I just got to thinking about the US Air force, and i really have a lot on my mind that i dont know about.
So can anyone answer the following, or offer more information.
What exactly does it take to get into the US Air Force Training Academy thing?
What are the qualifications, so to speak?
I was on a website before that offered a bit of info, but i cant find it again.
Thanks in advance.
An essential link in any thread about joining the military is this page from the American Friends Service Committe:
UnuMondo
Check out www.military.com
i was looking for more of ‘what it takes to get in the Air Force’ and ‘what goes on while your there’.
The sites are helpful about the military in general though.
I’m still sticking to military.com, especially this section:
They explain the ASVAB, things to ask your recruiter, differences between the branches, BMT, etc. It certainly helped me figure out which direction to go.
ok thanks.
I just found the site a little hard to get around before.
So which direction did you go?
It was tough, but I decided on the Air Force.
I want a career in meteorology, and that seems to be the best route. A few more details to work out, and I will be on my way to test, and get my physical.
Part of me still wants to be a Marine though.
[hijack] Hey, Spit, have you looked into the job opportunities in the civilian arena for AF meteorologists? I was looking into it but couldn’t find much. There’s a Weather Flight near me that I could transfer into, but didn’t want to spend a year in school if I couldn’t make it pay in the civilian world (I’m in the Air Guard).
I spent many years in the Marine Reserves. They’re both great, I wouldn’t trade my time in either for the world, just depends on what you’re looking for.[/hijack]
That’s a pretty broad question, given all of the jobs that are in the Air Force. Do you have any inkling of what you might like to work with or do for a career?
As far as the OP, the best place to start looking at Academy/ROTC/OTS routes is through a guidance counselor or a college admissions office.
If’n ya want, you can e-mail me with specific questions, or just post 'em here. There’s plenty of active duty Dopers from all branches that can help.
Tripler
Chief, Construction Management, 5th Civil Engineer Sqn
It’s a shame young people on the boards only ask about the technical aspects of the job, how hard is training, etc. and don’t seem to spend a few months deciding if the military is a moral organization to join. The Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines are warfighting institutions, that means that they ultimately have to kill people. While some may ulitimately reach the decision that it is nonetheless something to be part of, there needs to be a lot of heavy thinking on the moral side before you know it’s a job for you or not.
UnuMondo, Navy veteran and not proud of it
UnoMondo- So enlighten me. What was so horrible about it? I’m actually quite curious, as you are the first person who has ever said their entire experience in the military was negative.
As far as the morals of joining:
Yeah, it sucks that you might kill someone. That is certainly not something anyone looks forward to, nor should it be. However, what other alternatives do we have? Retire all of our military, and tell the rest of the world that we don’t wish to fight anymore? How long would it be before someone waltzed in and took over?
Sgt. J- I would think you could get a job with the NWS, even as a ‘Weather Apprentice’. Then when you got your degree, the opportunities are huge.
Not only could you get a job with the NWS, but you could also get a job with any corporation that is weather-dependent. (Utility companies come to mind)
It’s UnuMondo, thanks.
I was honorably discharged from the US Navy as a conscientious objector. Having become more active in the Catholic Church, I felt more and more that the job I was doing - serving in an organization which kills for dubious reasons - had no moral basis. Reading a lot of Thomas Merton at the time heavily contributed. The Church is very supportive of conscientious objectors and helped me gain honorable discharge and channel my energy and idealism into better things.
The secondary factor of my dissatisfaction was specific to my specialty. At the time I applied for discharge, I was training as a cryptologic technician interpretive, a Navy linguist (Chinese). The nature of my job, listening to conversations that the Navy is forbidden to monitor under international and domestic law, and Duncan Campbell’s report to the European Parliament of human rights group monitoring and economic espionage on behalf of the US military convinced me to make an exit. As many people in the service tend to see their specific rating as the center around which the whole military turns, I was all the more unhappy to be part of the Navy, which supports such violation of privacy.
It hasn’t happened to Costa Rica, a completely demilitarized country surrounded by nations you would expect to move in for territorial gain any day now.
But yeah, I know the U.S. has a different role in the world and more enemies. But the conscientious objectors of the world, there are thousands every year in the US, both those in selective service registration and those already in the military petitioning discharge, have already decided that war and killing are wrong no matter what the consequences. Each person has his personal reason for refusing to kill, in my own case it is because I believe that not killing a person even in defense is an example of Christian humility. That would hold true even if Iraq was trying to roll into the US, or Europe, where I now live.
If you want to contest that, you’re welcome to start a GB thread. I’m in this GQ thread not to seek to prostelytize, but to give a counterweight for those who would encourage a person to join the service. I think a person who is about to sign his life away for four to six years would want as many viewpoints as possible.
UnuMondo
Thank you, UnuMondo, that was very well written. And a good point, the miltary kills. It manufactures widows and orphans. It does things that are not nice. You do need to know that going in, because as I’m sure this C.O. would tell you, it is easier these day to NOT go in than it is to get a C.O. status while on Active Duty.
That said, whether it is moral to join the military is a Great Debate. People ask technical questions and get technical answers in this forum because that’s what we do here.
I’m not sure if the OP is asking what it takes to get into the Air Force or what it takes to get into the Air Force Academy. The Air Force Academy is many, many, MANY times harder to get into than the regular USAF. It was my life goal for most of my child hood. Unfortunately for me I’m a lazy bastard so any reasonable shot of me making the Academy went out the window with my crappy grades in High School. I’m sure the specific information on how to get in is online somewhere (possibly in one of the sites already mentioned), but you can google just as good as me. What I do remember is this (which maybe a bit fuzzy but will give you a good idea):
Single
Under 25
Intelligence
Physically fit
If going in as a civilian you will need to be recommended by a congressman or senator (not sure if you need that if you are already in the Air Force)
There are programs that let you in if you are enlisted and are a first class airman. But they are very difficult and extremely competitive.
