So here's the scenario, I havr a decision to make. Next year I'm a senior, and graduating school in April. I still have no clue what I want to do, and am leaning toward going into the United States Air Force.

Anybody have any experiences or opinions about this idea? I want to do something significant with my life, want to see the world, and want to be employed.

Any input on this is matter is appreciated. Anybody who comes in to douche it up here will really piss me off.

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

Both my dad and uncle were USAF men, and say the world about it. They loved it. In talking to people in various branches of the military, I typically hear the most positive recollections about the Air Force.

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mechaphil

I'm an Air Force vet and my wife is active duty. If you wanna chat send me a message on here and I'll give ya a ring. I was a mental health tech and my wife started off in civil engineering and has since retrained into medical and is now applying for the Air Forces doctor program in Maryland. We're 10 years into service and I have family that was in before me. Let me know, I may be able to answer questions for you.

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I will definitely be dropping you a PM as soon as I get home. On my mobile now, I've got quite a few questions, mostly about boot camp and the lifestyle after boot camp.

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

I am active duty Army if you want that side of the house.


I will say USAF was my first choice (uncles) but one of them shipped out, and the Army recruiter ste[pped right in.


J

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Godsmack's posts are often made with little thought or consideration of others. If you find yourself offended please go to the end of the cubicle, and there you will meet Carol. She has diabetes, high blood pressure, and is a Ducks fan. She will automatically assume you are full of shit and send you away. Or you could realize that he is just a sarcastic, mean little fucker, and he rather likes it that way. Please feel free to bust his chops back. Stay Classy San Diego.

Here's my take on the services, and they're as objective as I can make them:

quality of life/want a technical job = Air Force
Want a challenge and be thrown into the shit with a sense of brotherhood felt by no other = Marines
For some ungodly reason, you want to be on ship with a ton of dudes forever, or just find yourself in awe of floating cities? = Navy
Aren't smart/gay/physically fit enough for the other three, or if you've got a strong family heritage in America's largest fighting force? = Army

That being said, I do know outstanding members of all of the Armed Forces; a lot of times family plays into it. Don't commit to one; shop around. As a new enlistee, you hold ALL the cards, Jay. You're not stupid, and you're not fat. One of the services will give you the job you want, with the geographical preference you want, and probably some sort of bonus to boot.

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Something else:

Air Force - shortest deployments (3-6 months I believe)
Army - Longest deployments (12+ months)
Navy - second longest (6 months)
Marines - Third longest (7 months)

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Wow dude are you fucking serious? I am being 110% serious here when I ask have you served? Not your granddaddy, your dad, your wife, your girlfriend, your barber's son's best friends little brother, but YOU. I ask this because you wrote that from a COMPLETELY civilian perspective. I bust the other service's balls but only to their face and only because its BROTHERLY love. You talk about the Marines with such admiration and such love, but talk shit about the rest. Lemme tell you something the fucking jar heads are the biggest bunch of cocky pieces of shit ever, and they usually are the first ones to be fucking snitches. They love to run their mouth regardless either it means they get their ass beat or someone ends up in cuffs. The only thing in this thread you seem to have right is the deployment lengths.


As for me I see it this way as for the services

Air Force- Most focus on 'lets get the shit done as quick as possible and go get in 18 before lunch' out of all 4
Army- Most focus on 'ok when are we going back and what kind of training are we going to do in the mean time? And why are we validating on equipment we arent even taking with us??'
Navy- Basic focus on attention to detail. A shit ton of hard to earn shit and honestly have 2 of the top 5 most respected military jobs/skills out of the whole American military. And no the SEALS are not on that list.
Marines-Focus on weapons, muscles, and being cocky/confidant in your goals and yourself. Great way to build self esteem if you can tolerate a shit ton of people with attitudes and yelling about random shit.


J

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Godsmack's posts are often made with little thought or consideration of others. If you find yourself offended please go to the end of the cubicle, and there you will meet Carol. She has diabetes, high blood pressure, and is a Ducks fan. She will automatically assume you are full of shit and send you away. Or you could realize that he is just a sarcastic, mean little fucker, and he rather likes it that way. Please feel free to bust his chops back. Stay Classy San Diego.

