Air Force Questions

[Lee_Burough]

IRACEIT is right about most things....

Except that you really need an officer around to blame whenever something goes wrong We know that enlisted folks are the people who really make things happen. Its true.

IRACEIT and his advice are representative of the quality people who make the Air Force a career. Top notch, upright, clear thinking Americans I worked with NCO's who had earned TWO masters degrees and then went on to Officer's Training School. Follow IRACEIT's advice and have a brilliant career, he's spot on

IRACEIT, tell him about fishing Alaska

The best thing about the military is the quality of the people you rub elbows with every day.

Colorado Springs

 

[Jebadias]

I think it is really hard to give advice without more information about what you're goals and interests are. I LOVE to get dirty, so being an Equipment Operator in the Seabees is the perfect job for me. Some people can't take the heat/cold, playing with belt fed granade launchers or getting dirt under thier nails... ect so being a Personelman is a better life for them.

I'll try to clairify some of the stuff I've seen posted. From the beginning...

As far as recruiters, some are good and some are not. If the guy is talking everything way up, like there are nothing but sunny days and blue skys, walk away 'cause he's BSing you more than usual. If they try to preassure you into anything, walk away. You have plenty of time to make your own (informed) decisions. Everyhing goes with a grain of salt and gets double checked. However, Most recruiters are honest (more or less) people who really want to help you. Become friends with the recruiter because he will have the latest training on the programs that are available.

The Army DOES have a Warrant Officer Program for Helocopter pilots. They do NOT require a degree or prior service. I believe all other Warrant programs require time as enlisted ( I may be wrong). I am not sure about the medical requirments.

If you can afford to get into some kind of officer program it may or may not be the life you are looking for. Please remember to listen and take care of your enlisted people if you do get to go officer. They know what's going on in you're command. You won't.

Don't make generalizations- The Navy dosn't always go on ships, The Marines are not always in the field and sometimes the Airforce gets dirty. It will depend a lot on your job and your command.

Bruce is right about changing your career field. While you may get good training in a civilian career field, it also needs to be something you like. They tried like crazy to get me to go into nuclear power, which makes good money, but would not be the life for me in or out of the military. Also, think about how you would like to use any training after you get out. An aircraft mechanic would be pretty good if you move to a major city (that has aircraft), but next to useless if you decide to go out into the country and 'get away from it all'. On the other hand a tank mechanic could prolly find a job at TACOM (where they build tanks)

Some jobs sound good on paper but don't produce on the outside. I don't know about SinistrV6's 'site developer' training, (Don't they go to Fort Lenard Wood?) but it sounds like an 'Engineering Aide' in the 'bees. I have worked with them and they are VERY good at what they do. Even so, many companies will not hire CAD people without a degree. That piece of paper means much more than real experience to some people. (ask me how I know)

Be prepared for a dissapointment. Depending on your command you may work gravy hours, or you may work every waking moment. It's a gamble. Since you are used to working long hours, it's prolly a good bet that the Airforce will be easier than your life now. Unless you go to some slab of concrete in the middle of the sandbox. It's also a good bet that you will not make as much money.

Finally, Use the reserves. You can use them in a couple of different ways. First off, if you find a job you like, see if there is a Reserve Center around with that kind of unit. You can go out and talk to people who have 'been there, done that'. Occasionally you will get to go to a drill and actually see this stuff. You kinda have to make them think you want to join the reserves to get in real good with them *HINT* Try to find a lower (not the lowest) ranking guy and talk to him alone. As we go up in rank our jobs get easier and we tend to forget all the BS we had to put up with. Another possibility is to actually join the reserves for a while and see how you like it. I had a 3rd class a few months ago who had been in a program, I think it was try the Guard for a year. He didn't care for the job so well, so after doing his year he left.

However you decide to go, Good luck with it and be safe. Don't do anything stupid and try to have fun. Oh, and get a good digital camera. If you deploy anywhere good the film development cost will eat you alive. My last count was 16,535 pics since the beginning of my most recent recall (03MAR03) That's about 8.4 GIGABYTE of pictures, so add a good size hard drive too

 

[Taffy]

Originally posted by Shane
Don't do it, you'll ruin your life.
You can get the same result by getting a job and working 70 hours a week and going to college.

You can always tell when a disgruntled nuke is giving advice on joining the Military. I just got out of the Navy. I was a nuke Electrician on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

The military is definitely not for everyone. I should have just stayed in college and got a good job. Now that I am out, I am going back to college. That being said, I am glad that I did what I did. Good life skills can be learned in the Military.

Become an officer, do not even bother with the enlisted side of the military.

