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vacation in merica posted:This is kind of a big deal, you don't have to wear a uniform when you're CID (unless you count suits) and someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I was led to believe it's about 20x more useful than any other LEO-type job in the Army after you're out. Assuming CID is roughly equivalent to OSI, then yes, that is going to be insanely more useful for LEO-type jobs considering that as CID/OSI/NCIS you are already practically federal law enforcement. fake edit: I guess maybe not as much since I was thinking CID dudes got their training at FLETC at Glynco like OSI dudes do and apparently that isn't the case, but yeah, it's still going to be more useful than pretty much any other job.
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Sep 26, 2012 14:35
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HATE CURES TRANNYS posted:Pilot requires a security clearance and you will never, ever, ever, get a clearance having been diagnosed with depression. The second ever comes from being medicated for it. I'm sorry. Bullshit. I kept a Secret with access to some other stuff after being diagnosed with depression, having suicidal ideations, and being prescribed SSRIs, and I upgraded to a TS/SCI after my diagnosis. I don't know how much louder DoD can shout SEEKING TREATMENT FOR DEPRESSION IS NOT AN AUTOMATIC DISQUALIFIER FOR SECURITY CLEARANCES, but apparently the message still isn't getting through because we have people in this very thread propagating the bullshit that if you get mental health treatment attaining a security clearance is impossible. For gently caress's sake, we have an entire thread about this stuff. That said, getting IN the military with a history of depression is going to be a little more difficult, although your chances of getting a waiver through go up quite a bit if you have come off the SSRIs (enlisting/entering officer training while on SSRIs is basically impossible, for good reason) and if whoever is supervising your treatment can state that you have made progression in treatment or something similar. Although honestly since you said you wanted to fly helicopters I would be more concerned with getting in, period, since your options are a) Air Force (have to get in to OTS with a pilot slot and then pick up a helo slot out of UPT), b) Navy (basically the same as the AF), or c) Army (either go to OTS and branch Aviation...someone who knows more than me can tell you if this is even possible, my understanding is that it does not happen very often, or go to WOFT, which from what I hear is even more impossible to get in to than OTS). All of those options have a probability of success through to completion of around maybe 1%, probably less. That's just the nature of the beast right now (all branches are fat and are trying to get rid of people, so they can afford to be really selective, all the more so for something really competitive like flying) and remember if you make it part way but don't make it all the way you will be stuck doing something else for at least a little while due to your contract...make it to AF OTS with a pilot slot but drop heavies instead of helos and end up flying C-130s or wash out of UPT and wind up as a missile officer sitting in a silo in ND, or make it through Army OTS but branch infantry instead and get to spend a couple of years running around Afghanistan getting shot at. I'm not trying to poo poo on your plan or tell you you shouldn't pursue it, just giving you the honest reality.
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Oct 8, 2012 06:02
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Was home alone playing on a flat screen? Because if so, then yeah, that's pretty much 100% accurate for the military at large.
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Dec 27, 2012 23:37
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Nimmy posted:If I had to choose I'd rank it AF, Army, Navy, but that's not really based on anything concrete and I'm worried my eyesight might make it difficult to join the Air Force. You should probably think about this stuff before you talk to a recruiter, because there is a shitload of differences between the services, much less individual jobs in the services, and it's not like there's a DoD wide "officer recruiter"; each service has their own, so you should at least have an idea about which service you're interested in joining so you can prioritize meeting with the officer recruiters from each service. Also the AF's standards for eyesight aren't any different than the other services...I'm an AF officer and I have terrible eyes. What you are thinking about is the ability to pass a flight physical, which is only going to apply if you want to fly...which is also going to be very similar across all the services. In fact figuring out a general idea of what you are interested in is also good so you can start bouncing your desired job list against any physical qualifications for that job...if you don't have 20/20 uncorrected, probably shouldn't pursue being a pilot. Nimmy posted:to going to a terrible place for a little while. Not trying to discourage you, just be aware that there are plenty of places for permanent duty stations that are pretty lovely, where you could be stuck for 3-4 (or more) years. Living in terrible locales because of the military isn't just a deployment thing.
