My daughter is seriously considering joining the Air Force.

[NYH1]

She still has a year and a half of High School left.   She has been thinking about it for a while and mentioned it to my wife and I a month or so ago.   

My father is going out of town for work for about a month so my mother and him took everyone out to dinner last night.

She sat next to my dad who was in the Army and served in Vietnam with the 25th ID 3-67 to 3-68.   They talked a lot about her joining the AF.

My wife and I think it would be a good thing for her.   Hopefully she can get some type of training that will help her in the future.

I'd be lying if I said we weren't a little nervous.   She's the oldest of our three children.   My wife and I had her when my wife was 17 and I was 18.   So she's been around every moment of our adult lives.   It's hard to imagine her not being here.   At the same time we're both very proud of her for wanting to serve her country and try to get some type of skills for her future! 

[Questor]

My son went through a long phase where I just assumed he would go into the military. He changed his mind very abruptly near his 17th birthday.  I think it's because he's thinking about his own future now. I was somewhat disappointed and surprised, but I believe it was the right thing for him to do something else.

I have had little to say about it except that I seriously considered it too. I took a semester of ROTC and I had so little respect for the officers that I rejected the military. I did not want people that stupid to have life or death control over me. I was also clear that the military did not want excellence, they only want conformity. Conformity trumps everything else.  This all makes sense looking back on it.

I also told him that they are always looking for good people and that I encourage him to consider it in terms of his other options. For example, some of the time committments require you to stay in for several years, at which time you are nearly 30 years old and starting over.

I told him that once you're in, the only way to get out is:
1) Serve your contract
2) Die
3) Go to prison
4) Get discharged because they don't want your kind
5) Become a fugitive

It's not like a job you can just quit after a year if you don't like it.

I always found it ironic that my son would want to go into a highly restricted and limiting organization after leaving the highly restricted and limiting experience of growing up at home. You'd think that the kids would want to get out on their own unfettered, but that's not the way it works.

[MGMorden]

Is she wanting to become a pilot or serve in a support role?

Doesn't matter really - just curious.  If she is wanting to become a pilot then it's a competitive venture (lots who want to don't get to), but it's certainly a way to get your training paid for and rack up a lot of hours of flight time if she wants this to translate into a civilian aviation job.  I thought about joining the Air National Guard for the same reasons, but having discussed the issue with a few people, it was though that having a plate/hardware in my leg would likely disqualify me for the pilots program, so I continued my civilian career and just took outside flying lessons (just for recreational purposes though - I don't intend to pursue an aviation career).

I will say that having met several people an all the branches, and having worked with a lot of the people running the college AF and Army ROTC programs when I was in college (I did computer support for the school as a student worker and had to service ROTC computers), the Air Force guys were much more laid back, and much more fun to hang around with.  Not that the Army guys weren't good folk - they just didn't have the same demeanor and sense of humor .

[gwhilikerz]

I was in the Air Force. It was really kind of boring once you get out of basic and whatever Tech schools you attend. But it can also be a great career. If your daughter is serious be sure to tell her to talk with the recruiter about what she wants. Then get every promise the recruiter makes in writing, before she joins. It won't really make a difference because of things done "for the good of the service" or "needs of the Air Force". But it can be fun to show them the papers when they grin at you and say "Did you get that in writing".
 Serving our Country is an honor and service men and women deserve our respect. The educational opportunites are good also.

[scootrd]

My Grandfather was Army
My Father Air Force
Myself Army

If it were my child in today's environment , I would do my best to dissuade them.
No war being fought on any playing field today is worth losing my child over.  - but that's JMHO

[Sweetwater]

Gramp was Army
Uncles were Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy
Dad was Navy
I was Army
Brother was Army

My oldest daughter started talking Air Force at the end of her Junior year of High School. I wish she had gone. She is now 24 with a family and serious second thoughts.

No sure bets in life.

[NYH1]

Is she wanting to become a pilot or serve in a support role?

Some sort of support role.

[teamnelson]

I would highly encourage her to consider network operations with intel (1N4 I believe) ... call it a stock tip.

