Remotely Piloted Aircraft Sensor Operator

“You'll operate the sensor payload of MQ-9 Reapers — conducting ISR, supporting ground troops in contact, and participating in missions that directly shape real operations in real time. The RPA community is at the center of how modern warfare is actually fought, and the Air Force will put you in a ground control station at Creech AFB, Nevada or Cannon AFB, New Mexico to do it. It's a genuinely unique operational role with no civilian equivalent.”

You'll operate sensors on MQ-9s from a trailer or ground control station, conducting 12-hour shifts that can include watching targets for hours before anything happens, then participating in operations with lethal consequences, then driving home on a Nevada highway to your family. The disconnect between the operational environment and the commute home is a specific psychological experience that the Air Force has been learning to understand for two decades. The community has grown faster than the support infrastructure. The moral and psychological weight of remote lethal operations is real, documented, and something the VA is actively trying to address. Cannon AFB and Creech AFB are honest answers to the question of where you'll live. The mission is important. Support yourself accordingly.