Air Force Rated vs Non-Rated

vamom

vamom

5-Year Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
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Greetings. I'm sure that someone on this forum will be able to provide some insight into the following:
I recently overheard the following comment: "if you go in to the Air Force as "non-rated" (meaning upon commissioning from the AFA or a SMC/AFROTC, etc.), your career will never be able to take you as far as it could as if you commission "rated". I was particularly intrigued by this comment given the SFT selection process that recently occurred, mandating that the 2nd year cadets declare rated or non-rated in the package that was sent up from the detachment.

Basically , the person that was speaking was saying that if you go in "non-rated", you're going to be kind of a 2nd class citizen. I'm wondering if this is true. As a civie mom, I have no idea so I thought I'd ask because people say the darndest things!
 
vamom said:
Greetings. I'm sure that someone on this forum will be able to provide some insight into the following:
I recently overheard the following comment: "if you go in to the Air Force as "non-rated" (meaning upon commissioning from the AFA or a SMC/AFROTC, etc.), your career will never be able to take you as far as it could as if you commission "rated". I was particularly intrigued by this comment given the SFT selection process that recently occurred, mandating that the 2nd year cadets declare rated or non-rated in the package that was sent up from the detachment.

Basically , the person that was speaking was saying that if you go in "non-rated", you're going to be kind of a 2nd class citizen. I'm wondering if this is true. As a civie mom, I have no idea so I thought I'd ask because people say the darndest things!
Click to expand...

Actually, "rated" means you are filling a job that has flying as part of your duties. Pilot, CSO ( Nav), Air Battle Manager, and RPA operator are "rated". Everyone else is non-rated. Are you treated like a second class citizen as a non-rated officer? Well, we are the Air Force. But in honesty, this bias doesn't really show up until you get to the rank of Colonel and beyond.
 
Well, thank you very much for that answer. I will be an "Air Force Mom" in a few years so I'm just getting the lay of the land since I doubt I'll get much of this out of DS, a rising 400. :wink:
 
Just remember to keep nodding your head and say "Yes, Dear" when talking to him about his career, then come on here to get the explanation about what the heck he was talking about. :biggrin:
 
Haha! I'm a step ahead of you...I've been doing that for 3 years now, on this site! DS is a 5-year due to double Engineering major so I have two more years uncover these mysteries before he flies off to who knows where.
 
vamom said:
Greetings. I'm sure that someone on this forum will be able to provide some insight into the following:
I recently overheard the following comment: "if you go in to the Air Force as "non-rated" (meaning upon commissioning from the AFA or a SMC/AFROTC, etc.), your career will never be able to take you as far as it could as if you commission "rated". I was particularly intrigued by this comment given the SFT selection process that recently occurred, mandating that the 2nd year cadets declare rated or non-rated in the package that was sent up from the detachment.

Basically , the person that was speaking was saying that if you go in "non-rated", you're going to be kind of a 2nd class citizen. I'm wondering if this is true. As a civie mom, I have no idea so I thought I'd ask because people say the darndest things!
Click to expand...

I'm a non-rated officer and I've deployed/flown as an aircrew member as part of my primary duties. In my current job I'm not treated any different from other Lts who are pilots, or navs, or EWOs in the squadron. In my limited experience I've definitely noticed significant difference between the "operations" and "support" side of the Air Force. But being non-rated doesn't mean you can't be on the ops side of things.
 
Thank you Nick! I was a bit skeptical of the comment that was originally made. Not that it affects me at all, but I like to know which side is up!:thumb:
 
Nick4060 is on the money when it comes to Ops vs Support.


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HerkRule and USAF-Retired: Thank you both for your additional information/comments. It's really nice to have a place that I can go to improve my knowledge on things like this without an "eye roll" (not that I can always SEE the eye roll, but I know when it's there...mom's intuition). :shake:
 
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