So lately I've been considering joining the militray. I think I've pretty well decided that, if I do join, I'd join the Air Force. It's the most appealing to me overall.

Basically, though, I want your thoughts on joining the military. It's a huge decision, and I want to make sure I consider as many factors about why to (or not to) join, before I make a full decision. This doens't have to be air force-specific. Just looking for overall opinions and, if any, experiences.

My closest recruiter is relatively far way, so it's not particularly convenient for me to visit one just yet.

I joined the AF right out of high school. Enlisted with guaranteed job 3C0X1, which is/was computer operator. After 6 weeks in basic training (easy) and I think 8 weeks of tech school (also easy), I was stationed at Edward's AFB in southern CA (Mojave desert). It was a really remote base in an area that's consistently in 100s spring/summer/fall. I worked 12 hour night shifts most of the time I was there, basically sitting in an empty room with a single window and a single door. It was very boring, basically my boredom spawned massassi If I had it to do over again I'd probably choose something where I actually got to work -- aircraft mechanic or something.

It was okay. I didn't enjoy my time in the AF. Esp. with the younger crowd it was just like HS. They promise you can go to school while you are in (like night school that they pay for). I tried over 3 different quarters but they kept switching my shifts and on/off days so I had to miss and fail a bunch of classes. You need buy-in from basically your entire chain of command otherwise you'll get screwed like I did.

If you don't go in with a guaranteed job, you'll most likely be assigned as security police (bleck). So get a guaranteed job.

Also, a lot of airmen get sent to Korea or Turkey during their first enlistments. It's regular rotation for most bases -- you basically spend a year there, then you come back and stay in the states for a few years. I spent 4 years in and couldn't wait to get out. I did spend a couple of months in England which was pretty cool, but of course, I was working 12 hour shifts 6 days a week so it was hard to go out and do stuff.

So... if you have a cool head and aren't intimidated by some relatively intense exercise (3 mile run + an hour of other physical training), you shouldn't worry about basic training or tech school.

Oh, also while you're in basic they will likely give you the opportunity to try out for the AF equiv. of navy seals, or survival school instructor. If I had it to do over again, I would likely try out for survival school instructor, it sounds like a lot of fun (but a lot of hard work obviously).

I wish I could join some branch of the military. The only people who don't care about criminal records are the Army/Marines. I am disqualified for reasons the Air Force/Navy for that. But I am not physically able to get into the Army/Marines since I have a bad leg.


LAAAME

criminal record? like small misdemeanors or felonies?

anyways that sucks

Brian, is it possible to become a pilot in the USAF with no prior flight training or experience? Always wondered.

Kind of wished I joined USAF. I'd definitely go to college so I'd be an officer. 27 is too late isn't it.

no. i think 34 is the oldest you can be to enlist?
still got 7 years

While on the topic of restriction, is there a height restriction to pilots as well? In terms of shortness, not tall.

Thanks for the info brian.

I would love to get into the avionics career path. Maintaing and fixing a jet's avionic systems would be so freaking awesome.

As for piloting... you don't have to have prior experience but it helps a lot. You HAVE to be an officer to be a pilot as well.

77 inches is the max height for a pilot, if I recall their site statistics properly. Piloting a fighter jet is a dream of mine but my vision is too bad to allow for it. I've read up A LOT on it though.

Enlisted and Officer have different requirements for maximum age. 28 is a limit for enlisting and 34 is a maximum for becoming an officer... I think anyway. Not able to check the site now to verify.

they prefer shorter pilots cause of g-force

I'm 5'2. I'd imagine that is probably too short, I read somewhere minimum is 5'3 or 5'4.

Brian, Im looking into doing something similar for the Canadian Air Force, anything you want to share with someone who's looking into it?

Also Brian, never knew you lived in England for a while? Where were you?

That's not true. What is true is that to what extent they are willing to grant waivers can change based on the current need to fill boots. Lately, enlistment and reenlistment rates have been high as well as normal draw downs so, thank God, the Army has been able to start tightening the standards back up. We've let far too many **** bags in in the last few years.

So, if you're considering joining the military, it's hard to get accurate and reliable information. Most recruiters simply aren't going to be upfront and they're, understandably, going to hype their branch.

