If you are within your first 180 days just go for the discharge. People telling you to suck it up will cost you this option.
or
Just leave. Chances are they won’t come after you or maybe they will I don’t really know nowadays. Years from now just apply for a general discharge.
Do you really hate it this much? Pretty sure you can start college AND stay in.
I hear Canada is nice.
I haven’t read all the replies, so FWIW, I’ll say this:
The OP made a rash decision to join the USAF. Now, the OP is making a rash decision to leave the USAF.
OP, I will say this to you: as we grow, we find that we need to live with the consequences of our decisions. I bought this car, which may not have the gas mileage of that car; but which carries what I need it to when I need it to. I got this degree, which may not be immediately useful; but some potential employers will recognize my accomplishment. (And they have.)
Somewhat similarly, you need to realize that for some reason, you signed up with the USAF. There was something there to attract you. Why not the Navy or the Army? No, something about the USAF attracted you.
So you signed up for the USAF. Good for you, and I say that as a non-American. Because now, you have a job, and the opportunity to learn a trade, or get a degree, on the US Government’s dime. It’s up to you. Now, you need to “man up” to your decision, and go through with it.
If you leave, where will you go? What will you do? You may have good and valid answers; but I suggest that you do not. You are, as we all were when we were 18, pretty stumped by being handed adulthood, but not quite knowing what to do with it. So your job, right now, is to make the best of it. Commiserate with your squad–yes, your DI is an asshole. Shout “Sir, Yes,Sir,” when you need to. Polish your shoes and your brass–honestly, I don’t know, I’m going on the movies–but from what I see, such petty things will help make you an airman, and an adult to boot. I really don’t like saying this, but grow up, grow a pair, and see where the USAF will take you. It just might surprise you.
Does your base have a staff psychologist? You need to see him/her right away.
Walk straight in, and say “You can get anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant,” and walk out. If you can get a friend to go with you…
Just to reiterate - maybe your Air Force job sucks. Getting an other-than-honorable discharge is going to make it a lot harder to get any civilian job that doesn’t suck even worse.
You made it thru basic; you can make it thru this.
Regards,
Shodan
The private sector does not know or care how you were discharged unless you try to list your military service on your employment history (which you don’t need to do unless there’s a conspicuous gap between employers that would be likely to used against you if you said “unemployed”).
OTH just obstructs your ability to serve in the military or reserves, or to get certain government jobs, or to claim veteran status and the benefits that go with that.
Really, contrary to the hoo-hah that recruiters blow up your arse, private employers are largely uninterested in whether you served in the military.. The only exceptions are (a) if you learned necessary job skills, or (b) if you commanded a large formation of troops, or (c) if the hiring manager was also in the military and that means something to them. If your future is not in the military then your best choice is to get out as quickly as you can and start building relevant job experience.
jampaintball, can I ask what your plan is if you do get out? If you don’t have one, you probably should consider sticking it out and using the time to figure out what you want to do afterwards.
Don’t be that guy who goes back to his hometown with no plan, drifting from crappy job to crappy job and living with his folks the rest of your life.
If the OP had been, “Can I Get Out Of This Marriage??” most of you would be suggesting getting a good lawyer, dump the bitch and move on with your life.
I doubt any of you would be saying, “Suck it up. Grow some balls. You said “I Do” and now you have to live with her even though you hate her guts.”
The kid thinks he made a mistake. He wants out. Playing macho man and slapping him upside the head with platitudes about honor and duty isn’t going to change his mind or help him one iota.
*“and ‘Billy,’ that forelorn little second lieutenant never forgot the advice he received that night, and worked and studied, and never again neglected to empty his bladder before a long formation. And today we all remember him not as 'Billy” but as 'William…William Calley."
Paul Harvey…gooday!*
Anyway: OP, do what ever you think is best. You’re 19: short of a felony, this is your time of life to fuck up with low consequences. Bear in mind that everyone you go to for help: your CO, your sergeant, chaplain, psychiatrists etc. all get paid by the Air Force, and that’s who’s interest they’ll really be protecting. If you don’t believe me, try it, and watch for the little wheels rolling behind their eyes. It’s will be as good a life lesson for you as anything else suggested here.
Suck it up. You already did the hard part, guy. And read madmonk’s post and think really hard about what else you might do if you get your release.
ETA: this has nothing to do with honor and duty; if you had a better option, you’d have taken it in the first place.
Well, marriage is generally supposed to be for life - we’re talking about a few more years in a “job contract” for this guy. Plus a no-fault divorce between two employed people without kids may be a hell of a lot easier than getting out of the military in this situation.