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Jan 13, 2013 06:42
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Dirty_Moses posted:Especially something called an Intelligence Officer, since I like writing and journalism and it seems like compiling intel would at least be somewhat related. Paging Shims to the thread, Shims to the thread please. If you want to join, and going to college isn't a problem, go to college, do ROTC (either AFROTC or NROTC), and get your commission that way. Getting a commission requires a bachelor's degree, and if you do not currently have a bachelor's degree there is literally no reason to not go this route, especially since it is the easiest/least amount of bullshit...OTS/OCS may or may not have less bullshit than ROTC, but at this point you have to be the second coming of Robin Olds and Curtis LeMay rolled into one just to get them to look at your packet (at least for AF OTS, I'd imagine Navy OCS is very similar), and going to an Academy is just going to be insane levels of stupid bullshit. Go to a four year school with the ROTC program you are interested in, enjoy a normal college experience, and at the end of it you've got a commission, a guaranteed decent paying job*, and hopefully no/minimal student debt (if you were lucky/smart enough to get a scholarship). * Contingent on you not being RIF'd or force shaped.
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Mar 3, 2013 23:30
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Dirty_Moses posted:Yeah, see, that's the thing. I'm not sure I want to go into a military career. I see it more as I do my service, then move on with more experience and the feeling of actual accomplishment and dedication to a goal. Unless you fly or get some other unique job that drives an additional active duty service commitment, going through AFROTC gets you a 4 year AD commitment, plus another 4 years in the IRR if you get off AD at the 4 year point.
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Mar 4, 2013 00:16
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Dirty_Moses posted:That sounds very interesting. It's cool to have someone be able to share that kind of information. From earlier on this page: iyaayas01 posted:If you want to join, and going to college isn't a problem, go to college, do ROTC (either AFROTC or NROTC), and get your commission that way. Getting a commission requires a bachelor's degree, and if you do not currently have a bachelor's degree there is literally no reason to not go this route, especially since it is the easiest/least amount of bullshit...OTS/OCS may or may not have less bullshit than ROTC, but at this point you have to be the second coming of Robin Olds and Curtis LeMay rolled into one just to get them to look at your packet (at least for AF OTS, I'd imagine Navy OCS is very similar), and going to an Academy is just going to be insane levels of stupid bullshit. Go to a four year school with the ROTC program you are interested in, enjoy a normal college experience, and at the end of it you've got a commission, a guaranteed decent paying job*, and hopefully no/minimal student debt (if you were lucky/smart enough to get a scholarship). I can guarantee that you are not the second coming of Robin Olds and Curtis LeMay; you will not get in to OTS/OCS. Period. If you are interested in the military and you do not have a college degree yet, there is literally zero reason for you not to do ROTC, either AFROTC or NROTC in your case. If you are worried about "well but I don't want to make it a career, I just want to do my service and get out" like I said before, unless you are interested in flying your active duty service commitment after graduating is four years. That's it...and this is the same whether you go to OTS/OCS or do ROTC.
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Mar 10, 2013 20:49
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piL posted:If you know now that you'd like to serve and college is something you'll be doing at some point anyway, then ROTC is clearly the right solution. The only reason to not would be that you think you wont want to join. As far as I'm aware, your service commitment doesn't kick in until you sign for a scholarship--you can participate in ROTC classes and training (at least for some length of time) without signing that scholarship and committing to serve. First point is more or less correct, but everyone (even non-scholarship cadets/mids) has to contract at some point...for AFROTC it's after you come back from field training, which is generally between your sophomore and junior years of college. You are correct though that up until contracting you can just walk out at any time without any repercussions. Second point is also more or less correct, but keep in mind that you are signing a legal binding contract and that technically they can recall you to active duty on the enlisted side if you fail to live up to your end of it (as opposed to just paying money back). At least as of 4 years ago they were only doing this in extreme circumstances, but it is an option that is on the table, and it did happen to a couple of guys at my AFROTC Det.
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Mar 10, 2013 21:38
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Pandasmores posted:There's also quite a few dudes that get contracted as federal fire fighters to this base (it's a Naval Air Station though, so there might be certain rules for the reasoning of that for them). Every AFB I've ever seen at least a third to half of the firefighters on base were GS/WG/whatever federal employees. On some bases, like AETC training bases, it's closer to all of them I believe.
