Air Force People would like some info.

[gkurey]

For quality of life, AF takes the cake...there is a reason all the rest of us call it civilians in uniform, haha (just playin')! But seriously...your average deployment will most likely be less time (before you all hop all over me, I said MOST), and you will always have nicer bases, better MWR, etc.

Also, if you don't have the passion to lead people or take a lot of responsibility, I wouldn't necessarily point you in the officer direction like everyone else. You will be paid more as an officer, and early on, will be given more freedoms....BUT way more will be expected of you in turn. You can have a great career as an enlisted guy too. I know a ton of enlisted guys who are total rockstars....they are well respected and treated really well because, surprise surprise, they do their job, and they do it well...and they do it without being hounded to do so. Not all, but a lot of the 'typical' enlisted bros that complain about the military are shitbags. Note, I said not all...some that complain have legit complaints too. From what I've seen, the biggest complainers are the biggest turds, just sayin'.

It will be what you make of it....enlisted guys make the military go, and we need some in every service. If I were you and I had to choose between working random odd jobs, and not being motivated enough to finish school now, and having a wife soon, and maybe kids soon after....OR joining the military, getting good health benefits for my new family, making a steady paycheck, getting great technical training, having the possibility of getting school paid for (hell, even using the GI bill to get it after you get out, or while you're in), the chance to serve your country that gives you so much....it's a no brainer dude. I hope you make the right choice. Enlisted or officer...you should do it.

[kickinindian]

yea im not doing it just becasue im too lazy to finish school. i just see sooo many of my older friends who have graduated from school with all kinds of different degrees still struggling to make a good living and still working at vons, fast food, hotel kitchens, etc. i dont want that for my life.

my practice ASVAB was pretty good the only thing that was low was the electrical engineering but i can learn that pretty easy.
All the Benefits are awesome too. my main three top choices have been Air Traffic Controller, Engineering, and Mechanics.

what would you guys change when you went to the recruiter?


also because its a dream of mine what is the best job/way to be able to go to Germany? (many filled suitcases of e30 parts)

[NV325i]

I agree, former USAF Security Police here.

[sinep]

also because its a dream of mine what is the best job/way to be able to go to Germany? (many filled suitcases of e30 parts)

Ask him to get a print out of the advantages of the different enlisted positions you can get with the college units. I think if you have 16 units you will get out of boot as a e-2, 30 units is a e-3, your AA(60 units) is e-4, or something to the tone of that. I know that is how it works with a few of the other services. Also, ignore much of what your recruiter has to say. They want you to take the test and sign right away, which is stupid. Also, when you want something, DO NOT take their word for it. Your recruiters LIE. They all LIE. If they tell you they do not, they are LYING. If you do not get what you want in writing, there is ZERO guarantee you will get what they said.

Take your time, choose wisely. I would stay in school a little bit longer especially since you are getting married. You don't want to enlist right as you get married, and have some Jody take your place. ;)

[kickinindian]

my aunt who was in the Air Force said the same thing! lol

also we have been together for 5 years, engaged for 1 1/2 but just have not had the money to have a proper wedding if i felt i was going to lose her i would not be doing this.....yea i know dont let a girl hold you down but at least she is hella cool and my best friend too....also helps we work on e30s and wants one of her own

[magicswan20]

id say go ahead and join the af. i was right about where you were when i dropped outta college and joined. its not bad gig for a 22yo such as myself lol. also college is really being encouraged within the enlisted force recently. i know numerous people that have finished their degrees while on active duty. some have even obtained their masters. they are really making a push for everyone to at least have their AA degree. i see this becoming mandatory in the future to make certain ranks. a little heads up if/when you go to choose a job, DO NOT choose security forces or anything on the flightline. YOU WILL GET SHITTED ON. The military is just like high school.

[bimmerboy08]

I am an air force academy grad who is a captain flying RC-135s as a navigator, so I don't know too much about enlisting but I have some advice if you're willing to hear it.

Try to be aircrew. Fly on something. You will receive extra pay, get to travel more, and wear a cool fireproof jumpsuit.

Be prepared to "shut up and color" for a few years. It is just the way it is. Things won't make sense, but you will have to do it anyway. It might suck sometimes, but everything will pass.

I have spent half of the last year in the desert. Be prepared to deploy a lot. But where I go isn't that bad, and you will probably go there too. They have a Dairy Queen, a pool, and a really nice gym!

If you enlist and highlight yourself as a badass, then you can get an Academy spot. You will have a leg up on your classmates, and will come out the other end as an officer. You can take the next few years to learn about the air force and then apply your knowledge to really shape a nice life for yourself.