If you just want to know about joining the Air Force then the sites listed previously will help a great deal and the dozens of SDMB members that are active duty or recently out vets can answer any specific question.
A world full of conscientious objectors is a utopia. A country full of conscientious objectors is a shopping spree. Sooner or later, it comes down to that.
Being a C.O. is in many respects a courageous choice, but without warfighters the US would be in a world of sh*%. I’m not trying to “prostelytize, but to give a counterweight for those who would encourage a person” NOT " to join the service."
This would make a good GD thread (if it wasn’t been done too many times) UnuMondo.
Important facts that Lou E Thunder seems to be confused about:
There are two ways to serve in the USAF - as an officer, or as an enlisted member. Most who serve in the military do so as enlisted personnel, in the AF that is every rank between Airman and Cheif Master Sergeant of the Air Force. The easiest way to begin a career in the USAF is to go to a recruiter, sign up, and get shipped off to basic training as an Airman, Basic. You’ll also hear the term “Non-commissioned officer” - this is any enlisted person with the rank of Sergeant or above (Tech Sgt, Staff Sgt, Master Sgt, etc…). NCO’s come from the enlisted ranks, and the only way to become one move up through the ranks.
If you wish to be an officer, you have several ways to do so, all of which involve a college degree at some point. There is Officer Training School, where folks who already hold degrees train for a couple of months and emerge as newly-minted 2nd Lieutennants.
Most 4 year colleges in the US have ROTC programs (Reserve Officer Training Corps) which are four-year programs which will commission you as a 2nd Lieutennant either in the active-duty Air Force or the Reserves when you receive your degree from the college, assuming you complete both the ROTC program and your college’s degree requirements.
And then there is the “US Air Force Training Academy thing”, known properly as the United States Air Force Academy. The Academy is basically a four-year university owned by the Air Force that exists to create officers. Once again, you would graduate as a 2nd Lieutennant.
Now, here are the differences between the officer training programs:
ROTC: You’re a regular college student, responsible for your own room and board who is in a part-time training program which will turn you into an officer once you graduate. Your college life is farily ordinary, although you wear a uniform once or twice a week and attend a few hours of military training and education along with your other classes. This holds true at most colleges, the major exceptions I can think of are Texas A&M, the Virginia Military Academy, and the Citadel. The exceptions pattern their curriculum more closely after the military academies. Once you graduate with your commission, your first assignment will be a training course for your career field as an Air Force officer.
The Air Force Academy: While the Academy provides a college education and graduates you with a degree, it is a four-year military training facility as well. Cadets live on-campus and their lives are very regimented, particularly in the first year. Do a LOT of research before deciding to compete for placement at the Academy - it isn’t for everyone. The Academy does, however, provide many perks that ROTC cadets and OTS candidates do not have. I’ll leave those perks a mystery so you’ll have to do some research to find out what they are. Once again, you leave the academy as a commissioned officer and attend training for your specific career field as your first assignment in the Air Force.
Officer Training School: Accepst officer candidates who already hold college degrees. Competition for OTS is very stiff, and many who apply are not accepted. Last I heard, OTS was mostly graduating MD’s and others whose college degrees did not provide time for ROTC and were not offered at the Academy.
Other important things to keep in mind:
Pilots are always officers, but not every Air Force officer is a pilot. In fact, pilots are in the extreme minority. At Bergstrom AFB in the 1990’s, there were two recon squadrons (about 24 aircraft) and one AF Reserve fighter squadron (about 12 aircraft). That’s a total of around 60 pilots (the recon squadron flew RF-4C Phatoms, with a two man crew, both rated pilots. The fighter squadron flew F-16’s, a single-seat fighter) on a base with a population of several thousand military people and their families.
There are a lot of career opportunities in the USAF, including meteorology, air traffic control, law enforcement, administrative careers, logistics, aircraft maintenance, computer programming… I encourage you to do research, talk to recruiters, and e-mail some of the SDMB members who have experience in the Air Force, both as enlisted members and officers.
If you decide that a military career is the way to go, good luck. If not, hey, it ain’t for everyone, and good luck whichever way you decide to go.
I had thought about the whole killing thing, and at the moment i am ok with that, i will of course think about this again before i sign up for anything, but ultimately is defending my country isn’t it?
I was thinking specifically about becoming a pilot in the air force.
I know what i need to be eligible, but what will i go through to become a pilot?
Becoming an Air Force pilot is extremely difficult. First of all, you must be in absolute tip-top health. Your eyesight must be perfect, and your medical history must be free of certain ailments and injuries. (IIRC, having been knocked unconscious at anytime in your life disqualifies you.)
As for the Killing people thing. I served in the Air Force from 1984-88. I started out as an A1C (Airman First Class) as I had gone through Junior ROTC in high school, which allowed me to skip the first two grades. When I left, I was an E4 Sergeant, which then was the first Non-Commissioned Officer rank. (This rank has since been discontinued. It was a split rank with E4 Senior Airman) I was a General Purpose Vehicle Mechanic. In all the time I served, I only fired a weapon once, in Basic Training. I was never issued a weapon, nor was I expected to use one. Most of the Airmen and NCO’s I knew also never carried weapons. In fact, the only Air Force personnel I knew of that DID carry weapons were the Law enforcement and security police, and the Bomb transport guys. We were never expected to directly engage enemy troops. Most of the Air Force personnel are expected to SUPPORT the killing of troops through being there to make sure the planes get off the ground to do their job. It’s the one military service where, for the most part, the Officers do all the fighting, and the enlisted grunts stay behind.