Carmen_San_Diego
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2019
- Messages
- 6
I've wanted to join the Air Force for a long time. And went to see a recruiter when I was 23. But the recruiter turned me away because I had a GED and no college credits.
Since I deeply hated school as a kid and was bullied in school, I promised myself that I would never go back. And the Air Force suddenly felt like an impossibility for me.
Another reason I wanted to join the Air Force was to escape a lot of bad situations back home. All my friends were working dead end jobs and involved with illegal things and heavy drinkers and I didn't want to end up like them.
After the Air Force rejection however, I continued to fall in with a bad crowd, my parents had divorced earlier and I continued to deal with that too.
The reason the divorce negatively affected me was bc my parents turned neglectful towards me+began to pick favorites between me and my siblings. Following all this I came out to my parents and immediately after this I was treated badly because I was lgbtq+. I was not aware that my parents where homophobic until I came out to them so you can imagine my surprise when my agnostic father became upset with me. I genuinely felt tricked by his disapproval. Oh well. I expected it from my mother though, since she had a religious belief that it was wrong to be a homosexual. Anyways...
This rejection by the recruiter+my family, lead to me living a very wreckless/careless life of me pretending to be straight and using negative outlets to cope with this . I continued getting deeper and deeper in with the wrong crowd.
And within 8 months from me speaking with the recruiter and getting rejected, I got my 1st DUI.
It makes me a little sad to think about how much different my life would have been if that recruiter had worked with me instead of just giving me the brush off.
If he'd worked with me, I would have likely gone into the air force, DUI free and have been able to ween the Gi Bill, gain independence from my homophobic parents, and But I understand that recruiters are very busy and can't babysit every kid who walks into their office. I also accept all responaibility for the DUI. It was my fault ultimately.
With that said,
Im 32 now and have 2 semesters of college under my belt. And I have observed that things seem too have gotten better for lgbtq kids at school. No more bullying or homophobia. Which is great. Also, the military no longer inforces "dont ask dont tell" so that's a plus And the USAF had raised its commissioning+enlistment age limit to ***39***. Which makes me feel like the time is right for me to attempt joining the USAF again.
So I spoke to a USAF recruiter and he told me I can join with the college credits I currently have (almost 30 credits) but says my DUI needs a waiver and that the need for this waiver means I have to be open to the needs of the USAF, aka i have to take any job thats offered to me. Is this true?
I wanted an office job though. He's saying that's a no go. Im 32 now and not too interested in jobs that are going to injure my body or have me working in horribly low temps (outdoor jobs).
He said mechanics / electricians / Security Forces are the jobs I need to anticipate being offered because of the DUI limiting my ability to get TS Clearance.
Is this true?
I hate to think a 9 yr old dui can affect me this much when i have no medical and no criminal issues (aside from the DUI).
Also, my original plan was to go through AFROTC and commission but college is really expensive. Im thinking enlisting and getting the Gi Bill will be better than getting into debt.
Im still surrounded by the bad crowd i mentioned, and my roommates are alcoholics. I managed to stay away from all that (I have a very low tolerance for alcohol/all smoke so being sober was easily for me) but again my living situation Is not good at all.
I feel that enlisting will be best for me to get me the Gi Bill but that means I will only have 3 years left to commission once i separate from the USAF.
Thats cutting it real close.
My major is mechanical engineering and im a B- student so working with such a demanding major is out of the question.
Maybe if I was smarter I could but im not.
Im not eligible for any AFROTC scholarships due to my age so enlisting seems like the right move. What do you guys think?
Since I deeply hated school as a kid and was bullied in school, I promised myself that I would never go back. And the Air Force suddenly felt like an impossibility for me.
Another reason I wanted to join the Air Force was to escape a lot of bad situations back home. All my friends were working dead end jobs and involved with illegal things and heavy drinkers and I didn't want to end up like them.
After the Air Force rejection however, I continued to fall in with a bad crowd, my parents had divorced earlier and I continued to deal with that too.
The reason the divorce negatively affected me was bc my parents turned neglectful towards me+began to pick favorites between me and my siblings. Following all this I came out to my parents and immediately after this I was treated badly because I was lgbtq+. I was not aware that my parents where homophobic until I came out to them so you can imagine my surprise when my agnostic father became upset with me. I genuinely felt tricked by his disapproval. Oh well. I expected it from my mother though, since she had a religious belief that it was wrong to be a homosexual. Anyways...
This rejection by the recruiter+my family, lead to me living a very wreckless/careless life of me pretending to be straight and using negative outlets to cope with this . I continued getting deeper and deeper in with the wrong crowd.
And within 8 months from me speaking with the recruiter and getting rejected, I got my 1st DUI.
It makes me a little sad to think about how much different my life would have been if that recruiter had worked with me instead of just giving me the brush off.
If he'd worked with me, I would have likely gone into the air force, DUI free and have been able to ween the Gi Bill, gain independence from my homophobic parents, and But I understand that recruiters are very busy and can't babysit every kid who walks into their office. I also accept all responaibility for the DUI. It was my fault ultimately.
With that said,
Im 32 now and have 2 semesters of college under my belt. And I have observed that things seem too have gotten better for lgbtq kids at school. No more bullying or homophobia. Which is great. Also, the military no longer inforces "dont ask dont tell" so that's a plus And the USAF had raised its commissioning+enlistment age limit to ***39***. Which makes me feel like the time is right for me to attempt joining the USAF again.
So I spoke to a USAF recruiter and he told me I can join with the college credits I currently have (almost 30 credits) but says my DUI needs a waiver and that the need for this waiver means I have to be open to the needs of the USAF, aka i have to take any job thats offered to me. Is this true?
I wanted an office job though. He's saying that's a no go. Im 32 now and not too interested in jobs that are going to injure my body or have me working in horribly low temps (outdoor jobs).
He said mechanics / electricians / Security Forces are the jobs I need to anticipate being offered because of the DUI limiting my ability to get TS Clearance.
Is this true?
I hate to think a 9 yr old dui can affect me this much when i have no medical and no criminal issues (aside from the DUI).
Also, my original plan was to go through AFROTC and commission but college is really expensive. Im thinking enlisting and getting the Gi Bill will be better than getting into debt.
Im still surrounded by the bad crowd i mentioned, and my roommates are alcoholics. I managed to stay away from all that (I have a very low tolerance for alcohol/all smoke so being sober was easily for me) but again my living situation Is not good at all.
I feel that enlisting will be best for me to get me the Gi Bill but that means I will only have 3 years left to commission once i separate from the USAF.
Thats cutting it real close.
My major is mechanical engineering and im a B- student so working with such a demanding major is out of the question.
Maybe if I was smarter I could but im not.
Im not eligible for any AFROTC scholarships due to my age so enlisting seems like the right move. What do you guys think?
Last edited: