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Thinking about joining the Air Force....

UglyCasanova

UglyCasanova

Lifer
After 3 years of college (changed my major 3 times mind you, so I'm not even close to graduating) and being jobless I realized that my life is not heading anywhere. I was thinking about joining the Peace Corps, but from what I understand they want people with a college degree or prior volunteer experience and I have neither.

Well, I was searching for jobs today and I stumbled across the Air Force ad. This sparked my interest so I did a little looking around online to see what it was about. I think I may go talk to my recruiter tomorrow and see what he can tell me.

Anyone ever been in the Air Force? If so, what was it like/would you recommend it? I would LOVE to train to become a pilot, but even if I can't do that I'm sure there is something I can do. Do you get to pick what you want them to train you in, or how does that work?
 
Too bad you didn't think about it earlier. Could have helped you with the schoolin and saved you some $$$.
 
Well the state of Louisiana payed for the bulk of my college, and mommy and daddy did the rest. 😛

I do plan on finishing up my education through this though.
 
Air Force boot camp is probably the hardest, just so you know. If you want to be a pilot, go Navy, their boot camp is the easiest.
 
Got a friend who is an F-16 engine mechanic making $65k a year. Originally wanted to be a fighter pilot much like you. He started like 3 or so years ago. For about 6 months I kept getting letters from him about how sh*tty boot camp was. Since then I haven't heard from him much. I guess he's doing good. I also went to aviation school but for commercial. It can be very rewarding.
 
Originally posted by: Zugzwang152
Originally posted by: malak
Air Force boot camp is probably the hardest, just so you know. If you want to be a pilot, go Navy, their boot camp is the easiest.
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umm... Marine Corps much?
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Don't you stay in a hotel during AF basic? 😛
 
Originally posted by: malak
Air Force boot camp is probably the hardest, just so you know. If you want to be a pilot, go Navy, their boot camp is the easiest.
Click to expand...

Uh . . . USAF Boot is the easiest hands down. And if you want to be a pilot, then you mostly likely want to be an officer. Which means USAF Academy. Unless you want to start out enlisted and go through officer training to get your commision after being enlisted for a time. Going that route would net you a larger pay grade initially. (O-1/2/3E instead of an O1/2/3).

Whether or not you want to be a pilot in the USN or the USAF depends on what type of plain you'd rather fly and where you'd take off from, I guess. The USAF does treat their people a little better than other services though.
 
Originally posted by: cjgallen
Originally posted by: Zugzwang152
Originally posted by: malak
Air Force boot camp is probably the hardest, just so you know. If you want to be a pilot, go Navy, their boot camp is the easiest.
Click to expand...

umm... Marine Corps much?
Click to expand...

Don't you stay in a hotel during AF basic? 😛
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No and No. My friend went through Marines. The people that actually join the marines are not people that are going to worry much over some pushups. In fact, the only thing he hated was getting sick, and he kept it to himself so they wouldn't bench him.

In AF boot camp, you are pushed to the limit mentally, and that is a lot tougher than a simple jog for 20 miles.
 
It's very hard to become a pilot in the air force. Once of the requirments is 20/20 vision, so if you wear glasses too bad. lol
 
Originally posted by: deathkoba
Got a friend who is an F-16 engine mechanic making $65k a year. Originally wanted to be a fighter pilot much like you. He started like 3 or so years ago. For about 6 months I kept getting letters from him about how sh*tty boot camp was. Since then I haven't heard from him much. I guess he's doing good. I also went to aviation school but for commercial. It can be very rewarding.
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The only way an F-16 mechanic could make $65K is if he separated from active duty and went to work as a civilian contractor for General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin. You can look at active-duty base pay rates here. Keep in mind that actual mechanics are generally E-5s and below. He also receives nontaxable allowances for housing and subsistence, but even with both (plus, at least conceivably, the cost of living adjustment he might receive for living in Japan), there is no way on earth he makes anywhere near $65K a year.
 
Originally posted by: Zugzwang152
Originally posted by: malak
Air Force boot camp is probably the hardest, just so you know. If you want to be a pilot, go Navy, their boot camp is the easiest.
Click to expand...

umm... Marine Corps much?
Click to expand...

my toughts exactly...
 
Originally posted by: DonVito
Originally posted by: deathkoba
Got a friend who is an F-16 engine mechanic making $65k a year. Originally wanted to be a fighter pilot much like you. He started like 3 or so years ago. For about 6 months I kept getting letters from him about how sh*tty boot camp was. Since then I haven't heard from him much. I guess he's doing good. I also went to aviation school but for commercial. It can be very rewarding.
Click to expand...

