Anybody here in the Air Force?

[hanalei]

Or know anybody in the Air Force? I was thinking of joining the service because I don't know what to do with my life, and my dad keeps pushing me to join. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks

[Bad Wolf]

i was gonna join the air force and be a fighter pilot but our gov sold all out figther jets... LOL. I'd only join it if you wanted 2 else it would be a waste of time, time you could of spent doing something you really wanted to do.

[veneratio]

I'm considering joining too. You have any idea on the type of job you'd want in the AF? I have a few friends in and they all love it. Of course they got the jobs they wanted though, lol, so I guess that helps. Honestly, if there's nothing holding you back, and you're not sure which direction to go, I'd say join. Safest branch, most of the job training you receive can be transferred to the civilian job force, and they have the best accommodations according to my buds. Gives you a chance to see other parts of the world as well.

[hanalei]

No idea what kind of job I would want in the Air Force, but my best friend is in the Air Force, stationed in Japan, married with a 4 month old son already. And he's my age. (19) Haha. I was talking with him and he said he thinks I should do it, he's in the medical field, but said all he does is work in the warehouse. I'm gonna go down and meet with a recruiter today and find out more information.

[Nurseman]

A long time ago, I was a Sargent in the Air Force. After that, I spent 2 years in the Army. (Probably not the smartest thing I've ever done)

 

Of all the service branches, the Air Force is the most like a regular job. Stupid work details (like guard duty or KP) are very few and far in between.

 

The Navy is somewhat similar, but if you're prone to motion sickness (like me) forget it. There are more work detail type things. You may find yourself pulling "Duty" as much as one or more days a week. (That means you'll be doing something other than your "job" like painting or chipping paint, or cleaning a "head".

 

The Marines? There are only two reasons for joining the Corps.

1) Your Dad was a jarhead, and HIS Dad was a jarhead, and HIS Dad was a jarhead, and his Dad..........I think you get my drift.

2) You are just a total idiot who thinks he is going to save the world.....by shooting everybody in sight.

 

A few differences between the AF and the Army: In the Air Force we had two man rooms, with a fridge, wooden (thereforee quiet) lockers, wall to wall carpet, no open-bay barracks (where EVERYBODY sleeps in one room) after Basic Training. (Oh yeah, the AF bathrooms have stalls. In the Army, you do your business right there in front of God and everybody)

On my base we had 23 hour visiting privileges. One hour reserved for inspections. On the nearby Army post there were metal lockers, 4 & 5 men per room, a little rug if YOU went out and bought it. And your own Mother wasn't allowed to come in there.

 

On my base we had a very nice Chow Hall (Way above average actually) Our Chow Hall was rated the best in the USAF year after year. It had wrought iron railings, wooden paneling, stuffed/mounted animals (Like deer heads, NOT teddy bears) on the walls. It was nicer than the NCO club.

Down the road, at the Army post, other guys broke in line (like friggin High School) and they had 3 Officers and 4 Sargent's in their chow hall at all times to keep the fights down. I've been in Prisons that had better discipline.

 

 

 

No matter what branch of service you decide on, my best advice for success is ATTITUDE. Keep a good "Can Do" attitude and you can do no wrong. Even if you seriously screw something up, if they know you were really TRYING to do a good job, they won't rip you to shreads but so much.

 

If you have any specific questions feel free to PM me.

[Syntax1985]

Another point not mentioned, u can also pick up a trade skill, like engineering, so u can come out with a qualification + work experience in the field. pretty useful perk.

[COtuner]

I grew up an Army brat - both parents served, dad a full colonel. It's a pretty good life, and the benefits are far greater than in the civilian world. People complain about moving around (I've moved 34 times) but I move just as often as a civilian as we did in the military. It's the nature of the job market.

 

Take all the educational benefits you can get, and it's good to make officer if you can. Most of my friends and coworkers are former officers, and both my parents were. (in fact, my dad was post commander on a few occasions). The lifelong medical benefits both my parents have in retirement, and my dad has a full pension (at the level of his entire salary).

 

The AF gets all the country club jokes - the bases are in nicer locations, the work is cushier, and you should hear the jokes about physical fitness of the AF staff versus the other branches....

[veneratio]

No idea what kind of job I would want in the Air Force, but my best friend is in the Air Force, stationed in Japan, married with a 4 month old son already. And he's my age. (19) Haha. I was talking with him and he said he thinks I should do it, he's in the medical field, but said all he does is work in the warehouse. I'm gonna go down and meet with a recruiter today and find out more information.

 

let us know what you decide.

[redhearts]

You get to pick your top 10 jobs or something, then you get what becomes available first unless you want to wait and they let you wait. But I mean they place you with a job, you get to travel, you get housing allowance, whats not to love? LOL!

[hanalei]

let us know what you decide.

 

I took the asvab test, scored pretty well on it. Going back to meet with the recruiter guy tomorrow to discuss what jobs are possible with my score. Got my physical test set up for this week too. So it is pretty much official, I am going unless I fail something, which I know I won't lol. Won't be able to leave to basic training til early next year though. I was approached by an Army recruiter lady and she was trying to talk me into joining the Army. She made it sound good, of course, but from what I hear about people who have joined it isn't as good as the Air Force. That and I kinda don't want to go to Iraq or anywhere like that.