Anyway, he’s being kind of vague about what exactly is wrong. It just kind of sucks sometimes, and sometimes it’s fine, and he thinks he maybe made a mistake. As other people pointed out quite rightly, lots of people feel similarly about their jobs. He doesn’t mention depression, anxiety, abuse, other terrible things, and others have rightly pointed out that at the very least, he needs a plan for afterwards.
Well, the problem is they don’t throw you in Leavenworth for leaving your wife.
I don’t know… Four cats?*
To the OP: I’ve not been in the military, but I’ve definitely made commitments that I later regretted. I think everyone has. Sometimes the best path is to stick it out. Sometimes the best path is to be honest, admit you made a mistake, and get out of it. However it ends up, whatever you decide, you don’t have to let it define your life. If you quit the military, it doesn’t mean you’re “a quitter.” It doesn’t mean that you’ll be shiftless layabout for your whole life. Similarly, staying in the military and being unhappy for six years won’t necessarily build character, either.
I’d also suggest not half-assing your way out of it. Don’t try to fail a drug test or try to fail PT unless you’ve really exhausted all other options. Everyone in this thread has suggested talking to people who are in a position to help you. That’s good advice. Regardless of how things turn out, those people can and will help you. They’ll either help you to make the best of a bad situation, they’ll help you to grow into enjoying what you thought was a bad situation, or they’ll help you get out of it. It can be daunting to tell people you made a mistake and you want out, but it’s not like you can keep this a secret. They’ll know if you just start screwing up on purpose.
One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn is how to tell people what you want when you know it’s not what they want to hear.
Finally, have a plan and some goals for after. When you’re in a bad situation, it can be easy to think only of escape without actually having something better to move on to. If you only have something to run away from and not something to move toward, things are not likely to get better very quickly. Often, having that plan will make it a lot easier to make it through the commitment, and make it easier to assert your desire not to do so. If you have something to look forward to, you can look at each day of your commitment as moving you forward to that goal, or you can become excited enough not to want to wait.
Best of luck.
*I kid, I kid. I love cats. 
Exactly what I wanted to say, but you said it infinitely better. Thank you.
Chefguy, do you intend to respond to my post?
Wait a minute. I work (as a civilian) in a shitty old Air Force building, and our air conditioning is broken as much as it’s working. Climate control is not this base’s forte.
If the OP had asked about quitting college, my advice would be the same: what’s your plan B? and if you don’t have one, stick it out until you do have a plan B.
My brother dropped out of college without a backup plan. All he knew was that he didn’t want to go to college, but didn’t know what he did want to do. It took him years to get his shit together. I was the same way, I spent my early 20s not doing much of anything, it sends ripples throughout the rest of your life.
Can we backtrack a little? Why exactly do you think you’ve made a mistake? What is it about your position that you so dislike? “Everything” is not a valid answer.
I’m not exactly clear about what the OP doesn’t like about the Air Force. It sort of just sounds like he “just doesn’t like his job”. If you don’t like it because you find it stressful and don’t like being told what to do, I don’t think getting a discharge will help. Civilian jobs have the same stresses, plus the added bonus of the potential for being discharged at any time and we don’t care if you can actually feed, house and clothe yourself with what we pay you. The one advantage is you can leave if you want.
madmonk28 is kind of right. Sometimes you’re just better off “getting your shit together” while finishing something you hate that will put you in a better position when your shit is finally ready to be together. I hate the military/school/my job so I’m going to drop out and become an unemployed drifter isnt much of a plan.
It worked for Kwai Chang Caine. Only he did seem to get into a lot of trouble.
jampaintball-
I did five years in the Navy- there were many times I desperately wanted to get out. But now that I’m out, it was pretty much the best decision I could have made as a young man. First, I have a very good job now, which I only could have gotten with my specific Navy experience. Second, the worst day at work now feels a million times easier than an average day at work was while I was in the Navy (even in port). That second part really seems to do wonders for my happiness.
So basically it sucks now, but now won’t last forever, and not only will it probably get better the more time in you have (as long as you make an effort to have a good attitude), your life will get WAY better once you’re out- and it will get better BECAUSE you stayed in and did your duty.
Many of the best things in life come with age & experience. The op has neither.
The best course of action would likely be:
The op appears to have a problem with rash decisions and impatience. Neither will serve him well here. As has been stated before, civilian life isn’t a cakewalk either, and one solution - finish the term and give it some effort - is not a bad choice for the op and those he promised to serve.
In the end the op will have gained age and experience, and will be a lot further along in obtaining the life he wants.