Air Force

Tyler19 · May 28, 2014

Anyone here Air Force reserve? I was wanting to go talk to a recruiter about enlisting today. Anything you might of done differently if you could do it all over again? I'm 20 and work full time, don't go to college, but was hoping to now that they'll help me. Also it's extra cash for an insane build. (;

Tmoore03 · May 28, 2014

Tyler19 said:
Anyone here Air Force reserve? I was wanting to go talk to a recruiter about enlisting today. Anything you might of done differently if you could do it all over again? I'm 20 and work full time, don't go to college, but was hoping to now that they'll help me. Also it's extra cash for an insane build. (;

Just out of curiousity...why dont you just go Active?

Tyler19 · May 28, 2014

Tmoore03 said:
Just out of curiousity...why dont you just go Active?

Well my life long goal has always been to be a police officer in the civilian world. With that being said I was hoping to go reserve and get on with my local agency, I've been coached by family friend officers that said this would be my best route. I haven't really weighed the pros and cons of going active though, I'm not against it, but what would be your thoughts leading you to say active over reserve?

Tmoore03 · May 28, 2014

Tyler19 said:
Well my life long goal has always been to be a police officer in the civilian world. With that being said I was hoping to go reserve and get on with my local agency, I've been coached by family friend officers that said this would be my best route. I haven't really weighed the pros and cons of going active though, I'm not against it, but what would be your thoughts leading you to say active over reserve?

That makes sense. I dont have anything against guard or reserve. I honestly thought about going guard but think I am just getting out after this enlistment though.

BadApple · May 28, 2014

You realize you can be a cop in the air forceright. Or are you scared to deploy?

Sent from my SM-T210R using Tapatalk

Tyler19 · May 28, 2014

BadApple said:
You realize you can be a cop in the air forceright. Or are you scared to deploy?

Sent from my SM-T210R using Tapatalk

Scared to deploy? Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind going active duty, heck I graduated 6 months early just to go active duty in 2012, but a lot came up with my family that has held me back. Deploying wouldn't scare me, I'm not trying to seem like a hard ass at all because I'm definitely not, but I feel as if someone is scared to deploy, that's just leaving room for errors and going to cause someone to get hurt. I'm not trying to stir anything up with going active or not, but there is just a lot that goes on in my personal life that isn't shared on the forum that stops me from leaving. You get what I'm saying?

JK1 · May 28, 2014

Im a national guard recruiter... if your not going to college then go active unless of course in in iowa then come see me

pros and cons... pros you are 20 and you can retire from the airforce at 40 then become a police officer and retire at 60 again and double dip retirement for the rest of your life...wish someone would have told me that when I was 20 and thought I knew everything lol

Sent from my SCH-R970 using WAYALIFE mobile app

Tyler19 · May 28, 2014

JK1 said:
Im a national guard recruiter... if your not going to college then go active unless of course in in iowa then come see me pros and cons... pros you are 20 and you can retire from the airforce at 40 then become a police officer and retire at 60 again and double dip retirement for the rest of your life...wish someone would have told me that when I was 20 and thought I knew everything lol

Sent from my SCH-R970 using WAYALIFE mobile app

I appreciate you posting on here, my wording was probably terrible above, but that's the main thing leading me to reserve is I plan to go to college as well. I saw that when you complete basic, you get a few hours, and when you complete AIT, you get quite a bit of college hours.. I didn't know if this was only being in the reserve or if active duty can earn hours as well?

JK1 · May 28, 2014

some college will take electives off your degree for military schools... that being said if you are looking at college look carefully some branches have more college money than other branches..like for instance here in iowa the National Guard pays 7k more per year for colleges because the national guard is state and federal.. so all branches get 4000 a year after you have been MOS qualified for a year this is called federal tuition assistance/ FED T/A and that is all the tuition assistance the other branches get active or reserve but they will tell you to use your GI BILL towards tuition when that is suppose to be used for living expense

.... the National Guard pays 7000 a year for college and then when your 1 year after MOS school you get that 4000 FED TA so here your school looks like this
FRESHMAN 7000 State T/A
SOPH 7000 state t/a + 4000 fed t/a
JR 7000 state t/a + 4000 fed t/a
SR 7000 state t/a +4000 fed t/a

Plus you get the GI BILL 365ish a month when going to school full time
plus you get your drill check 200 starting then more as you get rank
Plus if your job quilifies you can get a 200 GI Bill kicker every month you in school

these arent exact numbers and this is what iowa stuff looks like IDK about Texas

hope this helps a :yup:little

BadApple · May 28, 2014

You also get ALS college credits unless they have changed it since I went through the course. Ill tell you from my stand point. Im a fighter maintainer one of the most stressful jobs in the AF in my opinion and I still have time to get schooling done without being pushed to my limits. I have been in almost 10 years and I will be able to retire at 38. 38!! It flies by, and is totally worth the experience. I've been remote to korea twice for a year at a time (currently there) Bahrain, Turkey and UAE once and been to numerous different duty locations. Its been the best 10yrs of my life. I tell evryone I talk to about this same topic, Go Active.

Sent from my SM-T210R using Tapatalk

turbineguy · May 28, 2014

I retired from the AF after 22 years, and am doing very well for myself.

The single biggest thing is choosing a job that has in demand skills. Certain jobs, while they sound cool, suck for civilian employment... others you might not think of, are awesome.

List of good jobs I can think of off the top of my head.

Sat Com
Air Traffic Control
Nondestructive Inspection
Medical Equipment Repair
Welding/machinist

(These are all jobs where its possible to get out and make $100K range).

