Question regarding the military: Shortest Contract for Officer?

[Schadenfreude]

Basically, I wanted to join the Air Force right after college (as an officer) and was wondering what the shortest contract I could sign is - I know all of them "require" 8 years, but which options are there regarding Active Duty/INactive Duty etc. ?

Thanks in advance!

 

[AnyMal]

I think Army will let you get away with 2 years active and 6 in reserves.

 

[ajskydiver]

Ask to see an Officer's ID card...I believe their ETS date will say, "INDEF"...if I'm remembering correctly. Officer and enlisted commitments don't work the same at all - or at least they didn't when I was active duty.

~AJ

 

[ThaGrandCow]

Shortest I've heard of is 4 active duty, 4 in the inactive reserves.

 

[TheGameIs21]

It is nothing like the enlisted contracts. Check with a recruiter and they will fill you in on the details. I believe it is based on the services needs and your skills for the most part.

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: TheGameIs21
It is nothing like the enlisted contracts. Check with a recruiter and they will fill you in on the details. I believe it is based on the services needs and your skills for the most part.

Then confirm what the recruiter says with someone you can trust...

 

[Schadenfreude]

Originally posted by: ThaGrandCow
Shortest I've heard of is 4 active duty, 4 in the inactive reserves.

That's what I heard when I was talking to an enlister - thanks!

 

[jemcam]

Originally posted by: Jehovah
Basically, I wanted to join the Air Force right after college (as an officer) and was wondering what the shortest contract I could sign is - I know all of them "require" 8 years, but which options are there regarding Active Duty/INactive Duty etc. ?

Thanks in advance!

We had a similar discussion about this same topic a while back. There's no way I know of that you can "enlist" directly in as an officer unless you're a doctor, nurse, minister, or lawyer with a 4 year degree. Those get direct appointment as commissioned officers. Otherwise, you need to go through basic training, AIT, then you can apply for, and go to OCS.

I'm going to look and see if I can find the other thread and will edit this post here. It was quite a flame fest, but in the end, I was right, the recruiter confirmed what I was saying all along.

Edit: Can't find it, it must be too old, it was several months ago. The AF might be different than the Army, I'm not claiming to be an expert on AF stuff, but generally speaking, the branches are similar in their requirements.

 

[calpha]

Actually, as long as you have a 4 year degree, you can apply for OCS directly in the AF. You have to supply your degree, and take the AF tests (like the ASVAB). Then you have to qualify physically as well. In the army, you're right, you do have to "enlist" first, and then apply for their officer program, after you complete BCT.

My grandfather ( a retired Colonel in teh AF) said that officers don't have a "contract" but I've not confirmed that yet with the recruiter I've been talking to. I do know that if you get sent to an AF school as an officer ( like UPT (pilot training) or UNT (nav trainig), that does add a minimum required service to your term. I've not found any written evidence that a person who's under the age of 35 and has a college degree can join the AF with no minimum for time served.

 

[FoBoT]

jemcam is pretty much right on

you enlist for a certain term

most officer programs don't have a set time, but some do (doctors, lawyers and in the Navy certain instructor programs, there could be others). in general, if you go to OCS, ROTC ,etc you don't sign a contract like an enlistment as non-officers do

 

[Schadenfreude]

Whoops - I do know that to become an officer, I'd either have to go through ROTC or OTS and not enlist - either for the Army nor the USAF - but I was wondering what the shortest term for my contract (active duty in an 8-year period) would be.

 

[jemcam]

I was enlisted first and went to OCS. When entering OCS, we had to have at least a 2 year contract left on our enlistment in order to graduate, if you didn't, you had to extend your contract for two years. The idea was that if you were commissioned, you were expected to serve at least 2 years.

Even though I had almost exactly two years commitment on my enlistment left, when I was commissioned, my ID card expiration date said "Indefinate". This meant basically that your ID card was good until you retired, were discharged, or age 60, whichever comes first. Age 60 used to be the Mandatory Separation Age, I think it still is.

 

[jemcam]

Originally posted by: Jehovah
Whoops - I do know that to become an officer, I'd either have to go through ROTC or OTS and not enlist - either for the Army nor the USAF - but I was wondering what the shortest term for my contract (active duty in an 8-year period) would be.

I went to Field Artillery Officer Basic Course with a bunch of West Point graduates and even those guys had a commitment. If they failed OBC, which is the final requirement to getting commisioned, they had to revert to enlisted for four years if they failed Officer Basic Course. The Army paid for their degree, and they expect your service in return. I'm pretty sure that once you graduate from college in ROTC, you must serve the time. You can't just quit the Army after they paid for your school.

 

[Schadenfreude]

Originally posted by: jemcam

Originally posted by: Jehovah
Whoops - I do know that to become an officer, I'd either have to go through ROTC or OTS and not enlist - either for the Army nor the USAF - but I was wondering what the shortest term for my contract (active duty in an 8-year period) would be.

I went to Field Artillery Officer Basic Course with a bunch of West Point graduates and even those guys had a commitment. If they failed OBC, which is the final requirement to getting commisioned, they had to revert to enlisted for four years if they failed Officer Basic Course. The Army paid for their degree, and they expect your service in return. I'm pretty sure that once you graduate from college in ROTC, you must serve the time. You can't just quit the Army after they paid for your school.

Oy, that's not what I meant - basically, I"m a college student with no military ties whatsoever - but I want to join for a period, and something came up that in a few years I would like to come back ASAP - so if the commitment is too long, I'd have to decide to not go the military route: but I'd still like to - that's why I'm asking.

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: jemcam

Originally posted by: Jehovah
Whoops - I do know that to become an officer, I'd either have to go through ROTC or OTS and not enlist - either for the Army nor the USAF - but I was wondering what the shortest term for my contract (active duty in an 8-year period) would be.

I went to Field Artillery Officer Basic Course with a bunch of West Point graduates and even those guys had a commitment. If they failed OBC, which is the final requirement to getting commisioned, they had to revert to enlisted for four years if they failed Officer Basic Course. The Army paid for their degree, and they expect your service in return. I'm pretty sure that once you graduate from college in ROTC, you must serve the time. You can't just quit the Army after they paid for your school.

Technically, I think you can, but they want their money back! I not at all sure, it might just be under certain circumstances, like if you withold disclosure of a medical condition till after you graduate. I remember seeing a program about a couple of guys who went through ROTC, graduated, then told the Army: "Hey, I'm gay, as in on fire like Richard Simmons. Maybe worse." I forget what happened to them, I think I went to sleep before the program concluded.

 

[jemcam]

Originally posted by: Mookow

Originally posted by: jemcam

Originally posted by: Jehovah
Whoops - I do know that to become an officer, I'd either have to go through ROTC or OTS and not enlist - either for the Army nor the USAF - but I was wondering what the shortest term for my contract (active duty in an 8-year period) would be.

I went to Field Artillery Officer Basic Course with a bunch of West Point graduates and even those guys had a commitment. If they failed OBC, which is the final requirement to getting commisioned, they had to revert to enlisted for four years if they failed Officer Basic Course. The Army paid for their degree, and they expect your service in return. I'm pretty sure that once you graduate from college in ROTC, you must serve the time. You can't just quit the Army after they paid for your school.

Technically, I think you can, but they want their money back! I not at all sure, it might just be under certain circumstances, like if you withold disclosure of a medical condition till after you graduate. I remember seeing a program about a couple of guys who went through ROTC, graduated, then told the Army: "Hey, I'm gay, as in on fire like Richard Simmons. Maybe worse." I forget what happened to them, I think I went to sleep before the program concluded.

A sure fire way to get discharged with no appeal is to use drugs. Smoke Pot and getting caught is the fastest way out.

I'm pretty sure that you're right, you have to pay it back depending on the amount of time already served. I sure as hell wouldn't want to find out though.

 

[jemcam]

Originally posted by: Jehovah

Originally posted by: jemcam

Originally posted by: Jehovah
Whoops - I do know that to become an officer, I'd either have to go through ROTC or OTS and not enlist - either for the Army nor the USAF - but I was wondering what the shortest term for my contract (active duty in an 8-year period) would be.

I went to Field Artillery Officer Basic Course with a bunch of West Point graduates and even those guys had a commitment. If they failed OBC, which is the final requirement to getting commisioned, they had to revert to enlisted for four years if they failed Officer Basic Course. The Army paid for their degree, and they expect your service in return. I'm pretty sure that once you graduate from college in ROTC, you must serve the time. You can't just quit the Army after they paid for your school.

Oy, that's not what I meant - basically, I"m a college student with no military ties whatsoever - but I want to join for a period, and something came up that in a few years I would like to come back ASAP - so if the commitment is too long, I'd have to decide to not go the military route: but I'd still like to - that's why I'm asking.

You're going to have to get your degree before you become a commissioned officer in any case.

 

[jteef]

I think ThaGrandCow is correct. I think I will have a 4 year "minimum commitment" once I get out of OTS. I don't know how much longer you are committed to the inactive reserves after that. I think they can recall officers at basically anytime during your life, but that is really unlikely past your inactive reserves commitment. Basically, count on doing at least 4 years. If you are a pilot, it is a 10 year commitment after your pilot training & ots so about 12 years in all. Navigator is 6 years after flight training. You don't want to get out on any kind of criminal charge, telling them you're gay, protesting war, etc...

 

[jemcam]

Originally posted by: jteef
I think ThaGrandCow is correct. I think I will have a 4 year "minimum commitment" once I get out of OTS. I don't know how much longer you are committed to the inactive reserves after that. I think they can recall officers at basically anytime during your life, but that is really unlikely past your inactive reserves commitment. Basically, count on doing at least 4 years. If you are a pilot, it is a 10 year commitment after your pilot training & ots so about 12 years in all. Navigator is 6 years after flight training. You don't want to get out on any kind of criminal charge, telling them you're gay, protesting war, etc...

Yeah, what are you going to say when you're at your first job interview when they ask why you got out? Sure, you could lie, but if you get caught in the lie.... Then again, if you're the type that would smoke dope just to get out of a commitment, you're also the type that would lie on a job application.

I processed a lot of discharges for people as a unit commander who pissed hot. What really sucked is some of those guys were really good troops. Others were a POS and I was glad to see them go. As soon as the test came back hot, their security clearance was immediately pulled, and they couldn't do anything but sit around and answer the phone. No one would talk to them or anything. If I liked the guy, I'd let him go home after first formation. If he was a POS, I'd make his life miserable and let the First Sargeant give him lots of crappy details until his discharge orders came through.

There's really nothing that can be done once your test comes back positive.