Trying to choose between NROTC and AFROTC

FuturePilot619

New Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2016
Messages
8
Hello everybody! I am currently a senior in high school and have wanted to be a military fighter pilot ever since I watched "Top Gun". I want to go to college for Computer Science and do some form of ROTC (If I can keep my head on straight throughout college), I've read through forums like "Air Warriors" and read statistics on AFROTC vs. NROTC pilot selection rating and the whole ordeal made me very stressed out during my Junior year. I'm also not sure if just getting through college and then going to OCS/OTS would be a good Idea. Here's the problem, I come from an all Navy family, so the Navy is really appealing to me, and I live in San Diego and I love it here, I don't want to get stationed in some boring and dull place, now I know not all of my duty stations will be fun, but from my(limited) perspective, it seems as if the Navy have better duty stations than the Air Force. I've looked over what jobs I would want in both branches as an officer and I've come up with this, Navy: Naval Aviator, Naval Flight Officer, SWO, EOD/Diver
Air Force: Pilot, Space Operations Officer, Nuclear Missile Officer
I'm undecided on the whole thing, I just don't know which one would be a better fit, also to add onto this, I don't want to get out of the military and not be able to get a job in Computer science although I don't think it will turn out that way as my mom knows a guy who was a naval aviator who became a Lawyer after retiring. Any and all advice would be extremely helpful.
 
If you want to give it your best shot at flying the easiest way is through ROTC as OTS will be a lot more difficult to get a slot in. I would suggest thinking about what branch you would want to be a "regular" officer in just in case you do not get your dream job. Speaking for AFROTC...pilot is pretty attainable as long as you can keep your grades and fitness up...missiles are also really easy to get in that all you would need to do is ask for it. lol Personally I couldn't stand the risk of being on a ship so naturally I'm going AF. :p
 
Here's the problem, I come from an all Navy family, so the Navy is really appealing to me, and I live in San Diego and I love it here, I don't want to get stationed in some boring and dull place, now I know not all of my duty stations will be fun, but from my(limited) perspective, it seems as if the Navy have better duty stations than the Air Force.
It's all about perspective and how you make the best of it for any duty station. Sure you can be stationed in Minot, North Dakota but it's a great place for outdoor activities and many remote places tend to have closer communities.

If you desire to be a pilot while being a Comp Sci major I would suggest steering away from Air Force. Right now we have a major push for Cyber officers that anything relating to computers would put you in the Cyber field. Needs of the Air Force trump your own desires. I don't see that your interests are in being a Cyber officer but most likely the Air Force will stop you from being selected for pilot even if you have steller scores to be a pilot. On the Navy side to my knowledge the Cyber officers are in a Restricted Community which does not get officers from ROTC. In my opinion you have a much higher chance of becoming a pilot in the Navy compared to the Air Force. Now things can change and the demand for pilot is increasing in the Air Force due to the large amount of pilots leaving for the airlines but I still believe in the Air Force mind it's easier to train a Underwater Basket Weaving major how to fly than train to be a Cyber officer. If you have any skillset resembling a Cyber officer they will put you there.
 
It's all about perspective and how you make the best of it for any duty station. Sure you can be stationed in Minot, North Dakota but it's a great place for outdoor activities and many remote places tend to have closer communities.

If you desire to be a pilot while being a Comp Sci major I would suggest steering away from Air Force. Right now we have a major push for Cyber officers that anything relating to computers would put you in the Cyber field. Needs of the Air Force trump your own desires. I don't see that your interests are in being a Cyber officer but most likely the Air Force will stop you from being selected for pilot even if you have steller scores to be a pilot. On the Navy side to my knowledge the Cyber officers are in a Restricted Community which does not get officers from ROTC. In my opinion you have a much higher chance of becoming a pilot in the Navy compared to the Air Force. Now things can change and the demand for pilot is increasing in the Air Force due to the large amount of pilots leaving for the airlines but I still believe in the Air Force mind it's easier to train a Underwater Basket Weaving major how to fly than train to be a Cyber officer. If you have any skillset resembling a Cyber officer they will put you there.
You go up for the rated boards before your Form 53 and to add to it the rated boards are "blind." That said, if you go to your form 53 and put cyber on your list you will most likely get that.
 
