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The Unholy Ghost posted:But would you agree the Army is to be avoided if possible? No I mean the positive people are in the sunken place. But yeah, avoid all of it.
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Oct 6, 2018 06:44
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To be quite honest dude I don't think it's a good idea to even commission in 2018, unless you really really want to be a commercial pilot eventually I guess. Enlisting is probably good if your trying to escape the trap/the territories, though. But just consider that out of all the people I've met who've been in the military in real life, none of the ones who enlisted after Desert Storm didn't hate almost everything about it.
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Oct 6, 2018 14:52
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Fallom posted:I’ve been in 8 years and have never actually encountered the evangelical stuff people keep talking about. I’m not sure how it would even come up. My last flight chief asked everyone (individually) where they went to church during his introduction.
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Oct 6, 2018 14:57
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The Unholy Ghost posted:But would you agree the Army is to be avoided if possible? Have you ever spent time in county lock up? If so, did you get along with other inmates or did you get shanked? Either way, if you can answer that question then the Army might be for you.
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Oct 6, 2018 16:53
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xsf421 posted:My last flight chief asked everyone (individually) where they went to church during his introduction. That's nuts. I think the most I've heard was "spiritual wellness is a pillar of resiliency" at an All Call every now and then and it was always caveated with "we don't mean any religion in particular or at all." There were definitely some churchy folk in my units but they kept it to themselves unless you were interested.
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Oct 6, 2018 17:18
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I don't get it so much anymore because I live in a nice state where Evangelicals aren't in the majority. That said our Lt is super Catholic and one of my friends claimed that he tied right up to the line of telling him he needed to accept Jesus into his heart last time he got in trouble. Said friend is a really angry person so his description of events may not be entirely accurate. Lt is also in the Knights of Malta, so my friend calls him a Knight of Malted Milk Balls behind his back.
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Oct 6, 2018 17:28
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Casimir Radon posted:Lt is also in the Knights of Malta, so my friend calls him a Knight of Malted Milk Balls behind his back. fuckin lol
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Oct 6, 2018 17:52
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The Unholy Ghost posted:I'm not sure if my experience (continual struggle) with trying to sign up for OTS school is more related to this year's overpopulation of Air Force officers, my recruiter, or the recruiting process in general. Larry Parrish posted:To be quite honest dude I don't think it's a good idea to even commission in 2018, unless you really really want to be a commercial pilot eventually I guess. Casimir Radon posted:If your local guard or reserve wing is absolute garbage I could see going active or driving to the next wing even if they're out of state to stay away from them. I was deployed with a bunch of people from a particular wing, and almost everyone I met from that wing was a giant piece of poo poo. They weren't southerners either. Current Guard guy who is in OTS right now. I, like you, Unholy Ghost also was languishing after college. I was Guard guy who struck out with commissioning in my home unit and looked elsewhere for other states with faster growing missions (more on that later). I joined a cyber unit as a enlisted member and got lucky as there was a huge push for officers and here I am in Alabama for a few more weeks. So as far as Commissioning in the Guard goes, its optimal that you try to find a job that 1. you genuinely have interest in, 2. has civilian applicability 3. is a hot job in the military. I got lucky once again that I'm commissioning as a CyberOperations Officer since it fulfills 3 outta 3 categories (its a hot job and has tons of civilian applicability and I have interest in IT even though I know next to nothing about it). Remember you more than likely will be a weekend warrior barring you get a full time job at your unit so look for Officer jobs that net you the best chance in the Civilian world (Cyber, Flying, Intelligence, Acquisitions, Contracting seem to be the most popular jobs to achieve this). Going back to my statement about faster growing missions? At that time (around 2016) only units with Intelligence, Cyber, and Drones were fast growing. Since that time my original unit has been commissioning like crazy. Air Force and Guard are growing and even here at OTS you see the proof as a poo poo ton of non priors, 10+ year enlisted and Guard people are commissioning (and more non-prior service Guard Officer candidates than I ever thought Id see). While it can be a year to 18 month process to get from packet to Maxwell, the window seems to be extremely open right now.
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Oct 6, 2018 22:53
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Knives Amilli posted:Current Guard guy who is in OTS right now. The Guard (National Guard?) is super part-time though, isn't it? Like, one weekend per month and then two weeks in the summer? It's not something you can live off of, unless I'm missing part of this.