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Apr 14, 2013 19:15
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Pandasmores posted:drat, i thought you AF cats had your own enlisted version of firemen or something. With the Navy, every sailor is a fire fighter We do, but like a lot of other support functions as the years have gone by it's been shifted more and more to federal civil service.
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Apr 14, 2013 23:59
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ethanol posted:Not sure how that's gonna happen, if I test negative. How exactly will they ascertain that I used to smoke weed? None of my friends are gonna share that info over the phone. Nobody else knows. I'm not gonna lie and say I've never tried it either. They are examining for dependencies on drugs. I'm not dependent on any drug, at all. A clear drug test should prove that. Plus it's loving weed. Not like I was cradling my needle arm in the bedroom. You don't understand how security clearance background investigations work. They aren't examining for dependencies on drugs (well they are, but that isn't the key point); they're examining for discrepancies/lies. If all you are going for is a secret they probably (emphasis on the probably) won't conduct any/many in person investigations with your acquaintances, but if you are going for a TS I can guarantee you that they will talk to people, in person, under threat of perjury, who you did not list on your SF-86 and who you have not talked to in years. They will ask for other people who knew you well during their interview with the people you listed on your SF-86, and if they get a hint of a lie/discrepancy they will chase that down. The SSBI is no joke. And while you are correct that it is just "loving weed" and that isn't going to be as disqualifying as hard drugs, the fact still remains that having recently smoked weed (i.e., within the past year) you are going to have issues with a background investigation. That's just the way it is. Hekk posted:Don't list college buddies on the SF-86. Almost everyone who joins the military knew of or had friends who liked to smoke weed. I never saw anyone denied a clearance because their friends used to get high. You will have to list people from that period in your life; you can't just go "welp, I was in college for four years, you don't want to talk to anyone from that time in my life." Now if you can do that without using college buddies, without using family (because you can't use family on the "people who know you well" section of the SF-86), and without reusing people you used on other parts of the SF-86, more power to you, but that seems kind of difficult.
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Apr 15, 2013 05:32
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ethanol posted:I have. Assuming 2 years back in college. Open ended.. more than 5 times? Only MJ. I just want to know what it actually entails. Just to be clear there are two completely different things here, involving two completely different processes, and two completely different groups of people: the waiver to join due to admitting drug use in your past, and the security clearance process where they will ask on the SF-86 if you have used illicit narcotics. If you lie on the first one, the chances of anyone finding out are slim to none as long as you don't pop hot and as long as there isn't anything in your record. If you are just going for a secret the chances of anyone finding out if you lie are also pretty slim (again, as long as there isn't anything in your record), but not quite as low as on the waiver. If you are going through a SSBI for a TS (which you will be for intel), the chances of them finding out if you lie aren't guaranteed, but they are pretty good. And one other thing...the processes are different and involve different groups of people, but they will more than likely look at your enlistment paperwork when going through your security clearance poo poo (I guess they probably won't for a secret since that investigation is a pretty big joke but I can guarantee they will if they're doing a SSBI on you). So if you are going for a job that requires a TS (or if you get investigated for a TS a few years down the road after joining, or whatever) and you lie on your enlistment stuff, you are basically locked into that lie. As I said before, when they are investigating you for a clearance, the biggest thing they are concerned with is discrepancies and dishonesty. Getting caught being dishonest, even about a relatively trivial thing, is basically a guaranteed way to get denied a clearance. Here's a site that is probably worth your time to peruse if you are seriously considering pursuing a job that requires a TS. It's not a perfect one for one match since every situation is unique and those are industrial security adjudication decisions, not mil, but click on 2012 or 2013, do a ctrl+f for "drugs", and do some reading.
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Apr 17, 2013 02:58
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zombieswithblenders posted:Guys I enlisted in the Air Force and choose Diagnostic imaging and Bioenvironmental engineering as my top 2 out of 5 and I have a few questions for those who can enlighten me. What does 6 get you instead of four? I'm asking because I honestly don't know but I'm guessing it's an extra stripe (so you can be the king retard of junior enlisted retard mountain) and/or like a $10K signing bonus or something that you can blow on a down payment for the super sweet Camaro you're going to finance with the low low interest rate of 200%. Anyway the point is that unless they give you a blowjob from Scarlett Johansson and half a million there's no way that signing an extra two years of your life away is worth it. If you get in and enjoy your job, congratulations, you can enlist for more. However, if you get in and you hate your job, congratulations, I hope that extra stripe and couple of grand was well worth the extra two years of your life that the government will literally own you, for every single agonizing minute.