I'm a Navy Chaplain assigned to a large joint command in HI. I've been to combat twice with Marine infantry. Was enlisted in the Marines for 8, and before that 3 in the Army, MI & SF. My sister went Air Force, she'll pin on Major in 2 days, she's in kirkuk. She's only seen pictures of IEDs.

My own 17yo daughter picked the coast guard and I'm glad. I would feel the same if she picked the Air Force ... she's our oldest as well.

[Swampman]

You can't beat the USAF.  I'd highly recommend it.  I spent 8 years on active duty & my son is a Captain.

[Sourdough]

I met my wife Michelle while she was serving in the Air Force.  She went in as a Clerk/Typist.  After six years she retrained into Paralegal.  After she retrained she recieved several offers from Civilian Law Firms wanting her to get out and come to work for them.  She decided to stay in till retirement, and has never regreated her decission.  After retirement, Michelle went to work for the Department Of The Army.  She is a Claims Examiner for the Legal Office, and got her experience from her time in the Air Force.  

Plus, she recieves a retirement check for life.  While it is not enough alone to live on by itself, it is a good suppliment.  It more than makes the loan and insurance payments for her new sports car.

New York Hunter:  If your daughter would like to speak to Michelle sometime to find out what the Air Force was like for a young woman PM me and I will let Michelle know.  Michelle is still highly involved with the military, and can give a lot of insight from a woman's prospective.

Now on another note.  Our 21 yr old son Skyler is currently in Oragon for a physical and meeting a selection board for the Marines.  With both his parents being retired Air Force, we thought that would be the way he would go, but oh no he wants to be a Marine.  It's his decission and we stand behind him 100%.    

[magooch]

When I went in the Air Force, one of my basic training TIs asked everyone in our flight, why we joined.  Most of the the answers were along the lines of, "to get some training", or "to see the world", etc.  When everyone was through with their responses, he very forcefully barked, "Didn't any of you children join to serve your country?"  He made his point.

If your daughter truly does want to join any branch of the service, ask her to be darned sure that her primary motive is to serve her country.  With that in mind, there certainly is a wealth of opportunity to learn some things that will serve herself in the future; not the least of which is self reliance and independence.  If she is anything like most teens, she probably knows everything that she will ever need to know already.  If she joins, she's about to learn very quickly that the world isn't quite the way she thought it was.

In any case I wish her the best and of course I highly recommend the Air Force.

[nw_hunter]

She still has a year and a half of High School left.   She has been thinking about it for a while and mentioned it to my wife and I a month or so ago.   

My father is going out of town for work for about a month so my mother and him took everyone out to dinner last night.

She sat next to my dad who was in the Army and served in Vietnam with the 25th ID 3-67 to 3-68.   They talked a lot about her joining the AF.

My wife and I think it would be a good thing for her.   Hopefully she can get some type of training that will help her in the future.

I'd be lying if I said we weren't a little nervous.   She's the oldest of our three children.   My wife and I had her when my wife was 17 and I was 18.   So she's been around every moment of our adult lives.   It's hard to imagine her not being here.   At the same time we're both very proud of her for wanting to serve her country and try to get some type of skills for her future! 

Excellent choice! I'm from the old school who believes women should not be put in a combat situation.
She could be as a pilot, but the chances in a support group is slim.Join the Army or Marines and it's almost a given, you will see combat

[DANNY-L]

I think it should be required that all h.s graduates do atleast 2yrs of military service.

[pumpgun]

My son went through a long phase where I just assumed he would go into the military. He changed his mind very abruptly near his 17th birthday.  I think it's because he's thinking about his own future now. I was somewhat disappointed and surprised, but I believe it was the right thing for him to do something else.

I have had little to say about it except that I seriously considered it too. I took a semester of ROTC and I had so little respect for the officers that I rejected the military. I did not want people that stupid to have life or death control over me. I was also clear that the military did not want excellence, they only want conformity. Conformity trumps everything else.  This all makes sense looking back on it.

