I can't believe that I have been in the Air Force 27 years. Man, time flies when you are having fun.
27 Years To The Day
- Thread starter Marc
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
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- 19,524
Congrats!! but damn man 27years!! when the hell are you going to retire lol?? I'm going to assume at 30 yea??
Thanks Fellas! I have 3 more years to go. As a Chief (E9), the maximum time I can stay in is 30 years and retire at 75% of my base pay.
Trust me, it goes fast. I enlisted at 17 years old on the delayed enlistment program. I came in the Air Force with zero stripes as a Airman Basic.
I have seen more countries than I have fingers and toes. Wow...
Trust me, it goes fast. I enlisted at 17 years old on the delayed enlistment program. I came in the Air Force with zero stripes as a Airman Basic.
I have seen more countries than I have fingers and toes. Wow...
^^^ If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.
Congrats!! I know it takes a ton to stay that long! I'm about to hit 11 and I'm struggling, I think I'm just burnt out on my job though!
Sure thing. :beer:
Let me tell you, along the way almost got out a couple of times:
As a E4 my job sucked! I didn't like the people I worked for. Long hours and even weekends while my buddies were having fun and enjoying their weekends.
I put in for world-wide remote, extended long and got a great assignment to Germany. Otherwise, I would of punched at 4 years.
My goal was to make MSgt (E7) and retire at 20 years. I made SMSgt (E8) at 18 years. I signed a 3 year commitment...which put me at 21 years.
I was going to get out after that and I had a few Chiefs talk me into staying in. They said my records would get me Chief (E9). I listened to them, made it at 22 years and signed another 3 year commitment.
Now, I figured I might as well do 30 years and get my 75% base pay for the family at retirement time. Bad thing is that my next job is probably going to deploy me once or twice to Afghanistan before I retire.
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What type of duties will you have in the middle east? If you are able to say..
That was my original plan, hit 20 and retire but if I can't retrain that probably isn't going to happen. Maintenance isn't what it used to be and coming here to Yokota made it even worse...lol This is the busiest non-busy base I've ever seen in my life!
Well at my grade, mainly supervisory duties. Right now I am public affairs...combat camera. Basically, I would coordinate a lot of the footage you see going on in the warzone. This would be the footage you see on TV, papers, and web.
Props to you Marc. Thats awesome you decided to stick it out for the full 30. Good luck in your next assignment!
It's good to hear someone enjoys serving their country... thank you.
I was in the army for 4 1/2 years and hated just about every minute, worked for a flaming ass hole and put in 6 and 7 day work weeks most of that time. I bet if I added up my pay and devided it by the hours I put in it would be less than $3 an hour lol.
I was in the army for 4 1/2 years and hated just about every minute, worked for a flaming ass hole and put in 6 and 7 day work weeks most of that time. I bet if I added up my pay and devided it by the hours I put in it would be less than $3 an hour lol.
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Congrats Chief! You've been in 25 years longer than me!
The world has changed a lot during your tenure! Congrats, I went over 28 on 6 April btw! The day after my daughter was born so the day kind of blew past.
The world, the military has changed over the past 27 years, its hard to relate. Things that were going on in the 1980s when I came in:
1) Sexual Harrassment didn't exist...well it did, but rarely reported.
2) Nude posters of women in the office
3) Smoking in the offices
4) Get caught for smoking marijuana? Reprimanded and 6-hour awareness class
5) Drinking on Driving on base? Letter of Reprimand sometimes. Sometimes the Security Forces would pull you over and drive you back to the dorm
6) At 18 years old you could drink legally
7) No Email
8) No Internet
9) Popping at beer at 430/5PM and drinking with your Airmen in the office
10) In the Philippines, I would go to lunch in the enlisted club and watch cladly dressed philippina women stroll across the stage doing modeling.
11) Hardly ever deployed. Wasn't even called deployments back then, was called just a basic TDY.
12) You could drink and fight like a lot of young military do without costing you your career.
13) The military actually took care of family members. Now the AF is more concerned about how many times they can deploy you and accomplish the mission--sometimes the family members are left to suffer.
14) We used to punish our own without being threatened with MEO. Now you have to give people time outs.
15) The AF creates change every few months instead of every few years.
16) Your annual PT test was running a mile and a half once a year.
Some of these changes I embraced, others I didn't.
I LOVE my AF and my Country. I have seen a lot. Some things I would like to forget (like some things I seen while deployed in Iraq) and other things I cherish. You take the good with the bad.
If I had to do it all over again, go back in time, I would do it in a millisecond!
1) Sexual Harrassment didn't exist...well it did, but rarely reported.
2) Nude posters of women in the office
3) Smoking in the offices
4) Get caught for smoking marijuana? Reprimanded and 6-hour awareness class
5) Drinking on Driving on base? Letter of Reprimand sometimes. Sometimes the Security Forces would pull you over and drive you back to the dorm
6) At 18 years old you could drink legally
7) No Email
8) No Internet
9) Popping at beer at 430/5PM and drinking with your Airmen in the office
10) In the Philippines, I would go to lunch in the enlisted club and watch cladly dressed philippina women stroll across the stage doing modeling.
11) Hardly ever deployed. Wasn't even called deployments back then, was called just a basic TDY.
12) You could drink and fight like a lot of young military do without costing you your career.
13) The military actually took care of family members. Now the AF is more concerned about how many times they can deploy you and accomplish the mission--sometimes the family members are left to suffer.
14) We used to punish our own without being threatened with MEO. Now you have to give people time outs.
15) The AF creates change every few months instead of every few years.
16) Your annual PT test was running a mile and a half once a year.
Some of these changes I embraced, others I didn't.
I LOVE my AF and my Country. I have seen a lot. Some things I would like to forget (like some things I seen while deployed in Iraq) and other things I cherish. You take the good with the bad.
If I had to do it all over again, go back in time, I would do it in a millisecond!
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Having missed so much with my kids and family I am not sure I would do it all again. That being said it has been one hell of an unforgettable ride and I never regret the decision. I know once I get out I do not plan to hang out in boogerland for less the 300K a year.
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