Air Force

[casandara]

What is it really like to go into the air force? I am planning to go into the Air Force but I don't wnat to go in without knowing what to expect from it... Is there anyone who has some expeirince from their Basic?
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[Shapley]

Haggis is our Air Force veteran, hopefully he can help you there. He's been quiet since the board came back on line, he may be traveling.

I can't talk you into going Navy?

[OperaTenor]

If you're going to join a branch of the military, the USAF is the way to go.

This is coming from another Navy veteran.

[Shapley]

If you're going to join a branch of the military, the USAF is the way to go.

This is coming from another Navy veteran.

Seeing where as you've not been in the Air Force, could this be a case of 'the grass is always greener...'?

Let me restate my question: Can I not talk you into going surface Navy?

[OperaTenor]

I had three BIL's and several close friends in the USAF. They all enjoyed their time in the service.

Unless their M.O. has radically changed, the USAF has always had the opposite approach to infrastructure and personnel support from the other four branches. The net effect is more emphasis on their people.

Don't pretend to know from where I get my perspective.

[Shapley]

I've known people in the Air Force as well, officers and enlisted. In my view the 'Air Force' experience is a bit different from the 'military experience'. I suppose this stems from the Air Force' lack of history and tradition (they are a twentieth century creation, part of the Army until 1948). This is not to say they are not military or to lessen the role of the Air Force, but they simply aren't the Navy. Their runways don't move, for one thing. They're not even mentioned in the Constitution, for another.

If you want to see the world, you've got to get your head out of the clouds and maybe get your feet wet. Three-fourths of the world is covered in water, after all.

[dai bread]

There must be something to that "being new" idea.

I had compulsory cadets at high school. It was Army-based. There is nothing to touch compulsory school cadets as an anti-military device. All the trendy university common-room lefty rhetoric doesn't come any where near it. Out of the several hundred boys who had to do this drill with me, I heard of only 2 who had any interest in the military whatever.

Several years later, I worked with a man who had made a career in the RNZAF. He'd loved it, and listening to him made me realise that it was possible to have a very enjoyable life in the military.

His son joined the Navy, and did very well there.

[OperaTenor]

If the RNZN is anything like the RAN (Australian Navy?), then they generally operate with a touch more professionalism than the USN, form my limited observation. The individual sailors acted a lot more like individual professionals when I met them in Japan. Very impressive.

[dai bread]

I expect the two navies are similar, O.T. We work very closely with the Aussies in many matters, military being just one.

[OperaTenor]

I didn't see any RNZN ships. Do you paint them the same pale grey-green as the Aussies? Cool color.

[Schmeelkie]

My brother was with the USAF for about 8.5 years. He got out mostly because he had aged out of the opportunity to be a pilot (weight issues kept him out of the running once he had been there long enough to apply). Also, wanted the freedom to live where he wanted to, not where the AF sent him. He liked what he did and I've never heard him complain about his time there. He had done AFROTC in college for a couple of years, but ran into the problem of having never felt he had to study in high school (but always doing well), thought he could get away with that in college, so his grades plummeted as the courses got harder and by the time he got his act together he had already been booted from ROTC and couldn't get back in. As he graduated in 1992, the recruiter talked him into waiting out the coming election as the election of Clinton would surely mean military cuts and while they can 'fire' you out of officer training school, they can't 'fire' you once you've enlisted. So, after November he enlisted, breezed through the classes in boot camp and training afterwards. Did get an associates degree in electrical engineering during his time there, and GI bill money funded his second bachelor's degree once he left the AF (his job is funding the masters degree work, I think). He works for a company that makes military radios/communication devices now.

He was stationed in the now closed Rome AF base (NY state), then in Charleston, SC.

[Shapley]

Famous mottos:

US Marine Corp: "The Few, The Proud, The Marines"
US Army: "We do more before breakfast than most people do all day."
US Navy: "It's not just a job, it's an adventure."
Us AIr Force: "Fly high."

Fly high? That's it. Sound's like an ad for cannabis.

[OperaTenor]

Okay, so now we've established Shap has a chip on his shoulder about the USAF.

[Shapley]

Okay, so now we've established Shap has a chip on his shoulder about the USAF.

Nonsense. I realize that not everyone has what it takes to be Navy...

[OperaTenor]

Just as I realize not everyone - not by a LONG SHOT - has what it takes to be in submarines....

[Shapley]

Just as I realize not everyone - not by a LONG SHOT - has what it takes to be in submarines....

True, somebody has to drive the BIG ships...

Oh, wait, I forgot, submarines aren't even ships, they're boats, aren't they? We used to carry some of those around on deck...

[dai bread]

I didn't see any RNZN ships. Do you paint them the same pale grey-green as the Aussies? Cool color.

Pretty well. It's a while since I saw an Aussie ship, but if I recall correctly, they're the same colour as ours.

[BigJon@Work]

My friend says the AF is like a 9-5 job, once you pass basic training. I work with AF officers and they seem normal . . .

[Nicole Marie]

Join the Air Force! My finacee is a combat medic with the Air Force. He has been in since he was 17 and loves it. That branch of the military is different then others - basic training is slightly different, the mission and the work the AF does is also different then other branches and considered to be "easier". John's time has been great. The military paid for his college as a nurse, he has been all over the globe and had a great time doing it. My dad is Army. Dad has loved his time too and is career military but he does say if he had to do it over he'd go AF. good luck!

[OperaTenor]

if he had to do it over he'd go AF. good luck!

My sentiment, too.