Eh, at this point you're probably more likely to go to Afghanistan. I couldn't tell you about specific Air Force numbers, me being army and all, but I do know that we are trying to drastically cut our numbers here over the next 18 to 24 months.

:icon23: :gtfo2:


ha... Almost home!

You need to start swimming and get in the PJ pipeline. Ive trained with those guys and they are serious operators! Nothing but respect for those guys and the combat controllers!

crazy devil dogs!

:D

Im enlisted in the AF at the moment. My only regret is not signing up for ROTC. I was one of those kids who was lost heading into college - I didn't know what I was getting in to, had no direction, and I didn't buckle myself down. I'd much prefer to be an officer right now, but such is life, I suppose. The life is cake for officers, btw - you get fresh new scenery on a regular basis (as long as you don't mind changing bases...), something that enlisted could only dream for sometimes. It took me 5+ years to get away from my first base, and then I got sent to an Army base in MD lol.

Oh, I respect you Army guys, btw - but your f-ing bases blow and your customer service is even worse.

Yeah, we're all headed to Afghanistan....

If you go anywhere, it probably wont be for a good 2-3 years after joining, anyway. Minimum. And it'd be a cakewalk.

What is your AFSC?

chrisray21,

As for you officer/enlisted question, molamann is correct, but there are other crucial differences too - namely the fact that you need a college degree to be an officer, whereas you don't to enlist.

About the whole Iraq thing, you have to realize that being in the military requires you to be deployable (worldwide). They don't want you if you can't or aren't willing to be that. Your family needs to be aware of that too. You might think that the Air Force is less likely to be involved in hot zone operations, but that simply isn't true. Every Air Force career field is susceptible to deployments (some more than others however). The good news is that typically Air Force members deploy for shorter amounts of time than other service members do.

You could check out Air National Guard or Army National Guard, too. I'm pretty sure they don't have to worry about the sandbox. But I can't really speak on that, as far as benefits or anything else really.

If he's worried about deployments, that's probably not a good career choice. :rolleyes:

Don't count out the other services too!

I was a Naval Officer and Aviator from 87-97 . I got to fly 707 jets out of Hawaii and C-130s out of California and Antarctica, the whole 10 years was a blast!

3C0X2 - Computer Programmer

The SMART 3C :)

I'm in the Airforce also enlisted E-5 been in for 6 years, I don't make us much money but i like going home and not think about other stuff. Here's the deal about the Military anyone can be an officer if you dedicate yourself into it, most people think being an officer is easy and you make money. But i say this to all of my troops that comes in enlisted and wants to be an officer "Being an officer is not about how you get there cause that's easy, the question you gotta ask yourself is can you handle the responsiblity" Also depends on your AFSC but being a Supply troop i had a chance to be in Maintenance for 2 years, Civil Engineering for a year and Logistic Squadrons 3 years.

The amount of BS officers go through is incredible you gotta babysit at least 100-300 people, if someone gets in trouble you gotta be there with your troop in front of the wing commander in full service dress and trust me this happens almost every week then combine that with your daily task to accomplish the Mission, if someone fails a PT test then you will get an earful and the list goes on. This is not counting your actual daily task to make sure mission operation goes smoothly. Most enlisted people don't see this espcially airmans and bec this usually happens in closed doors, but i've been in enough staff meetings, maintenance meetings and occasional run ins with my troops getting in trouble. You are their leader and what ever happens to them your responsible, i've seen so many officers get out because of this reasons. But if your the leader kind of guy and your dedicated to take care of your people and sacrificing some on and off duty time then i say go for it, because being in the military is the best thing that ever happened to me.

This is coming from my experience with working with diff officers in diff squadrons I can't vouch for other squadrons i didn't mention above.

CT63084 is correct, the amount of babying and micromanaging an officer goes through can be absolutely ridiculous and overwhelming for some. A captain above me not only has to do his job on his daily basis, but he has to put up with the BS that an airman that I am supervising constantly. And that's just me, when he's above a good 50-60 people, if not more. Luckily he's fairly good at what he does, because a lesser person would want to drink themselves into a coma nightly.