Choosing where to be stationed/ age question.

falconyc

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Can your performance at the academy determine where you would like to be stationed? Do better performers have an upper hand in getting their preferred base(domestic and international)?

Also, is entering the academy at age 20 odd?

Thanks.
 
Can your performance at the academy determine where you would like to be stationed? Do better performers have an upper hand in getting their preferred base(domestic and international)?

Also, is entering the academy at age 20 odd?

Thanks.

I don't know much about the stationing thing but I do know that people who have started college already or who have served the military and are still serving apply for the USAFA. So I don't think 20 is odd!
 
Certainly the very top performers get some extra say in their first assignment. That being said all will fill out a "dream Sheet" and while the needs of the Air Force trump all your desires are taken into the decision.

Being 20 isn't "odd". The vast majority are straight out of hs tho and just 18. It isn't a big concern. Believe it or not the maturity level from 18 to 20 changes alot so likely many of your classmates sense of humor will seem silly to you. I think this is more likely than an issue with the cadre. I know my son is 22 going in from LEAD. He certainly isn't the same kid he was coming out of hs.
 
Everyone fills out their dream sheet: pilot, CRO, maintenance... whatever. And, yes, the AF does take a look at these preferences. But never forget, the needs of the AF come, absolutely and inevitably, before your dream(s). The year my sons graduated, their good friend who was second or third in the class, put pilot as his #1. He got his masters on the AF dime and is now a scientist.

Twenty is not too old. There will be a few older but many more younger.
 
Your success at the Academy will help you get the job (AFSC) that you want, but where you are stationed after the Academy is influenced by a lot more factors than that performance.

For the first year or two after the Academy, you will be in training for whatever AFSC that you get (length of training varies by AFSC). That location is pretty much set by where the AF has the schoolhouse for that job. If you go to Intelligence, you will start out at Goodfellow AFB, if you get Pilot, you will go to one of the UPT bases, etc.

Your Academy performance can influence your choice of UPT base, but the needs of the AF always come first. If you are a pilot, you will spend up to another year after UPT at the training base for whatever airframe you get, so that also is pre-determined. In my son's case, that was at Luke AFB in Arizona. At the end of FTU (Formal Training Unit) you may get to choose which base you go to based on performance in FTU training, so by this point your performance at the Academy is not even part of the equation. Even then, your choice of bases is limited to where there are openings for your AFSC at the time you are ready to move. Son recently got his preliminary VML openings for next Fall and there are two slots for F-35 transition training at Luke, and two slots for Korea. Not a huge range of choices because it is limited to openings available for his AFSC and rank.

Stealth_81
 
1000% agree Stealth.

JMPO, and with $2.07 you can get a small coffee at Starbucks. Performance is only going to matter for step 1 (schoolhouse) like Stealth stated, especially for rated.

Many times it comes down to timing for every career field.

Go Intel, and the class before had assignments to Hickham, Eglin, Charleston and Ramstein. The next class it could be Seymour, Mt. Home and Little Rock.
Go Pilot and the class before could have a 22 and a 35, next drop it could be 16s and AC130s.

You have no control over the drops.

OBTW, Bullet flew the 15E. Seymour was always going to be part of your life. Rotations were between Seymour, Elmendorf, Mt. Home and Lakenheath. Our DS is a C130J pilot. His rotations are even more limited to include Abilene,and Little Rock as typical assignments. A10s are even less.

Congrats Stealth to your DS. I remember Bullet saying years ago when he got the 16 that timing wise he was in a great position for the 35s.
 
Yes...a small coffee! Now if you want it with a cinnamon bun, I think you are right, $5 bucks.

Back on topic
 
Being at the top of the list will pretty much always give you a little bit of advantage in selecting AFSC, assignments, locations, etc.
That being said, the AF's needs will determine what happens. If you want to be the world's greatest P-51 pilot out of RAF Bodney, you are out of luck--just 70 years late! ;)
Let's say you are a HH-60 co-pilot straight out of training and want to go to England. You might be the highest ranked student, but if there are no spots in that unit this season, you will go elsewhere. If there is one spot available, and you and your lower rated buddy both ask for it, you are more likely to get it.
 
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