It sounds like you've already made up your mind. So see you when you get here.

[LBJefferies]

first off, plan on finishing your college degree.

second, go to an officer selection office.

third, go to officer candidate school AND graduate.

fourth, you COMMISSION, not enlist.

I don't understand why people recommend officer so much over enlisted. Yes you make more money, but unless you are a pilot, you will be sitting behind a desk all day. Enlisted jobs seem much more exciting, and they have education benefits which can make up for the difference in pay. And not everyone wants to be in charge, at least right off the bat. Having an enlistment under your belt goes a long way if you choose to get a commission later on.

[kickinindian]

i think i would rather go in as enlisted to not be a greenhorn officer i would like to have a command one day maybe (been told i have an heir of authority) probably sue to my height, and i also dont wanna be a pilot, plus free money for college instead of having to pay for it myself.

so to go where i want ive heard of extended voulenteer tours? could i just do that right when i sign up for my job im pretty much Europe or BUST!

[hoveringuy]

I retired from the Navy after 20 years as a pilot. It's GREAT having a military retirement so all of the ass-pain was worth it.

I'm at Boeing now, and what's interesting is that tons of people in my office doing basically the same thing as me were enlisted. Boeing picked them because they have hands-on experience maintaining and operating aircraft. Nothing wrong with going enlisted...

Now for the Air Force, I had very few missions that didn't go sour upon first contact with an Air Force base...

[Eric]

thats kinda the reason i am enlisting it to be able to go to school i dont have anyway to live and go to school at the same time. if it was up to me i would finish. Also i would like to travel and see new places is it really THAT bad as enlisted?

Suck it up and finish school.

so if i get an associates degree will i be able to go as an officer? or does it have to be a bachelors?

No, you need at least a 4 year degree.

Officer has better benefits dude. Just do ROTC and stick with it.

best advice here. I wish I had gone this route.

Most of the good specialties require a 6 year enlistment period, because you can spend about 2 years in school, so they extend it out to 6 years to get their investment out of you.

Not true. You sign for 4 or 6 years, which has no bearing on your AFSC.

Usually there are enlistment bonuses, and those vary,

current AFSC's with enlisted bonuses can be found here:

http://www.ramstein.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123311474

notice that 54 AFSC's are loosing their bonuses... we have too many people who are scared to get out and face the harsh realities of this dismal economy.

Besides you don't want to get a degree and then get commissioned anyway, because the OCS and ROTC guys are the biggest dicks around...trust me. The academy guys are the shit. You'll see.

that is 100 percent opposite of my experiences. Living 30 miles from the AF Academy, cadets are the biggest, most arrogant toolbags in the air force. ROTC officers are by and large the most chill, most reasonable, and least pompous.

At the moment i was just gonna enlist and go into mechanics or Engineering,

there is no "mechanics" or "engineering" AFSC. you can choose up to 5 specific AFSC's that you qualify for, or choose "open general" "open mechanical" or "open electrical." It is 100% very bad advice to take any open, but especially open gen.... This pretty much guarantee's that you'll be a cop, the worst job in the air force.

If I could go back and do it again, I would DEFINITELY just stick it out in school and go in as an officer.

Notice a trend here? You'll probably not listen to the 1/2 dozen people here who have been in your exact same position and decided to enlist, later wishing they had stuck it out and become an officer.

Once again, STAY IN SCHOOL!

If you like seeing your family at all stay the hell out of aircraft maintenance.

Soo, soo true. Being a crew chief is mildly rewarding, but they get shit on more than cops!

All the Benefits are awesome too. my main three top choices have been Air Traffic Controller, Engineering, and Mechanics.

ATC is a good gig, and it transitions well to the civilian world. Again, there is no AFSC of engineering or mechanic.

Be warned though that you have to pass the FAA certification to be a qualified ATC. if you fail those certs, then you get retrained into being a cop.

what would you guys change when you went to the recruiter?

Not sure where you are going with this. What has your recruiter told you? Us guys that have been through it have pretty good bull shit deciphers, so ask away.

also because its a dream of mine what is the best job/way to be able to go to Germany? (many filled suitcases of e30 parts)

Once you enlist, you fill out a dream sheet, and you can put Germany, then specifically Ramstein and SPangdahlem on your dream sheet. Sometimes your AFSC limits what base you can go to, so if location is more important than job, you might want to consider a more general AFSC than a more speciliazed one.

FOr instance, every base has cops, services, finance, mpf, etc. But F15 mechanics can ONLY go to F15 bases... so your closest possibility of getting to Germany as an F15 mechanic would be Lakenheath England. Be a weapons loader on B-1's? Ellsworth and Dyes are your only options unless you can re-shred into another airframe.

I think if you have 16 units you will get out of boot as a e-2, 30 units is a e-3, your AA(60 units) is e-4, or something to the tone of that.

E4 is not given out with college credits. You must have 3 years time in service or 28 months time in grade to get e4. That is the only way to do it in the air force (BTZ aside).

For entering the air force at a higher rank, you must:

For the Rank of E-2:

-has completed 2 or more years of college ROTC and has a letter of recommendation from the professor of aerospace science (PAS) from the college attended
-was awarded a Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scout Award or Girl Scouts of the USA Gold Award and presents the Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scout certificate or the Girl Scouts of the USA Gold Award Certificate
-was credited with over 90 days active duty service and last separated in pay grade E-2 or higher
-is a former service academy cadet with over 90 days as a cadet corps member
-has satisfactorily completed 20 semester hours or 30 quarter hours of college credit from a school listed in the applicable accredited institutions of post secondary education

For the Rank of E-3:

-was credited with more than 12 months of active duty service and last separated in pay grade E-3 or higher
-was awarded the Billy Mitchell, Amelia Earhart, or Carl Spaatz Award, or letter from CAP/AF/TTHE, Maxwell AFB AL, certifying successful completion of award requirements
-presents a high school JROTC completion certificate or statement on official letterhead from a JROTC unit commander stating satisfactory completion (must be at least a 3-year JROTC program). Must be classified as a Tier 1 educational category and present the certificate or statement before EAD date
-has satisfactorily completed 45 semester hours or 67 quarter hours of college credit from a school listed in the applicable accredited institutions of post secondary education
-is an ARC member who qualifies and enlists for 6 years.

You don't want to enlist right as you get married, and have some Jody take your place. ;)

This happens A LOT, be careful.

i think i would rather go in as enlisted to not be a greenhorn officer i would like to have a command one day maybe

Having prior enlisted experience is helpful as an officer, but is completely not necessary. When I was joining, lots of people who we never in the service said it was better to be enlisted first. I shouldn't have listened to people who didn't know what they were talking about.

This is a bit harsh, but if you cannot finish school, then you are not the right material to be a commander.

so to go where i want ive heard of extended voulenteer tours? could i just do that right when i sign up for my job im pretty much Europe or BUST!

extended long is a better way to get overseas, but like I said earlier, if your AFSC doesn't have any positions in Germany, then there is not way you will get over there. Choose your job wisely.

[kickinindian]

i get what you are saying, but about the college thing i really wanna finish but its the fact that i cannot afford it and live at the same time! if i could i would finish.

if your married and you go to a base your family goes with you am i right?

[RondoAcapriccio]

Married life is better for officer.. nice BAH, + marriage benefits. Especially if you are planning on having a dependent.

If you totally insist on going enlisted.. well I agree with the poster early in the thread go for something that you learn a skill... do not do security forces. Although I disagree with his opinion as ATC.. that is a good job. As for flight maintenance.. it really all depends on the base it's like 50/50..If you get stuck on a busy base, days will suck.. if you get stationed on more laid back base days are pretty easy.

If you didn't have the commitments at home (wife, possible child) I would suggest load master. You don't really learn a skill but it's a great job, lots of travel.

and bro, I'm sure your girl is great and all, but married at 20??

[kickinindian]

and bro, I'm sure your girl is great and all, but married at 20??

Yea i know im young for marriage but if it was not for her being a best -friend first it would be totally different. (also probably knowing my parents got married young has something to do with it too)

[Eric]

i get what you are saying, but about the college thing i really wanna finish but its the fact that i cannot afford it and live at the same time! if i could i would finish.

if your married and you go to a base your family goes with you am i right?

Are you commuting to Fresno state from Oakhurst? Get a cheap apartment with a few roomates off Shaw ave. to make it cheaper. Take no more than 15 units and work 20-25 hours a week as a waiter/bartender. If that doesn't cover it, then look for student loans.

If your still living up on the hill and going to community college, then I'd advise you to move. now. You will have a broader income earning potential down in the valley than you do up there. Transfer to fresno state and join the ROTC program they have there. If this was easy, then every schmuck would have a 4 year degree... Time to grow up and act like a man. You are about to be a husband and a provider, long term, sticking it out is a better long term strategy.

Another way to look at it is that you soon to be wife could help put you through school with her working to help pay the bills. Later on, when your a captain and pulling in $85k a year, then she can go back to school and finish up her degree.

Yes, your family goes with you to all bases except for 365 day TDY's to the desert (you won't go on those till your MSgt or higher) or a 1 year tour to Korea.