Im active duty Air Force if you have any questions.

[psychotropic]

wat he said <---

[Freelance Tax Collector]

Wow. You're cool. Make this thread all by yourself?

[Phinehas]

Is it true that you're preparing for martial law?

[xippilli]

A good number of us registered are AD USAF, myself included. What I've REALLY seen a little of are guard and reservists. It's usually AF and Army, a handful of sailors and I think I've seen one or two marines.

And, of course, not one single comissioned officer.

[Riotupfront]

I'm going into the Air Force soon. Do you like it, and would you say it was a good decision, especially with the economy how it is? It's too late to turn back for me now anyway, but it would still be nice to know.

[JANUS]

i've heard it's easier than the rest.
the gist of it was that army dudes get sent to war to die, marines get sent to war to kill blindly while trying not die, and navy dudes sit on a boat. what do you do, hang out at air force bases?

[Cir]

Will you sell me a nuke? Is the Stargate program real?

[MrNatowski]

I'm ex-Air Force, I can say if you want to join because you think it's easy, big mistake. I come from a long line of military men (Army and Marines), Air Force has a shorter boot camp (6 weeks) compared to Army and Marines (Almost 12 weeks), but despite that boot camp WILL break you. In my flight we had quite a few people who went in with that attitude and they were the ones who ended up trying to quit (Doesn't work, once you join you're the military's bitch).

Here's a few of the things you'll go through in boot camp.

Food deprivation. If you research this you'll find out it's illegal, but your Training instructor doesn't care, this happens to everyone. Our first 2 days we didn't eat...at all. After that they'll give you about 20 seconds from the time you sit down before they'll boot your ass out of your chair.

Sleep deprivation. Technically they're supposed to give you at least 6 hours of sleep, but you'll find that quite often you'll be given closer to 3 or 4. This may not sound bad, but it is when your on your feet at attention for 16 hours a day, not able to move a muscle without permission. On top of that add on about 500 push-ups a day, you'll be dropping every time someone fucks up. About 50-60 push-ups every time anyone in your flight does something to piss off your TI. Oh, add in a six mile run per day, several hundred leg-lifts, squat thrusts, flutter kicks, sit-ups, etc.

As said Air Force boot camp is actually easier than the other branches. BUT, when you get to tech school, Air Force is kept on a tighter leash than the other branches and is treated as more of an extension of boot camp. Most tech schools last 6-10 weeks. My job required me to be in tech school for a year. You'll be on the phase program for the duration of your tech school. There are three phases, phase 1, 2, and 3. You'll start off in phase one for the first few weeks. During this phase you'll be required to stay in uniform at all times, march everywhere you go, you may not leave the base, you have to be back in your room at 10PM, etc. Phase 2 you can wear civies (Civilian clothes), can leave the base but only if you wear your dress blues, and have to be back by 10PM, or midnight on weekends. Phase 3 you have the most liberties and don't have a curfew on weekends, but you still have to be back at 10 on weekdays. It'll take about a month to get to phase 3.

Here's the kicker though. You have weekly room inspections, and having the smallest discrepancy (a piece of dust on your lamp) is an infraction. Two infractions and you fail your room inspection. Fail your room inspection and you can expect to spend a couple extra weeks in phase 1.

Anyway, I'm not bashing the Air Force. I'm glad I joined, it made me a stronger person and gave me a new perspective on life. But if you (Like many of the others I've seen come and fail) join thinking it's going to be easy, think again. For most, boot camp is the hardest thing they've done in their lives.

Btw, when you go to M.E.P.S (Military Entrance Processing Station), they'll try to convince you to tell them if you've ever drank underage or done drugs. They'll say things like that it won't make a difference and there's no reason to lie about it.

But, if you do admit to anything, you have no chance of getting a decent job. I saw a guy who was supposed to be a linguist, but because he admitted to drinking once when he was 16, they didn't let him get a security clearance and they put him in security forces (Piece of shit job).