I also told him that they are always looking for good people and that I encourage him to consider it in terms of his other options. For example, some of the time committments require you to stay in for several years, at which time you are nearly 30 years old and starting over.

I told him that once you're in, the only way to get out is:
1) Serve your contract
2) Die
3) Go to prison
4) Get discharged because they don't want your kind
5) Become a fugitive

It's not like a job you can just quit after a year if you don't like it.

I always found it ironic that my son would want to go into a highly restricted and limiting organization after leaving the highly restricted and limiting experience of growing up at home. You'd think that the kids would want to get out on their own unfettered, but that's not the way it works.

i find it ironic that you would "reject" the military after serving 3 months of college ROTC.  and your statement about the military not wanting excellence, only conformity is an insult.  i suggest you do a little research about organizations like the navy seals, air force pararescue, army special forces and marine recon before you make a ignorant comment like that again.  one of the many great things about the military is that you can conform, do a good job and be rewarded, all while being something like a truck driver, mechanic or computer technician.  or you can excell, push yourself to the limit and be great and get rewarded such as in special forces or the flying programs.  theres a place for all. 

and as to your comment about officers being stupid shows that maybe it wasn't you doing the rejecting, maybe the other way around.  some of the finest people i ever met were folks, officers and enlisted, that i served with during my time in the Air Force.  sure there are knuckleheads in every thing, but by and large, folks in the military have their heads screwed on straight and are more squared away after a few months than most civilians.

watch your comments like that around real vets.

[Sweetwater]

pumpgun - I sorta felt that same way while I was in basic training.

I was 20 when I joined and it was all about everybody being the same and lower than the dirt under the rug. It wasn't long after I got out of boot camp that I discovered the real Army and the intelligent people therein. Sure, there are slackers and idiots in every organization, no doubt, but I sure had to change my opinion of the military, the same way I joined the service. Voluntarily. Oh, I knew it all along, my family is full of Veterans, but in boot camp, I wasn't so sure about some of the leadership. Only to discover the real reason behind it, and the necessity for it, and the lack of necessity for some of it. My DI's got really upset with the DI of the adjacent platoon when their platoon was up all night GI'ing the floors, keeping our platoon up in the process. There was some stress between the DI's for awhile. Got to say mine were tough, but fair, all the time. 20/20 hindsight says I couldn't have done better, though there were times..

Jeff
NRA Life

[teamnelson]

When I use a firearm for a specific task, I want every single piece of the weapon, and ammo to be of the utmost excellence, and conform to all tolerances and standards. If my charge is overweight or underweight, if my casing is weak or suffering from internal duress, if the bullet is not seated and crimped ... if the timing of the action is off, if any or the springs or lockwork don't integrate well with the other pieces ... if the sights and the barrel are not aligned ... then it will not function which will result in various results: blow up in my face, or fail to fire in which case my life may be on the line, or fire inaccurately resulting in needless suffering if I'm hunting, or simply miss the mark.

Now I have used some pretty amazing optics in my life, which are nearly worthless unless mounted on a weapon. I have a small cache of premium ammunition that serve no purpose in the darkness of my ammo can. I also enjoy quality firearms, but without optics and ammo they are simply toys. However, when I put all of them together, when each one of them is performing to their highest level of excellence in concert with everything else and conforming to the standards required (like SAAMI for example, or any of the metallurgical standards ...) amazing things happen.

I have found that in my decades of service, the military has brought out more excellence in me than any private sector job I've had including management, and allowed me to work in concert with other excellent folks. All of us have had to conform to standards, some of which were more visibly necessary than others, but the result is the world's finest fighting force.

My only concern in mandatory service would be that it is akin to putting random ammo or substandard parts into my fine firearm and expecting good results. There will always be those who will not or cannot work on a team, and they need to stay out. I would sooner have a homosexual operating at high standards of excellence for his/her particular specialty who knows when to keep their sexuality to themselves, than a flaming heterosexual who wants to do things their way and isn't strong enough to handle standards or orders.

