Enlisted Airman with questions...

Sean786

5-Year Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2013
Messages
12
Hi everyone, my name is Sean. I am an active duty Airman stationed at Ramstein AB, Germany. My supervisor has asked me multiple times if I was interested in applying to the USAFA. I meet all of the requirements and I did very well in High School. I have a ton of questions about the Academy that I can't seem to find answers to.

I'm looking for someone who is currently in the Academy or has been in the Academy and is willing to message me one on one to answer my questions.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.
 
I graduated in 2012 and would be happy to answer any questions you may have. I did enter straight after high school but I had a lot of friends who were prior enlisted. Feel free to PM me or wait a bit, I know there are some priors on here as well.
 
I graduated in 2012 and would be happy to answer any questions you may have. I did enter straight after high school but I had a lot of friends who were prior enlisted. Feel free to PM me or wait a bit, I know there are some priors on here as well.

Same, except my academy experience just came to a end last month. I'll also be coming through Ramstein at some point this Wednesday - Friday on my way back to the states.
 
Thanks for the replies. I will be sending both of you a message here in a few minutes. If alternate forms of communication would work better just let me know.
 
Also, here are a few questions for everyone. Be as honest as possible and don't feel obliged to write an essay, brief answers are perfectly fine.

1. Did you have a good time throughout your experience at the Academy or did you absolutely hate it?

2. How would you compare life at the Academy to being in the operational side of the Air Force?

3. If you could, would you go back and do anything differently?
 
Sean,

Re-post your question in late Sept.

My son is at the USAFA now as a Basic, but was a prior and went to the USAFA Prep school last year. Right now they don't have access to their computers because everyone is in Basic Training . Some of the preppies and/or preppies/ priors will look on these forums to be of assistance as they have done in the past.
If you repost your question in late Sept after the crew has settled in and is back online you might get some helpful replies.
 
There is an Academy Liaison officer stationed at or near Ramstein, I talked to a bunch of European ALOs at the Paris Airshow last month. And at least one was Ramstein based...and they get a lot of appointments from Europe.

If you put an application in online, an ALO will be appointed to you. If you don't want to do that...ask your supervisor...I don't have access to the ALO list anymore, but if you really can't find one, then let me know, and I will try to find one.

I was not a prior-enlisted guy, but many of my friends were, and some of them were very sharp and did extremely well.

1. Everyone I know hated (or at least strongly disliked) part of the academy experience, and appreciated the rest. The good time was the camaraderie that you build with your classmates and squadron mates.

2. For you as someone who has already completed boot camp and tech school and could even be above the drinking age, it will be completely different to what you have become comfortable with.

...academy life for you will be like 4 years of boot camp...but no TIs...only folks younger than you in your face...you will have to suck it up and bite your lip...then demonstrate your maturity. There will be prior-enlisted upperclassmen, and they will give you even less of a break...but it can be your opportunity to shine and make a good name for the prior folks.

3. What I struggled with the most, and most of the prior-enlisted guys fell into this category, was academics...it is a heavy workload that hits hard and never lets up. If I had good study habits etc, it would have been a bit less painful...but I didn't know my weakness until I got there.


My question to you is what is your goal in life...you have probably figured out by now that the Enlisted track and Officer track are different...for example if you are a maint troop, then you can stay enlisted and eventually be a senor NCO on the flightline...or go to USAFA, and upon graduation be that butterbar maint officer in the office and go up from there.

If you don't have a good goal, you will find reasons to go back to your enlisted status rather than graduate.
 
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