Um...yeah. I *have* served. I was in the Marine Corps for 6 and a half years. I have a civilian perspective because I can uncover my eyes. I don't think I unnecessarily ragged on any one service; some people are just enamored with one service or another for some reason (we have allegiance to our own).

EDIT - I slammed the Army with this sentence, but I'm not going to get into an internet pissing match.

Your take on the Army sounds like an infantryman's position. The Marine Corps' infantry is the same way - if they're not deployed they're training, or waiting to train. We all have to take gear we'll never use (ground forces, anyways). Just gotta learn to SITFU.

EDIT - Another Army dig here.

Back to discussion about the services, what 2 jobs are you talking about in reference to the Navy? I'm hoping Corpsman is one of them (I would assume you consider the Army's Medics among those top 5 respected as well. If not, we've gotta have a serious discussion. Corpsmen and medics keep people alive).

With all the services, once you're in, you're going to find yourself disgusted with some of the other people that they let in (and you get to call your brethren). The longer you're in, the more disgusted you will be of what the new members of your service look and act like.

Housing. When I say base housing, I mean both bachelor's quarters (i.e. barracks, but they're more like dorms than the open squad bay you may think of when you hear the term barracks) and base housing (for married folk). The Army's base housing (from the bases I've seen) sucks. I've never seen Air Force base housing. The Navy's housing has been revamped considerably in the past 10 years, as has the Marine Corps'. The only thing I can say is that in the Navy or Marine Corps, as a new sailor or Marine, don't expect to see home a lot. You'll be training and deploying.

Bonuses. Pretty much all services will give you a bonus, with the exception of the Air Force. Unless you want to be a PJ or some other crazy-ass job, they get to be picky.

Jobs. Well, when it comes to jobs, it's all about timing. For every job you consider, the service has to have a need for someone to perform that job. Sometimes the timing is just wrong - they may not need one this month, but three months from now they might need ten, and in that case, they might be willing to shell out some cash to get you to join.

So, like I originally said, you hold all the chips. Get as much as you can getting in, because once you're in, you can't go back

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Yup thats me...get it done right, fast, and the first time. Then let's go play some golf, and grab some grub.


Although I'm trying to do Airforce special forcers, which I'm sure is a little more difficult.

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

I'm not sure if you can go straight into SF in the Air Force...can you?

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Yeah; I can. Spoke with 3 different recruiters, they all told me the same thing. I'll have 2 Bachelors degrees when I go in, so all I have to do is score exceptional marks on my physical fitness tests, and they'll put me right on through.

By rights I should have just gone to Air Force Academy out of High School, I got accepted, but decided that I wasn't really into the military (2004), this was before the economic collapse, and the fall of the financial industry. Basically, it's all hindsight now, but yeah, this isn't exactly something I woke up one day, and decided, "Hey, I think I'll join the Air Force today."

But ya know what they say, you live, you learn.

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

Wow...what a douche. Hahaha! Being an Air Force guy and having worked close with the Army, Navy etc etc I'd have to say you're dead wrong. It's shit bags like you that make people from other branches hate Marines. That's not a slight, all services have their shit bags. You just happen to be a Marine.

Moving on though. With the Air Force as far as I know, the policy is to give the airmen their duty stations while they're in tech school so you won't know before hand. You fill out a "dream sheet" as to where you would like to be stationed and they (supposedly) try and stick you somewhere close. That being said I have never seen it actually work and even within the same class and career field I saw people who asked for Germany go to Washington while people who asked for Washington went to Germany. From a more honest point of view and my own limited scope I can say that with the Air Force you will have a higher standard of living when it comes to housing in general from what I have seen. The barracks usually are carpeted and now you don't share a room with anyone but do (in most cases) share a bathroom. The new barracks have two rooms joined by a kitchenette that you share with someone while you have your own bathroom. The Army tends to bunk people up and has joint bathroom and shower areas...which sucks. The Army on the other hand has more opportunities to move around and rank comes quicker though you may find yourself on the shit end of the stick when it comes time to deploy to the sandbox. Like I said, shoot me a message and I'll chat with you and answer questions you have.