Navy officer dress whites are good looking for sure.... second only to Marine dress blues! IMPO air force uniforms are the worst.
 
It's all about perspective and how you make the best of it for any duty station. Sure you can be stationed in Minot, North Dakota but it's a great place for outdoor activities and many remote places tend to have closer communities.

If you desire to be a pilot while being a Comp Sci major I would suggest steering away from Air Force. Right now we have a major push for Cyber officers that anything relating to computers would put you in the Cyber field. Needs of the Air Force trump your own desires. I don't see that your interests are in being a Cyber officer but most likely the Air Force will stop you from being selected for pilot even if you have steller scores to be a pilot. On the Navy side to my knowledge the Cyber officers are in a Restricted Community which does not get officers from ROTC. In my opinion you have a much higher chance of becoming a pilot in the Navy compared to the Air Force. Now things can change and the demand for pilot is increasing in the Air Force due to the large amount of pilots leaving for the airlines but I still believe in the Air Force mind it's easier to train a Underwater Basket Weaving major how to fly than train to be a Cyber officer. If you have any skillset resembling a Cyber officer they will put you there.

Why not Minot!
 
If you're focused mainly on more preferable duty station locations, I would probably recommend Navy over Air Force. From the top of my head; Florida has bases in Pensacola (where they train pilots/NFOs), Jacksonville/Mayport, and Key West with all of them being pretty nice, in my opinion.

California has San Diego, North Island (part of San Diego), Lemoore, Point Magu(?). Hawaii has Pearl Harbor. Washington state has Everret and NAS Whidbey Island. North Carolina has Norfolk/ NAS Oceana. Texas has NAS Corpus Christi (also where they train pilots).

Plus others I can't think of at the moment.

As you can see, many of the Naval bases/air stations are near the coast and major cities. I've been to a good majority of them and have loved each one, but each will have their pros and cons.

But all in all, your definition of a 'boring and dull place' can be different from everyone you talk to. So I would focus more on what you actually want to do career wise and not so much on where you might be stationed. Because that part is really out of your control most of the time.
 
If you're focused mainly on more preferable duty station locations, I would probably recommend Navy over Air Force. From the top of my head; Florida has bases in Pensacola (where they train pilots/NFOs), Jacksonville/Mayport, and Key West with all of them being pretty nice, in my opinion.

California has San Diego, North Island (part of San Diego), Lemoore, Point Magu(?). Hawaii has Pearl Harbor. Washington state has Everret and NAS Whidbey Island. North Carolina has Norfolk/ NAS Oceana. Texas has NAS Corpus Christi (also where they train pilots).

Plus others I can't think of at the moment.

As you can see, many of the Naval bases/air stations are near the coast and major cities. I've been to a good majority of them and have loved each one, but each will have their pros and cons.

But all in all, your definition of a 'boring and dull place' can be different from everyone you talk to. So I would focus more on what you actually want to do career wise and not so much on where you might be stationed. Because that part is really out of your control most of the time.
Agreed, the duty station is out of your control when it comes to picking the best one. In the AF people still need to go to Cannon, Minot, or Creech.
 
True, the AF doesn't have as many pretty bases, but what about family life? Pilots don't have that 5 and dive option. For the AF, even a USAFA grad, you are looking at being @32 before you can bolt for the airlines. Chances are you will be married, and maybe even have a child by that time. Deployments away become more of an issue to many than that pretty location.
~ I.E. Bullet flew the Strike Eagle. We were stationed at Seymour 2x within a decade. (98-01 and 05-08) with 2 other assignments in between. Our family is from the east coast and a days drive from our family. San Diego or even Eglin (our version of Pensacola) with their great area would equate to me not being able to put my 3 kids, in the car and just going home for whatever reason without killing me financially. It also meant when Bullet was deployed during Thanksgiving, Easter, my kids or my birthday I would most likely share it with just my AF spouses friends. Instead, due to the fact that I was less than 8 hrs from my family, they would take turns coming to me for things like those important times, knowing I would not have him to share the day.
~~ My DS is an AF C130 pilot stationed at Dyess. Yes. a place where you would not place on your list of PICK ME PICK ME! He and his wife will be blessed with their 1st child, our 1st grandchild. He met and fell in love with his wife while at college. He only pinned on O3 last week (class of 12)...hence, he is young. I digress, my point is nobody from the family will be there when the baby is born. Why? Because of where he is stationed. Pensacola is great, but in the end if your family is in San Diego, her family is from Texas, the allure is lost when you are deployed for 6 months and she is stuck on the other side of the country away from her family with a little baby. Skype only goes so far.