[veneratio]

Right on man. I'm sure you've got a good list of jobs to go through if you scored pretty well. Glad you decided to go through with it.

[Vulcan800]

I was active AF from 1994 -1998.

 

Some of the things that I liked and didn't like:

 

1.) got to serve my country very noble thing to do IMO Gives one a sense of pride and being part of something that not everyone can do.

 

2.) Meet ALOT of interesting people and see some really cool stuff. I was stationed at Sheppard AFB in TX and then spent some time out at Edwards AFB in Calli. Edwards was a huge base that dealt with alot of experimental stuff saw some really cool things.

 

3.) You get a higher sense of discipline and it can really bring out the best in yourself and will deff teach you how to deal with alot of things in your life.

 

4.) I loved my job in the AF I was AGE Areo space Ground Equipment. I ran the generators for running the electronice on fighter jets. Working on the flightline was awesome being around F-16's all day.

 

5.) Free meals ALL you can eat any time lol

 

6.) Walking around in the civilan sector while wearing your BDU's people respected you more it seemed.

 

7.) You can take advantage of school and learn any damn thing you want.

 

8.) Girls in BDU's are hot! just as long as they don't outrank you

 

9.) Getting to pilot an F-16!!!! AWESOME!!!!

 

10.) It was an experince I will never forget.

 

What I didn't like.

 

1.) my recruiter!! The bastard lied!!!! lol

 

2.) Basic training! Drills in 105 degree heat and being from Cleveland when its 50 dgress out we wash our cars here. that didn't fly so well in TX lol

 

3.) A huge portion of the AF is actualy ran by the civilan sector.

 

4.) The millitary can run things really backwards sometimes and I wonder how my CO or some of these officers got their rank.

 

5.) You always have a sense that you are not really "free" what I mean by that is no matter where you go or what you do you have this reminder that you belong to the Gov't you are Gov't property.

 

6.) Almost getting sent to Korea right out of training to secure a base with the only mission of getting the planes in the air if under attack and then having to fend for ourselves. NOT COOL!

 

7.) Not being able to smoke in uniform ( well not supposed to anyways)

 

8.) Cocky newly commisioned officers that thought they were all that.

 

9.) INSPECTIONS!!!!!!! grrrrrr!

 

10.) Not enough pay!!!!

 

11.) Being away from family and friends back home

 

12.) MRE's YUCK!

 

All in all I would do it again not basic training though LOL I think it's something that will build caharacter, give you a sense of pride and accomplishment and deff make you more aware of things in general.

 

Like someone mentioned previously, you can pick you top places to be stationed at not guarentee that you will get those places but they are pretty good at it. I got my first choice Edwards AFB.

 

Basic training in my class had a 40% washout rate in the first 2 weeks. I wont lie BT sucks but after the 2nd week you catch on to the game the TI's play and you know its mostly all bark and no bite.

 

DO NOT volunter for ANYTHING!!!!! while in BT! no matter what they tell you even if they promise you you will be able to eat for more that 5 mins/ LIES!!! lol

 

All in all I would say go for it.

[redhearts]

I recommend taking a look at this:

 

link removed

 

Then even have how to be prepared for bmt.

[hanalei]

Thanks for the responses guys, appreciate it. So are you going to sign up too veneratio?

[veneratio]

Thanks for the responses guys, appreciate it. So are you going to sign up too veneratio?

 

I've got a few more application processes I want to go through. So if those don't go well I'll be signing up too.

[hanalei]

Sooo...I leave from Hawaii to San Antonio for Basic Training tomorrow, February 10th. Amazing how fast time went. I was originally scheduled to leave June 30th, but this past thursday I got a call from my recruiter and he said that my job had opened up and asked if I wanted to leave on Tuesday. I said sure, and so here I am, a day away from leaving for Basic Training after I was expecting to wait 4-5 months, haha. My job is Air Transportation if anyone was wondering. I'm pretty excited to start a new chapter in my life but really nervous too, I am going to miss my family and friends. Alright guys I will let you know how things went after everything is done. Aloha!!

[hanalei]

Just an update for anybody who cares, haha. Graduated Basic Training April 10th, and now am at Tech School in Lackland for 6 weeks. Hopefully I find out where I get stationed soon, pretty excited to be doing something with my life now.

[luke2005]

hey this is really good news, sounds like you have done well here!! I am in England and i am joining ou Air Force to do the same job as you, i have my medical next week so fingers crossed, any advice, was it the right thing to do?

[hanalei]

Hey thanks man. Well yes, it was definitely the right choice to join the Air Force. The Air Force offers so much, and is such a great opportunity for me to start my life, see the world and serve my country. I would say go for it man, basic training isn't too bad, just keep strong when you feel down, you will make some good friends. I start my actual classes next week, so I will let you know how that goes too. If you got any other questions or anything just PM me and I'll help you out!