Im now strongly thinking about joining the Air Force (Navy, training, BMT)
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One thing about Air Force compared to Army. You don't get promoted as fast. I also have a SIL in the Army, getting ready to deploy. He has been in the Army for 13 years and got Sgt. 1st Class, E7, in 12 years. Air Force SIL reached E7, Master Sgt. in 18.
That is a point which is not really brought up and it has generally been true from my observation for 40+ years.
I knew a guy who wasn't even 21 yet, was in the Coast guard for 2 years, and was an E-5. That is literally not even possible in the Air Force. We have minimum times that you have to be in the Air Force for, before we'll let you promote to certain ranks. You can make E-9 in 14 years, but it's unusual and unlikely!
They WILL let you enter with a GED, but you must either have 15 college credits, or a 65 on the ASVAB. Passing for the ASVAB is a 36. We're so fat and happy right now everyone needs a 50, but with a GED you need a 65, or the college credits. The Air Force doens't know why you got a GED instead of a diploma, so we need to see that you can make it through a tough tech school. If you can't get the score on the ASVAB, 15 college credits is only 5 classes... do well in those and you can "prove" that you can be academically successful.
You can join if you've been on antidepressants, for depression... not a major thing like schitzophrenia (sp?) though. You must have been off them for a year before going to basic training though, without the depression returning. If you have ever been documented as suicidal, you will likely not be able to join.
Well thank you very much for the info. But I can't think about things a year ahead of me, so unfortunatly Im not gonna be able to do this. My depression is bad enough it can flare up even with me being on antidepressants. Its not my fault that I was born with depression, but I can understand fully why the Air Force wouldn't want to take a risk letting someone in who might hold others back or what not. But anyways again thank you.
I think it's not about holding others back, it's about the fact that what if you get deployed to a remote location and you are away from family and friends, don't like your coworkers, can't go for a drive or eat at a restaurant or take a bubble bath, or watch you favorite TV show or whatever it is that you like to do to relieve stress. You might not get a full night's sleep even! If you have trouble fighting through the depression in everyday life, what happens in a situation like that?
There is nothing wrong with having depression, and no one should ever judge you for it, it's just not always the best thing to combine the stresses of military life, and the isolation that can sometimes come with forced moves across the world where you know no one.... with someone who already struggles with depression.
I'm sorry that this is something that you struggle with. I don't know alot about depression, but perhaps you can find a doctor who can treat you without drugs? There are still doctors in this world that believe addressing stress managment, self-confidence, social anxieties, or other threads of depression through talk therapy and behavior modifications, such as self-affirmations, can help in the long term elimination of drug therapy.
Best of luck with whatever you decide to do in life!
Also, I'm not sure about the other services. I'm pretty sure that you can't go to boot camp to any of the services with any RX other than birth control.... but it might be worth asking some recruiters.
How is the testing? I tend to think Im a very intelligent young man, so I could probably pass. The only reason I didn't finish high school(besides depression) was because of my own laziness. But I can change that if I joined the Air Force, it would just take alot of effort on my part.
The military isn't for everyone. They are going to require you to do things you really don't feel like doing. There's a good chance that you will get mad at your commander, hate your co-workers, have an idiot suite-mate in the dorms, etc. Are you ready for that? Are you ready to be told that you have to go to the desert for another year even though some of your coworkers haven't even been once yet? Are you ready to get sent to a location in the middle of nowhere...away from family and friends and maybe even miss out on some important family occasions (funerals/weddings/holidays, etc) because you are deployed and/or not able to get time off? Are you ready to meet a great girl who you really start to love, only to get orders that it's time to move?
For every AF member living in what you would consider a "great location" there are others who are stuck somewhere they hate. The military is starting to get "thin" meaning that when the economy goes bad, recruiting goes up and so they don't "need" everyone. They're not going to be beating down your door, promising the sun/moon/stars in order to get you to enlist because if you leave, someone else will be signing up right behind you. You are going to have to work for it.
