Any U.S. Air Force Veterans here?

[SoundTheAlarm]

Hello everyone.

First and foremost, I will get it out of the way and say please don't let this turn into a battle forum for the military branches. I'm not interested in hearing which branch is tougher, smarter, or better. I respect what each and every veteran from every branch has done for this great country.

That being said, I am considering joining the Air Force, and I have been for about 7 months now. I am 22 years old and I have a wife and a 2 year old daughter. I feel that this would be a fantastic opportunity for not only myself, but my young family as well.

Basically, I am just trying to see if there are any AF veterans here, and what your experience was like in the AF. What was being on base like? Are there a lot of things for families to do with their free time? What are work conditions like? Anything else you would like to add, feel free.

Again, I thank all of you for your service, and I look forward to some responses.

[chilli311]

Re: Any U.S. Air Force Veterans here?

I spent ten years in the Air Force. My primary reason for leaving was family. My wife had a great career that she could only do from Los Angeles, so instead of continuing to live apart, or forcing her to leave a great job, it made more sense for me to get out since I had transferrable skills.

My AFSC was 1N1; Imagery Interpretor. It was about eight months of training between basic and tech training. For the next five and a half years, I was stationed outside of Las Vegas flying drones. I then got stationed in Hawaii to do image analysis. One year later, they sent me back to Vegas to help train for a year. After one more year in Hawaii, they sent me to a headquarters position in San Antonio, doing standards and practices evaluations for the rest of the Air Force Intelligence Community. During the ten years, I only did two deployments to hot zones (Kuwait and Iraq), but I did countless temporary duty assignments all over the world (Germany, South Korea, and a dozen stateside bases).

I had a lot of good and bad experiences, so I'll start with the good:
-The group of friends that I have from the military are the best friends that I have. The sense of camraderie is unparalleled. We don't get to see each other often due to all the moving around that happens, but when we do, it's like we were never apart.
-I wanted to see the world, and thanks to all of my traveling I did while I was in, I spent time in the Azores, Ireland, Italy, Germany, South Korea, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Japan.
-Job stability is huge. Once I left, I worked as a bartender for a year and a half before I was able to transition into a job where my experience mattered.

The bad:
-There is a lot of politicking that goes on, and it can be easy to be turned off by it. You need thick skin, you need to be able to "play the game", and you need to know when to bite your tongue. There will be higher ups who are in the position because they are able to test well, but have zero leadership ability.
-There are times when you and your family will be apart. That's a fact. If you can't deal with that, the military isn't for you.
-The recruiter will tell you, "You'll have plenty of time for your family, or school, or your hobbies!" Bull****. You WILL have time, but you'll have to make it. If you want to advance in your career, you'll have to balance all of those around your job. Your hours may suck, and no matter what the job, you'll probably have to do shift work. It's up to you to make those other things happen.

To answer your questions:
What was being on base like?
-I only lived on base as an Airman. Within two years, I was in an apartment off base, and never had to live on base again. Since you're married, you won't have to live in barracks, but good luck getting base housing. Every base that I was ever stationed at had a waiting list for base housing. The list is based on rank, family size, and time on post, so as a new Airman, you will be pretty close to the bottom.
If you're on a real base, it's great. The BX, gas station, and Commissary price their products to match the lowest price in the area, and everything is tax free. There is usually at least three fast food options on base (Burger King, Subway, and pizza), a bowling alley, golf course, chapel, and an enlisted/officer club.

Are there a lot of things for families to do with their free time?
-Depends on where you are stationed. Being in Hawaii, Las Vegas, and San Antonio, there were tons of things to do. If you go to Minot, North Dakota or Clovis, New Mexico, not so much. The military usually offers local deals and travel packages. Keep an eye on the base newsletter, and you'll see package deals for ski trips, hiking, or European vacations for super cheap.

What are work conditions like?
-Once again, depends on where you are, and what you do. I was an Intel guy, and I happened to join when UAVs were just becoming the big thing, so we got preferential treatment pretty much everywhere we went, including Iraq. They always approved our full budget request, so we had top notch facilities. I had friends who were Security Forces (cops), and they always had complaints. Their facilities were often rundown, and they never had enough manpower.

Now, if you've read all that, I have a few questions for you:
-Do you have a job in mind?
-Do you have a college degree?

Feel free to PM me, or ask anything else publically. If I can answer, I will.

Good luck!