[Sweetwater]

My only concern in mandatory service would be that it is akin to putting random ammo or substandard parts into my fine firearm and expecting good results. There will always be those who will not or cannot work on a team, and they need to stay out. I would sooner have a homosexual operating at high standards of excellence for his/her particular specialty who knows when to keep their sexuality to themselves, than a flaming heterosexual who wants to do things their way and isn't strong enough to handle standards or orders.

Very well stated!

[MGMorden]

My only concern in mandatory service would be that it is akin to putting random ammo or substandard parts into my fine firearm and expecting good results. There will always be those who will not or cannot work on a team, and they need to stay out. I would sooner have a homosexual operating at high standards of excellence for his/her particular specialty who knows when to keep their sexuality to themselves, than a flaming heterosexual who wants to do things their way and isn't strong enough to handle standards or orders.

That and the fact that a draft is only approved for wartime use - which is still on questionable ground, though thought necessary at some times.  The reality is that it's darned hard to argue against mandatory service being involuntary servitude, ie slavery.  Most of the countries that I've seen require military service aren't worth fighting for anyways.  I suspect that with a mandatory service term many of our citizens would quickly feel the same way.

[magooch]

I repeat myself, but I don't want a bunch of average folks induced into defending my country; I want the best and the brightest, who volunteer, because of commitment to the country and patriotism.

[Sourdough]

I have always felt compulsory government service should be a requirement in this country.  If the person is not mentaly adapted, or a contincious objector, to serving in the military, then some other area of the government.

In my own view, if a person does not take the initive to serve his country in some manner that person should not be allowed to help govern the country.  In other words "No service No vote". 

[LAREDOBOB]

I spent 24 yrs in the USAF. Loved every minute of it. Tell your daughter that it will be no more or no less than what she makes it. The AF offers plenty of opportunity for promotion but you have to take advantage of every one, or if you want to just slide by and to the minimum thats ok too. In the long run it's all up to you. When people ask why I got out after 24 yrs I tell them. When I went in being gay would get you thrown out, later it became optional, so I wanted to get out before it became mandatory. Good luck to your daughter in which ever path she chooses.

[DANNY-L]

Good comeback

[rockbilly]

I speak from many years experience; I spent 24 years active duty and then 26 years civil service working in close contact with airmen of all ranks. 

It is a major commitment and can be a stepping stone to a bright future if she takes advantage of the programs offered to her.  Too often, young men and young men join the military and are not ready for the new freedoms of being away from their parents and make unwise choices on who they associate with and what the get involved with off duty.  This can be a downfall for them.  I have seen a lot of “great kids” ruined by their military experience.  If her head is screwed on straight there should be no problem, it’s all in what she makes of the experience.

When I retired from civil service I worked with approximately 25 young women, most were single, about 60 % of those were pregnant, this also happens in the civilian community, but I don’t think as often as in the military due to the living conditions. 

[aflineman]

I spent 20 years in the Air Force. It can be a great experience, but folks need to know what they are in for sometimes. The advice I gave my troops was to make sure they were debt free when it came time to re-up. That way they can be free to make the choice to stay in and not fee the "need" to for financial reasons.
Pick a job that translates well to the outside and get every civilian certification in that job you can. Also, don't be afraid to volunteer for another position (facility manager, honor guard, demo team, etc...). Free training, and most normally only lasts a few months. Also comes in handy with the higher ranks, because they want someone who has varied experience throughout the service.   Get your degree while in, make it happen. It ain't easy, but a degree is one way that the civilian world uses to see your qualifications. Also, take advantage of the free Microsoft certifications and online training that they offer. Those do matter in the civilian world. They also cost thousands of dollars, and the AF offers them for free to pretty much anyone.
The experience is what you make it. If they can resist the temptations and peer pressure in the dorms, it is a great opportunity. That is the place which most of my headaches came from, both as a dorm resident and as a supervisor.
Just my 2˘.

[teamnelson]

In other words "No service No vote". 

I think the argument could be made that those who are serving are who have served their nation make better citizens. I will say that every servicemember I've come across over the last 23 years has been more tuned into what's going on in their country and society than their peers in civilian life, so the vote for them is often of more significance than your average college student.