Oh yeah, your recruiter will probably try to push security forces as being a badass job. It technically means you're a cop, but it's not as cool as it sounds. You'll spend most of your time deployed, and you'll be treated as the lowest rung on the military. Basically you're cannon fodder. Easy way to make sure you don't get it is when they ask if you have any fears, say you're afraid of guns. I'm serious, it sounds retarded to say that when you're joining the military, but it works.

[JANUS]

Thanks for the info MrNat. I'm not a military person (not enough uh, willpower i guess), I was just curious. I always saw the air force as only accepting smart AND physically fit people. I guess I've watched too much stargate.

[Darkerofthemind]

Originally Posted by JANUS

Thanks for the info MrNat. I'm not a military person (not enough uh, willpower i guess), I was just curious. I always saw the air force as only accepting smart AND physically fit people. I guess I've watched too much stargate.

I'd hate to say it but they are not the most physically fit. I'm currently on an air base for my schooling and well Air Force pt, well it sucks.

[illuminatikiller]

Wow. The military sounds pretty fucking gay.

[3rdBullet]

Originally Posted by Darkerofthemind

I'd hate to say it but they are not the most physically fit. I'm currently on an air base for my schooling and well Air Force pt, well it sucks.

I say this every monday, wedensday, and Friday (especially fridays) Air Force PT is a fucking joke. 20 minutes of warm ups, then a five minute chat, then a mile run, on a fucking grinder. Bunch of bitches.

And I don't know about this "Air Force is on a tight Leash" bullshit either. Motherfuckers around here don't do shit, and they can be phase two in less than a week, Bull fucking shit.

Fuck the air force, fuck them right in their faggy, digi tiger stripe wearing asses.

[Giggles The Panda]

Originally Posted by MrNatowski

Btw, when you go to M.E.P.S (Military Entrance Processing Station), they'll try to convince you to tell them if you've ever drank underage or done drugs. They'll say things like that it won't make a difference and there's no reason to lie about it.

But, if you do admit to anything, you have no chance of getting a decent job. I saw a guy who was supposed to be a linguist, but because he admitted to drinking once when he was 16, they didn't let him get a security clearance and they put him in security forces (Piece of shit job).

Umm... No
I went down there and admitted to drinking and smoking pot a few times and Im getting a top secret clearance and a job as a nuclear engineer if I get through the school.

[xippilli]

Originally Posted by Giggles The Panda

Umm... No
I went down there and admitted to drinking and smoking pot a few times and Im getting a top secret clearance and a job as a nuclear engineer if I get through the school.

You're "getting"?

Let us know how that turns out.

[Clifford the Big Red Bong]

I tried to go AF but was turned away because I lacked a diploma, or GED with college credits. I got suckered into the army with big promises and a free GED. So far things are pretty retarded. The stupid shit they have is do.. And we deploy really soon! Man..

My plan was always to go AF when my ETS date comes up. Ill have my GED with college, and prior service so I'm pretty sure I can get in. But I hear active army to active airforce is a no go. I need to spend a year in the air guard or reserve.. Us there some way around this?

Also I do have a small criminal record of shoplifting at 18.. How badly would this affect my airforce career?

[Riotupfront]

Originally Posted by Clifford the Big Red Bong

I tried to go AF but was turned away because I lacked a diploma, or GED with college credits. I got suckered into the army with big promises and a free GED. So far things are pretty retarded. The stupid shit they have is do.. And we deploy really soon! Man..

My plan was always to go AF when my ETS date comes up. Ill have my GED with college, and prior service so I'm pretty sure I can get in. But I hear active army to active airforce is a no go. I need to spend a year in the air guard or reserve.. Us there some way around this?

Also I do have a small criminal record of shoplifting at 18.. How badly would this affect my airforce career?

I remember when I was applying and signing my shit an ex-army guy came in and asked about joining, my recruiter said he could, but the only 2 jobs he could have were helicopter gunner or security forces, (or something like that) so I know you can but there's some tight restrictions. And about the criminal record I know they crack down hard on that, especially something like shoplifting, what I would do is make up some story about it not being your fault and get your recruiter to waver it, because they will find everything on your record and if it's serious enough they won't let you join.