OCS/OTS

Spent 24 years in the AF. Absolutely loved it. Started enlisted without a.high school diploma, retired as a Major with.a.MA..Flew as an Air Battle Manager 13b.
Saw the world and when I retired became a consultant to the Saudi.AF for.8 years.

 

Hell yeah brother! I am looking forward to it. Is this where we say hooah or whatever?

 

He is my grandfather but to me he is my dad. That’s all I’ll say.

 

Can’t imagine the stories you have and the things you’ve seen, that’s awesome! Yup, life decisions.

 

Anyways so yeah it is a bit tiresome having to wait till at least august to even hear if Air Force board will be meeting this year. It seemed to me like the army recruiter was ready to get me started. Cause I’m ready to GO

 

Interesting. So why do you want to me an Officer anyways ?

 

Did you mean 14n? 13n sucks

 

My advice is to first decide which branch's mission and culture suits you best. I've worked with a lot more Army than Air Force, but I have worked and lived with members of both services and in the few places where they have mission overlap they each do the job differently. My observation is that the Army will always find a way to get a job done, damn the consequences, while the Air Force won't do something if they can't do it well. That's just an outsider's point of view, but both approaches have positives and negatives to consider.

Once you've decided on a branch, then you need to decide on a job. This isn't a civilian job that you can just decide isn't a good fit and say thank you and walk away. You'll sign a contract and be expected to fulfill it to the best of your ability. Find out how hard it is to change MOS to a different career field. Don't just look at the recruiting information; it doesn't paint a reliable picture of what the job is. If you can, find someone who does what you think you want to do and talk to them about what a day is like. Ask them why they like their job and what they would change about it if they could.

Just because I'm curious - How did you rule out the other branches of service and narrow it down to just Army or Air Force?

 

13n, it’s just something I qualified for. But I imagine being stuck underground for hours on a regular basis does suck.

 

Thank you for the input! I think I have done more research into Air Force OTS and its process more than the army as of right now so I’ll be doing a lot more reading as I make my decisions.

I am just trying to be reasonable with myself as I know I want nothing to do with water. Army is more or less all my family has known and what has been instilled in my upbringing, Air Force I was always told by my dad is more “family friendly” and easier to make a career of. Navy I suppose has a lot of intelligence aspects to it as well but I don’t see myself making the push in that direction.

 

14n is pretty cool and has a lot of applicability outside of the military + non rated

 

It’s sounds interesting, I presume you have experience in that field?

I actually haven’t! Like I said I guess I need to keep reading up on my options. As far as their basic training goes I’ve read that theirs is the toughest out of the branches. I guess personnel stay busy from drug busting to recoveries and everything in between...

 

If you want to discuss it further feel free to PM me

 

Meet with the Army OCS board in 2 weeks. LETS GET IT

 

From someone that was a Marine and spent a great deal of time aboard ship and deployed and now work for the Army. I will tell you this research is all good and the more you know the better. However from an experience stand point with out the inter service rivalry and joking. The Army is a shit show. I thought the Marines were bad but damn the Army is something else. I agree the Navy would not be ideal if you don't want to be out at sea in cramped quarters. And I also have plenty of experience with the Airforce as well and if I were in your shoes I would wait for whatever to join the Airforce and honestly there are many ways to reach your end goal if you want something now you could always enlist and then once enlisted you can apply for OTS and transfer over to the officer ranks. The Airforce treats there people very well and is run almost like a business versus a branch of military. And what everyone else has said is very true about the Airforce.
You may ask why did I join the Marines then if I feel so strongly about the Airforce. Well I will tell you as someone that went and sat down with every recruiter for every branch one thing that I wanted was to be part of something with a strong history and be something that most will shy away from as the perception is boot camp is the hardest out of all the branches (probably so). But the legacy and brother hood of the Marines is second to none and that is what I wanted. I was smart as most people think of Marines and think of the ground side. That wasn't me I went aviation which taught me a skill gave me experience and I had something that translate to the civilian side for when I was done.
Go with what you feel best suits yourself but the Airforce life style is second to none and which is why most people will say to join the Airforce even from the other Branches. But I am very proud of the road I chose for myself and would do it again in a heart beat even knowing what I know now and have experienced in my life.

Good luck in your Journey and your decision as it is a big one.

 

Well......coming from a SNCO in the Army, if you don't know which one you want to do, then do the easier one. The Army is full of people who joined because they had nothing better to do, not because they have the passion to serve. I am not saying you don't have that, or that you're not a patriot. I'm just saying entirely too many people give two shits about their actual service.

 

Hey brother thank you for taking the time to give your input. For me the waiting period is really killing me and there were multiple boards meeting for the Army each year. Otherwise I would have to wait till at least august to even hear if the Air Force was going to reconvene their board for this year.

Thanks for your input as well. It’s a bit of both, guaranteed paychecks and benefits and nothing better to do. The lifestyle and all is tradition here.

 

Totally get it man. No judgement from me. I was a Drill Sergeant before I came out here to Hawaii and saw it every cycle when these kids would join because they were bored, not because they wanted to serve. Now I'm headed to West Point in December to teach cadets. So I'm sure it'll be more of the same, just with "smarter" more "connected" kids haha.

 

That’s awesome man, my brother in law was a DI. I know age is relative and I try to stay humble but I’m definitely in that other group. Even going to meps was pretty funny, the majority of those kids in the group were nervous, shaking, and you could tell have never been given an order before. There were maybe 3 of us going OCS, 1 army 2 navy.