The only way an F-16 mechanic could make $65K is if he separated from active duty and went to work as a civilian contractor for General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin. You can look at active-duty base pay rates here. Keep in mind that actual mechanics are generally E-5s and below. He also receives nontaxable allowances for housing and subsistence, but even with both (plus, at least conceivably, the cost of living adjustment he might receive for living in Japan), there is no way on earth he makes anywhere near $65K a year.
Click to expand...

Obviously he is an officer, so making 65k a year is attainable in 10-12 years in. But if he started 3 years ago, not a chance.
 
Originally posted by: malak
Originally posted by: DonVito
Originally posted by: deathkoba
Got a friend who is an F-16 engine mechanic making $65k a year. Originally wanted to be a fighter pilot much like you. He started like 3 or so years ago. For about 6 months I kept getting letters from him about how sh*tty boot camp was. Since then I haven't heard from him much. I guess he's doing good. I also went to aviation school but for commercial. It can be very rewarding.
Click to expand...

The only way an F-16 mechanic could make $65K is if he separated from active duty and went to work as a civilian contractor for General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin. You can look at active-duty base pay rates here. Keep in mind that actual mechanics are generally E-5s and below. He also receives nontaxable allowances for housing and subsistence, but even with both (plus, at least conceivably, the cost of living adjustment he might receive for living in Japan), there is no way on earth he makes anywhere near $65K a year.
Click to expand...

Obviously he is an officer, so making 65k a year is attainable in 10-12 years in. But if he started 3 years ago, not a chance.
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How did you come up with that assumption?

I can't speak for the Air Force but Marine officers are not mechanics.

 
I know two guys in the USAF (one is F-16 pilot, the other is a mechanic) and one in the Navy (communication officer on a carrier)...all of them love it.

You can learn some valuable skills, get some great long term financial benefits (VA loans), make some money, see other parts of the world, and maybe even establish a good career.
 
First off, don't beleive everything the recruiter tells you. They cannot lie to you, but it is thier job to make things sound as
good as possible to encourage you to sign up.

Second, ask to take the ASVAB test if you haven't already. ASVAB (the Armed Service Vocational Aptitude Battery test) is a
tool that recruiters use to determine what kind of AF jobs you are qualified for, they won't even think about offering you the
good jobs unless you can prove you have the talent for them (with a couple of years of college under your belt though, it
is very likely that you will score high on the test).

Scoring high does help you with qualifying for particular job slots, but you may have to delay your enlistment by a couple of weeks
at times for certain positions to become open. (In reality, the delay is to make sure you go straigt from basic training to the
school for whatever job position you get into). Basic Training is about 8 weeks (last I checked) and Tech School can go
for several months after that before you get to your real duty assignment (at which point you have to learn how to really
do your job).

Third, don't sign anything until you have had a chance to explore your options.

Fourth, many good AF jobs also require a security clearance of some sort, which requires a background check. If you have
had stable addresses for the past 5 -10 years, and have friends who have known you for that long (and who will speak well for you)
that helps.

What were/are your majors? What areas of interest did/do you have? You might want to try and find a job that closely matches
your knowledge and interests.

Make sure you are in good shape before you go to basic training. Do you have ROTC or CAP at your school?
You might want to talk to some of those guys too.

You cannot become a pilot without being a commissioned officer, you cannot be a commisioned officer without a degree
(You might have people tell you there are ways around that, but currently there is too much competition for pilot positions
among officers who are fully qualified for the Air Force to even need to consider anyone who isn't).

If you do join, make sure you sign up for the GI Bill as soon as they offer it. You may not get a second chance (I didn't).
That will let you put a little extra money aside to help pay you to finish college later on. No matter what you end up doing
in the AF, you will eventually want and need to finish school and get your degree.
(If you stay in, it will really help your career; and if you get out later, it will really help your career).


Edit:

Oh and Queasy? You don't get into the Stargate program, they come looking for you.
 
Originally posted by: CQuinn Oh and Queasy? You don't get into the Stargate program, they come looking for you.
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Curses! I need to bone up on my techno-babble...

 
If you are really doing AF, good physical shape just means being able to do like 50 pushups, and the endurance to run 2 miles. It's no sweat really. Unless you are in a crappy dorm. One person sucks, you all suffer.
 
If you are really doing AF, good physical shape just means being able to do like 50 pushups, and the endurance to run 2 miles
Click to expand...


You need more than that to get thru basic, and the better you can do for yourself afterward the better you fit into the
"high visibility" positions that the AF likes to promote people into.

One secret to success in any branch of the military is to always strive to more than "just getting by".
 
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