Air force or any military officer?

5502george

Anyone here ever thought about joining the military as enlisted or officer?

I have thought about it for awhile, but have never seen a recruiter. Prob some awesome opportunities in cyber space.

bpenn

There are great opportunities if you get put in the proper MOS (Army) AFSC (Air Force). Are you far into your career, over 35? If so, the Reserve/Guard would be an excellent choice. Younger? If you can guarantee a good job beforehand, it can be rewarding to take the active duty path.

I am in the Air Force Reserve as an enlisted and my job is basically desktop support. I provision and deprovision through Active Directory, maintain hardware, install software, file permissions, etc. Best part about the military is the training, the clearance, and the certifications you get. Seeing as you hold the CISSP, you could waive 2-3 week of technical school right off the bat in the Air Force if you go the 3D route (job codes applying to IT slots, mostly).

5502george

@Bpenn

I love the fact that there are opportunities in cyberspace, but I think you have to have a CS degree or equivalent for those officer opportunities.

Being that I have a degree I would like to go the officer route. Is it extremely difficult to get into an officer slot? (not just cyber)

I meet all of the criteria according to the AF and ARMY sites.

stryder144

Getting into the military is neither hard nor easy. It, honestly, depends largely on what needs they have and whether or not you fit those needs. Timing is everything. As long as your record is clean, you can pass the physical requirements, and there are openings, you'll do fine. Grab a copy of the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test study guide and thumb through it. If you feel confident that you will score high enough, go and talk to the recruiter and see what s/he has to say and what jobs are open.

1Bstyln

I am in the process of gathering all the paperwork needed to apply to the USAF as an officer, for active duty. From what I have gathered from the recruiter, you have to take an exam, AFOQT, go to MEPS, submit paperwork, and then sit in on a board and be interviewed once your package is submitted. They distinguish IT or CIS degrees from CS/EE/CE degrees...favoring the more technical degrees, they want you to have a high GPA for the BS degree (a MS degree can compensate for a low undergrad degree), certs are a plus, so is relevant experience...especially being in a leadership/mgmt position (Think about the "whole person" concept). There is more stuff but the officer recruiter told me that just because you can meet the requirements to become an officer does not mean that the selection is 100% and he also told me that he has had excellent candidates submit a perfect package and never get picked up. But the way I see it is the only way to not get selected is to never submit a package...

kenrin

I was in DEP for the navy for a bit before I got screwed and they tried to deploy me as "Logistics"... I wanted to go in as an officer having two degrees already but they said my 3.3 GPA was not high enough and I would have to compete with everyone else 4.0's etc civilian and military.

They said once I was enlisted for sure I could do the test in six months and only compete with the military and get in that way. Again, not guaranteed but with my "Low GPA" it was more plausible. At least they boost you two ranks regardless with a degree.

The cyber programs are also extremely competitive to get into. The basic IT jobs are pretty easy and is probably where you will end up if you decide to enlist.

I'm not trying to discourage you or anything. I got a perfect score on the ASVAB test they gave which seemed like something more suited to freshmen in highschool, just GPA was too low to get into Cyber or Officer status right from the gate. You can always get reclassified later on.

You won't get selected if you don't try

Edit- forgot to mention at the time I had no certs nor any "real" IT experience, YMMV.

