Dorm managers maintain Airmen’s home away from home Published May 3, 2007 By Staff Sgt. Benjamin Rojek 51st Fighter Wing Public Affairs OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea -- The old "Transformers" cartoon theme song said they're "more than meets the eye." One glance into the day in the life a dorm manager, and it's obvious the same can be said about these Airmen. Their day begins with the daily task of filling out both the Airmen Vacant Room Roster and the Occupancy Report. These forms keep track of the empty rooms in the dorms and all the statistics of dorm occupancy, respectively. It's not just all paperwork, however. "If I can fix (maintenance issues) myself, I will," said Staff Sgt. Jerrid Posey, dorm manager for Bldg. 1448, who is a civil engineer Airman by trade. "CE's schedule is often busy. I try to help fix minor problems so the resident isn't too inconvenienced." Besides working on maintenance issues, dorm managers run a bay orderly program. This program has dorm residents working with dorm managers to make sure the buildings and surrounding grounds stay clean. In keeping with Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century principles, Sergeant Posey changed up his bay orderly schedule to make sure squadrons were not losing too many man-hours. "We spent 200,000 man-hours last year on bay orderlies," he said. "I changed it so we're saving about 48 man-hours per week." Bay orderlies still work Tuesday through Monday; however, Tuesday is their only full day. The rest of the week the Airmen return to their normal duty locations after lunch. Just because the bay orderlies spend less time at the dorms doesn't mean they're cleaning less. Sergeant Posey's dorm has won Dorm of the Quarter twice since he took over in August 2006. He used the money they won to purchase a big screen television for the day room, as well as a surround sound stereo system. Not only do dorm managers take care of the buildings where most Airmen live during their tour here, but those who work in the junior Airmen's dorms act as mentors to the first-termers. "We deal with people every day," said Sergeant Posey. "You have to be a people-person to do this job." His biggest advice to dorm residents? "Have patience," he said. "Realize it's not just you living here. Put yourself in another's shoes." The residents of Bldg. 1448 aren't the only ones learning, however. "Like everything in the military, this is a learning experience," said Sergeant Posey. "(Dorm managers) learn something new everyday."