Wow, my buddy got turned down by the AF

[RUNNINHORN]

Ive got a buddy trying to get into the Air Force, and go in as an Officer, and go to OTS, and he found out today he was denied. They said they only have a total of 70 slots for the 2004 year for incoming officers, and he didnt make the cut. I couldnt believe it, since he got his degree in Mech Engin. from Texas and had a 3.7 gpa.......I thought the AF (services for that matter) took anyone half decent.........guess even the military is having to cut back, he said the recruiter also told him they are having to tell 90k members to leave.........anyone else heard of this? Guess he should go check the navy.........

 

[JimNtexas]

OTS is used as sort of a shock absorber for new production. It takes years to ramp AFA or AFROTC production up or down, but OTS can turn on a dime.

When the USAF is short of officers, typically during economic good times, they can crank it up to replace people getting out.

Right now, a lot of people are staying in , so they can shut off OTS to just enough students to keep the school alive.

I think the recruiters lips may have been moving when he said they were reducing "90K". Washington is trying to decide if the size of the force should be increased, but the size of the Air Force has not been reduced.

 

[VNugget]

That sucks. He has the sympathy of this not-by-choice civilian, who never even had a standing chance as a USAF officer due to health and citizenship issues.

 

[JungleJetFO]

I thought the AF (services for that matter) took anyone half decent.........guess even the military is having to cut back

You're kidding right? You actually think that the military is easy to get in as an officer or pilot? I don't know the numbers but how many people do you know have gotten in as a pilot? Maybe you're thinking enlisted. No, they don't take anyone half decent. That would mean they take at least 50 percent of the applications. Doesn't happen.

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

maybe he didn't sound totally commited...a lot of people don't realize this, but going into the armed forces may involve killing others for uncle sam, and possibly sacrificing themselves...thousands of high school dropouts, with nothing to do and patriotic fever running high signed up for the armed forces right after the 11th, and are now crying to go home, because the war isn't fun and there's a real chance of getting killed...hell, there were even a few well publisized cases of desertation, due to soldier's unwillingness to actually fight in the war...apparently, they thought army was just about drills, bootcamp and college money, and when the sh!t hit the fan with Iraq, some got their panties in a bunch

so, what I am trying to say, it may not have been his grades or anything else, but the overall psyche...AF isn't just about flying pretty lil jets, it's about killing or being killed, too

 

[Caveman]

"thousands of high school dropouts,..."

I don't think so. A HS diploma is pretty much mandatory these days to enlist.

Most of the whining and crying seems to be from a few reservists who never thought they might have to actually go to war for months at a time. The idea of a few extra bucks a month while playing GI Joe was ok but now that they have been gone for over 6 months they don't like the rules. BTW, keep your flamethrowers holstered. I was priviledged to serve as part of the active duty counterpart to a Marine Reserve unit. A finer group of folks you will not meet and most of them were very committed and knew what was up. I'm talking about the small minority of reservists that are now pissing and moaning about how their lives have been ruined.

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

"thousands of high school dropouts,..."

I don't think so. A HS diploma is pretty much mandatory these days to enlist.

nitpick, why don't you...ok, ok, those with GEDs

and I agree about the reservists, esp. after reading articles how entire towns are "shocked" at deaths of their own, saying that, "Well, it was just the guard, he wasn't supposed to die"...well, guess what, war is war and it's time to pay for those college credits

 

[Dragonbravo]

Has he tried the Navy/USMC? Due to their tyically longer deployments, they usually have a harder time finding canidates.

 

[WrightAvia]

Most of the whining and crying seems to be from a few reservists who never thought they might have to actually go to war for months at a time. The idea of a few extra bucks a month while playing GI Joe was ok but now that they have been gone for over 6 months they don't like the rules.

Yea, there has been some local TV news lately about the wives complaining about extensions for some of the guards and reservists overseas. One woman said that this type of thing was going to hurt recruitment. They signed the papers, took the benifits and pay, now it's time to pay us back by working.

 

[46Driver]

DragonBravo,
Both the Navy and Marines have large number of applicants so I don't think it will by any easier. What you have to remember is that the armed forces have so many officers coming in through their academies and secondly accession through OCS - OCS (or as the Air Force calls it OTS) is used as a filler to either turn on or turn off as demand dictates.

As for the reserves whining, they certainly have a legitimate reason to. Part of this reason is mis-management and politics by the active duty. To use the Marine Corps as an example, the Corps called up the two reserve CH-53E squadrons for deployments. However, the Corps has 4 CH-53D squadrons sitting in Hawaii that didn't deploy in Gulf War I or Gulf War II. Explain to me why the Corps either: A) does not deploy the CH-53D's or B) put the CH-53E's on active duty and place the CH-53D's in the reserves.

Furthermore, the reserves (in this case primarily the National Guard) are being called up for police type occupation duty in Iraq and Bosnia. Many of the reservists signed up to defend this country - and not babysit screwed up countries for extended periods of time. This is due to a large (and generally unseen) shift in the reserve force structure. Following Gulf War I, it was seen that the "round-out brigade" concept did not work because it took too long to bring the Guard up to speed. Therefore to maximize efficiency, a greater proportion of active duty units were shifted to combat units, the Army and Air Force reserves (the federal units) were shifted almost exclusively to support units and the national guard shifted to a mixture (but the national guard units were not going to be used for 1st wave combat units but rather as occupation troops.)

This is obviously having an effect upon retention and recruitment. The active duty force has been pared down to too small of a force. As for the numbers, if y'all need them, I can post them - I just finished my graduate school project on the subject of the reserves and how their change in mission is changing US military projection capabilities.

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

Furthermore, the reserves (in this case primarily the National Guard) are being called up for police type occupation duty in Iraq and Bosnia. Many of the reservists signed up to defend this country - and not babysit screwed up countries for extended periods of time

Ok, lemme play devil's advocat here a bit:
They signed up to defend this country, which may or may not involve policing Iraq and Bosnia, duties needed as part of the overall occupation and further protection of American interests from further terror acts. No?

It is duty, whether they like it or not, and it was stipulated in the contract, which they signed and are being paid for. No?

Had this been conscripts, who for reasons dear to them, did not want to serve (as in Vietnam) it would have been different (granted, there were people in Vietnam that served because they felt it was their duty)

So, to those aspiring to serve in the armed forces:
Read the fine print, anticipate the political climate change , which may or may not bring more potential for conflict, and decide whether killing or being killed is your kind of thing.

 

[WrightAvia]

Furthermore, the reserves (in this case primarily the National Guard) are being called up for police type occupation duty in Iraq and Bosnia. Many of the reservists signed up to defend this country - and not babysit screwed up countries for extended periods of time

That's not only true, but I'll even go one further...

The guard concept was so that individual states could have a standing army to defend a states sovreignty. Federalism has erased that and made them... "NATIONAL" guard.

Wait till ALL police are "National Police". Then the party begins.

 

[Dragonbravo]

46

Things must have changed since I talked to a guy from HMX-1 a couple of years ago. As for reserve units, I simply ment that I rarely see a reserve naval/USMC unit. However it seems you can't turn arround without finding a airport with a C-130 or KC-135 unit. My appologies if I insulted. By the way, I love your quote. " Neither is policy", that's great!