Enlisted Air Force, storys please.

[Slim]

Good luck!

Be it active, Guard or Reserve, prepare for times and friends whom you will never forget! Once you depart loadmaster school, you'll never know who you'll run into where.

I ran into a classmate in the Netherlands during a REFORGER exercise in 1988...one of my classmates from basic training lived less than 10 miles away when I lived in West Virginia. The list goes on and it will for you, too. Networking will become very important when you apply to UPT.

Another word about military flying clubs...you are eligible for those clubs regardless of your duty status (active vs. reserve/NG). As I pointed out in an earlier post, I was in the Quantico flying club. Quantico membership included all branches of the military and some DoD civilians.

Fly safe!

 

[gordon24]

My little story:

C-5 loadmaster for 12 years
Regional and now coporate pilot.

My advice: Take full advantage of every educational program the AF provides. You are going to run into a lot of people that have zero plans for when they get out of the AF. They think that they will walk into a managers job somewhere, and now days, it's not gonna happen. Use T/A assistance, GI bill, Clep test, etc.... Be the "squeaky wheel" over at the Educational center. I know several people that applied and made it to OTS, UPT, etc....Again, I can't say this enough, take full advantage of the educational programs for offer. I think I spent about 1K out of pocket on my degree. Good luck.

P.S. If you are serious about ATC, get that job guaranteed before you enlist. Do NOT sign up for an "open" job area.

 

[jetexas]

I was in the USAF in the late 80's-early 90's. I had a blast. I got very lucky and got a job as an enlisted aircrew member. I saw parts of the world I would have never seen and most likely will never see again. I feel I did more and saw more in that 4 years than most see in a lifetime.

As others here have said, ignore the political red tape stuff as much as you can and just get what you can out of the experience. Sign up for the GI Bill. Utilize the base education offices to take free college CLEP tests, etc. (if you plan one day to go to college). When you are in basic and go for your 'job interview' be as positive and direct about your goals as you can. Tell them you want to get the best job available to better serve your country and allow you to have a nice career with the USAF. There are many jobs available that can mesh directly with a good paying civilian job one day down the line. Try to take advantage of that and the excellant free training.

Sidenote: I would not be a pilot today had I not gone into the military. It taught me discipline, inspiration and allowed me to mature before I went back out into the civilian world. I was then able to pursue a lifelong dream to be an airline pilot as well as to get a college degree. So far it has worked. I have never regretted it.

Good luck

 

[El Capitan]

Congrats and welcom!

After almost 10 years of active duty AF one thing I would strongly recommend is for you to look very close into the Air Guard. A few of my bodies, all pilots, started in maintenance and had an advantage into becoming AF pilots in their Guard unit. The Guard is more a family and very close net than active duty. If I were to do it all over again I will definitely go Guard. In addition, many Guard units can waive the degree and providing you are with in a year from completing your college degree you could be selected for AMS and onto UPT. Having your pilot ratings makes you very competitive and you will definitely have an opportunity for being interview by a board.

If you are thinking active duty your sole job is AF, nothing else. And unless you have a 0700 - 1700 job schedule (Admin) it will at the very least take the first 2 years working on being qualify to do your job. This is one info the recruiters won’t tell you. The AF policy is for you as an enlisted to be able to get the 100% tuition free you have to get your supervisor's approval. So technically after BTC, tech school, OJT and obtaining your 5 level, which typically make you qualified in your field, it can take about half of your first enlistment. And as I mentioned AF comes first. So by this time you have not even started on your college education. On top of all these, you have to consider deployments. And believe me, it is not common that supervisors will not approve tuition assistance because if they do and you get deployed they have to explain the reasons why you had to drop your courses. After all that fiasco, it may very well take you two enlistments to get your degree and as it was mentioned before, you will sacrifice a lot and will have to be very discipline to put your education first. To get selected for OTS following an UPT slot in active duty, well good luck. Not to sound negative but I saw so many well qualified folks, troops that were consider superb airmen on-and-off duty and unfortunately leadership overlooked their potential and were not selected. Most of them worked their best for 2 enlistments and at the end separated due to the disappointment. I am not saying this will be the case with you but at the same time I am not going to paint a pretty picture of the system. Again recruiters will not tell you this.

Also, consider your age. Let’s say you are 20. Considering it will take 2 enlistments to complete your degree and even if it takes you 6 years to do so, you will be about 26-27. You at this point have about 3 years to be selected for a pilot slot. Once you turn 30, you are done! for UPT.

In the Guard, considering our current state as a nation at war, you will most probably be activated, however, if not activated your time will be sole concentrated on getting your college degree. You mentioned one of your interests to join was college money, well as it was mentioned most states have great deals with money for college and even paying some of your old student loans, depending on the career field. Again, I will not disregard the Guard and at the very leas do your self a favor and talk to a Guard recruiter to explore those opportunities as well.



If you are set for active duty I will also recommend calling your college AFROTC and obtaining information and my advice will be for you to get your college degree first and join your college AFROTC. Currently most folks that work hard both academically and ROTC training will almost have a chance to be selected for a pilot slot out of college. If you are set to shine an do above an beyond, your ROTC commander will definitely see your potential. As an active duty airmen, your recommendations initially come from your supervisors. By the time your commander is presented with your paper work, your name in paper has passed down so many desk, from the enlisted side. Well, you can only imagine the long process.

Lastly, depending on how hard you work on your degree you can be done in 4 years or less if you already have some college credits.

Ultimately you will make your own decision. I wish you luck on your endeavors.



Happy Holidays

 

[FlyIllini]

Bobby --

I know this post is a little old, but take a quick look at the following thread:

http://forums.flightinfo.com/showthread.php?t=45552&page=2

Best to skim the whole thread..

If not, go to page two & have a look at some of the info i posted in a rather lengthy response..

Good Luck!!

 

[bobs98tlr]

Thanks flyIllini, thats my Girlfriends post....ive read through them and we both appriciate hearing everyones advise and storys.