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Apr 18, 2013 05:25
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/\ Most but not all...there are still GIs doing metals tech, depends on the base though because while some bases still have a predominantly blue suiter metals tech shop a lot of others are pretty much all govt civil service or contracted out. /\not caring here posted:You could try air force, I met a dude who did some welding and poo poo on aircraft. That's about all I know on the subject though. 2A7X1, Metals Tech. No idea what your chances of being able to ship with this AFSC are (i.e., you may have to wait a while) because while there are still definitely blue-suiter GIs in the specialty, the metals tech shop at a lot of bases is shifting to be a lot more govt civil service GS/WG/etc type dudes, not military. However it is pretty close to what you are looking for, EAB, because pretty much all that AFSC does is welding/fabricating/using CNC machines. There is a separate AFSC that does most of the work that is directly on the aircraft, so it's rare to nonexistent for metals tech to be working on the flightline or really anywhere other than their shop...which is part of the reason why a lot of bases are shifting to govt civil service dudes. Still, can't hurt to go to a recruiter and ask to see if it's possible, since even if through some weirdness you wind up in the career field and somehow don't get to do welding/fabricating/etc, I can 100% guarantee you that it will still be better than dealing with sewage on a boat. \/ Might want to look into that a little more, pretty sure the cut off is that you have to be at BMT before your 28th birthday. \/ iyaayas01 fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Apr 21, 2013 |
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Apr 21, 2013 22:05
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Victor Vermis posted:Marines are supposed to regularly requalify on the gas chamber (maybe annually? And I think it's for all jobs but maaaaybe just infantry or combat arms). Either way, everybody does it at least once- in bootcamp. Different kind of gas chamber. That's just CS. Army CBRN does a chamber run at...FLW (I think) with no poo poo live chemical agents. Like you're MOPP'd up in a chamber and someone comes in and releases some VX or Sarin or whatever. I'm pretty sure that there's other services that come to the same schoolhouse for the gas chamber, but regardless Iseeyouseemeseeyou don't do CBRN.
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Jun 19, 2013 17:39
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jwang posted:Thanks a lot for the help, this makes choosing an MOS a lot easier. Guess promotions will suck wherever you go, so might as well get a job you will hate least so you hate life less. Or if you want to work on electronics you could join the service that is most known for its technology and quality of life (also rape) as opposed to the service that is most known for lovely living conditions and physical fitness above all else (also gay sex). Also the AF doesn't do the cut score thing where your MOS/AFSC plays a significant role in your promotion rate, it's (more or less) equal-ish across the board. But hey, you're the one who wants to join the Marines to work on electronics.
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Jul 1, 2013 20:21
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Mustang posted:I just can't believe one illiterate mofo can gently caress something up for nearly a month. That or my recruiter is just blowing smoke up my rear end while he does something else. Your first mistake is assuming that there is only one illiterate mofo involved. Your second is believing that the recruiter is working this as opposed to just blowing smoke.
