Civil Engineering in the Air Force

Civil Engineering in the Air Force is a great career field. The hands-on opportunities that AF Civil Engineers find themselves can lead to a great career in the military or open doors to your future after you leave military service behind. Kristina Selstrom is sharing her experience in Civil Engineering in the Air Force this week on the Women of the Military podcast.

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Civil Engineering in the Air Force

Kristina decided to join the Air Force because she wanted to follow in her dad’s footsteps. He was an officer in the Air Force and she gained a Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship. She was still on the fence if she actually wanted to join the military but when she began ROTC she felt at home. The ROTC community was an interesting dynamic of people all focused on a common goal. Becoming an officer in the Air Force. That comradery led her to stay in ROTC and eventually led her to become an Air Force Civil Engineer.

A career begins

She wanted to be a part of a RED HORSE (a quick reaction force Civil Engineer unit) but was not able to do it when she joined. She ended up going to Montana to be at a base with a RED HORSE unit with the goal of transferring over to that unit. It ended up not happening but she loved the role of being an Air Force Civil Engineer.

September 11th happened while she was at the first base. The base was in the middle of an exercise and she had worked from noon to midnight. The exercise was called off and the focus went to securing the base and focusing the mission they were trained for. It was an interesting experience and everything that was written down in the command post for the first few months was archived. She added notes of “CE is the best” “Go Boulder” knowing it couldn’t be destroyed.

Deployments across the globe

She also had her first deployment out of her first assignment. I did a deployment series in 2017 and Kristina shared her deployment experiences on the podcast, you can read that interview here. She went to Saudi Arabia in 2000. She went to Iraq two times (2004 and 2007). In 2005 she went to Kyrgyzstan. And then in 2009, she went to Afghanistan. She also got married in 2009. Her husband was serving in the Navy and they both were slated to deploy. They wanted to be able to be stationed together so they met in Vegas and did a run-through wedding during the rock and roll half marathon. She talked about each of her deployments and some of her different experiences.

Leaving the military

She qualified for early retirement during sequestration (government downsizing). Being married to a service member in a different service with five more years until retirement led her to decide to leave the military early. A few months later her husband decided to leave the Navy and switch to Air Force Reserves. They found themselves at an in-between point and moved to be with her parents while waiting for the next phase of life. They ended up in Florida where they still live today. Her husband is the commander of the Reserve unit in Miami and she works as a consultant.