usaftyler

As a current enlisted AF AD member, I must advise you to think long and hard about joining the military. My experience so far has been great. Some people I know have gotten screwed into 16 hour shifts, poor training, and just generally poor treatment of enlisted airmen (lower ranks). It is however the best branch to join, but you're not going to have a regular life for the next 4-6 years, (for the love of god enlist for 4, don't do 6), so get ready to spend months to years away from friends and family, deploy to crappy locations and potentially have a bad supervisor who doesn't give a crap about your needs. On the other hand, you may get in a spot like me, where you have an excellent supervisor and a good unit. On one hand I'm 4000 miles away from my family. On the other hand I'm learning a trade (Cyber System Operator here) and serving my country, which will all pay dividends in the future. You must be eligible for a TS SSBI clearance which is no joke. If you have done drugs aside from smoked a little pot (which you MUST disclose), they will find out. If it comes out later that you have mental issues or have done other drugs, they will kick you out, with a general discharge. Applying for a clearance on the civ. side is different. I imagine its harder to find a sponsor for your clearance, but 10 year old drug usage and seeing a therapist for lifetime issues is not nearly as heavily weighed upon as long as there are mitigating factors (has been a long time since drug usage, therapy was completed, as long as these things happened 7 years ago or longer you don't even have to mention them on the SF86), but military entrance requirements are astronomically higher. You can find yourself getting booted out because you "forgot" to disclose former drug usage to the MEPS, but told the clearance people, or they found out. I would suggest reviewing the SF86 before making the decision to go cyber in the military. Other AFSC's that don't require a clearance are subject to way less focus on your past life before the military, and these are the people who generally have an easier time flying under the radar when it comes to their past. Be honest with the MEPS on everything the SF86 covers, and you will be fine. Don't join if you have a life threatening condition, a girl I went to BMT with died at Lackland because she "forgot" to disclose a serious asthma condition. I havent seen it all, but I've been there, done that, got the T-shirts (several T-shirts actually) saw other Airmen get the boot at their tech schools for being less than honest on the SF86, killing their future opportunities with the gov't. If I could go back and do it all again, I would because I didn't have anything to hide on that form. However, I may have chose to try breaking into IT from the outside, higher pay, more freedoms, etc.

CCNTrainee

I just recently got out of the AF as an NCO and not work for an Govt agency (not the 3 letter kind. :P) The fact that you have CISSP and degrees, you would be more suited for management/officer route regardless. Guard/Reserve would be the way to go if you want more "control" of your career rather hoping to hit the lotto that is AD, not to mention you will get a feel of your unit and the people you will be with before you decide to sign your life away. I am also assuming that you are somewhat fit or the very least have an active lifestyle as well with no health issues. Health issues will be the number main factor that will be the deciding factor on your joining or not. The SF86 was never a problem during my times in MEPS since I didn't do my TS SSBI clearance till I was in the middle of my tech school. When it comes to your Clearance, disclose everything about your lifestyle cause they have ways of finding out eventually, if you have a clean record you really don't have much to worry about even if your life consist of people that have did jail time and grew up in a "not so clean" neighborhood.

To add on to what Tyler has said, really think about joining and what that means as well. I was a six year enlistee which I don't regret since I wasn't ready yet to get out at the four year mark. You career can either go one way or the other, I have many people that got to live the "AF Dream" and I have met many others that just got screwed. Even though I got the job I wanted (3D Comm), it didn't matter much since I was assigned to units that never had funding, lackluster training, leadership that didn't have backbones and majority of the job was either contracted out or done by FED employees. I learn more from studying certifications and self experimentation, then I really did on the job since most of the time I was just a step above the helpdesk, where I got eyes on the equipment and pull an configuration page for my civilian counterparts. When to Afghanistan twice where I was doing convoys+foot patrols with the Army Infantry for the first tour while the second tour I was attached to the Marines as an secretary for a General and his staff. I did my final assignment in Korea, which was more of the same of the last unit I was assigned too. I don't regret my Service even thou majority of the time I didn't feel satisfied with what I did in my "technical work". The times I enjoyed the most were the times I was deployed, where I was doing things WAY out of my career field and surround by people that weren't my own branch.

Like I said, your career can go any way from "living the dream" to being stuck out in the middle of nowhere barebone base doing mundane work to past the time. Maybe you will get lucky and get some high speed assignment, where funding is plenty and get to know some very powerful people in the "A/J6" realm... but it is a decision that requires some thinking, especially when you have accomplished some major goals in your life.

Danielm7

I think it really depends on what you want to do in the end. Join the military if you really want to join the military, but I would never do it just for what you think are good job opportunities.

jeromelongj

So my 3.0 from WGU wouldn't get me into cyberops? That stinks then...