As for me, an east coast city girl spouse that followed Bullet around the world. Trust me, life was a rude awakening for our 1st yr of marriage. I got to learn how to spell OH MY GOD NO Alamorgordo, which was followed on by being sent to Mt. Home, Idaho ---hub of Elmore County, pop. 8K (closest city is Boise --- 51 miles away). Just like my DS that did UPT at Del Rio aka He!! Rio and now in Abilene (Dallas is 2 1/2 hrs away), he chose to embrace where he is stationed and not envy those pretty stations.
~ Had Bullet not gone to Oh My God No, I would never have seen Carlsbad Caverns, Las Cruces, etc. No Mt. Home, and I would never have camped on the Snake River. No Ft. Leavenworth, and I would have never visited Kansas City.
~~ Most importantly, there is something that happens at those crap assignments that does not happen at the great place assignments. BONDING. When you are assigned to places in large cities, military members tend to live in a 30 minute radius from the base/post. Many people avoid the Pentagon like the plague, but let's be real DC is a great place from an everything you can do aspect. The thing is it is a big city. Most likely your social circle will not be those in your unit, but those in your neighborhood because if you live 30 mins to the east of the post and they live 20 minutes to the west, that is an hour drive to hang with them outside of work. Now a place like Goldsboro (Seymour), where the population is 50K and Raleigh is 50 miles away, 95% of everyone in your squadron will live within 15 miles every which way because after 15 miles you are in no man's land, on top of that they tend to move into the same neighborhoods than you tend to bond outside of work also.
~~~ My DS and his wife have also found this to be true in Abilene. They have people in their squadron that do not live in their development, but most live within 5 miles away. If they need to borrow a tool to work on their home, it is a 5 minute ride. They go out to dinner or movies on the weekend because they live near each other,

Norfolk is a big place, your best bud might live an hr away, so in essence, your social circle might be more about creating a non-military circle and you may find that you have a lonely life if you can't navigate how to create that circle. VA Beach is great, but not so much if you have nobody to share it with socially.

Sorry for the novella regarding this great post/base aspect, but I had to say it from someone that did those tours, and has a DS that also has paid his dues already from the please send me there and not here aspect.
 
Novella part two.

You want to be a fighter pilot.

UM, let's be real here. AF is the way to go.

The AF has the F15, 15E, 16, 22 and the 35, plus the A10.
The AF is the smallest of all 3 branches regarding military members.
The AF is buying a lot more 35s than the Navy. I can't recall the exact number, but it is at least 2x as many as the Navy. See above regarding the AF being the smallest branch. Use statistics here regarding your chances for those pointy nose jets.
~ In fairness, the Navy has a lot more Helos than the AF.

What if you don't get a pointy nose or a Helo, will you be happy with an E8? Somebody will get that in your class. You need to have your goals, but accept the fact you might be that E8 pilot.

Now what happens if you bust UPT?
Do you want to sit at a desk landlocked in Colorado as a Cyber guy/gal or do you want to be on a boat?
~ They don't call it the CHAIR FORCE for no reason.

I am with Sled and Alpha Alpha regarding your major because they are both correct. When you go up for a rated board they know your major. IF that major is considered critical manning you can find that no matter how great your score is they will say NO. They have done that with specific engineering majors in the past. Hence, Alpha has a point. However, Sled is correct when he stated you go rated first, and if that major is not considered critical manning they will release you for UPT. Even if it is they will still release a small percentage to go UPT.
~ One of DS's groomsmen was released to go UPT. Unfortunately he washed out about 2 months prior to winging. He met the evaluation board and is now Cyber. Others in his class that washed out were sent to either Intel or Maintenance. Can you spell Minot?
~~~ To answer EDelahanty's question...Why not Minot? Freezin is the reason.