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/ignore

Let's agree that I hate all other armed forces. Vehemently. Don't ever call me a shitbag.

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then don't act like one. Use that filter you got their before you start spewing shit out about joining services if you're gay etc etc. You start bad mouthing services and you ask for it. Deal with it.

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You understand the use of the word shitbag...it's not a word thrown around lightly. I might generalize services, and I feel particularly entitled to call the navy gay, having served with so many sailors. It was in jest, using one example per service. Nevermind though, as that idea was lost in translation.

I'll badmouth them as much as they badmouth me.

PS - Jay....get used to arguments like this

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Air Force housing is usually pretty good, the exception being a few older bases and even then only if you're unlucky enough to get stuck in the older housing they have still standing from the 40's. Across the Air Force they have been building new housing that is real nice and lately have been going the contracting route where they allow a company to build a ton of nice houses and then you technically rent them but the Air Force just has a direct allotment from you BAH (Base Allowance for Housing) go straight to your rent. If you live in the dorms they have a new standard of having each person have their own room and bath unless again if you are unlucky enough to get stuck in the older barracks.



Don't know about the other services (though my sister is intelligence with the Army and got a fat bonus) but the Air Force has done away with a lot of bonuses. They aren't hurting for people like they once were so they don't need to dish out the insentives anymore. Some jobs still do like some com jobs and the like though.



I wouldn't go for a job with a bonus just for the bonus's sake. Once the money is spent and you're still doing something you hate you'll regret it. Make sure and do well on the ASVAB and give yourself enough time so you can get a date for a guaranteed job position. Most times if there is a job that you like they will be able to get you a spot in that tech school but it may be a ways out before you ship out. I would advise picking a career field that has potential in the civilian world like a communications job or a medical position. If you decide to do your four years then part ways you will always have that technical certification under your belt. There is no blanket answer to any question and I'm not a recruiter so I may be wrong but to the best of my knowledge what I have said still is the case.

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I have zero issue with a guy bagging on other services with his like minded buds. I do however know that there is a time and a place for it and when a kid is asking for answers about getting into the military and what it's all about this kind of crap is harmful and stupid. The bottom line after all the chest beating is finished is that we all fight on the same team and if you were to take away any one service the whole thing would fall apart. Marine's are known as dumbasses, Navy guys are gay, Army guys are morons, Air Force troops are lazy...yeah heard it before. The truth is that lots of Marines are super smart, Navy guys aren't all out for your John Thomas, Army people don't all moo and follow orders without a thought in their heads and most Airmen are at work way after their shift was "supposed" to end. These stereotypes are thrown around to form bonds and make you feel like your "club" is better but in all honesty they don't hold much truth. Every service has easy and hard jobs, hard working and lazy troops, arrogant or humble people and a host of positives and negatives. Shit talking is fine for people like us who have been there done that but let this kid form his own opinion AFTER he gets the answers he needs.

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I beat my head off the wall a little bit every night for not going into the Coast Guard. After 9/11 they went under Homeland Security and started performing drug interdictions of go-fast boats through the Florida Channel and Gulf. I could very well be going up in the helicopter and using the Barrett 50 cal to disable the boats a few times a month.

The only other job that could be better than that is sitting at the border and picking off drug traffickers with the Barrett...if they ever get serious about that stuff anyway.

Yeah, the coasties do some pretty cool shit.

As far as bonuses, as you said Pat, you may or may not miss the boat. It depends on what you choose. The Marine Corps isn't handing them out as freely as they did when they were bolstering forces to support operations in two theatres (the Marine Corps isn't built to do *that*).

Like I said in my first post, the Air Force has a much higher standard of living for its Airmen. The Marine Corps will have you sharing a room with at least one, if not two other Marines. If you're sharing with one other, you get to share a shower and toilet with the room next door. If you're in a room with two others, you'll have your own shower and toilet (for your room).

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