There's some good advice here. Don't be an idiot; don't be a wiseass -- you'll do fine. Hopefully you're in decent shape so you don't fall out of a run or anything of that nature.
In any event, your first base will be determined by your job. Fortunately, there are a lot of people who don't want to go overseas for some odd reason, particularly to Asia. Yokota is a decent base, rather small, but well placed for touring the mainland (if you can afford it). It's about a 60 minute train ride from downtown Tokyo and all the craziness that that implies.
COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) is excellent, but you won't see much of that living on base unfortunately. Chances of living off base are fairly slim unless you make E-5, and even that's not a guarantee depending on the dorm availablity. Here are Kadena, E-5s are still living on base because there are too many dorms open.
One option for you is to volunteer for Korea. It's a one year tour, and if you extend beyond that, there are cash incentives. Also, when you leave Korea, you get a preference for your next assignment so you would be better situated for Europe since many people compete for the slots there. I have heard, however, that many people are volunteering for Korea these days to avoid service in Iraq or Afghanistan -- cowards (when you're in Korea, you are not part of the Air Expeditionary Force [AEF] deployment cycle, you'll learn all about that in due time).
Great, we leave 3 May for Wright-Pat.
You've apparently not seen the entire active duty force or even a significant portion of it.
Bonuses have been slashed in a huge way over the past few years. There are only 13 AFSCs that now receive bonuses on the enlisted side, if I remember correctly (intel including linguists, special ops types, maybe some comm folks). The qualifying AFSCs fluctuate, though some of them seem fairly constant since they are always critically manned. The reenlistment bonuses can be very nice, especially if you reenlist in a no-tax zone.
As for officers, unless you are a pilot or a doctor, you can't expect a bonus. There are three non-pilot, non-medical bonuses right now. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is an Air Battle Manager. I think Pararescue officers and Combat Controllers get bonuses, too (that would be three). Comm officers used to get a bonus, but they slashed that away. Pilots can get $250,000 for a ten year commitment after their initial ten year service (paid $125,000 up front, with $12,500 per year thereafter). That's changed a little recently though, not sure what the current incentive is. Regardless, it's BS since airlines are dying, and pilots are scrambling to get back into uniform.
In any event, your first base will be determined by your job. Fortunately, there are a lot of people who don't want to go overseas for some odd reason, particularly to Asia. Yokota is a decent base, rather small, but well placed for touring the mainland (if you can afford it). It's about a 60 minute train ride from downtown Tokyo and all the craziness that that implies.
COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) is excellent, but you won't see much of that living on base unfortunately. Chances of living off base are fairly slim unless you make E-5, and even that's not a guarantee depending on the dorm availablity. Here are Kadena, E-5s are still living on base because there are too many dorms open.
One option for you is to volunteer for Korea. It's a one year tour, and if you extend beyond that, there are cash incentives. Also, when you leave Korea, you get a preference for your next assignment so you would be better situated for Europe since many people compete for the slots there. I have heard, however, that many people are volunteering for Korea these days to avoid service in Iraq or Afghanistan -- cowards (when you're in Korea, you are not part of the Air Expeditionary Force [AEF] deployment cycle, you'll learn all about that in due time).
Great, we leave 3 May for Wright-Pat.
You've apparently not seen the entire active duty force or even a significant portion of it.
Bonuses have been slashed in a huge way over the past few years. There are only 13 AFSCs that now receive bonuses on the enlisted side, if I remember correctly (intel including linguists, special ops types, maybe some comm folks). The qualifying AFSCs fluctuate, though some of them seem fairly constant since they are always critically manned. The reenlistment bonuses can be very nice, especially if you reenlist in a no-tax zone.
As for officers, unless you are a pilot or a doctor, you can't expect a bonus. There are three non-pilot, non-medical bonuses right now. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is an Air Battle Manager. I think Pararescue officers and Combat Controllers get bonuses, too (that would be three). Comm officers used to get a bonus, but they slashed that away. Pilots can get $250,000 for a ten year commitment after their initial ten year service (paid $125,000 up front, with $12,500 per year thereafter). That's changed a little recently though, not sure what the current incentive is. Regardless, it's BS since airlines are dying, and pilots are scrambling to get back into uniform.
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