what are the best jobs in the Air Force/Navy

for officers? By best I mean most exciting. I dont want to be behind a desk the whole time I want to be on the ground LEADING my troops.

The reason I say Air Force and Navy is because those are the 2 Im looking at after college the only other one I will consider is the Coast Guard.

Also which ones are the most rewarding? Being in the military to me is going to be very rewarding already. I just wanted to know in yalls opinion which career in these 3 branches is the best!

Like I said before I dont want to be doing paper work and sitting behind a desk all day! Even though I know a lot of that comes with being an officer!

Thank to you all in advance!

God Bless yall and Thank You for serving!

Ty

 

Army= Excitement

 

In the Canadian Mil I am an air force Logistics officer. I work in transportation, obviously specializing in Airlift but also Sealift. Its basically shipping cargo and troops all over the world. I stay in hotels, have seen alot of the world, and make great perdium. Love it. You should see what the equivalent in the US is.

 

If you want a job "doing things" I would not go the officer route. You'll get to do stuff some of the time, early in your career but depending on the specialty- You get tied to a desk sooner or later.
My buddy was a combat engineering officer for the Army...He's stateside managing a desk /nofo company for a while now and just made O3.
I'm a pilot so I'm out flying pretty regularly and will be for a while-but the senior pilots (CO/XO/OPS/EO) tend to fly less and manage more and everyone goes to do some staff work at some point.

 

Marines....that is all

 

x2 or he should try to see if he is qualified to join the navy seals.

 

Well that would without a doubt satisfy his "want" to lead troops

 

Unless your join as some type of AF spec ops guy like TACP you probably won't be doing much leading from the ground in the O route. Maybe a little even as Security Forces. If you really wanna be on the ground join the Army or Marines. They are the ones doing the ground to ground big stuff. Ops like taking Marjeh or holding the Korengal Valley.

 

There is alot to be said for "doing stuff" and Im all for some physical challenges. Are you saying you want to do a full career with the marines or just a few years. If you are thinking long term then consider what you want to do when you are 40 even 50, will your body take it? If you go officer, you can have a direct impact on the strategic side of your military while still having the military life. The rest is just tactical.

 

My only advice is to look at the special warfare side of the house (SEAL's, SWCC, EOD, Diving) and see if that piques your interests. I spent 5 years with a Seal team and loved every minute of it. Its not always high speed, there were days that sucked, but the caliber of people and the job satisfaction I got cannot ever be matched by what I'm doing in the civvie world. Good luck, let me know if you need anything or have any questions.

 

Being a the verge of retirement. Picking the right branch is hard. Find out deployment schedules and locations. Do not base your decision on TV or movies you have seen. You will be surprised what you end up in command of. You need to choose very wisely. I think it is great you want to serve you country and thank you.

One last thing. Recruiters can be lairs. Research Research Research!

 

Choose something that will give you a useful skill that you can use after you leave in the civilian world. You won't be in the military forever and what the hell is a weapons specialist going to do in the real world?

 

I'm in the same boat as Ty, and i know i want to fly in the military. right now i'm looking at the coastguard and the navy. i've already attained my private pilot's license with an instrument rating working on my commercial and would love to get opinions from pilots who have flown in any branch of the military. i live on the coast, very close to water so that's why navy and coastguard are the top two choices for me right now. i would love as much information you can give me!

thanks,
cam.

 

If you want excitement and "leading troops" u don't want to be a Naval Officer. unless of course u do like everyone said and go spec ops. In the Navy u can basically be a Supply Officer, Medical Officer, Line Officer, etc. Ur going to want to look those up and see what ur interested in. But u'll probably end up on a ship in the Navy doing something very tedious. lol I can't speak for AF...

 

I would recommend saving the rest of your money and working on school grades or other extra curricular activities cause you'll still have to get thru Navy flight school for either Navy or CG Aviation.
Also realize that you have a lot of really good competition and a VERY limited number of slots for pilot jobs....For the CG you may end up doing another job for a while before you get selected for flight school.
TOTALLY worth it tho. I'm on a deployment right now-Flew 10 hours over 3 days from New Orleans to Fargo, North Dakota. Should have a chance to go to the Caribbean in the next year or so. And I've done a bunch of cool SAR in just a year of flying...

Line officer is grade of officer in a speciality (aviation, surface warfare, etc) able to be appointed to command, NOT a specific job.

And there is a good chance of ending up on a ship...but tedious is a matter of opinion.

 

Great info. I'd always suspected that this is what I should be focusing on but it's great to hear it from the horses mouth. (so to speak)

I'm basically in the same boat as the OP. I'm considering joining the navy, (even though I'd have to give up 5 years invested in a long term relationship.) I'm wrestling between an SO contract or flight school (once I graduate) or possibly enlisting and getting the navy to pay me to finish my degree and then just mustang. I'm like a kid in a candy store when I look at the career paths online, but I can't have them all...

 

.
In the old days (circa 1967 - RVN) ... a fixed wing private pilot's license could fast tract you into Army Air or Marine Air as a helicopter pilot.

Today, I am not sure how much it would help ...

Brunes has the sweet spot (USGC) on flying helicopters today ... mostly stateside flying ... and saving lives.
.

 

Brunes and SOSHeloPilot, thanks for the help! Every bit of input is great. I'm in college now getting a degree in aviation sciences... (not as cool as it sounds) but i'm thinking the coastguard is the way to go. I've spent most of my life on boats and in planes, so point being i'm fine being on a boat for a few years before i'm accepted to flight training, if at all haha!... but who really knows? there are a lot of options on the table right now for career options, as long as it's one flying i'll be happy! And a job that gives back, i'm sure you understand do something you love and help others in the process, and what better way than saving people lives?

Thanks again!
-cam

 

AF:

CRO (Combat Rescue Officer) Enlisted Variant: Pararescue
STO (Special Tactics Officer) Combat Controller
ALO (Air Liaison Officer) TAC-P/J-TAC

Stay away from Security Forces..unless you want to lead guys guarding gates or staring at airplanes on a ramp. Few SF's go to specialized training. There are some "higher speed" SF units. I know a ton of guys who have cross trained out. I think the AF trains more SF types than any other AFSC...they have some serious turnover.

Navy: Special Ops Community

Army: Infantry, Special Operations, ect.

USMC: Same as above...the Corps just got MARSOC five years ago.

I spent 12+ years in airlift then came over to the CSAR world...I loved airlift and traveling..and at times, I miss it. But holy shit is it fun on the helo! Saving lives is the best part and will be the best way to close out my career.

 

Air Force fire fighter bro. Military bases dont get a whole lot of fires but we work pretty awesome schedules and the amount of certifications u get is unbeatable. By the time u decide to get out u will have a huge advantage when trying to get hired on at a city fire dept. Good luck bro