Jefferson Barracks Reserve is Ready to Give America Advice

Move over Dear Abby. First Sgt. Scott Nimmer is more than ready to give America advice. Nimmer, 40, is one of 20 finalists for a spot on "Good Morning America" as an advice guru. Getting this far is quite an achievement.

He was one of 15,000 people who applied for the position.

Nimmer lives in Liberty Township, OH, near Cincinnati, with his wife and two children, but he drills two days a month at Jefferson Barracks as part of the Reserve Component of the U.S. Air Force. He is the first sergeant for the 157th Air Operations Group. Nimmer has been in the Reserves for 10 years, including four at Jefferson Barracks and was an active member of the Air Force for eight years. 

Now he may become a household face across America. Nimmer, who also taught sixth grade in the public school system in Jackson, MO, for four years, has been unemployed for the last 10 months.

"I watched a lot of 'Good Morning America.' I saw them announce in August of this year that they were going to hire a full-time on-air advice guru, so I filled out the application and waited. Then one day I was driving with my 14-year-old daughter and they called to tell me they were interested," he said. "Since then I've done a phone interview and a couple of video interviews with the show. It's been an exciting week."

Nimmer says he is qualified to dispense advice for several reasons. It was part of his job as a school teacher and he is used to dealing with adolescents. As a first sergeant, he gives advice to the members of his unit on topics ranging from housing to marital issues. And during his military service, he worked as an air-traffic controller in Afghanistan. He said he's known as the "mouth" for his ability to command attention with his voice, a good quality indeed for an advice guru.

Nimmer didn't know he had made it to the final 20 until this past Monday. He and his wife were watching the announcement about the finalists on "Good Morning America:" "We watched and they flashed video clips across the screen of the finalists. More and more went by and we thought I wasn't in, then they showed mine second to last. We both jumped up and said 'Hey you're on Good Morning America!'"

"Right now they have the finalists up on their website," Nimmer said. "Our profiles are up there and for the next couple of weeks they are asking us two questions a week and we have to write an advice column with our answers. People can go to the website and read our columns and rate them."

Nimmer said the news has made quite a stir at Jefferson Barracks. "I was just in St. Louis this last weekend and my commander knew about it. The Air National Guard has a magazine and they did an interview with me, too," he said. "And I got a lot of new Facebook friends after this weekend."

Nimmer said there's been an added bonus about making the final 20: "It's not so often that a dad of a 14-year-old daughter can do something cool to impress her, but right now I'm a pretty cool dad."

Check out Nimmer's profile on "Good Morning America" here.