What is the career potential for a missileer? I thought non-rated AF officers did not have much of a future (promotion & retirement). Just a rumor? Are there any non-rated AF jobs that have a "decent" career potential?
I don't mean to hijack the thread but this info might be helpful to those wondering about flight slots and the alternatives.
Well, I got out after my obligation was over; however, I still know plenty of guys on active duty who were missileers with me.
"Space and Missile Operations," as the career field is called, is a fairly small community within the larger USAF. I only worked the missile side of things, so I won't address the space portion of the AFSC too much.
We are unique, as non-pilots, in that there are operational command billets (Ops Squadron CC/Ops Group CC/Wing CC) available to people in our career field. Each Missile Squadron Commander has to be a "Combat Mission Ready" missileer, and the Group/Wing CCs have to be "Basic Mission Ready" qualified. A "pocket rocket" (Missile Badge) is a requirement for all of the above.
As command of a Missile Wing is considered command of a "combat ready wing" (in only the most liberal of terms, as if the missiles launched, that would be "combat"), the O-6s in the field who get Wing command will (as long as they don't kill anyone) become BGs. We have our own Numbered Air Forces (14th for Space Ops, 20th for Missiles), and the Two-Star/Three-Star who heads each is a Space/Missile guy. There are/have been four-star missileers. The current AFSPC/CC is a four-star Missile/Space guy.
The converse is that the career field is small, and that there are only three Missile Wings in the whole USAF (with a few more Space Wings). Thus, only a few get that high. We do run our own ops, though, and don't have pilots running the Squads. A missileer will never be CSAF, mind you, but I think there are more positions of higher command available to missile guys than say public affairs or transportation officers.
Most of the USAF doesn't spend much time thinking about the missile community, except to think that we are all weirdos who live in unpleasant places (joking...sort of). It is fairly insular, but if you can stand sticking around the job (which isn't the most fun in the world), there are good opportunities along the way for guys who are strong performers (I know guys who did Weapon School, Pentagon internships, etc.). If I were a USAFA/ROTC Cadet and if I wasn't going to be rated, and
if I wanted to stay career, it would be a good career field. There are also virtually no deployments (some guys do go out to the sandbox, but it's the minority), as your mission is performed out in "the field" of North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming (which, in some of those areas, feels like another planet of vast wilderness).
I don't want to hijack either, so if anyone has questions about missile ops, they can PM. Almost no one ever does
. It's hardly recruiting poster stuff, but it is a necessary job done by exceptionally professional airmen.