This is going to be your life and you will always need to say if plan A. B or C does not work out, what is plan D, E or F.

My DS never applied to the Navy. He was like Sled...he had no desire to do anything on a boat, unless it was flying. Obviously he is an AF brat so that had an impact in his decision just like you being a Navy brat.

You will not go wrong either way.
 
Chicks dig Dress Whites. Fly Navy.

I think the whites are amazing. However, I just love a man in Blue Mess Dress (Bullet and DS are AF)

The one thing that I think is the coolest from a uniform aspect...the Navy fliers wear brown shoes.

The negative I give to the Navy is OMG how many uniforms do you have? I can't imagine the purchase cost. AF is pretty simple for fliers.
~ PJs/Bags --- flight suit
~ Dress Blues
~ ABUs
~ Mess Dress.

You guys have the whites, khakis, mess dress, ABUs, Flight suit, and I am sure there is another one or two that I missed. AF has only 1 mess dress...doesn't the Navy have 2? That means as an aviator you also have at least 3 pairs of shoes too. Corfram black and brown, plus boots. You need a walk in closet for just the amount of different uniforms!

Now I have to say, HATS OFF to Navy pilots/RIOs and Navs. I will repeat Bullet's opinion about the difference between AF and Navy pilots.
1. Landing a plane on a carrier in the ocean is like finding a postage stamp on a football field. Think about it. A carrier can be quite large, but the fact is it is tiny when it is in an ocean.
2. He liked the fact that his runway was exactly where he left it when he took off for his mission hours earlier.
 
I honestly like the Navy uniforms cause everyone knows the navy uniform while every now and then I get mistaken for a post office man (really?). I want to also point out that in the AF if you don't get selected as a pilot you DO get competed for a slot as a CSO/RPA Pilot/Air Battle Manager. Since you are fine with being a NFO being a CSO should be fine for you but if you're not fine with RPA or ABM consider the fact that in AFROTC if you compete for pilot you compete for all four rated positions.
 
Novella part two.

I am with Sled and Alpha Alpha regarding your major because they are both correct. When you go up for a rated board they know your major. IF that major is considered critical manning you can find that no matter how great your score is they will say NO. They have done that with specific engineering majors in the past. Hence, Alpha has a point. However, Sled is correct when he stated you go rated first, and if that major is not considered critical manning they will release you for UPT. Even if it is they will still release a small percentage to go UPT.

You will not go wrong either way.

For the rated board they have no clue what your major is. Idk if that is new and has changed but that is the way they do it today. In the past two years at my det an electrical engineer and two computer science guy got rated and their scores weren't outstanding either. Add to this that they are facing a shortage of pilots that won't be fixed within the next couple years so it is safe to say that pilot is also a critical manning field.

Also, I've learned that people only like the Navy because of their dress whites. lol
 
[...
Also, I've learned that people only like the Navy because of their dress whites. lol[/QUOTE]

But wait, there's always this:
 
Starting a thread disagreeing with Pima is no way to go through life. Let's see how this goes.
You want to fly pointy nose airplanes. Navy is far ahead for the AF.
Go NROTC, stay out of trouble and physically qualified you will get aviation. In short terms, % of Freshman scholarship winners selecting aviation upon graduation - Navy wins. NavyNola can confirm.

Start flight school in the Navy, you have a better than 20% chance of getting jets. All Navy jets are Hornets today. Pima, what % of flight school graduates that get Eagles, Vipers, or Raptors? It's not 20%.

Home basing in the Navy is much easier than the AF. How many current CAGs in NLC did their entire career, post training command at NLC? It is NLC, but 20 years at a single base, if you perform, it is not unusual.

All that being said, I begged my sons to go AF. QOL is much better, you don't work. Flying is your only job until mid O-4. Minot rocks compared to NLC. Visit Randolph and Kingsville and make your decision. You will never do more with less (unless you fly A-10s) in your AF career.

They ignored me and went Navy.

