if so, are you happy with it?
have you ever been to iraq?
lemme know some stuff

ps this isnt for me, but my husband is considering it after he gets out of the marine corps

11/26/2006 9:47:19 PM

air force is gay. no lie

11/26/2006 9:52:02 PM

my brother's in the air force

he's been to iraq

he has red hair like you

Red Fox

11/26/2006 9:54:25 PM

active duty AF?

11/26/2006 9:57:18 PM

yes active duty

11/26/2006 9:59:59 PM

Deployment really depends on where you are/what you do from what I have seen, but deployment for AF are nothing like they are for the Marines unless you are security forces/special forces/OSI/etc, then they may be similar. Other than deployment, its just a job for me, has its good days and bad, but more good than bad, I'm sure he has experienced the military red tape if he has been in any length of time.

11/26/2006 10:08:14 PM

Tell him to go AF Reserve or Air National Guard first and if he doesnt like it he doesnt he doesn't have an active duty commitment. If he does like it he can go AD in a snap.

11/26/2006 10:15:13 PM

^ probably not a bad idea either, the reserves function more like active duty from what I have seen though, guard guys tend to just do things on their own individual unit basis

11/26/2006 10:22:42 PM

thanks guys

11/26/2006 10:25:32 PM

Quote :

"air force is gay. no lie"

11/26/2006 11:44:08 PM

my old roommate flies cargo for them

he was deployed a few months ago and ended up staying in turkey and kyrgystan. he flew 30+ missions into iraq but was never on the ground there for more than 45 minutes.

from everything that i've heard its a hell of a lot easier than other branches. i remember him mentioning having pt run where running was optional.

11/26/2006 11:59:09 PM

it's also only 3-4 month deployments as opposed to 6 or 9 in the Army/Marines

[Edited on November 27, 2006 at 1:33 AM. Reason : ]

11/27/2006 1:33:01 AM

more like 12-18mo for the army/marines

11/27/2006 8:24:10 AM

I have heard from at least 4 people in the AF that it is the most like a 9-5 job of any of the services.

11/27/2006 9:40:48 AM

dont you mean the chair force

11/27/2006 10:26:21 AM

air force and navy are where the smart cannon fodder goes

11/27/2006 11:40:28 AM

nevermind...apparently the air force doesnt take prior military service people unless they match 1 of 5 job duties

11/27/2006 12:13:31 PM

who did he talk to that told him that?

11/27/2006 12:17:18 PM

the jacksonville and wilmington recruiters both said that

they said its something they started in october b/c they are downsizing

11/27/2006 1:12:30 PM

^ Yeah, the AF let go of literally hundereds of officers last year b/c had too many people; and yet, they get the biggest chunk of increased DOD spending. WTF?

What about the Coast Guard? Your chances of deployment are close to nil

Quote :

"it's also only 3-4 month deployments as opposed to 6 or 9 in the Army/Marines"

Try 12 months pretty much every other year in the Army.

[Edited on November 27, 2006 at 1:41 PM. Reason : .]

11/27/2006 1:35:56 PM

skeet treats

11/27/2006 1:38:29 PM

Quote :

"; and yet, they get the biggest chunk of increased DOD spending. WTF?"

maybe it was for robot planes and star wars laser satellites?

11/27/2006 5:50:19 PM

I've heard it's harder to switch from guard/reserve to active duty than the other way around. But I haven't looked into it myself.

In my job I'm considered already deployed because I'm needed here. If I stay in this job (the likelihood of which is almost non-existent at this point), I may never deploy unless I volunteer for it, and even then it's not a guarantee.

I work with other services, and everyone agrees the AF has it the easiest. My job sucks (don't become a linguist), but my husband gets half days to go to picnics, gets all the holidays off, and it's basically a regular job, like everyone says. He's deploying (the AF does 120 day deployments in most jobs, and these rotate on a cycle), so this is the first time he's had to do anything really "military" since basic. He is going to Iraq, but he's just going to be doing his job there for four or five months.

