Has anyone gone through this process? What careers are possible after military service? I am about to be married and currently have a job I'd have to leave.

Jman -

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What careers are possible after military service?

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Not sure what you're asking. Please elaborate.

To be honest, I don't really know. Just trying to figure out what to do with my life. The idea of the military and Air Force sounds really cool, but I already have a great job lined up and am getting married soon. I don't know what life in the AF is like and it's hard to be real with my fianc about it when I don't even know what I am getting myself into. I am a current student who is graduating in a few days.

What are your civilian jobs goals? Will you be able to put them on hold for 4 years or more? Once you get out your pretty marketable to a lot of companies and I have plenty of Army officer friends doing great in corporate America. Or you may decide you love the military and make it a career. From reading your thread(s) you need to be aware that the mission comes first. Anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, hell even the birth of child all comes after the mission. Your command will try to accommodate you with in reason, but when there's a job to do that's the priority. You may be gone for an extended period of time to place that is dangerous and to be frank, your return isn't guaranteed. I enlisted in the Army 5 months after being married. In my first 8 years of marriage I was gone for 4 years (Iraq x2, Korea,Afghanistan) and my wife held things down with two kids, who I left for a year when they were both only 8-10 weeks old (two separate times). I don't know what life is like in the AF (although to us Army guys it was like a fairy tale land of candy and better looking women) but you should ask some of the bulls at the Trigon. I'd trust them 100% more than a recruiter. Schedule a time to meet and bring your wife and have questions prepared to ask. There are definitely lots of benefits to serving and lots of neat things you can do, but remember you are serving a greater good than yourself and you need to be 100% committed to that. If not then you're doing yourself, your family, and the men and women you will lead a huge disservice. Good luck.

My experience with grad school was very favorable, and just about every one of my officers who separated from the service took that path or is doing well. Between the schools and headhunters our there, the average officer does fine after separation from service.

It doesn't matter the service, we are all busy... just in different ways. The force is rotating across the world, so while they might not all be " combat deployed", they are often away from home. You've already got that advice, so I'm not trying to scare you... but there are opportunities that translate to the civilian world and (my opinion) absolutely good to keep that path in your considerations. Those opportunities are real world situations that take others years to encounter... how you leverage that is up to you. Good luck.

Applies to you...........

jman -

I concur with all the previous comments, except:

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...although to us Army guys it was like a fairy tale land of candy and better looking women.

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I experienced a time during Desert Storm when we wrote a plan for rationing our beer, as we were getting filled with pallets of A-10 parts. We never actually implemented the plan, but it was close

Seriously, though, I've never really met anyone who went the ANG route as an aviator (or any other career field) and regretted the decision.

Getting a slot in an ANG unit - that may be tough. Sorry that I'm not knowledgeable on current contacts. I've know lots of folks that were active duty, then made the move to the ANG, and had wonderful, rewarding military and civilian careers.

With the current state of pilot shortages, be sure you get good info on the commitment length. I think the party line right now is 10 years after completion of initial training.

Looks like you have a lot on your plate right now, but OTS (and the ANG version) will be a cakewalk for you. One other piece of advice: If you do get a pilot training slot, do not ever ever ever have a pregnant spouse during that training phase, which is going to be a couple of years (and maybe a year into your first operational assignment).

Best wishes.

I'm 49 and have been in the Air Force nearly my whole life. First on the military side and now on the civil service side.

It is one of the best decisions you can make. I didn't finish school young enough to be an officer, but that would be a great choice for you. Not to mention that the GI Bill would cover any further schooling you would want to do on the graduate level. So far as military branches go, the Air Force is going to be the safest from danger. It is also the most comfortable when it comes to deployments and TDY.

I can't say a bad thing about it. Unless you have a desire for a different kind of glory, I would definitely look into it.

Go Air Force and get a cyber position if you can. I was in the army but work for the AF as a civilian now and am shocked at how good they have it, at least those in the cyber profession.

SquirrellyDan said:

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Go Air Force and get a cyber position if you can. I was in the army but work for the AF as a civilian now and am shocked at how good they have it, at least those in the cyber profession.

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When I did my first two-week Annual Training in the Texas Army National Guard, I had a soldier who previously served in a Red Horse Squadron in the Air Force.

That guy was happy to tell us about how crappy we had it living in tents for two weeks. He told me that they had time based standards in the Air Force so that depending on how long they were in the field, they would start building permanent living quarters. He couldn't believe that our tents didn't have floors in them or something like that. I think he also made some comments about needing electricity in the tents. Considering we were in a Tank Battalion, I was happy to have operational Tanks. I was less concerned with the living quarters.

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With the current state of pilot shortages, be sure you get good info on the commitment length. I think the party line right now is 10 years after completion of initial training.

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11 years after you get your wings. When daughter was injured and off flying status for about 18 months, they stopped the clock.

HollywoodBQ said:

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SquirrellyDan said:

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Go Air Force and get a cyber position if you can. I was in the army but work for the AF as a civilian now and am shocked at how good they have it, at least those in the cyber profession.

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When I did my first two-week Annual Training in the Texas Army National Guard, I had a soldier who previously served in a Red Horse Squadron in the Air Force.

That guy was happy to tell us about how crappy we had it living in tents for two weeks. He told me that they had time based standards in the Air Force so that depending on how long they were in the field, they would start building permanent living quarters. He couldn't believe that our tents didn't have floors in them or something like that. I think he also made some comments about needing electricity in the tents. Considering we were in a Tank Battalion, I was happy to have operational Tanks. I was less concerned with the living quarters.

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This does not surprise me for when the US starting sending troops to Bosnia, the first thing the Army did was set up a TOC in tents surrounded by mud while the first thing the Air Force did was set up built up living quarters and a PX.