All that being said, you want to be guaranteed flight. Go Marine option with a flight guarantee and you eliminate the chance of not getting aviation upon graduation. Downside, the Marines make the Navy look like that Air Force.

Nomex on, Flame Away
OS
 
OldSalt.

Just a few responses.
1. ROTC grads that ask for a rated slot have historically close to a 95% chance of receiving a rated slot.
~ The thing for AFROTC is that you need to be selected for SFT as a sophomore. Scholarships are considered blind for that board. IOWS they don't put any weight into the equation. So it is kind of like NROTC kids without a scholarship competing for their spot their sophomore yr. They both have that make or break year, but just in a different way.
~~ Basically if you keep your nose clean, carry a 3.0 (tech) or 3.4 (non-tech) and have a couple of hours flight time you will get pilot. If somewhere along the path you decide to try for the USAFA route, than as long as you commission from USAFA and are medically qual'd you will get UPT. You can be the bottom of the barrel or what I believe the Navy calls the anchor in the class and still you can get UPT. I don't believe that is true for the Navy.
~~ When my DS commissioned in 12, 13 of the 28 requested UPT. 13 requested pilot. 12 got it. The one that didn't was because their eyesight did not meet the FAA FC1 physical requirements. They went UNT (nav). In essence 100% rate. Nobody that asked for pilot and was medically qual'd did not get a pilot slot. 1 was considered to short for ejection seat, but passed the FAA FC1, so she entered knowing that she would go heavies, but still got a pilot slot.