Make sure that you get everything out of the Military that you can, because they will get everything out of you that they can.

Take an ex military person, preferrably a nuke, to the recruiter with you; that is if you join the Navy!

Good luck!

 

[SinistrV6]

"Some jobs sound good on paper but don't produce on the outside. I don't know about SinistrV6's 'site developer' training, (Don't they go to Fort Lenard Wood?) but it sounds like an 'Engineering Aide' in the 'bees. I have worked with them and they are VERY good at what they do. Even so, many companies will not hire CAD people without a degree. That piece of paper means much more than real experience to some people. (ask me how I know)"
^^^
^^^Don't know why that didn't "quote" from Jebedias, but that's where it came from.

Very true about the "piece of paper". Often required in today's job market even if the degree has nothing to do with the job you're trying to get. Think my B of S in Advertising (minor in Architectural Engineering) gets much of a daily workout in the oil refinery I work in? No. But i wouldn't have been hired w/o it because there are too many applicants who have degrees that you'll be competing against.

P.S. Many of the Air Force's Civil Engineering jobs are trained at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO but the "Site Developers" are still trained at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX as far as I know.

Just my .02, but hey, it cost you less than that!

 

[Shane]

You can always tell when a disgruntled nuke is giving advice on joining the Military

Yeah, I'm disgruntled. IT NEVER GETS BETTER. I've been in The Nav for almost two years (31 Days until I DON'T STAR reenlist), and it gets about two times as worse every 6 months. I've only been on my boat for two months, and I ****ing hate it.

I'm working 70 hours a week, and going to college but its going no where. The hours suck.

The military uses you as a piece of equipment. I worked 102 Hours this week. The hours will not get better. Don't do it, man, you'll ruin your life.

1492 Days left........ tick, tock

 

[IRACEIT]

I see many posts of the big push to "Become an officer."

From my observation point as a prior enlisted member I found it was the enlisted members who actually got to accomplish the work; the nuts and bolts, the technical hands on, and in the end that means the world to a civilian employer.

Don't get me wrong... advanced learning is a good thing. It also opens up doors that will be denied you if you don't have it. By the time I had my 20 years in in the Space Operations career field many of my peers had Master's Degrees while I was still working on my Bachelor's. Some folks will have better opportunities to go to school than others. The first ten years of my career I lived out of a duffle bag, and went TDY offten. Romote tours were added to the mix (I did three of those fantastic Alaskan tours... would rather go fishing or kill things than go to school).

I have lost count of how many disgruntled officers I have met over the years who felt they too were abused, used, and mistreated. You have to walk into the military experience with a balanced view that some tasks are not pleasurable and someone has to do it. You can paste a happy smile on your face when confronted with that scenario, or you can waste time frowning, complaining, and whining about it.

On the issue of money... I had plenty of money when I was living in the dormitory as a Senior Airman. More than enough to finance a very quick '72 Camaro, party on weekends, and chase all those cute girls who absolutely adored US Air Force guys. While some of you are sitting in the old age home frowning this guy will have a big grin on his face.

 

[mydesigner]

What kind of pay does the military offer right now? Alaska must suck.

And like i said i dont have a degree. So i cant go in as an officer. Right now I'm out the point where i want to get the heck out of Oklahoma and away from a lot of people. If i join I'm not going to wait 2 or 3 years and then join.

 

[rag93vette]

Shane you really need to STAR!!

Taffy arent all nukes disgruntled?

Being an ex-nuke myself i was overjoyed when the end of my enlistment came up. But everyday since then is great!

Even when it was rough it was rough on everyone though. So at least no one was alone in it.

Im glad i did it and if i had it to do over again im sure i would.

Im sure no matter what job you have or in what branch of the service you serve its all what you make of it. You can do as much or as little as you like.

There are even those rare days where i actually miss it! I know the guys i served with would never believe i said that.

 

[turbov6joe]

