Thinking of joining Air Force, experience?

[ViviTheMage]

Been thinking this for a while, seems like a good way to get some of the school loans off my back and serve my country.

I have been posting on the military forums, but those guys expect me to know every term before I even ask a simple question, so i'll ask here.

I currently work IT, as a network administrator, and will have my BS complete in early 2014 (i'll be 27 years old, shit haha).

So I was thinking of going down the route of getting in with the air force as an officer, and then get out, and get a job with the one of the big government agencies out there, CIA/NSA/FBI, that sort of thing. It also seems to be very helpful when applying for jobs to have a VA preference.

So what jobs would be a good idea, assuming I can test into them, that I could take into the civilian world?

 

[olds]

As prior military, I wished I had gone into the Air Force (instead of the Army) learned a marketable skill (besides killing people) and then got out and used that experience to get a Government job.

If I was a youngster, I'd do 20 in the military, retire and then work 20 at a Government job and retire again.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I'll be a mid youngster when I join...27.

 

[olds]

I'll be a mid youngster when I join...27.

68 or 69 when you finally really retire though.
EDIT
But if you are not going to go 20 and retire and they'll pay all your student debts, I'd go for it. The experience will be great IF you get a good military job.

 

[Triumph]

i don't know about the chair force, but i don't see a lot of technical, specific skills employed in the army that transition to the outside world. all of that stuff is contracted out. IT admins, mechanics, electronics techs, cooks, construction, you name it, the army hires people to do it instead of using soldiers. there are still people that do that stuff, but not like it used to be where the military did EVERYTHING. the army used to train electronics technicians who would disassemble a radio, read schematics, trace the problem, replace the capacitors and resistors or whatever, and put it all back together and get it working again. they don't do things like that anymore, they just send it back to the manufacturer. similar for vehicles, they get repaired by contractors. or broken electronics get sent back to depots for repair. or computer networks are set up by contractors. even in field conditions, contractors are everywhere.

so a lot of officers are pushed towards the acquisition community - managing the requirements documents or the contracts themselves for buying and managing all of that shit. so with IT experience and a degree, you may very well be brought in as a 2nd lieutenant and funneled into that path. you may never touch a server. my cousin and i both graduated college with engineering degrees around the same time. he went into the air force, i got a civil service job with the army, and we both did the same jobs - acquisition. he never even deployed to iraq or afghanistan, he just worked on buying stuff. he hated it.

of course, during recruiting they told him everything he wanted to hear about all the great things he'd be doing. when he got there, it was nothing like that. which seems to be the usual approach for recruiters.

 

[vi edit]

I've got no real meaningful imput other than do your homework through objective resources against the recruiter. Military enrollment is getting cut hard and so are the payouts on things like the GI bills and sign on bonuses. Make sure you know how much you really will be reimbursed.

 

[Krazy4Real]

But who will keep mad genius going?!?!?!

 

[olds]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_Specialty_Code#Officer_AFSCs

 

[EagleKeeper]

There are a few of us USAF officers here.

Some of these Army/Marine grunts just like to roll around in the mud.

When I came off active duty as an officer, I went to work for Raytheon. My best man and another bud from college that I grad with, also worked for different divisions.
My salary was 25% higher than theirs with the same back ground and degree.

You may not get an equivalent job going into the Air Force - depends on their needs and skill set that you can deliver.

And what you get out of it may also not send you back into the existing line of work.

Talk to officer recruitment and find out what your chances are.

Feel free to post any questions.

My experience is 40+ years outdated
DVC is about 10 years

 

[glenn1]

As prior military, I wished I had gone into the Air Force (instead of the Army) learned a marketable skill (besides killing people) and then got out and used that experience to get a Government job.

If I was a youngster, I'd do 20 in the military, retire and then work 20 at a Government job and retire again.

You can also do less than 20 military, get a government job and "buy in" those years for your pension.

OP, I was Army and like Olds had a job which didn't translate well in the civilian world. That being said, in selecting the Air Force vs another service will be less promotions/opportunities vs. improved creature comforts. I was enlisted and not officer so can't offer any insight there, although if you're not a supremely self-motivated person then being an officer may not be a great fit. You also need to be able to work in a highly defined and regimented environment where individual expression, "doing your own thing," or being a social misanthrope won't be tolerated as it would in the civilian IT world.

 

[olds]

You can also do less than 20 military, get a government job and "buy in" those years for your pension.