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Jul 20, 2013 17:36
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Godholio posted:With a degree you could, theoretically, apply and be accepted for officer training...but these days it's a really long shot. In the AF, a foreign service liason officer is a second career...you do your assigned job for 4+ years then you retrain and get a new AFSC. It's highly competitive and foreign languages might be explicitly required (it's at least an unwritten requirement). In the USAF you get picked up for RAS at more like at the 6-10 year mark, with it typically being closer to the 10 side of things, and yes it is highly competitive. Also you don't do that job full time...it's a secondary AFSC and you go into a dual track career where you alternate between RAS/"foreign service" type assignments and assignments in your primary career field. Not sure how the other services do it. OP it sounds like you would best be served by pursuing the FSO route, that sounds much, much, MUCH more up your alley. The short version is that there is almost zero chance you will get to do what it sounds like you want to do if you enlist; there is a slightly higher (but still not really high) chance you will get to do that if you pursue a commission...but good luck getting into OCS/OTS. The only way that going into the military makes sense is if you use it as a springboard to get some experience prior to going down the FSO application process, but even then like Godholio said you need to identify which service and which specialty are going to help you out most with that. Give the Foreign Service thread over in A/T a look, see what they have to say. e: Not saying that going the FSO would be much easier than pursuing getting a commission, because it probably won't, but at least if you were successful the chances of you doing something that you would probably want to do would be higher than going after a commission. iyaayas01 fucked around with this message at 17:57 on Jul 29, 2013 |
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Jul 29, 2013 17:45
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TheInvisiblePooka posted:The only thing I can think of that is worse is munitions. Speaking as a munitions officer, I would eat a bullet before being forcibly cross-trained to SF. Seriously, if that dropped I would have my paperwork in so fast it would make your head spin. Like Godholio said, figure out what you want, and then put it down as long as it isn't being a cop or maintenance officer.* *You can put mx down if you really, really want to, but you'd better be goddamned sure you fully understand what you are asking for** **You don't fully understand what you are asking for. Fake edit...Space and Missiles are two completely different career fields now. Space is full of really smart people doing classified sci-fi poo poo that is important, missiles is full of bitter alcoholics that sit in a hole for 72 hours at a time in pajama pants and bunny slippers waiting for a call to push the button, also they love to fail inspections. You can see why they split the career fields.
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Aug 13, 2013 18:33
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DocImpossible posted:So what I'm getting out of this is that if I do go in, I should expect to be shat upon by any and all COs unless proven otherwise, yeah? It's not the "CO" you have to worry about (although there are plenty of lovely commanders out there), it is the fact that as a brand new airman/sailor/whatever you are outranked by literally everyone. That jackass moron down the street who enlisted a couple years before you? Now outranks you and can tell you what to do. Dumbshit hick from backwoods Alabama with a room temperature IQ and no interpersonal skills who enlisted 7 years ago? Congrats, that's your direct supervisor who controls every aspect of your life, including your time away from work since you live in the dorms. Godholio posted:took naps on the shitter Well now let's not be unreasonable...who among us can say they've never taken a nap on the shitter at work? I feel like shitter naps are one of the last bastions of freedom in today's military.
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Aug 15, 2013 19:54
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Godholio posted:I believe 38F is the new AFSC that will include mortuary work - Force Support Officer. Looks like mortuary training is a 5-day course after whatever generic 38F training there is. It might be one of those things where mortuary affairs is an assignment rather than a career path. From the one Force Support officer I've ever talked to it's an assignment not a career path, Force Support is a bunch of what used to be separate AFSCs crammed into one, which means by necessity you have to "broaden" between all the different specializations...and mortuary affairs aren't even a separate specialty, it's just one fairly small component of one of the what used to be separate AFSCs (services). Also AFAIK typically in the AOR the Army has the lead on any large scale mortuary operations and a significant portion of the Dover operation is civilians. So basically Zhaan don't go after a commission if you are set on becoming a mortuary affairs officer because a) there's about 20 hurdles you'd have to get past just to get the point where you are commissioned as a 38F and b) such a thing doesn't really exist (at least not in the AF), if you do get commissioned as a 38F you are probably going to spend your time overseeing people who gently caress up everyone's paperwork and then doing pointless manpower studies (just one of the many exciting areas of a force support officer!) because 38F is such a broad career field. e: Also not that it matters but that picture was a bunch of aerial porters in tech school who have nothing to do with AF mortuary affairs. The mortuary people have their own laundry list of gently caress ups.
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Sep 4, 2013 16:44
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Stolennosferatu posted:Did the pay scale for AF officers change? I swear it was higher than 34-42k for an O-1. You don't want to be a LRO, it is a bastardized career field that was created out of combining three separate career fields into one (and really at least one if not two of those career fields probably should've been split into a couple of career fields as well). It is the definition of jack of all trades, master of none, except you are expected to be a master of everything. Also as an officer you don't get to get your AFSC in a "contract" like you would if you were enlisting, you just get accepted for a commissioning program (good luck with that) and then at some point down the road into your commissioning program (AFROTC/OTS/Academy) you put in a dream sheet for jobs, they may or may not give you what you want. Totally dependent on needs of the AF...and as was pointed out LROs (along with most non-rated officer career fields) isn't really something they need right now. Also also yeah, it is going to be pretty much impossible to get a commission in the AF for the next couple of years.
