What Made You Choose Your Job?

[Storm_jordan]

Well, I took the asvab over spring break and got a 84. I visited my recruiter last week to turn in all my background paperwork. He told me that he would give me a call within the next few weeks on when I would be going to meps.:banana:

Now I have to decide which job I want in the Air Force. I have been researching all the different jobs for the past few months, and finally dwindled down my choices to:

Loadmaster(1A2XX)
Air Traffic Contol(1C1XX)
Engineering(3E5XX)

I know that loadmaster would be an amazing job, but I want a job that would be able to give me a comfortable lifestyle after the Air Force (ATC). I have been researching alot on the Engineering field but never really understood what
they did from day to day, or what this would translate to in the civilian world.

IDK, i just need some advice from people who have already been where I am headed.
Im 17, graduated high school last Wednesday and really just want to get out of my parents house and make a living for myself, while learning something new and supporting my country.

I know it sounds kind cheesy but, im just being honest:shrug:

 

[lwrs10]

ATC

I work for the FAA, around ATC all day long. These guys make ALOT of money, and you should see the amount of time they honestly work. They have something like 45 min breaks.....every hour or 2......


Gotta look at what would directly apply in the civilian world. I was avionics in the AF, now I work on navigational stuff for the FAA. Love my job, make very decent money, and would not change anything....

 

[stangaholic280]

ATC is a very hard school from what I've heard. If your smart though I wouldn't be intimidated. I'd probably go for that though. Great job, seems interesting, and good money on the outside. Loadmaster would be a good choice if you want to travel. Personally I'm an X-ray tech (4R0X1) and it's a good gig. Pretty laid back, work in the A/C, registered and could be working at a downtown hospital making extra $$ if I wanted. Any of these sound like fine choices. Just get a guarantee...no open general unless you wanna be a cop.

 

[svtfocus2cobra]

I get to legally kill shit for people... and get paid for it at that!:banana:

 

[wildride02gt]

although I scored well on the ASVAB and was offered OCS and nuclear engineering by the Navy, I choose instead to go Army and be a mechanic. it was more about what I thought i would want to do for a career, not what sounds cool.
I would recommend either the loadmaster or ATC, as I know that the civilian aviation field does very well financially.

 

[Storm_jordan]

thanks for the replies so far. Im starting to lean toward ATC, but i feel like i will always be thinking back about how i could have had a badass career field flying, but instead i took an
"desk" job for the money.

Is anybody on here ATC or loadmaster?

 

[Gringo185]

I scored a 93 on my ASVAB with a 135 GT, but I chose infantry because it I wanted to be on the front lines.

If I were you, I'd go ATC. That is one of the highest paying jobs for a person without a degree in the civilian world ($100K+). So if you decide to get out, you'd be set.

 

[F1reStart3r]

God loves the infantry......

I went into the Corps with my BS and top notch scores. Enlisted 03xx (open contract). It was the first MOS (naval infantry), and the only reason I would join the military in the first place. Especially having been accepted into grad school.

Do what makes you happy. Or at least what you perceive will make you happy. Tell everyone else who questions you to eat a ****ing dick. Your life, your choice.

 

[CDep55]

thanks for the replies so far. Im starting to lean toward ATC, but i feel like i will always be thinking back about how i could have had a badass career field flying, but instead i took an
"desk" job for the money.

Is anybody on here ATC or loadmaster?

I am a C-130 Loadmaster. It's an awesome job, I really enjoy it. Every plane is different though when it comes to being a Loadmaster. I look at C-130 as having a more interesting mission. We do a lot of low level flying and airdrops, which are pretty cool. Landing on small dirt runways is pretty cool as well. A lot of tactical stuff, and if you get some sort of spec op C-130 you will probably be doing some crazy stuff. Only problem is the planes are old and not as nice. Unless you get the new J model.

C-5 I would say are probably pretty boring because all your doing is loading and unloading and flying long hours. And they are HUGE so I can't even imagine loading one of them. C-17s would probably be the best of both worlds because they can do just about everything.

The coolest part of the job is the airdrops. C-130s and C-17s do airdrops and the C-5 does not which is another reason i think it would be boring. Youtube airdrops if you have not seen or heard of them. Type in personnel, heavy equipment or CDS airdrops.

Not really any good civilian jobs out there though. And the travel would be tough on family if you were active duty, but I am in the Air National Guard so I am just part-time. If you are interested in going to college i would strongly suggest going into the Air National Guard as a Loadmaster. I go to school full-time, travel 1 or 2 weekends a month, drill weekend once a month. They pay for my school, plus give me 700 a month in cash.

And I am only required to go in on drill weekends, I sign up for weekend trips so i can make extra money. Plus there are training flights (4-8 hours) almost every night you can sign up for to make money. I make great money for a college student.

Deployments are not as long as Active Duty either. My last deployment was only 30 days to Afghanistan, and my next is only 60. I took 4 online classes while i was over there as well, so wont even delay your graduation.

 

[MustangSteveGT]

That's a pretty high asvab score. I know when I came into the Navy that kind of score would make you eligable for a nuke job or certain other highly technical jobs that get you really high reenlistment bonuses.
If you end up shopping around for other service branches for jobs/special programs like that then make sure you don't have a lot of debt (like student loans), close ties to foreign people and a perfect criminal record or you wont even get into the schools for those jobs that require a good security clearance. For the jobs you mentioned, I doubt that will be a problem.
I don't know much about the Air Force but there's a lot of Air Force guys on another forum I'm on, militarystangs.com.

