Chances from enlisted to officer in space force or air force

[hopefulcadet02]

Hello,
If I want to go to the space force or air force as enlisted with a college degree, is there a good chance of being an officer through ots in a year or two? I am specifically interested in space operations but do not have relevant experience with the field and do not have a stem degree. I am graduating this semester from a top 40-50 school, hopefully above a 3.5 GPA. I am in good shape, active in two clubs, and did an internship last year.

 

[Iwutke]

Hello,
If I want to go to the space force or air force as enlisted with a college degree, is there a good chance of being an officer through ots in a year or two? I am specifically interested in space operations but do not have relevant experience with the field and do not have a stem degree. I am graduating this semester from a top 40-50 school, hopefully above a 3.5 GPA. I am in good shape, active in two clubs, and did an internship last year.

Why not talk to an officer recruiter, rather than enlisted recruiter, now? They will get you the correct info. Maybe you don’t have to go enlisted first. BTW, my nephew, as a college graduate, started in the enlisted Army Signal Corps in satellite communications. Reached rank of sergeant. Then last year transferred to enlisted Space Force. Works for NORAD in Colorado, tracking satellites, Chinese balloons, and Santa. He was a geography major.

 

[hopefulcadet02]

Why not talk to an officer recruiter, rather than enlisted recruiter, now? They will get you the correct info. Maybe you don’t have to go enlisted first. BTW, my nephew, as a college graduate, started in the enlisted Army Signal Corps in satellite communications. Reached rank of sergeant. Then last year transferred to enlisted Space Force. Works for NORAD in Colorado, tracking satellites, Chinese balloons, and Santa. He was a geography major.

Thank you for the response! I will talk to an officer recruiter for the space force and see what happens. I will try my best, but getting in seems hard due to the space force's low acceptance rates in ots, and I do not have an outstanding resume. So, I figured enlisting would give me some experience, ultimately having a greater chance of being accepted to ots. BTW, how is your nephew doing? Does he like the work environment? Does he have plans in being an officer?

 

[Iwutke]

Thank you for the response! I will talk to an officer recruiter for the space force and see what happens. I will try my best, but getting in seems hard due to the space force's low acceptance rates in ots, and I do not have an outstanding resume. So, I figured enlisting would give me some experience, ultimately having a greater chance of being accepted to ots. BTW, how is your nephew doing? Does he like the work environment? Does he have plans in being an officer?

Good. Yes. No. His previous job in the Army was in the White House Communications Agency (WHCA), pronounced ”waca.” WHCA had people from all 5 branches. Had to make more than a handful of national / international trips, traveling ahead of POTUS, VP, others. Set up satellite communications so the speeches would get back to the US and around the world. Transferred to Space Force so he could do more interesting things with satellites than phone calls.

 

[hopefulcadet02]

Good. Yes. No. His previous job in the Army was in the White House Communications Agency (WHCA), pronounced ”waca.” WHCA had people from all 5 branches. Had to make more than a handful of national / international trips, traveling ahead of POTUS, VP, others. Set up satellite communications so the speeches would get back to the US and around the world. Transferred to Space Force so he could do more interesting things with satellites than phone calls.

Thank you for sharing! Wishing you all the best.

 

[so7]

As someone in AFROTC right now looking to go into Space Ops, best of luck to you. As far as job selections go, USAFA gets the first pick, AFROTC gets their leftover slots, and OTS gets whatever isn't taken after both of those are filled.

Currently, USAFA gets the majority of the USSF slots (including Space Ops) with about 12.4% of their grads commissioning Space Force. AFROTC then gets whatever jobs are left over. Right now, it's fairly competitive to get into the Space Force if you're not at USAFA. Not sure about the numbers for OTS, but seeing as it's competitive for AFROTC, I'm sure OTS is even more competitive. It really depends from year to year so I can't say what it'll look like two years from now. Currently, AFROTC is trying to roll out a program to create a pipeline directly for the Space Force where you can apply for a high school USSF scholarship and if you don't get that, you can then compete again for a USSF slot during your sophomore year for an (almost) guaranteed commission into the Space Force. I'm sure a recruiter will be able to tell you if OTS is trying to roll out a similar program since that seems to be what you're interested in.

As far as the major goes,
- It is mandatory for ≥25% of all incoming Space Ops officers need to have one of the following majors:
Aerospace, electrical, mechanical, or systems engineering; space operations; mathematics; or astronomy/astrophysics
- It is desired for ≥25% of all incoming Space Ops officers to have a technical degree
- It is permitted for ≤50% of all incoming Space Ops officers to have any degree

As Iwutke said, talk to an officer recruiter because you may be able to directly go to OTS. Also, do a quick google search for "Air Force Officer AFSCs" to see all of the possible career fields in the AF/SF because there may be some other career fields that jump out to you as interesting.

 

[hopefulcadet02]

As someone in AFROTC right now looking to go into Space Ops, best of luck to you. As far as job selections go, USAFA gets the first pick, AFROTC gets their leftover slots, and OTS gets whatever isn't taken after both of those are filled.

Currently, USAFA gets the majority of the USSF slots (including Space Ops) with about 12.4% of their grads commissioning Space Force. AFROTC then gets whatever jobs are left over. Right now, it's fairly competitive to get into the Space Force if you're not at USAFA. Not sure about the numbers for OTS, but seeing as it's competitive for AFROTC, I'm sure OTS is even more competitive. It really depends from year to year so I can't say what it'll look like two years from now. Currently, AFROTC is trying to roll out a program to create a pipeline directly for the Space Force where you can apply for a high school USSF scholarship and if you don't get that, you can then compete again for a USSF slot during your sophomore year for an (almost) guaranteed commission into the Space Force. I'm sure a recruiter will be able to tell you if OTS is trying to roll out a similar program since that seems to be what you're interested in.

As far as the major goes,
- It is mandatory for ≥25% of all incoming Space Ops officers need to have one of the following majors:
Aerospace, electrical, mechanical, or systems engineering; space operations; mathematics; or astronomy/astrophysics
- It is desired for ≥25% of all incoming Space Ops officers to have a technical degree
- It is permitted for ≤50% of all incoming Space Ops officers to have any degree

As Iwutke said, talk to an officer recruiter because you may be able to directly go to OTS. Also, do a quick google search for "Air Force Officer AFSCs" to see all of the possible career fields in the AF/SF because there may be some other career fields that jump out to you as interesting.

I appreciate your input! Best of luck in getting Space Ops. We might be working together haha