I spent 8 years in the Air Force as a "Special Operations Cop", that's the special operations side of the Security Police AFSC...or now known as Security Forces. He are my opinions and mine alone. I was told by my high school academic prick that I didn't have the aptitude for college so I went to the Army and enlisted in a Warrant Officer program to be a copter pilot. After a few months the recruiter called me back and told me that the Army was phasing back the WO program and that I had to pick another career field. Comming from a family of Army and Marine Corps vets I decided to join the AF as a 81132 (law enforcement SP) and work in my next career choice as a cop. I have to tell you, having been on many Army bases, the AF has it going on! The chow hall food is MUCHO better, your living quarters are wonderfull, and depending on your job, you'll spend very little time in the field. If you want to be somewhat of a grunt, the SP field is the way to go. If you want to stay clean, then find another job in the AF and enjoy your experience. The special operations side of the SP's was about the closest thing to the Special Forces you'll find in the AF sans the PJ's and CCT's...pretty high speed and LOTS of cool training...guns, bombs and **** like that if that's your forte. Unfortunatley I got caught up in a RIF and had to get out. I've been working in civilian law enforcement since then and NEVER regreted my choice to join. Hind sight being 20/20 I should have told that academic prick to pound sand and got my degree before joining and got my commission as an officer and done 20 then punched out. I would have had 14 years in now and been closing in on retirement at age 38. Anyhow, now I'm in the ANG and getting that commission I wanted, so all is good. BTW, after completing my Masters degree in 2002, I sent a photocopy of that diploma and my other 2 college degrees to that old academic prick still working at the same highschool filling other kid's minds with feelings of poor self worth. There was a note attached to it saying: "look at me now!" Kinda had to throw that in there for the last kick in the nuts Good luck and keep your head low...

 

[trading t/a]

It's hard to make a decision with planning the rest of your life so early. If you have any experience with the military(dependent or close family served) it would be easier to decide. Officer's become officer's for two reasons:
1. Becoming an officer in most cases pays for your education.
2. Becoming an officer will provide you a decent retirement after 20 yrs. You'd be suprised how many people stay in the military just so they don't have to go back to their little podunk town.

If you want to learn a trade go enlisted, If you want to learn to be an administrator become an officer. There are many things that lead to good jobs on the outside in the military. If public service is your thing or might be go combat arms in another service. I know many who have gotten out and became policemen, fireman, protection specialists, etc.

Medical I'd say go with the AF(Laundstuhl Hospital, Germany cool place). Flight oriented jobs are not what they used to be(before the bargaining agreement collapsed). It's a highly competitive field and the training provided outside the military has gained advantages over the military in past years. ATC is a federal job hard to get and they will not except applications from perspective employees over 27 years of age(may have changed recently).

Go into the military with an open mind, Have what you want to enlist for put in writing. The Army does things a little different, but mostly all (with the exception of the Marines: don't guarantee jobs) follow the same suit. You can bet you'll get screwed one time or another. Try for the smallest contract you can get and don't give up without a fight. If you get hurt or cannot complete your schools they can put you wherever they like change your classification and duty assignment. It happened to me. I broke my hip at 17 was supposed to go to the 82nd Airborne Div. I ended up first in TX with the 2nd Armored then in Germany with the 1st Armored. Got deployed once for almost a year and decided when the time came I'd rather go home and put in the same hours and get paid for it.

I was in Artillery while serving, joined the reserves as a nurse(transferred out that same weekend to the Inactive reserves). I currently work for a utility company who provided a skilled trade and a job that pays very well. So what I'm saying is you don't have to have a tech job to make a good living outside the military.

Pete

 

[mydesigner]

Well i went and talked to the recruiter today. Apparently my ASVAB scores are no good now cause its been too long. She wasnt the person that handles all the careers and stuff. She just measured me. She said i am about 27 pounds overweight to lose it and come back and see her then I will go take my ASVAB.

 

[Shane]

Shane you really need to STAR!!

Sorry, man, not going to happen. I'm part of the Third Class Mafia for life.

Being an ex-nuke myself i was overjoyed when the end of my enlistment came up. But everyday since then is great!

I can imagine. It makes you realize what you left behind, freedom, and time. Oh lord, the sweet, sweet free time.

 

[rag93vette]

Third class for life! I had many PNA points but never made second.

Pick and choose your jobs carefully cause you get one you hate and you are pretty much going to finish it whether you like it or not!

Do they still go by percent body fat? I know at one time you could be over your ideal weight but as long as your body fat was below 18 (maybe) you were just fine.

Your test score may also improve this time since you are probably going to be taking it more serious this time and may have a little more education.

 

[Taffy]

Now days, they give 2nd Class away like it is over stocked candy. It got a little easier when they switched over to a "nuke" test for 2nd Class instead of a Navy wide rating test.

Right now the military does not sound too bad for what ya get. I am trying to get into college, but the Cal States are not accepting any more people for another year due to cut backs. The UCs will not accept military credits. What a load of crap. Looks like University of Phoenix may be the ticket!

Later, ERIC.

 

[Two Lane]

Originally posted by bruce


Not to mention the pride of actually having done your duty.

that's kind of lost nowadays.


I served during a not too popular time, and for all the nonsense that was going on,

I still was able to know deep down in side,

***at least I'd done my duty.***

There it is!

Say it loud...and say it proud!