Thinking of Joining the Air Force

I am excited for you. Keep a positive attitude about the entire experience. You will come across a handful of folks that will like to point out the obvious BS that you will face. Keep that to a minimum so you don't get sucked in to that as a way of thinking. Depending on your AFSC's tech school, the next 6-12 months will be a restricted lifestyle. With that said, there will be a group of folks that will bitch and moan about what they "can't do" instead of realizing what they need to be doing. What you need to be doing during that time is learning your AFSC and the military mindset. Keep that in mind and you will do fine. Again, I am excited for you and wish you the best of luck!

 

Thanks again everyone for the info. My ASVAB went very very well, however when I was at the MEPS about a month and a half ago when I took the test and went through every thing I was DQ'ed by the CMO for a medical condition. I kept a positive attitude and waited til today when I met with the recruiter to see what my fate was.(my info was sent to the surgeon general of the Air Force for review.) Well....I swear in next Week!!! I am so excited to sit down and go through jobs and then swear in, ecspecially after not knowing if I was even going to get in!

 

I heard San Antonio is a good choice to go for basic. Whenever you go to MEPS again to swear in and choose your ship date, try to go there.

 

I am leaning towards Chopper gunner, loadmaster or air transportation.

 

Go Air Trans!!

 

I will be heading to Lackland Air Force Base for basic.

 

I hope your not color blind.. because that would 'F" you out of Chooper gunner or Loadmaster

 

Yeah, it looks and sounds like an exciting job! We'll see what happens next week!

 

If you do end up a loadmaster.. just remember Air Trans guys load more planes than the typical loadmaster and we know what we are talking about don't be one of those dbag Loads that thinks we are just pallet monkeys.

 

No I'm not. I already passed everything when I was at meps, just had a previous issue that had to be cleared. I have perfect depth perception also.

 

If you have any questions about it.. let me know I have been doing it 4.5 years. and I work with Loadmasters everyday so I know a little bout that job too.. we do about the same except the fly we away and we move onto the next plane.

 

What about helicopter flight engineer?? You still get to shoot, but you have a little more responsibility than a gunner.

 

So you've been doing it that long and still enjoy it? That is great, and what I'm looking for. What is the basic difference between the two? What is a typical day like? (if there is such a thing!)

 

What is a brief desciption of that job?

 

here

 

Air Trans has up 5 parts to it depending where you are.

1- ATOC Air Terminal Operation Center- Basicly the Air Plane lands contacts command post and tells them there requirements then relays all the requirements to the "Port" that are needed from them.. they then pass the message to the other sections and insure that the Port is ready to do there tasks.

2- Cargo/Special Handleing/Load Planning - Think Post Office Military style Preps cargo to be loaded builds inspects, prepairs it to be loaded on the A/C and insures that the way the cargo is loaded is safe for air travel.

3- Ramp - You take the cargo from the yard where it was prepaired and psyscially load it on the Aircraft and get to drive all kinds of shit from the trucks and humvees you load on the plane to a 60K Tunner.. look it up.. its cool.. it transports that aircraft pallets.

4- Pax - Think Airport . basicly the same thing..

5- Fleet (Clean/Dirty)
Clean Fleet brings the meals and blankets, pillows, and Clean requirments to the aircraft they would need to handle Pax
Dirty Fleet takes out the trash, Sucks the shit out of the lavs, runs the potable water truck.

For example for the last month we have run over 300 missions (Aircraft) sending the Army and there shit to Haiti we have also sent stuff to support OIF and OEF...


I gotta run the Truck to the stealership to get the wiper motor replaced... if you have anymore questions.. PM me and ill get back with you later

 

Loads get to do the fun shit.. we had to prep and load all those bundles..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgYiyjbPbto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4VO_E-4P_s

 

congrats man, just be sure to have a guaranteed job before signing. dont sign with a "open" contract. if you get a loadmaster or aerial gunner slot you'll start tech school on medina annex from lackland AFB at the 344 TRS. i was at the 342nd just accros the courtyard. good luck

FYI: san antonio sucks balls

 

If ur gonna pick maitenance go aircraft metals tech 2a751. Im in it, you work in a small machine and welding shop.If you wanna do this or a specific carrer field just tell your recruiter and wait him out. I waited 9 months for this job, theres always openings. Dont let him tell you to go open general in any field. I was at a big base we had 20 people, now im at a small base we have 6 its pretty laid back world. What would be a better skill machinest/welder or an egress mechanic on an f-16 ejection seat ? All jobs have there perks.

 

Air Trans
You are responsible for All things Pax/Cargo/Services like a civilan Airport for the military Air Craft. We handle people in and out the flights. pick up the trash suck the shitters and provide the aircraft with water drinking and for the bathrooms.

We process and load all the cargo, everything from a envlope to a loading a C130 into a C5 Ive seen it happen.

Air Trans people get deployed currently for 6 months at a time to anywhere in the world, and time at home station is apprx 12 months inbetween deployments



Loadmasters work only on one type of Aircraft, you will either be a load on a C130, C17 or a C5... there are also boom operators/loads on KC10s and KC135s.. They accept the cargo from the air trans guys assist with the upload and insure the cargo is safe for travel once on the plane.. they fly with the cargo and then assit with the download.

Loads have the upside of getting flight pay and when you fly overseas into a combat zone you get tax free pay, but you also have to deal with getting stuck places if your A/C breaks down and or you have to wait for a mission to leave.

Air Trans guys get to go home at the end of day, Loads spend alot of time away from home, and isnt the best job for a married guy.

There are lots of perks to both jobs.

I might be a little byast but i wanted to be a load but after doing my job i love it and would rather be a Port Dawg.. and if and when i become a recruiter i will suggest it to people.

One of the best things about being a Porter is that almost anywhere you will go when your getting deployed each little stop of the way you will meet one of your own and its like an brotherhood. and even though all the other squadrons on base wont admit it if it wasnt for the Port shit wouldnt get done anywhere. Soilders cant whipe there ass in the middle of Iraq if the Porter doesnt build the pallet of TP, load plan it and drive it to the plane.. then on the other end there is a porter to down load the plan inprocess the cargo and then distributeit to the army.