Instructors wanted: Junior ROTC expansion means job opportunities for AGRs.(Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps)(active Guard and Reserve Airmen)

Air Force Junior ROTC is about to embark on a major expansion, creating opportunities for retired active Guard and Reserve Airmen, as well as those within six months of retirement, to teach.

This fall, Air Force JROTC is scheduled to open 48 new units in high schools in Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

This is the first step in a congressionally mandated expansion initiative for all of the service's JROTC programs that began in 1999.

In the initiative, Air Force JROTC was authorized to expand from 746 to 945 units by 2005. However, in 2002 expansion plans were put on hold until additional funding was available. The secretary of the Air Force provided funding support in 2004 and directed that the expansion program resume, with the goal of reaching the 945-unit level by the start of the 2007 school year.

"We have started our expansion efforts by opening 48 new units in the fall of 2005," said Col. H.B. "Mac" McCarraher III, director of Air Force JROTC at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. "With over 160 schools on the waiting list, we expect to be able to open another 75 units in 2006 and 76 in 2007, which will bring us to the authorized 945."

To meet these expansion goals, Jo Alice Talley, chief of instructor management, said Air Force JROTC is going to need a total of 398 officers and NCOs to teach in the new units. In addition to the new positions, she expects another 50 to 75 positions in existing units will become vacant ...