Branches in general:

Army. The largest branch of the service and, basically, the back bone of our military. You can expect to wake up early every weekday and do physical training for an hour or so in an organized group. If you don't like running, you're probably not going to like it. After that your work hours are roughly nine to five and, depending on your job, that may or may not be like anything in the civilian world.

Marines. The smallest and therefore, by definition, the most "elite" branch. Very similar to the Army in scope of work. The average marine will have to endure harder PT and training than the average soldier in the Army (comparing the non-combat fields there) and then there is the possibility of naval floats (deployments on naval vessels for months).

Navy. Lot's of technical fields but due to the nature of the service can lack the most creature comforts. It is the Navy so you have to plan for extended "vacations" more frequently. Other services, Marines excepted, tend to "stay home" when there isn't a war.

Air Force. Generally the least military of the branches. Barracks tend to be the nicest. Physical training is mostly individual. Again, lot's of technical jobs.

Joining the military in general has wide ranging benefits. Absolutely ridiculous amount of money for school after discharge. The newest version of the GI Bill pays four years of state tuition plus housing allowances and more for full time students after three years of service. Guaranteed pay and work experience. Thirty days leave accrued per year (I have three and a half months saved up). Virtual immunity from economic conditions. The benefits for those with families are immense. The retirement is unheard of anymore. After 20 years of active duty service you can retire from the military with a paycheck every month for the rest of your life. If you've seen people struggle with finances it is nice to know that you have a secured income no matter what.

Of course there are drawbacks. You will relocate relatively often. The longest I have been in one place is about 4 years. It is the military so you are not going to have the option to not do things you don't want to do. You can't quit. Deployments both war and peace time mean time away from your home base and family, if you have one.

Which branch to join? I can tell you from a purely contractual standpoint I think the Army is the best. Every soldier is guaranteed the exact job title that they will be trained and serve in. Of course you have to qualify for jobs based mostly on physical exam and aptitude tests. I also think you have greater flexibility with enlistment periods. I recommend three years for most but you can pick as little as two or as much as six. Often, other things such as first duty station are guaranteed as well. Also, the Army really only has one Dependant restricted tour now. What that means is that unless you go to Korea you should be able to take your family, if you're married, with you.

There is nothing wrong with the other branches and Sarn and Brian can fill you in better on the various scenarios you might encounter when you join the Navy or Air Force. My understanding is that, generally speaking, often you might only be guaranteed a career field (which is broad as compared to a specific specialty) and I think most initial terms of service seem to be longer. Minimum four years for most, I think.

No matter what, the bottom line is that what matters is what is in writing on your enlistment contract. These are usually lengthy and complicated documents. Not purposely to deceive you but to cover all the bases. For example, even though the Army guarantees the exact specialty you can find in the contract where is says that the Secretary of the Army can reassign you due to military necessity. I always use the analogy that let's say you join as a cook but while you're in training it is learned that you are fluent in Arabic. Let's say the Army, oh I don't know, for some reason has an urgent need for fluent Arabic speakers. There is a chance that you could be pulled and reassigned as an interpreter. But, in normal situations, I have never seen this happen.

OMG ALL CAPS TOPIC!!! CLOSE/BAN!!!!111 >.>

FCTuner04, what is it about the Air Force specifically that appeals to you as opposed to other branches? I ask so you'll put cognitive thought into it and also so I can provide better feedback as an active service member.

In general, I'll tell you, you're gonna do a lot of stuff you don't want to. And your first year or two especially will suck. But if you keep it in perspective, it's not bad at all. You won't ever go hungry. You won't ever be worried about a place to live. You won't have to worry about job security (long as you don't do drugs or get yourself in trouble over something stupid).

[edit: oh yeah and as far as criminal/misdemeaner stuff, I have 2 misdemeaners on my record, and I was still able to join. I did have to get waivers and it did restrict what I was about to do at first, but I still got in. Though they're starting to crack down a bit on that as budgets shrink and there's pushes to reduce the size of the forces, so it's no guarantee. But it never hurts to go talk to a recruiter and find out if you can join.]

[edit2: Regarding guaranteed rate/job/specialties, my understanding is that the Navy is the only branch that does not have a clause allowing them to reassign you to a different rate (same as job) based on their needs. So in effect, if you join the Navy and pick a specific rate, that rate is written into your contract and guaranteed that that is what you'll do, unless you fail out of school or become inelligible for that job. With the other branches, there is always that possibility that they'll end up making you do something else (though by Wookie's post it seems that happens very infrequently).]