OP, I was Army and like Olds had a job which didn't translate well in the civilian world. That being said, in selecting the Air Force vs another service will be less promotions/opportunities vs. improved creature comforts. I was enlisted and not officer so can't offer any insight there, although if you're not a supremely self-motivated person then being an officer may not be a great fit. You also need to be able to work in a highly defined and regimented environment where individual expression, "doing your own thing," or being a social misanthrope won't be tolerated as it would in the civilian IT world.

I looked at buying my 4 years active duty. It was almost $55k

 

[shortylickens]

Its a great way to get military benefits without actually joining the military.

 

[unokitty]

Its a great way to get military benefits without actually joining the military.

++

Have you talked with a recruiter? Is the Air Force still looking for officers?

Just asking. I thought that an Air Force ROTC graduate I was acquainted with didn't even get the opportunity to go active duty when he graduated. Something about the Air Force already having too many officers...

Best of luck,
Uno

 

[soulcougher73]

As prior military, I wished I had gone into the Air Force (instead of the Army) learned a marketable skill (besides killing people) and then got out and used that experience to get a Government job.

If I was a youngster, I'd do 20 in the military, retire and then work 20 at a Government job and retire again.

Ha, so this except i was Navy.

 

[ViviTheMage]

snip

So how does one get a job contracting as a civilian for the military/gov?

 

[Ns1]

You're 27 and started/ran Mad Genius?

O_O

Well done. Not what I expected (both the age and the post)

 

[ViviTheMage]

But who will keep mad genius going?!?!?!

Oh, it'll be covered and still pumping along.

From what I read on the military forums, this year they're looking to fill 600 officer spots, ass opposed to 200 last year, so it's up?

You're 27 and started/ran Mad Genius?

O_O

Well done. Not what I expected (both the age and the post)

thanks! I am only 25, i'll graduate at 27 ^_^...madgenius has a few employees, I do a lot of the big stuff though, bigger clients, and any AT clients still. I still own it though, so she;s mah baby.

 

[alienb]

So how does one get a job contracting as a civilian for the military/gov?

Heh, be prior service....



In all seriousness, the Air Force is probably in most cases the most like a civvie job you can get in the military. Short deployments, (if they even go) some pretty nice living conditions, and just about 0% chance of getting killed in combat.

Enlistments right now are tough, last I'd heard I didn't think you even got to choose your speciality as enlisted, and good luck getting in as an officer right now even with a degree.

I'm about to piss a lot of people off, (seems I have a knack for that) but if you want to serve your country, go do something else. While I have no doubt of the intentions of 95% of the currently serving military are completely honorable and selfless, we are wasting many thousands of lives pursuing "national security objectives" that have absolutely nothing to do with "national security"

Going out on missions in Trashcanistan and coming back after a few days to see the TV in the chow hall reporting the exact opposite of what was actually happening in the country...seeing millions of millions of dollars worth (no joke) of wasted resources on even just the very, very tiny FOB I was on...and absolutely ridiculous rules of engagement kind of woke me up to what the military actually does when they are "Serving the Country!"

I commend your patriotic desire to serve. I however do not recommend going into the military right now.

 

[olds]

...In all seriousness, the Air Force is probably in most cases the most like a civvie job you can get in the military...

When I was stationed in Germany, we worked with the Air Farce.

We worked 12 hours on and 12 hours off out in the deep woods. We stayed in leaky tents, slept on cots and ate two cold meals a day.

The Air Farce stayed in hotels. Drove rental cars to our locations, put in six hours (8 a day) and drove back to the hotel where they ate in restaurants.
Bastards.

 

[MrColin]

All my friends who served in the USAF loved it. All my friends from the other branches are proud of their service but have horror stories (not combat related horror stories).

 

[BladeVenom]

The Air Force, where the enlisted men send the officers out to fight.

 

[roguerower]

At the AF ROTC unit at VT, they had to actively kick people out because they didn't need the number they had. Same thing for Navy. Most of the people who got kicked out went next door to the Army unit and got full scholarships.

Another issue to remember is some paths in the military require that you get career selected in order to continue past your original contract expiration date. A friend of mine in the USMC just received word that he was career selected. He's a Communications Officer.

My sister just graduated and enlisted in the Navy, but has a Corpsman slot. She'll spend a year and a half in that before applying for PA school.

 

[Sonikku]

Definitely join the air force. Join and they'll let you fly kick ass jets and play the Danger Zone music, just like the recruitment commercials trying to get you to enlist demonstrate.

 

[akahoovy]

I'm currently preparing for the commission interview to attempt for a pilot or navigator slot.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Definitely join the air force. Join and they'll let you fly kick ass jets and play the Danger Zone music, just like the recruitment commercials trying to get you to enlist demonstrate.

And you get cool as call names..

ICE MANN