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Oct 7, 2018 00:09
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The Unholy Ghost posted:The Guard (National Guard?) is super part-time though, isn't it? Like, one weekend per month and then two weeks in the summer? It's not something you can live off of, unless I'm missing part of this. If you get a Technician slot it can be full time.
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Oct 7, 2018 00:12
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On the officer side, that's almost impossible to do from being a civilian. The traditional guardsmen get first crack at it before its even opened to the public, and the civilian has a LOT more hoops to jump through before they're full up. As a group commander told me, it would take about a year for me to come in from the IRR and be useful to the unit. If I were a TG, it would be a couple of weeks to a couple of months, tops.
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Oct 7, 2018 00:22
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The Unholy Ghost posted:The Guard (National Guard?) is super part-time though, isn't it? Like, one weekend per month and then two weeks in the summer? It's not something you can live off of, unless I'm missing part of this. Well, if you aren't aircrew it is. If you go Army Guard aviation you'll be awarded plenty of additional flight training periods to make your minimums and if you're a rated guy it can add up to quite a bit. Plus there are always schools to go to, short tours at different active duty locations, and ADOS opportunities as the JFHQ. You can Guard bum pretty heavily if you put a little effort into it. Not sure how this is now that the wars have wound down, but they used to have plenty of part time gigs to work with.
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Oct 7, 2018 01:30
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SimonCat posted:Well, if you aren't aircrew it is. If you go Army Guard aviation you'll be awarded plenty of additional flight training periods to make your minimums and if you're a rated guy it can add up to quite a bit. Plus there are always schools to go to, short tours at different active duty locations, and ADOS opportunities as the JFHQ. You can Guard bum pretty heavily if you put a little effort into it. Yea this. Even as a traditional guardsman, in certain career fields you can be pretty much full time without being in a Full Time Technician or Active Guard Reserve slot. Especially with the HOT career fields like Flying, Intel, Cyber, Medical where there are alot of schools/conferences, training events, short mobilizations, planning/scheduling, or even short active duty opportunities. Knives Amilli fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Oct 7, 2018 |
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Oct 7, 2018 03:09
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The two weeks a year isn't actually necessary to have a good year. You could skate by on just 11 drills a year and nothing else.
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Oct 7, 2018 03:14
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You don't even need to be a technician or an AGR. We have people who just straight up go on orders for months and months and months. But, if you still want to be a technician and they figure out that you're not a insufferable shithead after a while of being on orders, then you can probably score a technician position pretty easy if the unit is undermanned.
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Oct 7, 2018 17:32
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Looks like going in as an officer is out of the question for both Army and Air Force. Guess I'm entering the Air Force enlisted. Hopefully I can at least get a good signing bonus.
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Oct 10, 2018 01:41
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpatdRd2LGk
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Oct 10, 2018 01:52
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The Unholy Ghost posted:Looks like going in as an officer is out of the question for both Army and Air Force. Good signing bonuses are usually tied to the lovely jobs that nobody wants, or that nobody wants to stay in. They don't give bonuses for the jobs everyone loves.
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Oct 10, 2018 02:08
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Start working on your story about how you turned down an O slot because you wanted to work for a living It'll carry you all the way to Senior
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Oct 10, 2018 02:16
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Fallom posted:Start working on your story about how you turned down an O slot because you wanted to work for a living Ha, I didn't turn down an O slot. I couldn't even get an interview. And I think the reasons why make sense: there's like five different pools that get selected for officers before civilians. It's natural for my recruiter to go AWOL. Best case scenario, I'm stuck at home for another year waiting to go before an officer board. I'm so tired of being stuck and trapped that all I can do is make a decision and have something happen.
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Oct 10, 2018 02:19
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Hoooooooo boy. Thread's gonna get fun, folks. Edit: Go get an AF tattoo before basic.
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Oct 10, 2018 02:20
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That’s not how you tell the story jfc
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Oct 10, 2018 03:26
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At least put some marketable jobs down on your job list when you do go in. Your recruiter might strongarm you into an open aptitude so pick electronics if it comes down to it. Also he may just say you're going to be a mechanic on a jet and you're kinda screwed if that happens
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Oct 10, 2018 03:33
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I'm planning to ask to be a Cryptologic Language Analyst. Anyone have experience there? I heard it's not too bad for an enlisted position.