My husband retired from the AF a few years ago and I was lucky to be a military spouse and worked as a DoD civilian with the AF. I loved it and am grateful for the experience my husband gained while active duty because he retired, turned around and started working as a civilian in a great job. But, for every story like his, there are others who can't find work...are totally unprepared for civilian life and had a very hard time of it.
It can be a great life if you know what you're in for. Every story is different, everyone's job is different, some people only make it through one enlistment while others go past retirement.
Your words..."Laziness", "Depression", and thinking you're "an intelligent young man" gives me pause...but I'm not a recruiter.
No offense cocytus and with all due, I disagree on a thing or 2, ie:
I seriously doubt it. I agree it's not for everyone and should not be entered into lightly, but most likely the worst case is even if he gets a job he doesn't like, he's still gainfully employed for a few years, learning a skill and getting PAID to learn it (vs paying for it) and will come out a few years later older, wiser, and more mature...all the while enjoying free medical and dental, 6 weeks paid vacation a year, and if he chooses, a 100% tuition reimbursement plan. Doesn't sound very devastating to me. The big kicker of course is getting deployed to combat zones, but the really "dangerous areas" are manned a lot more by Army and Marines vs USAF. ( The most likely WORST case also can be 1) He gets into trouble and is discharged w/ anything but an honorable discharge which means it will hard for him to get any number of differing jobs. 2) I have to say that I doubt that most service are "more mature" than people in the real world. How does having everything done for you and being told when and what to do make you more mature? If the time when that existed was true,it has long since passed. 3) As we'll see when the troops from Iraq and Afghanistan start coming home, there are still not many social services to help them adjust to life outside the military. If CTNative joins and leaves (or gets booted) he'll likely have to make his own way in the world and find a way to deal w/ his service-related problems.)
It's both, actually. Odds are if he wants to make a career out of it, he can, but not necessarily all on his terms.
( The decision for anybody to stay in the service rests almost solely in the hands of that particular branch. A bad check,a DUI or even a write up in basic training or technical school can all be used to deny re-enlistment at any juncture.
Also, unless you have better than average service reviews,your chances of making a career in what will soon be a shrinking armed forces will themselves shrink commensurately.
It's NOT the same service as you and I served in,poster)
Great call on the comments about the job though, btw.
CT, do NOT let them "strong arm" you - if you feel like they're trying to steer you in a direction you're not sure you're comfortable with, give them an "I'll think about it" line...don't let them give you some "oh you have to do it now or never!" BS. I did and regretted not biding my time in a big way. (Good answer about the "strong-arming")
Any other questions just let me know. (Very) short answer to "what Air Force life is like" is more civilian-ish in most cases than the other services, easily.
Possibly but I WOULD NOT mention this unless they ask, eg "are you on any prescription meds" or "have you ever taken" type of questions
If an applicant comes in an really wants to join the Air Force, sometimes they have to decide what is more important: being in the Air Force, or being a certain job.
If you come in and you tell me, "I will only do finance, that's it! That's what I want to do." I will say, "OK, fill out these forms and I'll call you when MEPS allows me to send you to them" and you'll wait a year, and probably no one will call. Meanwhile you would've already been promoted a couple times, been through tech school and well into your first assignment.
When you tell people things like this, you make recruiters look like liars...we are telling you the truth if we tell you we can't get you a job. We don't get more money or anything like that for filling certain jobs. If the job is available, we'll give it to you. If we push you towards a job, it's cuz it's available and you said you wanted to join. If you wait until the job you wants opens, then you might be waiting forever.
Once upon a time, people didn't "go in open" now that is one of the ways to get in faster than 8 months from now. Some jobs won't open up until your guess is as good as mine.
If you've ever done any drug, you are disqualified for some of the jobs, any crimes (even shoplifting) and you are disqualified for some jobs, add to that the ASVAB score qualifications, physical qualifications for certain jobs, color blindness, ect... and some people are only qualified for a few jobs, and only 1 of those few jobs has a hope of being available.
