Military Dopers: Enlisted specialties

In My Humble Opinion
1

So, after talking to the Air Force OTS recruiter, I realized that my chances of getting into that was about equal to Alyson Hannigan spontaneously falling in love with me (understandably nil, since we’ve never met).

Anyhow, I’ve decided to enlist in the AF. Navy sounds like it’d promote faster, but I hate to swim, and I think if it ever became an issue, there’d be a hell of a lot of swimming. Plus, there’s the whole “I’ve wanted to be in the Air Force since I was knee-high-to-a-duck” thing.

So, what enlisted MOS’s can you Dopers who know about this sort of thing recommend? At the moment, they’re pitching pretty hard for Linguist, and that sounds pretty interesting, but I really don’t know what they do on a day-to-day basis, beyond the fact that they train to be able to understand a foreign language.

Security Forces has also caught my eye, especially since I have given some thought to becoming a police officer after getting out of the military if I decide not to make a career out of it. I assume they do basic police officer type stuff, ie: catching speeders, responding to calls, along with security guard type stuff, ie: checking IDs at the gate. Is this a pretty accurate idea of what they do?

A friend of mine just got out of the Air Force, where he was a mechanic working on F-16s. Lots of explosive bombs, expensive planes, and engines that like to suck things up if given a chance, though since I rarely ever hear of someone actually getting sucked up by a turbine engine, I’m assuming that sort of thing is pretty rare if you pay attention to what’s going on around you.

So, I guess my big questions are, does anyone know how rewarding any of these jobs are? Dare I ask it: Are any of them any fun? How useful are they to someone in the civilian field once they get out of the military? What are some other interesting and/or useful-in-life specialties I might also look at?

2

[hijack]
If it’s not too personal a question, why isn’t OTS a possibility for you? I ask because I’m back in the position of exploring military careers myself, and I was also interested in looking at the officer track. I’ve heard the Air Force is cutting back a lot – are they just not taking as many officers now?

[/hijack]

3

In my case, it’s my grades. Air Force OTS requires a 3.0 GPA and a Bachelor’s degree before they look at your application.

4

There’s something to be said for choosing a career field that has a civilian equivalent after the military, for example, and especially, the medical field. Tank Turret Repairman just doesn’t fit the bill.

5

I had a friend in the Air Force who was a linguist, and enjoyed it immensely. The school was pretty challenging, and the Air Force is not cheap when it comes to follow up training and education, in general. Even if you do nothing with it in the future (when you get out), it is something that you can always put to use and would look great on a resume.

Security Forces is basically the Military Police, but it is not really the exciting police work that you might see in the movies. There are a lot of late hours working at the gates and checking ID’s. The newer you are in the military, the worse the duties (8pm-8am shifts). However, the days off are pretty good. Most people I have known in the some form of military police work work 1 day on, 2 days off or 2 days on and 3 or 4 days off.
Anything dealing with plane mechanics of some sort is a good job, but only really good on a resume if you plan on staying in the field when you get out. Your chances of being deployed are a little higher. But the good news (if you are trying to avoid super high risk deployments) is that when the Air Force is in a combat zone, they tend to be pretty far back in the rear (with exception of pilots, flight crew, para-meds, etc.).
Jobs are only fun if peaks your interest. DO NOT LISTEN TO YOUR RECRUITERS DESCRIPTION OF THE JOB. Go to message boards that are out there, and talk to real active-duty Air Force guys and gals. If they hate it, they will let you know why. If they love it, they will also let you know. If you are thinking long term (for when you get out), think of how that job would look on your resume. A military career in general can get you pretty far afterwards. Employers I have talked to and worked for tend to think that former military men and women have more discipline, dedication, etc.

Have you thought about the real Air Force special forces? (However, I don’t think that they can actually guarantee it to you).

A SUGGESTION…a good job in the military that will always look good on a resume and is a good step for a variant of fields when you get out, is some form of military intelligence. Have you considered it?

6

You should consider going round to prospective post-military employers and asking what they look for. You’ve already mentioned the police, so how about speaking to them about what they look for in ex-military types? Is there any particular training you should take, etc?

7

That’s good advice, Raguleader, and here’s a good place to do that.