Anyone in the Air Force?
 

Hey guys,

I was curious to know if anyone here is in the USAF and I wanted to get some input on how the lifestyle is. We had an Air Force recruiter @ our university and he said some interesting things today, that made me think about joining the Air Force after I graduate in May of 2010. I will have my bachelors degree and was wondering if anyone on this forum has experienced anything like this before, hence graduating from college and joining the Air Force.

Would it be a wise choice to join the USAF?

What kind of careers do they offer in Business Mgt, since thats my major?

Would I be established financially, well to afford a 370z, lol?

Thanks Chris!!!!

Hey there,

There's actually quite a few of us here in the Air Force. [See the "Occupations of 370z heads" thread]

I am a 2nd Lieutenant going to pilot training in December. I graduated from California State University San Bernardino last month and commissioned (became an officer) the following week. I did it through Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC), but that is just one the possible commissioning sources available to you. Officer Training School (OTS) is probably the other most viable option for you, depending on how far along you are in college.

Typically, AFROTC is the better option if you are an underclassman, OTS if you are upper, but that isn't necessarily always true. It just depends on your situation. Since you're graduating in May 2010, you're probably too late to get on the AFROTC track, but if your school has it (or if there is a magnet school nearby) I would go see if there's someway to get you on an accelerated program just in case. It could be that you could get in AFROTC by following on to a Masters program after you finish you BA/BS. If not, your probably looking at OTS.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then go to AirForce.com, Wikipedia, etc. and do some research. There's mountains of info out there, but if you can't find what you are looking for, let me know and I'll do what I can to answer your questions.

The Air Force is awesome. Even as a new officer, a 370z should probably be affordable, depending on the options you're looking at and other matters affecting your finances (if you have dependents or outstanding loans, etc.)

DON'T ENLIST. There's nothing wrong with enlisting, but if you have a college degree, you might as well be an officer. You'll make better money and have better job opportunities. I only say that because I've heard a crazy story or two about recruiters trying to talk college grads into enlisting.

The military is certainly not for everyone, but for those who are cut out for it, it is definitely a wise choice.

Hey Chris, this should probably be in the off topic section.

I was in Air Force from 1993-1998 and again in 1999 when i was recalled from the IRR during Kosovo. I'm glad I got out, but I highly recommend it for anybody that's not sure what to do with themselves. Joining the AF put me on an excellent career path. First in meteorolgy and then to air traffic control. Thanks to the GI Bill I have no student loan debt after going to college.

You will become much more responsbile, disciplined and travelled. I was enlisted so I can't tell you about job opportunities for officers. And if you get out you will get preference in other federal government jobs.

If you have any specific questions you think I can answer just ask!

Brian is in the air force.

Forgot his whole screen name. Search nightmare delivery and you'll find him.

Brain is in the Marine Corps.

Yeah, they are mainly boat guards because they can't be trusted with planes.











........runs like hell

My bad my bad...........

I did 4 years 9 months Active Duty and now I'm a GS-12 DoD Civilian for the Air Force. I loved being in and love continuing to serve our Air Force. Go for it! I've never had one regret.

I should have joined the Air Force...

u155282 said exactly what I was going to say. I was supposed to graduate in May 2010 also, but I had to push it back a year to make time for Field Training. OTS sounds like the best option for you right now. Even if your school does offer the accelerated program, I don't think you qualify since you need to be POC for 18 months in order to commission. You should go talk to the Admissions Officer at the nearest Detachment and I'm sure they can fill you in on anything you would need to know about OTS.

Brian is a pilot, F18 i think

^^ that's why i blurred out his name here...then realized wrong division...lol

Yeah the only thing that is holding me back from joining is my mother thinking that I will be shipped to IRAQ. Is there anyway I can convince her otherwise or do will I actually be sent there? Can someone help me out here?

[QUOTE=u155282;109122]Hey there,
DON'T ENLIST. There's nothing wrong with enlisting, but if you have a college degree, you might as well be an officer. You'll make better money and have better job opportunities. I only say that because I've heard a crazy story or two about recruiters trying to talk college grads into enlisting.
QUOTE]

Whats the difference between joining as an officer and enlisting?

Most simply put, officer = higher pay, more responsibility.

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.

Lol tell me about it my troop failed his dorm inspection and i gotta be in my service dress in his room at 0700 for a reinspection. I hope you don't get discourage being an officer because of what i stated above. I just don't want you to go join up and regret your decision cause that would be not be good for you, your career and all the people that's going to be working for you.

But personally the pro's outweighs the con's. I love the military i have been to places i never dream on going, seen some crazy ****, met a lot of people, got a ride on a F16 i pulled 12g on that thing lol i was so close to passing out also the pilot let me fly the plane. The whole family concept in the military is superb, I remember one time i was in the hospital because I injured my ankle the commander stopped by, the first seargent and my whole shop came by to make sure i was taken care of. When i was deployed my supervisor gave my wife a call almost every week to make sure she's alrite and mowed my lawn. I learned that if you take care of your people they will take care of you. Oh and yeah you will definitely be able to afforD a 370z, i've seen much more expensive cars owned by airmans (E1-E4)

Lol i don't know about the other services though i have a couple of ARMY buddies back in Korea and they all wished they join the Chairforce lol.

Why's an officer getting involved with an airman's dorm inspection? Isn't there more important business to attend to?

I'm enlisted.

Air Guard dude here and that is entirely not true. We deploy as much as AD units, the lifestyle is just much better :).

Hey dude, if you have any questions on UPT send me a PM.

Army leads the way hoah

lol i was wondering where are the Army guys at.

Effin' Army. I'm AF too, and I'm out in Iraq supporting an Army unit. Of course, they fail to notice the obvious help I'm providing on behalf of another department and continue to crack bad jokes about other branches that I've heard at least a dozen times.

Will the Army ever catch on?

Edit: Ok, I saw that line about pulling 12 gs in an F-16. Bad bluff man. Maybe you were hoping no other AF guys would show up, but Vipers just can't pull that kind of G-force. ;[ Sorry.

Hey Chris, figured I would come out of lurking to reply to you...

I am an officer, Captain (O-3) working as an Engineer in Los Angeles. The lifestyle, at least out here, is very very nice. The pay after housing allowance is excellent and most of the work I do is with contractors and not Enlisted folks. Not that working with Enlisted guys is bad, I just rarely see them around.

For a Business guy, if you were out here you would work with large government contractors and guys like you are in demand in Los Angeles. Hope that helps, ROTC is a nice way to pay for school too.

Edit: Ok, I saw that line about pulling 12 gs in an F-16. Bad bluff man. Maybe you were hoping no other AF guys would show up, but Vipers just can't pull that kind of G-force. ;[ Sorry.[/QUOTE]


I'm not bluffing this is what the crew chief told me the next day, he said we pulled that much G when the pilot did a freaking high speed turn i was almost passing out lol. I'm a supply guy so I believe him.