Every recruit has to decide if they want to join the Air Force, of if they want a special skill set. If its just about the skill set, if that's your #1 priority... go to a trade school. If you want to serve your country, get a heck of a paycheck and benefits, and be a part of something bigger than yourself.... then join the Air Force. Your choice...which is more important?
And I'm on my 4th job in 10 years in the Air Force. The job doesn't have to be permanent. And mine weren't even related... it's not like I went from a clerk to a different kind of clerk.... 4 totally different jobs.
Don't get TOO hung up on the job.
That''s unfortunate that things are now like that in the USAF,dmarie.
Franky,since most people won't (or can't) make a career out of military service,it's very critical that they find a career that provides training for future employment.
I know a number of "chapel assistants",weapons loaders and "admin personnel" that got very rude awakenings when they found that the skills that they had spent years perfecting, were of little or no use when they got into the job market.
I would still recommend that the OP look for a specific job type that he can do and that can gain him employment in the real world.
Otherwise,I would strongly suggest that he consider a Reserve or Air Guard option that will allow him to go to school and still be part of the real job market.
That''s unfortunate that things are now like that in the USAF,dmarie.
Franky,since most people won't (or can't) make a career out of military service,it's very critical that they find a career that provides training for future employment.
I know a number of "chapel assistants",weapons loaders and "admin personnel" that got very rude awakenings when they found that the skills that they had spent years perfecting, were of little or no use when they got into the job market.
I would still recommend that the OP look for a specific job type that he can do and that can gain him employment in the real world.
Otherwise,I would strongly suggest that he consider a Reserve or Air Guard option that will allow him to go to school and still be part of the real job market.
I really do disagree with you. I have had too many airman say, "What, you want me to deploy? But I joined for education." "What.... you need me to help watch a third country national in the desert...no way, I am an EMT... I didn't sign up to do anything buy EMT duties." Or "That's not in my job description."
It's the wrong attitude to have.
Ever see the movie "300" where the Spartans meet a group of people who are going to help them fight, and the other group says, "What? You only have three hundred Soliders?" and then the leader of the Spartans starts asking all the other people what their professions are, and they say things like, "Welder, blacksmith, candle-maker" and then he asks his 300 people what their professions are, and they all cheer- signifiying that they are all warriors. That's what we need to move towards.
Joining the Air Force should be about the Air Force. Not about "I'm a lab tech, I'm an admin troop, I'm a crew chief".... it should be, "I am an Airman....and I happen to work on planes"
But this is just me.
Why should the taxpayers pay someone $50,000 a year (as an E-5 with allowances), and pay for their school, and pay for the health...including health benefits that civilians seem to never have covered under insurance like braces, corrective eye surgery (PRK, like LASIK), infertility treatments, accupuncture, and even sometimes cosmetic surgeries! (If you buy the implants, WHMC will put them in for you!). We have the best of everything, and the taxpayers pay for these things! There is no need to spend that much taxpayer money, year after year, and fund someone's retirement... if we don't *need* that person.
We shouldn't be paying for more than we need. We need to be fiscally responsible. If I need to have 100 histopathologists, and your dream is to be a histopathologist, but I already have 100, and all 100 keep re-enlisting and not leaving the Air Force... then WHY IN THE H-E-L-L should I pay to train you and pay you, and give you benefits, for you to do a job that you want to do... when having you as the 101st histopathogist is a waste of America's resources. However, I'm short 4,500 cops....
If YOU want to join, you'll have to be a cop (in the above simplified and hypotheical example). It's a stupid waste of taxpayer money to continue to be short cops, and overstaff another career field so that you can get the job skills that you feel entitled too.