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Dec 4, 2013 15:50
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Godholio posted:The AF only does it for three jobs: pilot, navigator, air battle manager. These are the "rated" jobs, and they meet a separate board from the plebs. And even then this is only true for OTS...if you do AFROTC or Academy you won't hit the boarding portion until you're a couple years into the program, and there's no guarantee you'll be selected for a rated slot (chances are a fair amount higher at the Academy of course). \/ A valid point...and I wouldn't recommend the Academy to anyone for a whole variety of reasons in addition to that \/ iyaayas01 fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Dec 6, 2013 |
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Dec 6, 2013 15:38
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/\  /\I refer to the flowchart in the OP, specifically the right side.... "Can you get or finish a 4 year degree? -> No -> Is it because you are a lazy douchebag? -> Yes -> 1. The military has enough lazy douchebags. 2. You'll hate life from day one. Wake the gently caress up." So you need to wake the gently caress up, pull your head out of your rear end, and finish your degree. The military isn't some magical life changing event that presto-chango makes you into a Real American Mantm, if you are a lazy gently caress up now all you will be in the military is a lazy gently caress up who gets yelled at and who has some other lazy gently caress up control literally every aspect of their life. The suggestion to go see a mental health professional is a good one, that is the correct way to figure out a solution to whatever is currently ailing you, not raising your right hand and signing over years of your life to an institution that does not give a gently caress about you and is run by idiots.
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Dec 19, 2013 22:29
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holocaust bloopers posted:Do you realize you're seriously talking about joining the Army? Go to college you loving dork. I feel like people watch Stripes or something and seriously think that's what the Army is like.
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Dec 20, 2013 19:18
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DeesGrandpa posted:Hey guys, Im graduating in May with a bullshit degree in political science. My job offer I've been banking on since sophomore year is no longer there, along with the company. I will get dick for work without a higher level degree, so I was considering trying to commission in the air force acquisitions or contracting areas, then using the GI Bill or flep to get law school out of the deal, and hopefully get some stacks when I'm out. Setting aside the fact that USAF OTS is extremely difficult to get into now (we're about to go through another round of RIFs/Force Shaping and looking to cut thousands of officers over the next 5 years), if you somehow manage to get in you won't be able to get acquisitions or contracting in your "contract." The way it works when you apply to OTS is that you apply either as a rated candidate (flyer) or non-rated (everyone else). If you apply and get selected non-rated you put together a dream sheet of jobs at some point in your commissioning program there (someone who went OTS can speak to more details about when in the process that is) and they assign your job taking that into account as well as the needs of the AF (i.e., they use a dart board). So you could want to be an acquisitions officer working at the Pentagon and wind up a Security Forces officer supervising a bunch of alcoholic spouse abusing mentally dysfunctional cops in Minot, North Dakota.
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Dec 30, 2013 15:41
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The Agent posted:In no particular order: In theory, yes, generally speaking. While the exact format/procedure is going to vary by service, there is going to be some sort of "dream sheet" process for putting in your assignment preferences. Here's what happens in reality: your branch's personnel folks take that dream sheet, shred it, put up a dart board with such garden spots as Minot, ND and Clovis, NM on it, and huck darts until you get your assignment. The Agent posted:- What is the best way to estimate pay? I see the base rates + living COLAs, but I am having a tough time getting a good estimate because I don't know how to figure in housing allowances or any other pay provisions (I make a little over $113k currently and am aware that my pay would be much less in the military) BAH calculator is here. Not sure exactly where a pharmacist would fall on the direct commission scale, but I would guess probably an O-2 or O-3. So base pay (after taxes) + tax free BAH and BAS (I think it's right around $242/month these days) would give you a rough idea of a monthly take home. FYI, most CONUS bases don't get COLA, that is generally an overseas thing. The Agent posted:- Is there any accommodations made as far as military spouses and finding a job? My fiancee is college educated and currently works as a paralegal, but I have no idea if she would be able to work for the military/a contractor in any similar capacity. No. Some bases will have an arrangement that mil spouses get a higher priority for jobs on base, but those are almost always lovely receptionist/extremely low paying office work type gigs, definitely not a paralegal. The opportunity cost that mil spouses who are actually educated eat by virtue of having to move and not being able to sustain a serious career is pretty staggering, thus you see the proliferation of the dependopotamus. The Agent posted:If anyone is a current or former medical officer, I'd love to hear your experiences as well. Or feel free to tell me I am crazy for even considering. Paging Derek Dominoe to the thread. tl;dr if you are a pharmacist who is making $113K a year you would have to be Shim high to remotely think going into the military (even as an officer) is a remotely good idea. Take some of that $113K a year and take a nice vacation overseas to scratch that itch. Or take some of that money and use it to job hunt for a job somewhere YOU want to move to. Whatever, both options don't have you living in this place for 4 years of your life working for idiots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARtSx6kPQ8A Yes, that is a real place you could very well be stationed if you join the United States Air Force. Every other branch has locations that are just as scenic. e: Also the entire town smells like rear end. Seriously, all of it, like rear end, everywhere you go.