Canvas JK · May 28, 2014

I am getting ready to retire from the. Navy after 26 years and will graduate with my masters shortly before my last day on active duty. Look at all of your options when selecting which to do active or reserve. Going active will give you a steady paycheck but it may not be what you are used too. An E-1 to E-4 do not get paid a whole lot but you would not have to worry about living expenses. The dining facilities on Air Force bases are by the best I have ever had. Trust me I have eaten MRE's and on the mess decks of small and big ships. There is the Post 9/11 GI bill which gives you 3 years of school and if you are not on active duty you get a stipend that helps out.

An active duty and even reserve recruiter is looking at numbers. I would avoid going at the end of the month to enlist because they may not work with you on getting you an MOS. I cannot talk about the National Guard because I have only worked with them in Afghanistan.

R/
Will

If you have more questions please ask.

Sent from my fRuit product using WAL

Speeddmn · May 29, 2014

Along with BadApple, I am also currently stationed at Kunsan AB, South Korea. I have been active duty for almost 16 Years and if I retire at 20 years I to will be 38 years old collecting a paycheck for life. My last base I worked side by side with and Active Reserve Unit. These guys and gals, mostly were active duty, did their 4-6 years then crossed over to reserve. Nothing against it, but that can mess up retirement plans if you dont plan correctly. If you are 20 years old, and go traditional Reserve, (one weekend a month, 2 weeks a year, deployment once inawhile) you will need to work almost 35 years untill you are able to retire. Not to mention in the reserve E-1 thru E-6 come fairly quick, or can be. Not uncommon for a guy in to be in 6-7 years and be an E-6. After that you need to apply for certain job titles.

Cons of Active Duty:
Depending on job, lots of deployments (can be a Pro also)
Dorm life if you are single (untill E4 roughly)
Lots of moving, base to base (can be a Pro also)
Working some weekends, holidays, long hours, etc
Getting paid less then minimun wage

Pros of Active Duty:
Deployments (tax free!!)
30 days a year PAID vacation!
College credits for dang near everything
Seeing the world!
Serving your great nation!
Medical and Dental for free, from day 1 (in the reserve you have to be on "Active orders" to get medical care)
And I'm sure there are a ton more

Either way, just weigh your options and choose what you think is best, if you go active do the 4 years, if you life it, re-up if not then go to the reserve. Also, Thank you for atleast thinking about serving your country!

BTW My job in Korea is in the Safety office, and I shoot birds/deer and get paid for it.... Just saying.

Tyler19 · May 29, 2014

I'd just like to thank everyone who has commented on this thread, I will definitely sit down and weigh the pros and cons from my perspective. It's a big decision, and I want to make sure it's the right decision on whatever I choose.

Beyrgut · May 29, 2014

Check on tuition assistance while on active duty, if I recall correctly they paid 75% tuition while I was active duty. So 25% tuition and books are on you isn't bad, most bases have college classes on base or at the nearby university. The AF also had one of the most consistent schedules so it was easy to work in going to school.

Keep in mind the Military isn't for everyone, myself included. But on the same token I don't regret it one bit.

HLKSMSH · May 29, 2014

You AF guys are making my eyes bleed reading this man up and go Army. None of you should say a con is deploying LOL Army has real deployments my first was 15 months. AF is what 6 months max lol lol lol just join the Army ACTIVE duty and become a 12B Combat Engineer and have fun playing with C4 blowing shit up.

Beyrgut · May 29, 2014

6 months, pfft I think it was 90 days max. The AF truly is the country club of the military. In all seriousness though, if you are looking at schooling the AF or Navy is the way to go. Not knocking the Army or Marines, they would be great for your police training, but their missions are very different and would make school near impossible in comparison. Just have to decide what you want to get out of joining.

OverlanderJK · May 29, 2014

HLKSMSH said:
You AF guys are making my eyes bleed reading this man up and go Army. None of you should say a con is deploying LOL Army has real deployments my first was 15 months. AF is what 6 months max lol lol lol just join the Army ACTIVE duty and become a 12B Combat Engineer and have fun playing with C4 blowing shit up.

My brother was in the Air Force and was deployed for 32 of his 48 months he was in. A little bit longer then 6 months.

HLKSMSH · May 29, 2014

OverlanderJK said:
My brother was in the Air Force and was deployed for 32 of his 48 months he was in. A little bit longer then 6 months.

Sorry brother but that does not sound correct you can request back to back and there are other ways to go more but he was not directed to go 32 of 48 months. The only way I could see him saying that was he called a overseas duty station a deployment and thats not what it is. No kidding for anyone to make a run of 32 out of 48 months they would have had to fight hard to deploy that much. If I didnt have kids I would have loved to be able to deploy that long within 48 months I would be driving a jeep capable of driving over the moon lol. My first deployment was 15 months I was a junior soldier and spent 10K while I was home on RnR and paid off my truck at the time and still came home with just over 30K in the bank from the deployment.

OverlanderJK · May 29, 2014

HLKSMSH said:
Sorry brother but that does not sound correct you can request back to back and there are other ways to go more but he was not directed to go 32 of 48 months. The only way I could see him saying that was he called a overseas duty station a deployment and thats not what it is. No kidding for anyone to make a run of 32 out of 48 months they would have had to fight hard to deploy that much. If I didnt have kids I would have loved to be able to deploy that long within 48 months I would be driving a jeep capable of driving over the moon lol. My first deployment was 15 months I was a junior soldier and spent 10K while I was home on RnR and paid off my truck at the time and still came home with just over 30K in the bank from the deployment.

Iraq for a year and a half and Afghanistan for about a year. He didn't request it.

Air Force

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

-

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

Resident Smartass

New member

Resident Smartass