"Surprise! Here comes the future!" or "Military? Me? Really?!" or "Air Force?"

Amicus Dei of [FoG]

Amicus Dei of [FoG]

New Member
So I'm probably the very last person you could ever see even considering anything to possibly do with the military... ever.
But my aspiration in career choice has (for quite some time) been in aeronautics, aeronautical engineering, mechanical engineering, and engineering in general. I think I've been interested in jet flight since the womb.
However, up until fairly recently, I've thought that the military was a definite no-no. In fact, I really avoid any physical fitness (although somehow I retain fitness without effort - I have tested myself just for grins and discovered that I can currently meet the physical requirements to graduate basic for the Air Force, let alone get into it).

But now that I look into it a little... It seems FUN. And amazing.

Now before you go jumping off the deep end about me abandoning my college-trained high paid career in engineering, mind you I'm not intending to join immediately after high school.

Some things that I didn't know before that have influenced me tossing up this idea (remember, this is just an option that is nowhere close to set in stone for several reasons):

College grads who have not served/are not actively serving can cut straight to officer-ship in 12 weeks of Officer Training School (yes, that means actually skip Basic and being a minion of every rank that exists other than your own for 4 years)
Only officers can be pilots (which sort of makes me wonder why the recruits start out as "Airmen," and the "Airmen" have to go to college to even become an officer, which most don't)
Only officers can be engineers (which would be the military equivalent of what has been my career idea for the past few years: Lockheed Martin aeronautics)
No taxes!
Living on base is like living in a city full of non-officer minions that worship the ground you walk on [yes I know I'm exaggerating a lot here and there will be plenty of higher-ups to chew me out daily]
Anyway, Living on base means free housing and utilities and cheap food.
Travel? Well let's just say that free flight on a military aircraft is a 1-up on expensive, crowded, boring airliners (this, by the way, is the reason why I prefer Lockheed and the Air Force to Boeing... Boeing prefers to make boring jumbo jets, while Lockheed generally makes exciting military jets... and the military [obviously] uses military jets)
30 days paid vacation!
I can (but likely won't) retire after 20 years.
Extraordinary insurance benefits.
Continuing education? Can you say "free tuition"?
And to top off all the fancy financial bonuses, pay increases every 2 years and every rank gain... starting at 31,000 or so per year (remember this is [or is very close to] 100% personal disposable income - there are no bills, no insurance, and no taxes to pay with that income), and ranging to (in the 18th-20th years, if I rank up enough) 140,000 or so per year (again, no bills, no insurance, no taxes). If I continue past 20 years, it can go substantially higher... awesome, eh?

That's a TON of benefits.

Also--
Flying jets? F-16, F-22, etc.! Possibility - join the Thunderbirds! (I've seen them at least twice at my local 'Airsho' and have been fascinated with them every time [moreso than those pesky Navy Blue Angels in their F-18s])
If not flying, engineering (military Lockheed?), also very fun.
Honor - Seriously... Air Force officer? fighter/bomber pilot? "Yes, sir!" shouted at me when I say "do this." rofl.
Government clearance - I got a taste of this while touring Lackland AFB to see the museums. It was a unique experience to be able to walk around a military base and go anywhere I wanted [provided I only wanted to go to the museum and two static airplane displays] without having some military guy(s) breathing down my neck constantly.
(And in case you're concerned about this maybe distracting me from God, there are churches on almost all bases.)


Comment, suggest, question, etc.
Mind you, I have 4 years of college and can wait until about 12 weeks before my 35th birthday to actually act on the OTS thing - I have plenty of time to totally change my mind -.o
 
I'd like to congratulate those of you who actually are reading this post after having read the massive, non-page-turner novel in the previous one. And thanks for your input.
:p

And yes, I did fail to mention the one and only reason anybody I know would consider me not going to be a pilot, which is having a young and handsome picture of me smiling over my flagdraped smoldered carcass after crashing/being shot down, if that just so happens to happen.

[There's always that chance that I won't be one of the 4% of officers in the Air Force that get to be pilots and will be an engineer instead.]
 