 

[Storm_jordan]

:rockon:

thanks everybody.

do loadmasters fly everyday? if not what do they do when there not flying? what kind of job would i get in the civilian field being a loadmaster?

 

[CDep55]

:rockon:

thanks everybody.

do loadmasters fly everyday? if not what do they do when there not flying? what kind of job would i get in the civilian field being a loadmaster?

Not really sure what active duty does when they're not deployed. Theres flying and ground training to be done. When your deployed you fly just about every day. But when your not deployed I am not sure what active duty does.

I don't think there are any. It could assist you in getting an aviation type job. Fedex might have something similiar but I dont think they fly. Probably just plan out how they will load the plane. None of that probably pays well either. If your goal is to do something that will help you get a civilian job I would not be a loadmaster.

I would look into working as an intelligence analysis, or something similar. I am pretty sure you can make really good money when you get out, and the best way to enter that field is joining the military first. And probably more interesting then ATC or engineering.

 

[Storm_jordan]

Not really any good civilian jobs out there though. And the travel would be tough on family if you were active duty, but I am in the Air National Guard so I am just part-time. If you are interested in going to college i would strongly suggest going into the Air National Guard as a Loadmaster. I go to school full-time, travel 1 or 2 weekends a month, drill weekend once a month. They pay for my school, plus give me 700 a month in cash.

And I am only required to go in on drill weekends, I sign up for weekend trips so i can make extra money. Plus there are training flights (4-8 hours) almost every night you can sign up for to make money. I make great money for a college student.

i think i might be doing this. I still havent gone to meps and sworn in yet so could i still switch from A/D to Guard?

Wouldnt that mean that i would have to find a college near a Guard base?

Im pretty sure its too late, seeing that i have to go through basic, and basic Loadmaster School.

 

[CDep55]

i think i might be doing this. I still havent gone to meps and sworn in yet so could i still switch from A/D to Guard?

Wouldnt that mean that i would have to find a college near a Guard base?

Im pretty sure its too late, seeing that i have to go through basic, and basic Loadmaster School.

It's not to late at all. It's too late when you sign the paper, even then they might allow you to switch if your lucky.

You don't have to go to college near the guard base, but it would make life a lot easier. You would have to talk to the National Guard recruiter about their rules on paying for college. Where I am it is 100% in-state tuition. So if i went out of state i'd have to pay the difference, I think.

Also, look into the Air Force Reserves. I don't know much about it but it's probably similar. Reason I say that is because it says you're from Charleston, and there is a C-17 Reserve unit right there, if you were still looking at being a loadmaster.

Air National Guard bases, I believe there is a fighter unit in South Carolina. Savannah Georgia has a C-130 unit, and Charlotte, North Caroline has C-130s as well.

Take your time on your decision though. If you want to go to college, I would really suggest slowing it down and taking a look at what the Guard has to offer. You are young, so there is no rush at all. Also, by the time you're done all of the loadmaster schools and on the job training, it will be about a year. So you will be able to save up a lot of money before you go to college.

 

[Ande99SVT]

Not being able to pass a flight physical for Aircrew, so here I am stuck at Test Cell.

 

[Sapperstang]

Not really sure what active duty does when they're not deployed.
.

Well, for instance at Pope they do the same thing. Plenty of airdrops going on.

 

[Storm_jordan]

ok, i will probably do loadmaster in reserves while going to school. my question is when did you have time to do basic, BLM, aircrew survival? Did you take a year off of school or what?

 

[MPRT_H8R]

not having all the information screwed me into taking my job. i thought i was going to be a rescue swimmer, then come to find out i have to do all this bullshit anti-sub and anti- surface warfare and counter narcotics garbage and that we very rarely get to do search and rescue. if i had known exactly what navy helo crewmen do i would have never done this crap~!

 

[CDep55]

ok, i will probably do loadmaster in reserves while going to school. my question is when did you have time to do basic, BLM, aircrew survival? Did you take a year off of school or what?

I took a year off, and I don't suggest taking classes. You will get college level credits through the community college of the air force for all your training. I think I got 36 credits, but a lot were similar (such as, 9 credits were in weight and balance). My college accepted 12 credits which was nice. I go to a small school though that is military friendly. A big college may not accept them, but I don't know.

If i remember correctly school for me was...6 weeks basic training (now 8.5), 2-3 weeks aircrew fundamentals, 5 weeks for basic load school, 1-2 weeks water survival, 4-5 weeks combat survival. After that it depends on your airframe, but for C-130 it was about 4-6 months in Arkansas for initial qual and mission qual. I don't know what the other planes do. When you're done you go home and do 90 days OJT. Plus there could be breaks in between all those schools.

Just assume it will take a year, but it could be quicker or longer. As long as you don't spend all your money, it's nice returning home with a year of hard earned money. But it all depends on when they have open spots for training. I know the Guard struggles to get school dates quickly, but reserves is different. Ask the recruiter that, because there could be a back-up and they may not be able to get you into schools as quick as you would like.

 

[scottminot]

Scored an 85, chose Marine Corps Infantry. I wanted to be Rambo and kill lots of people but didn't get the chance. I was in from 92-96 and there wasn't much going on besides Somalia.
My unit did go into Somalia for a "show of force" mission a few days after the blackhawks were shot down but no shots were fired.