Hi all, just to preface, the purpose of this post is gathering your thoughts and opinions on my situation and what you would do if you were in my shoes and if you have seen similar experiences or have been through the same experience. This is not me asking what are my chances, this is purely an opinion post.
I graduated in 2021 with an engineering degree and was in the AFROTC program for 4.5 years out of the 5 years I was in school. I was an AS400, a scholarship cadet, and was set to commission in the spring of 2021 but was dealt some bad cards as soon as the new commander showed up in 2018 when I finished field training. Long story short, the commander initiated two investigations against me, one that I won with overwhelming support from character statements and he said (and I kid you not) "I just wanted you to own up to your mistakes which is why I started this disenrollment investigation", even my Captain was fully against it... Anyway, the second one was because he believed I violated the honor code, and some cadets in my commissioning class that I had bad relations with lied during the investigation and I was dropped from the program with a 3 marked on my DD785. (I still have screenshots of their texts lol)
Fast-forwarding, I have a job at a prime defense contractor, same level as Lockheed and Boeing. Amazing pay and I am currently working towards my Master's that is fully reimbursed and I am on track to make quite a bit in the next year due to a promotion. But whenever I see some of my friends from Field Training post about their achievements as a pilot, in the Space Force, or just traveling, I can't help but to feel a little envious because I was one semester away from achieving a childhood goal of mine. And I always think, what if I had just transferred schools after the first DI because of toxic leadership, would it have been different?
With that being said, should I still try for OTS/OCS for Air Force or another branch? Or should I stick to what I have now? I don't care what my odds are. Just want to see what you all think! Let me know the pros and cons that are running through your head after reading this!
I graduated in 2021 with an engineering degree and was in the AFROTC program for 4.5 years out of the 5 years I was in school. I was an AS400, a scholarship cadet, and was set to commission in the spring of 2021 but was dealt some bad cards as soon as the new commander showed up in 2018 when I finished field training. Long story short, the commander initiated two investigations against me, one that I won with overwhelming support from character statements and he said (and I kid you not) "I just wanted you to own up to your mistakes which is why I started this disenrollment investigation", even my Captain was fully against it... Anyway, the second one was because he believed I violated the honor code, and some cadets in my commissioning class that I had bad relations with lied during the investigation and I was dropped from the program with a 3 marked on my DD785. (I still have screenshots of their texts lol)
Fast-forwarding, I have a job at a prime defense contractor, same level as Lockheed and Boeing. Amazing pay and I am currently working towards my Master's that is fully reimbursed and I am on track to make quite a bit in the next year due to a promotion. But whenever I see some of my friends from Field Training post about their achievements as a pilot, in the Space Force, or just traveling, I can't help but to feel a little envious because I was one semester away from achieving a childhood goal of mine. And I always think, what if I had just transferred schools after the first DI because of toxic leadership, would it have been different?
With that being said, should I still try for OTS/OCS for Air Force or another branch? Or should I stick to what I have now? I don't care what my odds are. Just want to see what you all think! Let me know the pros and cons that are running through your head after reading this!