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Actually, from what I remember, everyone has to do basic. At least, that's what the Army told me. You just go straight from basic to being an officer.
 
Well it is exciting to see how God stepped in after all the praying we have done for you! :D woooot Keep us informed.
 
I think someone sold you a bill of goods. As a former Air Force officer, I remember paying plenty in taxes. Base housing... well, I can't say the word that comes to mind. Minions? Man, try telling that to a senior NCO - or any NCO. They have Lieutenants for breakfast. If any airman senses you feel that way, they'll do a half-hearted job and make you look bad. Being an officer is about leadership... and you can't lead if you look down on someone.

If you're serious about wanting to be an officer... particularly an engineer, you should look at applying to the AF Academy. They have a higher percentage of grads that go on to flying careers, but also quite a few that become engineers. For the most part, you get to do what the Air Force feels you are qualified for and where they have the greatest need.

I admire your enthusiasm. I pray God will channel it in the right direction.
 
I see from responses (both in the thread and through PMs) that my delivery of this idea was a bit unclear...
i.e.: "minions" - originally a total joke, understanding fully that nobody will be my minion (and that I will be subserviant to higher ranks for a long, painful time)
Also, none of my future is even close to certainty right now. In fact, right now I'm wondering whether or not I'm even going to college where I've already signed the agreement to enroll, since the scholarship information came in... Basically at this point I have a ton of options before me, most of which are looking grim as they approach, and I'm just trying to consider what I've got.
Also, blackgravity, the OTS is the college grad's equivalent of BMT, but it's 1.5x as long and makes you a commissioned officer.

And the reason I posted this is not for you to comment on how good my idea is anyway; contrarily, I want you to shoot it down as much as possible because I know I'm always overlooking things and when I have new ideas, I have other people to force me to see what I miss and/or see things from different perspectives.
If I blunder into the misconception that I'm going to be living the best life I could ever have, I'll have to blame myself for being stupid enough to have considered it in the first place. (However, it's entirely likely that I will, as I probably have done/will do in this post, counter everything you say and get nowhere with the input for which I asked you in the first place.)

Aleron -- those benefits are from the AF's recruitment site, but I may have misread or misunderstood some (and of course they could be lying, but that would be a bit absurd, wouldn't it?) Also, I'm aware that only about 4% of the AF are pilots, but there are numerous other careers for officers, many of which I would likely enjoy anyway, and if I'm not mistaken, they all receive the same pay grade and benefits.


I suppose I can use the fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants method of living the next decade of my life, since the establish-a-plan-so-you-know-where-you're-going method has caused a great deal of pain and suffering since the beginning of time.
 
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The military is a great option, Amicus. Just make sure you're joining for the right reasons, and that any assumptions you have now are researched by the time you decide to sign the papers. I wish you'd get a hold of me (or anyone who's served before) and iron out the details. Even though it's likely we can't help you with the specifics of an engineering career, we can sure provide a lot of information that may help you decide your next step.

On paper, all those benefits are provided to you. Yes, the BX is tax-free, but the prices might also be higher than you will find outside of base. And base-housing? Officers don't do base housing, and many enlisted don't, either. Don't read what you find on the official military websites, they are usually biased and don't offer anything for you to grasp what it's really like.

There are many benefits that you can take advantage of, and there are many tremendously good things about serving, but I strongly encourage you to speak with someone who's served in the Air Force before jumping to conclusions.

I, also, admire your enthusiasm. I hope everything works out and you're able to serve where God wants you. You'll, for sure, be rewarded for that. God bless
 
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Well now I'm trying to decide whether to go into AFROTC or not... It seems perfectly fine, since they apparently don't function like the Corps at Texas A&M (get up at 5:30, excercise, breakfast, classes, excercise, dinner, homework, lights out [rinse, lather, repeat])...
Apparently the only time I spend actually doing AFROTC things is during their classes, which simply means more classes to take (I'm sure I can handle that). Also, this will raise my rank upon entrance to the AF and hopefully (if my eyes are what I think they are) drastically increase my chance of being a pilot. Otherwise, I'll still be in engineering or administration or something... I'll just have to try and avoid the mechanic job -.o
So now that I've already totally missed the application date for graduating high school students, that puts a dent in the benefits of joining AFROTC anyway, as well as a dent in the scholarship opportunities, but gives me some more time to decide and use my free time to adjust to college life and prepare to join, if that's what I decide to do.

Anybody want to describe what ROTC is really like for me?
 
Been lurking on this thread for a little while, and there are a lot of specifics I could give you about being in the military. However, there isn't anything I have to say that would be of value to you except this:
Seek God's plan for your life!

What do the details matter? It can be a very "good" life by the world's standards, but what use is it if it's not where God is calling you? Conversely, it could be a horrible, horrible thing for you, but you need to go if that's where God is calling you.

When you join the US military, you become property of the US government. This is a big decision that many teenagers take very lightly after seeing a few exciting commercials that have nothing to do with anything.

So, I will just say - seek first the kingdom of God...because if this is not where God wants you, joining would be a very, very bad thing.

PS: If I were you...I would just go to college, and not sign up. If you don't have the money, take out loans (which are interest free while you're in school). You can always sign up later...the military is always recruiting and they'll pretty much take anyone. Why would you want to commit yourself today to something that you might want to do in four years?
 
*notices P.S. note, then responds to it specifically*

It appears you think I'm enlisting right out of high school... I'm actually intending to go to college and major in the same thing I would have majored in before looking into the AF, but I might just add AFROTC to my schedule and become a commissioned officer (preferrably as either an engineer or pilot).
As for the ROTC, I have less than 1 year to decide whether I want to do that or not. The AF will accept college grads for commissioned officer positions as late as age 35, which means I really have about 17 more years to decide whether I'm doing that or not.

I totally agree on seeking what God has planned for me, but obviously the plan isn't lit up like runway lights, or I wouldn't be posting a thread with two questions in the title suggesting my confusion. I'm beginning to develop the "let things happen to me" style of living, where I have as little direct influence in where I end up as possible, which leaves my life very open to what God wants for me. If I get the feeling that God wants me doing something, I'll probably go do it. If I were doing what I think I wanted to do, I would have applied to a conservatory for music or theatre.

Also, on a less serious note: "This is a big decision that many teenagers take very lightly after seeing a few exciting commercials that have nothing to do with anything."
:p
Well actually I haven't seen any such commercials, this idea actually surfaced somewhere between my starting a WWII-related novel (much research) and visiting Lackland AFB for the museums (the AF basic training base). If there's anything to be seen that has to do with anything, I suppose it would be the basic recruits getting chewed out by two training officers simultaneously. :p

And moreover, I'm taking this decision very seriously. In fact, I've already annoyed one friend by asking for their input on the choice. Surprisingly, the only person who has said anything negative about it was my mother. It's almost like saying "I think after college I might want to be an Air Force pilot, or at least an engineer" came across as "I'm enlisting as a Marine Corps rifleman the moment I get my diploma." She has this terrible [albeit rational] fear that I'm going to be shot down, captured, and tortured daily for the rest of my [short] life, which is disconcerting of course.

I'm refraining from even mentioning this to my father, however, because I know that [as he does with everything else] he will instantly take charge of the situation, decide my fate for me, and make me totally dissatisfied with either outcome of the decision and very angry at him. (To explain why I'm so wary about this outcome: he once had me make a list of all the things I could think of that he taught me to do, which included things such as fishing, rollerblading, golf, etc. Nearly everything on that list is stuff that I would not want to do if it ever involved him.)

So right now I'm in a quandary about everything (I've noticed that I go through this type of phase a lot lately... the past few years I've been swapping between thinking I wanted to be an engineer to wanting to be an actor or author or musician).
 
I've concluded that I'm going to put of this decision until just a few months before the next round of AFROTC applications are due... So don't expect me to say much about this unless I'm still around here in about 6 months.
[And at that point, you can expect me to be twice as frantic as I am now.]
 
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