It's a numbers game. if we don't need Radiology techs, but we do need electritions need electritians, and we don't need you to join the AF, cuz 20,000 other people want to join too-- then it is what it is. So, if you want to join, you're going to have to be a electritian, and try to be a radiology tech later, or use your free college money and go to school to be a radiology tech in your off duty time.
Besides, it's not like if you don't join the Air Force you can walk right into that other job anyway. It's not like without the Air Force you will magically be a radiology tech, or whatever other job your recruiter told you that you couldn't do. To get that job you'd still have to pay for schooling, submit 200 applications all over your state, and hope someone calls you for an interview, and cross your fingers that your going to get health insurance to offset your student loans, and then hope you don't get laid off.
The "real job market" is not an easy or pretty place. There are people graduating colleges with degrees, who are NOT able to work in those career fields. Choosing not to join the military because you can't get the job you want WILL NOT lead you to getting that job.... so what's the difference?
I can go to school right now and get a math degree, doesn't mean I can get a job as a math teacher. I can get go to a trade school and become a dental hygenist and end up working fast food.... who knows!
Just my two sense. People get way to caught up on the "job" thing.
There is no need to overstaff career fields.
It seems like half the time people come in with a specific career field that they "knew" they wanted, and they end up wanting to change it anyway.
When I came in, I told my recruiter I had one choice. ONE! And he got it for me... and you know what... I hated it!
What do you mean, "The real job market"... is being in the military not a "real job?".... at least I don't have to worry about being laid off! My bank thinks my paychecks are real!
I don't want you guys to think it's hopeless to get the job you want, it's just not as easy as in the past. The Air Force is WAY OVERSTAFFED. They are paying people to leave the Air Force early in some career fields. Google "Air Force force shaping" and you can read articles on it. In a career field that is overmanned, getting severence packages to leave... you're probably not going to be able to get that job no matter how much it is your dream, or how much you threaten to join the Army instead.
But just cuz it's not overmanned, it doesn't mean it's not fully manned.
If everyone could do the job they wanted, I think we would have 5000% manning in some career fields, and like 2% in other career fields. I think we have more responsibility to the American people's needs, than to the needs of one person who wants to do a specific job.
Could be worse... no one could want to join and we could start a draft
And if someone is a "chaplain assistant" and they can't find a job after that, they need to rewrite their resume. There are a lot of general office managment skills they use, supervisory skills, not to mention that I'm sure they supplemented it with a degree in something, and their volunteer work over their Air Force career can help build a resume too. You can't just poop out "Worked as a chaplain's assistant, scheduled religious counseling, cleaned bibles" and expect to get a retail managment job... ya gotta tailor things. Many of the "Core" skills are transferable...
How can anybody get "too caught up" in the "job thing?"
The main reason for the existence of the military is defend America...I agree.
However, if the training you receive in the military will provide you w/ little or no benefit after you are no longer in the military,what good is it you?
I worked on airplane engines when I was in the USAF. When I got out I got the rude awakening that all five branches (Coast Guard,too) train aircraft mechanics. Also there are civilian technical schools,such as Spartan.
Hence, not a great need for aircraft mechanics at that time.
My point? Unless I used my training in using tools and mechanical and electrical troubleshooting to find another job in another field, I would have been SOL.
I lucked out. Most people who pick a job w/o many civilian equivalents end up having to re-train in another type of work, which,IMHO,defeats a major reason for joining the military in the first place.
If you want to join the military to defend your country...that's great.
However,allowing that mindset to be the primary, or sole, reason for joining is,IMHO,flawed logic and poor reasoning.
Ask the many homeless vets out there if they made good career choices as far as military service.
Just saying....
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But I can't think about things a year ahead of me, so unfortunatly Im not gonna be able to do this. My depression is bad enough it can flare up even with me being on antidepressants. Its not my fault that I was born with depression, but I can understand fully why the Air Force wouldn't want to take a risk letting someone in who might hold others back or what not. But anyways again thank you.
My bank thinks my paychecks are real! 