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Oct 10, 2018 03:42
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How do you feel about Nebraska? Because you're going to spend a lot of time in Nebraska. Also, that's a flying position on the Rivet Joint...just so you're aware. This line isn't meant to dissuade you, but just so you know your job will be on an airplane built in the early 60s.
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Oct 10, 2018 03:44
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You'll never leave Nebraska for more than a couple of years. Enjoy.
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Oct 10, 2018 03:51
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Fly, Fight, Lose Out On Signing Bonus Because It Only Falls On The Years You Are Not Re-enlisting.
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Oct 10, 2018 03:52
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Well honestly, if I'm not getting shot at and I'm getting a decent wage, I'll be pretty drat happy in regards to the military.
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Oct 10, 2018 03:53
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You're in one of the most important airborne targets in the world. I don't believe any have been shot down, but their predecessor aircraft were. This happens, too.
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Oct 10, 2018 03:59
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The Nebraska/Rivet Joint talk is only for the Airborne version (1A8). Regular (1N3) Cryptologic Language Analysts mostly sit in windowless buildings doing shift work (and endless short tours to Osan if you pull Korean). PM me if you have detailed questions.
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Oct 10, 2018 04:37
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Oh, whoops.
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Oct 10, 2018 04:38
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If they're focusing on signing bonus, they'll probably end up aircrew anyway so it's not like you gave bad information.
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Oct 10, 2018 04:40
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I highly recommend not signing up for anything remotely related to shift work, or, indeed, the United States military in general
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Oct 10, 2018 06:49
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The Unholy Ghost posted:I'm planning to ask to be a Cryptologic Language Analyst. Anyone have experience there? I heard it's not too bad for an enlisted position. Absolutely you should do this, I'm a linguist and everything rules. Just keep in mind you can't choose your language at all (they let you write down your preferences, then they look at the sheet, laugh, and throw it away) because it's all "needs of the Air Force," and your first assignment will probably suck poo poo, but after that you're golden. Edit: CLA has both a ground and an airborne component. If its 1N3 you're ground, if it's 1A8 it's air.
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Oct 10, 2018 08:40
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I enlisted as a crypto linguist (non flying) and I was not prepared for the amount of studying/classwork that was going to be required to learn Chinese to baseline fluency in 63 weeks. Just a heads up, you will have to do a lot of studying. If you're avoiding college because you'd just be farting around and wasting time/money, you're going to have a tough time in linguist training.
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Oct 10, 2018 11:50
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For real, other AFSCs are full of washouts from the linguist pipeline. I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm, but a LOT of students fail out of language training. Quite often at the very end of the pipeline, in the last stretch of proficiency testing. If your heart is set on the job, by all means go for it, but otherwise go comm, get a clearance and some professional certs, and walk out in 4 to 6 years with a bunch of nice civilian job offers.
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Oct 10, 2018 12:20
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Softface posted:Absolutely you should do this, I'm a linguist and everything rules. Just keep in mind you can't choose your language at all (they let you write down your preferences, then they look at the sheet, laugh, and throw it away) because it's all "needs of the Air Force," and your first assignment will probably suck poo poo, but after that you're golden. Big caveat: your contract language goes out the window if you get delayed at MEPS/Basic/EAUC and miss your planned DLI class start date.
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Oct 10, 2018 13:58
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The 1A8 RJ gig is starting to get better and better as the CENTCOM deployments die off and are replaced with EUCOM and PACOM taskings. The problem is the 55th Wing. Ergo, your daily enjoyment is directly proportional to how you handle being treated like a child, office politics, and bureaucracy. Good luck! xaarman fucked around with this message at 16:02 on Oct 10, 2018 |
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Oct 10, 2018 15:41
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I worked with two or three linguist dropouts in Command Post which is a concerning percentage considering we had a 14 man unit if you counted the officers
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Oct 10, 2018 21:52
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Yeah, the washout rate from DLI is over 50%, it turns out learning a whole new language in about a year is really difficult! It doesn't help that they found a way to turn being stationed in Monterey, CA suck poo poo and the cadre is more focused on playing gently caress-gently caress mind games with the students than helping them pass. But if you can get through you're golden.
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Oct 10, 2018 22:25
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