2. As far as the pointy noses go for the AF. IF you wing you have @25% chance of getting one. Additionally, if you add in ENJJPT than your odds go up overall to about 35-40% chance. ENJJPT only hands out jets. However, competing for an ENJJPT slot is very competitive. They only wing about @200 people per year compared to the other 3 UPT bases that each wing about 300 per year.
~ If you look on baseops.net you will see a thread called track night. AF UPT bases wing about every 3 weeks, and on average @25% go T-38 track which is the pointy nose.
~~ My DS's class had 25% go Fighter. The number 1 in the class got F22. The rest were all 16's 15s and 15Es. No A10s in his class.
~~~ The AF has already started dropping F35s out of UPT. I don't know if the Navy is doing that currently.
~~~~ Does the Navy have the equivalent to ENJJPT for UPT?
~~~~~What is their wash out rate at UPT overall?

3. One thing that I will say that I like better for AF than Navy is how UPT works. My DS started and finished with all of the same people. It created friendships and bonds. Winging for them is a HUGGGGEEEE thing. It is a 3 day event that culminates with a black tie ball. This includes welcome cocktail party, base tour, simulator rides, and the big graduation ceremony where the pilots walk across the stage. Assignment night is also HUUUGGGE. It is a big party @ 1 month prior to winging where they find out their airframe.
~ My friends DS that winged Navy shocked me when she said it is really no biggie, basically they just do the pin on. No ball, no cocktail parties, no tours, etc. She also said that it was weird because nobody that started with her DS winged with him. The reason why is how they do that start stop aspect. (this would be the part where in the AF you track after the T-6 stage into either the 38s or the 1s.) There is no start stop for the AF, you all move on together. The only ones that don't either wash out or wash back to the next class.
~~ My friend was an AF pilot and his DS opted to go Navy.

4. Believe it or not, I know a ton of friends that homesteaded in the AF. Of course that is a career killer. The AF frowns upon homesteading. The way they do this is they will volunteer for a 1 yr. remote with a follow on back to their station. One of my friends that now has a DS serving as a navigator in the AF, never moved from the time her DS was in 2nd grade to the time her DH retired. The DS already graduated from HS when his Dad retired. Yep, 10 years in one place.
~ Also for the AF, typically you will spend your career going between specific bases if you stay in that airframe. For example, the F15E is at 3 bases. Seymour, Lakenheath and Mt. Home. Thus, you bounce back and forth between these bases, and since Seymour is both Operational and FTU, you usually bounce between Lakenheath and Seymour. You also can PCA at Seymour by bouncing from 1 of the 2 FTU squadrons and 1 of the 2 Op. squadrons. IE your career can look like this. FTU (PCS) to Seymour as an O2 with a 1st tour Op. to Lakenheath (3 yrs) come back to Seymour as an IP at 1 of the FTU squadrons, than after 3-4 yrs. PCA over to one of the Op squadrons at Seymour for another 3-4 yrs. Thus, a total of @ 6-8 yrs. in lovely (sarcasm) Goldsboro. Than do what our friends did because you are hot on the Remote list and go to Korea for a yr. with a follow on back to Seymour FTU as an IP again. Repeat with the OP tour. Basically except for that 1 yr remote, you have done @15 yrs at 1 base.
~~ My DS (C130J) will basically have the same options between bouncing between Dyess, Little Rock and if he is lucky for overseas, Ramstein. Ramstein is rare, so basically he will go back and forth between 1 of 2 bases if he stays in that airframe. Little Rock is like Seymour, training squadrons and Op squadrons, thus they can bounce between the squadrons.

The fact is that most airframes have only a few bases they bounce to and from over their career. Bullet decided he wanted to do a lot of bouncing from a career aspect. Yet, in the last decade of his career, 4 moves. (Seymour, CGSC, Pentagon, Seymour) we spent over 6 of those 10 at Seymour. It was really our choice. Had he not gone to CGSC, we probably would have been like our friends bounce between the 335th (OP) and the 333rd (FTU) with a remote, and spent all 10 years at Seymour.

5. I disagree with you regarding flying is your only job until you hit O4. That is a pure fallacy. It is true until you become Operational which is @ your 2 yr. flying marker. 1 yr UPT, 6 months FTU, 6 months MQing at your 1st Op base. Once operational, they will assign you a desk job, be it in scheduling, weapons/tactics, life support or Snack O. You only will fly about 2 days a week. The rest of those days you are flying a desk.
~ If you want to make O4 than you need to fly a desk while you also are flying. IE you start in your squadron in the tactics shop, do well and than you fly the desk in the wing tactics shop. That helps you make O4.
~~ Of course there are times that you will really fly alot, such as upgrading to IP, preparing for deployment, on deployment or going to WIC (Top Gun for Navy), but that is a very small amount of time from a long term aspect. Overall, expect 2 days a week on average.

The thing is for the AF they owe 9 years from winging, and now they are losing pilots at an insanely high rate. Pointy nose pilots are being offered @250K at their 8 yr marker (after winging or 9 yrs in) if they stay until 19 yrs. They can get 50% up front (125K before taxes) and the remaining 125K is dispersed annually over the remaining 10 years, or @12.5K per year, plus at that time they are getting @10K in flight pay. Yet, still they are finding out that statistically they are not getting enough to bite on it for them to stop the mass exodus to the airlines.
~ I don't know what the Navy is doing for retention, but my guess is that, like the AF, they are bleeding too. Bullet and I fly out to see our DS 2x a yr. We both do the same thing everytime the plane lands...guess if they were AF or Navy prior to becoming a bus driver in the sky. Navy pilots tend to hit the runway as soon as they can (carrier landing) and taxi for a long time down the runway. AF guy/gals tend to use up the runway before landing and taxi for a shorter amount of time because they never had to land on a moving runway that is shorter.