I was posted at RAF Fairford for ~2.5 months I think.

The AF, at least when I joined, guaranteed that you would be trained and working in the guaranteed field. Re: 30 days leave, that is a crock, if you are gone for 7 days, they take 7 days of vacation. Whereas with a real job they charge you vacation time for missing the days you would have worked. For example, if I want to be gone from saturday through the next sunday, that would only charge me 5 days of vacation under a real job. In the military, you get charged 9! sat,sun,mon,tue,wed,thu,fri,sat,sun So it turns out to be more like 2.5 weeks or something.

I don't know anything about current requirements. Yes, you have to be an officer to be a pilot, which of course requires a 4 year degree plus officer training school. If you want to be an officer, it's probably better to go through rotc or something, because once you're enlisted, like I mentioned, it's really hard to take advantage of their college programs (they intentionally make it really hard).

There were some positive things. For the 3 winters I was stationed at Edwards AFB, I actually went snowboarding after work on a lot of days, we were about an hour away from a ski/snowboard resort called Mt. High. That was fun. I watched a lot of movies, played a lot of video games, worked on Massassi, etc.

Later on it sucked because I was in the dorms (which were really nice - like a 1 bedroom apartment [but you share a kitchen/bathroom with one other dude]), working nightshift, and during the time I needed to sleep, the other people were really loud (music, etc.). I ended up moving off-base at my own expense because of how miserable I was -- literally months w/out a good night sleep.

The job itself was the lamest thing on earth. I literally sat in this tiny office waiting for a computer to beep. It beeped maybe once or twice a night. When that happened, I would look up the code on the computer, match it to a phone number in another book, and then call them to tell them they had a message waiting. Seriously. The rest of the time I learned programming & worked on Massassi.

Well, yes and no. You are in control of when you take leave so if you want to take 2 full weeks with all of the involved weekends you would be charged 16 days. Sign out later and/or in earlier and the same amount of time off would be charge 12 days. So you are saying that no matter what you would only be charged probably ten days from a civilian employer and 12-16 days by the military. Got it. So in that respect 20 days normal vacation would roughly be equal to 30 days military leave. But it is not entirely accurate to say the 30 days is a crock because if you took 5 workdays off each time you could take 6 weeks off with the amount of leave you earn each year. I also presume that you can accumulate this leave for a longer period of time in the military. As it stands right now, if I don't take any leave between now and my retirement next year (which I don't plan to) I will have 105 days leave. I will be, essentially, completely out but with a full time paycheck continuing for 3.5 months.

Oh, and the idiots that process the leave paperwork are not supposed to charge one day if you signed in or out on a nonduty day. So that is at least one day you are not supposed to lose for the issue you describe.



You might be surprised if you go back and reread your contract. You might have actually had the specific specialty guaranteed but it is very likely that on one of those "wall o text" pages it said something very similar to what I described.

What trade are you looking at? From what I've seen/experienced, the Canadian air force is suuuuper casual. After my basic training, most of us were thrown right back into the swing of things, while the air force recruits got a couple of days to relax. I have also spent the past week tasked to the air command academy at base Borden. Everyone walks around with their berets off, coffee mugs in hand, and calls each other by their first names. Yesterday and today I spent maybe two hours working, and watched Band of Brothers in the lounge for the rest of the time. Oh, and I get dismissed at around 2:15 every day :p.

The courses don't look too intense either. If you put out a positive and respectful attitude, you'll get one right back. I noticed that during my basic training too, where I had a bunch of air force and navy instructors. They didn't play the mind games the way the army instructors do.

Possibly. I'm taking the word of my recruiter on that one. And I did find him to be one of those non-douche-baggy recruiters who was straight up honest about everything. In my year and a couple months, I haven't found reason to believe he steered me wrong or misled me in any way. But that was one thing he specifically mentioned as being an advantage to joining the Navy over other branches. I've also heard that confirmed by other Navy members, though only by other people who'd been told the same by their recuiter, no one that I would expect to be familiar with it.

Trade?... I have no idea.
By "Looking into" I mean "Casualy pondering"