Labor Shortage as a National Security Issue

Travis Million, CEO of Golden Valley Electric Association, noted that the military draws additional power, which stabilizes rates for other customers. “A ton of our new members in the Golden Valley service area are military, so we want to support them,” Million added.

Furthermore, military families bolster the local workforce. “Golden Valley Electric Association has a number of different types of jobs that depend on a number of skill sets that military spouses can look at,” he said. “As you have people coming in, rotating through, spouses looking for work, don’t forget us at Golden Valley.”

But the military presence also strains the local economy. Colonel Paul “Klaxon” Townsend, 354th Fighter Wing commander at Eielson Air Force Base, cited housing as an example. “Affordable housing is something that impacts military members, but it also impacts our local community. We see rates for our military members increase, and that increases rents across the board and impacts local owners and operators who are potentially priced out of properties,” said Townsend.

The all-volunteer military relies on civilian communities more than ever, not just for off-base housing but as support for families who accompany service members at duty stations. Townsend grew up as an Army brat, and Colonel Dustin Hansen of the 673rd Mission Support Group at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson (JBER) was a kid at Naval Air Facility Adak when his father was posted to the former Aleutian Island base.

In his position, Hansen is very conscious of child and youth services (CYS) at JBER. “We have an incredible staff of civilians who invest in our kids’ health and future,” he told the conference. “But as I’m listening to this wonderful team, they were very explicit: ‘Sir, we need more people. We have a waiting list of sixty people; one staff can carry twelve kids, so we need at least four more staff to get out of this sixty-kiddo wait list. So, sir, help us out.’”

Cole reflected on his situation at Fort Wainwright. “We have a little bit higher wait list in CYS CDC. I wish it was sixty! We have the Army’s largest child development center that opened up this summer; I’m still needing more [staff] so I can have the right ratio of educators to children,” Cole said.

Hansen recalled one problem with a provider certified for child care through the Army who was unable to work on the Air Force side of JBER. “We’re a joint base; we should be able to fix this,” Hansen said. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re an Army Child and Youth Services or an Air Force Child and Youth Services. You’re a proven asset, and we can use your proven ability.”

David Leinberger of the Army Community Partnership Office addressed the certification problem at another forum panel. “For the Army, predominantly child care is done through the non-appropriated fund deployment system, but with the Air Force it’s appropriated funds. One is GS [general schedule of federal pay grades], the other is not. They are completely different employment systems,” Leinberger explained.

He said he’s notified the Army’s CYS lead. “OSC [Office of Strategic Capital] is aware of it; all the services are aware of it. They are actively working this issue at the headquarters, at the senior level, to make this more of an easy transition,” Leinberger said, expecting a resolution sometime in 2025.

Call in the Cavalry

Meanwhile, the military has stepped up to patch gaps in the civilian workforce. It happened last fall, for example, when the Anchorage School District fell short of bus drivers as classes commenced.

Hansen noted that the school year began while drivers were still working in late-summer tourism. “That actually puts a dent into our school bus drivers if the bus drivers are busy working in tourism,” he recalled. “What we did is, guess what? I have airmen that can drive buses. We partnered with the school district; we said we will drive the school buses on JBER to relieve demand on the district.”

Townsend added that the military cannot dictate how the local economy accommodates housing or labor or other resources. But the armed forces can partner with what he calls “centers of gravity,” like school districts or chambers of commerce.

Hansen agreed. “We are trying to take the talent that is out there—and we know it’s out there—and we’re trying to match it to the opportunity we have,” he said. “I asked our local community, ‘Please help us harmonize and identify those talent pools, and then we have opportunities to match those talent pools.’”

Hansen gave the example of Military Youth Academy graduates who earn high school diplomas in December and are ready for work.

Cole added, “One thing we can affect is the talent that we hire and how we interact with the community—our customers: the soldiers, their family members, retirees, and the civilians that live and work at Fort Wainwright. We focus on primary talent and then develop that talent so we can best use the limited resources we have.”