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Feb 10, 2014 06:27
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Obama Africanus posted:There was a point where we had more suicides than KIA going on, and that might still be the case now-- not sure if they're really advertising that fact though. That's still the case. There were more suicides than KIA in CY12 (349 suicides vs 295 KIA in Afghanistan) and I believe the same thing happened in CY13 (suicide numbers dropped in 2013 but there were also way fewer KIA).
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Feb 18, 2014 03:44
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Godholio posted:I will never forget this random drunk guy who started talking to me and a buddy at a bar. Apparently he was going to be an officer in the Air Force but his recruiter lied to him. He thought he was going to OTS until he arrived at Lackland for basic, because his degree was from an unaccredited school. Please tell me he was old enough to have gone through back when OTS was actually at Lackland, because that would be doubly hilarious.
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Mar 18, 2014 07:38
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goodness posted:"I understand what they are saying about it being peace time and it being boring but peace won't last for ever especially with Russia doing their poo poo." With analytical skills like this she'll be a perfect fit for AF intel.
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Apr 17, 2014 08:55
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Godholio posted:AF intel, of course, means being the reasonably cute girl surrounded by 23 nerdy idiots who can barely spell their own names right and are either A-too scared to talk to a girl or B-able to deal with it through strength-in-numbers and run a train on her in the dorms every 1st and 15th. I was actually making the joke that AF intel is full of retards (regardless of gender/attractiveness), but you also raise an extremely valid point.
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Apr 17, 2014 13:17
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lol For actual content, regarding goodness's friend wanting to be a psychologist in the AF, she's obviously not going to do that on the enlisted side, that requires a commission and typically you're going to get the necessary academic cred in the civilian world (i.e., four year degree plus a graduate degree at a minimum to be a social worker/counselor type or whatever) and then apply for a commission. Her best bet as far as enlisted jobs go would be be 4C0X1, I think it's called Mental Health Service Specialist now...basically what pandasmores was talking about, she'd do a lot of the clerical/support/intake work for the mental health clinic on base. Here's the official AF recruiting blurb on it. It has the advantage of being medical, which means it is relatively chill and low-stress as well as giving you some decent skills for life after the military (not as much as a truly niche medical job like radiology, but more than being a cop or a maintainer).
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Apr 18, 2014 17:09
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goodness posted:"What things make the Air Force better than the Army." Not being in the Army. I hate a lot of things about the AF, but I would've blown my head off at least a year ago if I'd spent the past 5 years as an Army officer.
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Apr 20, 2014 05:35
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FYI the USAF recently changed up the way they do rated job preferences...it used to be that you could pick and choose which of the rated jobs you wanted to board for. So if you wanted to just be a CSO or ABM, you could select just those two and not board for pilot or RPA operator. They changed it for AFROTC a year or two ago to where you had to put all four boards down...in rank order, but you had to put all four down. That model has since expanded to both USAFA and OTS so regardless of commissioning source you WILL be boarded for all four rated career fields. So if you want to be a pilot you run the risk of not getting pilot but being picked up for RPAs.
