The Snacko
In US Air Force (USAF) flying squadrons are busy places. According to BogiDope.com, the pilots who fly there love their jobs enough to work long hours without even realizing it. They’re so busy studying, mission planning, and flying that they don’t always have time to run out and eat a big meal. They need something to sustain them during their marathon mission planning sessions and debriefs, which means that most squadrons have a snack bar. Somebody has to make sure this snack bar is stocked, and that person (dubbed Snacko that is a contraction of Snack Officer) is usually one of the junior pilots in the squadron.
The first job
Lynn Taylor, former USAF A-10 Thunderbolt II pilot, recalls on Quora;
‘“Snacko” was my first “job” when I got to my operational squadron. I can’t speak for other types of squadrons, but it’s a standard thing in every US Air Force fighter squadron.
‘Every self-respecting fighter squadron has a bar… er… I mean… “heritage room.” Not only is it a social center for swapping stories and doing post-debrief debriefs, it’s also where hungry pilots go to power up before launching out on another sortie. If there’s nothing there to eat, or if the selection is poor, then someone isn’t doing their job. (That would be the Snacko.)
‘The Snacko is usually the junior lieutenant in the squadron, and they hold that title until someone even more junior comes along. While it may sound like a joke, there is some serious business associated with it.’
He continues;
‘First, it’s a pretty low-threat job that’s difficult to screw up (though I did see someone get fired from the Snacko job once). Kind of like having training wheels on a bicycle, the squadron can see how well they handle responsibility (and the inevitable razzing) before moving on to more important things.
‘It also frees up the newbie’s time so they can spend their extra hours in “the vault” reading up on tactics, techniques, and procedures so they are smarter when it comes to doing their “real job” of flying a combat aircraft.
Bean Counter
‘The Snacko not only takes care of the victuals, including managing the money in and out, but also ensures that the place is kept clean and orderly. I don’t even know how many mugs I washed in my stint as the Snacko. It was a lot.
‘After we got a new lieutenant in, I was relieved of Snacko duties and elevated to “Bean Counter.” In that job I assisted the Weapons Officer by tracking training requirements to make sure everyone was getting all of their required training events in every year, and also kept track of our bomb and bullet allocation to ensure we had enough for everyone to meet requirements.’
Taylor concludes;
‘There are quite a few “additional duties” in a fighter squadron. People are often surprised at how much work there is to do outside of the cockpit. Pilots are usually the most surprised of all.’
Photo by U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Chanceler Nardone and Airman 1st Class Joshua Kleinholz