All in all, I have to say that you can't go into this world asking which branch do I have a better chance of getting a pointy nose jet because you know what they call an O1 pilot? Ensign or Lt. Smith, not Pilot Smith. You will be an officer 1st and pilot 2nd. Sooooo many enter UPT with that dream of a pointy nose jet, but after 50 weeks of wake up at 5, academics, sim, flying, go home, eat dinner, chair fly until 11, repeat 5 days a week, and start studying at noon on Sunday all they really want is to wing. Once they wing, be it heavy or pointy nose they will swear their airframe is the best and most important airframe in the inventory.
~ My Bullet and my DS taunt each other. Bullet being that pointy nose guy, and DS being a heavy they see things differently. IE DS drops those guys out of his perfectly good airplane that call in the air strikes that he would respond to during his missions. DS gives a lift to the maintainers and Intel members for their deployments, plus if they need spare parts, guess who delivers them to those remote spots (see my avatar). Bullet will in turn respond by saying that if the pointy nose doesn't keep the air space safe than they couldn't do their mission. It really becomes which came 1st the chicken or the egg?

Thus, in the end you have to answer 1 question and 1 question alone. Which branch will I be happier in IF I don't wing. Leave the airframe out of the question. Only place into the equation if you have to fly a desk as an Intel officer or Maintenance would you rather be at sea or landlocked?
~ Like Sled, my DS and my DH had absolutely no desire to be on a boat 6 months out of 18 months, they were fine with being landlocked.

I will also say that for me, if I wanted to go down this path as a military member and not a dependent, I would choose the Navy. I would much rather be on a boat for 6 months seeing interesting ports than being landlocked at a desk. Not saying that I did not love every single assignment, because I did, just saying if I was 23 and did not wing, with no dependents, it would be Navy all the way.
~ That also being said, my DS met his wife when he was 20. Married at 24. 1st baby is due at the ripe old age of 26, he still owes 6 more years. Never in his mind when he entered ROTC at 18 did he think 8 years later he would be a Dad. That changes things. It is no longer just about you. It is about those you love that are left behind, and that changes your perspective about everything, including staying in for the 20.
~~ DS owes many more years. 2023 is when he can walk. His wife is going crazy because he is a cheap wad right now. I have to constantly say to her, he is looking at long term for you guys. Airlines don't pay a lot in the beginning, the more you save, the more you will be able to live off your savings while he starts with the airlines without hurting you guys financially...IOWS you can stil stay at home with the kids. He has yet to decide if he is going to stay and take the bonus or walk. It is all going to come down to the future. Deployments, PCSing, time away from the family, and quality of life. He is too young right now to make that choice.

I will also say that the AF is the Prima Donna of every branch. Not flying and you do bankers hours. They truly believe that for retention purposes a happy family, will increase retention....not the if they wanted you to have a family they would issue you one. Granted Grand Forks might not make the spouse thrilled, but if it means you are home a lot that takes the sting out of being at Grand Forks.

OBTW oldsalt, Randolph is amazing, but that assignment is elusive overall just like Eglin, Hickham, Elmendorf, Ramstein, etc. etc. Don't expect to get it in your career. Expect the Hell Rio assignment 1st. Somebody has to take 1 for the team. Bullet jumped out of perfectly good airplanes with the 82nd to get that Elmendorf assignment. Basically, you have to make a deal with the Devil for the most cases to get that great base.
 
Just adding on some info about me! I am also very tempted to be a Marine Option NROTC student as I've heard that you can be guaranteed a slot in flight school after TBS, HOWEVER, I don't know what I'd be doing if it wasn't aviation in the Marine Corps, I would want something that would help me get a job when I get out, and Infantry is cool and all, but A.) It can't be guaranteed after TBS and 2.) I've heard the horror stories of Marines who get out after Infantry and couldn't find jobs. I also would like to know when you guys talk about being forced into Cyber, would Space Ops be considered Cyber, I only ask because I'm extremely interested in space and space flight and the availability of that career with my major will ultimately decide for me whether or not I join the Air Force. I understand that Air Force guys/gals get more time with family, but it is my future we're talking about, and I figure I 'ought to join the branch that suits me best, btw, if anyone has any cool intel careers that they know about for the Marines, please let me know, because I looked at their website and it all seemed pretty combat oriented.
 
I will only address one thing, "horror stories" about Marine infantry finding jobs. Not applicable to the officer community. Junior officers, regardless of commissioning source, service, warfare specialty or college degree, are highly sought after by Fortune 500 companies. They bring security clearances, proven leadership and a host of other desirable skills.

There are dozens of organizations which help vets find and get jobs.

There are companies which specialize in job placement for separating junior officers. Sample these:

http://www.lucasgroup.com
(Military tab)

http://www.bradley-morris.com
 
I will only address one thing, "horror stories" about Marine infantry finding jobs. Not applicable to the officer community. Junior officers, regardless of commissioning source, service, warfare specialty or college degree, are highly sought after by Fortune 500 companies.

+1! Agree 100%

because I looked at their website and it all seemed pretty combat oriented.

:lolatyou: Duh! What were you expecting??
 
Back
Top