an opportunity for us to be ambassadors for the service."

Busch and Walsh have not yet been notified of what companies they will be assigned to, but they can expect to start their new assignments around late summer of 2015.