Recruiting trailer of the 107th Attack Wing which prior to $88,000 renovation investment, was only used as a backdrop and protection from weather, November 25, 2024, Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station. (Jason Carr/New York Air National Guard)
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (Tribune News Service) — 107th Attack Wing leaders are betting a trailer outfitted with an $88,000 gaming system will help the New York Air Guard unit recruit new airmen in 2025.
The goal, according to the 107th’s Recruiting Flight Chief Tech. Sgt. Kenneth Chudoba, is to get young people excited about the wing’s mission.
The simulator and trailer combination is modeled on a system the Air Force also uses for recruiting, Chudoba said.
The new simulator is comprised of an 86-inch 4K LG monitor, a gaming PC with a Core i9 14900K processor and an RTX4090 GPU, and a Digital Combat Simulator developed by Eagle Dynamics. This is hooked up to Marada cockpit throttles, yoke, and peddles, and a BOSE sound system and HTC VIDE Focux 3 virtual reality goggles complete the setup.
According to Chudoba, while guests are flying the simulator, recruiters can speak to other people lined up waiting their turn.
The trailer will provide a more inviting environment to ask questions as opposed to a traditional simulator set up on a tabletop, he said.
In 2024, the wing recruited 104 airmen — both new recruits and prior service personnel — which is only the second time in the past 20 years this number of airmen have joined the 107th, Chudoba explained.
The goal is to keep the momentum going and keep bringing in new recruits to the wing, which has a current strength of about 740 airmen.
Col. Andrew Carlson, the commander of the 107th and a former F-15 pilot, praised the simulator’s attention to detail.
“I was really impressed with the amount of realism; it was way cool and quite frankly a lot of fun!” he said.
The 107th recruiters acquired the trailer in 2022. It was wrapped with both 107th and Air National Guard decals. It was taken to events to act as a backdrop and billboard, with heat and air conditioning.
“We loved the outside of the trailer, we couldn’t just have it be a billboard on wheels,” Chudoba said.
The wing worked with vendors to put together the simulator system. Two 4K LG monitors, gaming chairs, and Xbox consoles are also installed so that two other guests can check out those systems as well.
Recruiting’s goal is to help increase the enlistments across the wing, and let the public know that they can serve local and live local. Hopefully they will hit their first event in January, Chudoba said.
“This interactive exhibit will help get the word out about the amazing careers the Air National Guard can provide,” said Chudoba.
This story originally appeared on the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service website.
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