Everyone makes fun of the AF, the "chair force" and all that. Seriously, I'd rather sit in my squishy little chair in my air conditioned building than eating dirt any day. I do my PT on the bike machines at the gym, reading magazines and watching CNN. I'm perfectly fine with never deploying.

11/27/2006 6:13:34 PM

Anyone in the USAF that survived the downsizing last year?

By the way, the Air Force considers four months pretty much anywhere outside the continental US a "deployment", and then you're usually off the rotation for about two years.

[Edited on November 27, 2006 at 6:51 PM. Reason : .]

11/27/2006 6:47:24 PM

Quote :

"maybe it was for robot planes and star wars laser satellites?"

Not to turn this into a political thread, but it probably has a lot to do with the fact that AF projects are sexier and bring home more bacon to a congressman's home district. That being said, quite a few USA and USMC Generals despise USAF Generals for taking funding from the guys who need it the most. Or so say my friends who have worked in the Pentagon and a few think-tank position papers I've read.

11/27/2006 6:58:23 PM

my sister and her husband both like the AF, but i think hses getting out once her term is up.

my brother is an AF officer and hes hoping to get the boot soon so he can direct commission in the CG, after he goes to UAE first of course.

11/27/2006 7:26:58 PM

Quote :

"air force is gay. no lie"

11/27/2006 7:55:16 PM

Quote :

"air force and navy are where the smart cannon fodder goes "

11/27/2006 9:10:20 PM

Quote :

"By the way, the Air Force considers four months pretty much anywhere outside the continental US a "deployment", and then you're usually off the rotation for about two years."

you can actually "deploy" to inside the continental US and count for your rotation as well


As for not accepting people, tell him to talk to a guard or reserve unit and he may be able to get on with them and eventually get a full time position even. Also, some guard/reservists seem to work mostly full time anyways like boom operators and aircraft mechanics.

[Edited on November 27, 2006 at 10:03 PM. Reason : h]

11/27/2006 9:59:26 PM

i'm stompin' in my air force ones

11/27/2006 10:04:53 PM

Quote :

"Anyone in the USAF that survived the downsizing last year?"

Anyone in a critically manned field, as long as their record was clean.

I think they're still trying to downsize by 30,000 more. I have no idea, though. We got bombarded with that news in tech school, all kinds of threats were made that if we failed we were out. But there were people who TRIED to get out when I was in tech school, and they wouldn't let them. We had a guy go AWOL for six weeks, and all they did was reclass him.

It seems like a pretty hit-or-miss sort of thing.

11/27/2006 10:33:48 PM

Well, basically anyone involved with the aviation field is going to have a secure job in the Air Force--i.e., pilot, crew chief, flight engineer, loadmaster, air traffic control, weather, etc. I've worked with a lot of people in those fields, and compared with the rest of the Air Force (medical community, etc) they deploy a lot more. However, the Air Force personnel system really never adapted after the Cold War, and they're paying dearly for it now.

(By the way, I've learned that all "Chair Force" jokes cease when you're stuck in a C-17 in a runway in Kenya for five days. And no, the USAF Weather guys don't always have a fun job)

Quote :

"you can actually "deploy" to inside the continental US and count for your rotation as well"

I heard someone say they were "deploying" to North Dakota for TDY, but I didn't realize that counted as an actual "deployment".

[Edited on November 28, 2006 at 7:36 PM. Reason : .]

11/28/2006 7:14:38 PM

That should definitely count, there are not many places worse than North Dakota.

11/29/2006 9:53:16 AM

went and visited the AF academy in colorado springs, it was is pretty cool. good skiing and rafting there too.

11/29/2006 3:38:45 PM

I was in the AFROTC program in my 4th year when the air force was asking for people to walk away from the program with no strings attached (don't have to pay back any money they spent on you). So I walked away. But there was also a program called blue to green or something that if you were in the AF and wanted to go Army, they would give you a bunch of money. They offered to pay the rest of my college, reimburse me any costs that I had to pay thusfar in college, a "signing bonus" that I would get when I graduated and they probably told me I could have sex with their wives too, but I in no way wanted to go to the Army.

11/29/2006 4:06:53 PM