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Apr 21, 2014 04:45
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TheOtherGypsy posted:RPA - Sitting in trailers in lovely locations, but you're actually "flying" something and you're home every night that you aren't deployed. Locations aren't that bad...Cannon and Holloman blow, but the rest aren't that terrible (maybe Whiteman falls in the terrible category, I dunno). Yeah, the drive to Creech sucks, but you get to live in Vegas. Ellsworth is fine as long as you like the outdoors, I've heard nothing but good things about Syracuse and supposedly the new Tennessee ANG MCE is in a pretty nice location. They're also starting to expand as far as MCE locations go...a MCE is standing up at Hurlburt as we speak and there's a few other options coming down the pipe. With the Global Chicken Grand Forks sucks but Beale is nice. As far as deployments go, you won't deploy all that much unless you want to. Home station ops tempo as far as the flyers go isn't awesome but it's not horrible, way better than it was a year or two ago.
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Apr 21, 2014 19:16
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You know, at some point you need to cut your losses. In other words, pretty much this Commoners posted:Tell her that the army is where all the retards go, and if she goes to the army then clearly she is also a retard.
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Apr 22, 2014 17:18
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Mud Shark posted:I have my list of 10 jobs ready to roll, and they include a few 3D cyber jobs, Medical jobs, Paralegal and Air Traffic Control. He of course is trying to get me into Security Forces, EOD and linguist. I'm sure those jobs are just fine for a lot of people, but with my wife and kid at home I'm not super excited about intentionally putting myself near explosives that were designed to kill me. Regarding the 3D thing, which particular 3D AFSC are you talking about? Reason I ask is that 3D is a clusterfuck of a career category and literally includes everything from cyber nerds hacking the Gibson to dudes who work on RF transmission towers on airfields to people who are glorified IT help desk folks to people who do nothing but push paperwork all day. And oh by the way just because you are in one aspect of 3D doesn't mean you'll actually do that, there are some jobs that fall in the gaps between the AFSCs and they tend to pull randomly to fill those jobs from any 3D AFSC. Which is how Cyber Transport network technicians wind up filling out aircraft forms doing maintenance on Ground Control Stations for Predators. Also there's supposedly another career cateogry reorg coming down the pipe later this year, so expect everything to change again. I guess what I'm saying is that I don't want you thinking that 3D-whatever automatically equals cyber because it most definitely doesn't, so make sure you know the specifics of whatever 3D career fields you are thinking of enlisting in. And yeah, other than maybe linguist those are poo poo jobs, and even linguist can have some downsides (particularly if you have a family) that you'd want to consider before enlisting. As far as whether or not those current jobs are filled...I can't say for certain but yes, generally speaking jobs like paralegal or ATC or cyber where the work environment is generally pretty easy and you get skills for the outside world tend to fill up quicker than poo poo jobs like cops or maintenance. This is probably even more so the case today where we can afford to be extremely picky with who we let in, so the majority of the people who enlist are already qualified for the majority of the jobs (to include top pick ones like paralegal)...as opposed to say 8-9 years ago when we were taking anyone with a pulse so percentage wise your chances of getting a good job if you were well qualified were considerably higher. Do not under any circumstances enlist SF. Or open general. Or really anything that starts with a 2 with maybe one or two exceptions.
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May 1, 2014 01:24
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Godholio posted:As an officer trainee, I was saluted by a Lt Col. Same, except it was a Lt Col along with a Maj. Know those stories you hear about those old-rear end like 50 year old doctors who want to "serve their country" or whatever the gently caress and get direct commissioned as a Colonel? Your wife would be going through the same school as those guys successfully passed.
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May 3, 2014 04:20
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powerful weedlock posted:If there's a military doctor out there who isn't partially retarded I will eat my loving hat. We have a goon USAF doc and other than being a goon he seems not retarded.
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May 3, 2014 05:04
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/\ It's not on the current SF 86, look it up /\poopkitty posted:Is the "are you or were you ever a Socialist" question no longer on the application? It used to be a disqualifier. They haven't had any questions related to (non-violent) political activity at least since the Cold War ended, regardless of party affiliation. The only questions of that nature they have on there now all pertain to terrorism or attempting to overthrow the government of the U.S. by force, either your involvement with groups dedicated to those purposes or your direct actions in support of those purposes. So you can be a dyed in the wool communist and as long as you've never personally engaged in terrorism or other violent political activity or been a member of a group dedicated to such purposes you're fine. Wouldn't recommend being a member of Hezbollah though.
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May 22, 2014 05:26
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