Job availability in the US armed forces?

[Fhloston]

Obviously aimed for soldiers/officers serving in the US armed forces. I'm considering enlisting in the USAF, but was wondering if anyone had a clue on how the jobs are looking. Considering the economy, I'm guessing it's not looking too great.

Friend of mine (Officer in the Navy) told me that they were turning away people with high ASVAP scores, since all they are currently taking are SEALs and nuclear techs. My concern mainly lies with the USAF, as stated, but, I'm also curious as to how the army and marines are looking job-wise.

inb4 "don't join the military lolz" and other flaming.

[test123]

why would you join unconstitutional war efforts so that a jew in new york can milk some more fiat money out of the system?

[Xno Kappa]

There's plenty of job opportunities in the USAF and the Army. Trust me, they'll do their very best to fit you in somewhere before turning you away. I don't know too much about the USAF other then they have awesome bases and hot ass women, but in the Army there are a lot of jobs under-strengthed which would love to have you. Just make sure if you do decide to enlist have your Navy friend, if he possibly can, go with you to the recruiter. 80% of the time they won't know the job they're trying to sell you and bullshit through their teeth. My cousin is extremely lazy and basically just wanted a free pay-check with benefits so I went with him to the recruiter and now he's a 68R, Veterinary Food Inspecter lol, he's been in two years and tells me he has an extremely laid back job with no chance of deployment.

Even better if you already have a degree, get commissioned as an Officer. Enlisted is simply not worth it plus a lot of them work like dogs for half the pay an O1 receives. Not sure if you know this or not judging by the tone of your post but every job in the military receives the same pay based on rank sans a few bonuses here and there, Enlisted1-E9 and Officer1-O10. So to answer your question, I sincerely doubt they would turn you away in any branch if you have a decent ASVAB score, i.e. GT/ST 110 or higher.

[Kuya]

why would you join unconstitutional war efforts so that a jew in new york can milk some more fiat money out of the system?

lol

[Sunrider]

Enlisted is simply not worth it plus a lot of them work like dogs for half the pay an O1 receives.

I must respectfully disagree.

Enlistment life is indeed more of a grind and the pay is without question lower, but it's not one-tenth as shitty as your comment implied. While it was hardly lavish, I was making perfectly well enough as an E-4 before I separated, enough for my own apartment and car with some clever management of finances. I'm certainly not seeing any civilians doing the same thing with any ease now that I'm back on the outside. And, it only gets better as time progresses. Each year is a small raise, each rank a significant one. I think that if I'd bothered to make E-5, I'd be on my way to my own home now.

In addition, Enlisted life is fun. Well, more fun than Commissioned, as a generality. Officer status comes with great pay and authority, but a great deal of restrictions. The Air Force being what it is, Officer positions are, oftentimes, mostly administrative. I recall a conversation with a Med Group Captain that I trained with, who detailed the tedium of her position, and others like it. Trouble that would get you a Letter of Reprimand and a shitty detail as Enlisted, might lose you a rank and land you jail time as an officer. Enlisted Basic Training, is, from what I hear, a walk in the park compared to Officer training.

Lastly, there was always the old joke that since only Officers can be pilots, the Air Force it was the only branch to send it's Officers into combat ahead of it's Enlisted (obviously there are a lot of exceptions to this statement, but it's a pretty fair one).



But don't let me put you off getting a commission. I've talked to many Officers that enjoy the life immensely, a few even that made the transition from Enlisted. If you've got your degree or are in the process of getting it (for which you might consider ROTC), then go for it.

[Fhloston]

There's plenty of job opportunities in the USAF and the Army. Trust me, they'll do their very best to fit you in somewhere before turning you away. I don't know too much about the USAF other then they have awesome bases and hot ass women, but in the Army there are a lot of jobs under-strengthed which would love to have you. Just make sure if you do decide to enlist have your Navy friend, if he possibly can, go with you to the recruiter. 80% of the time they won't know the job they're trying to sell you and bullshit through their teeth. My cousin is extremely lazy and basically just wanted a free pay-check with benefits so I went with him to the recruiter and now he's a 68R, Veterinary Food Inspecter lol, he's been in two years and tells me he has an extremely laid back job with no chance of deployment.

Even better if you already have a degree, get commissioned as an Officer. Enlisted is simply not worth it plus a lot of them work like dogs for half the pay an O1 receives. Not sure if you know this or not judging by the tone of your post but every job in the military receives the same pay based on rank sans a few bonuses here and there, Enlisted1-E9 and Officer1-O10. So to answer your question, I sincerely doubt they would turn you away in any branch if you have a decent ASVAB score, i.e. GT/ST 110 or higher.

Good to know. I agree with you about the awesome bases. My wife and I spent a week @Patrick AFB in FL on our vacation there.

Question. You mentioned I should have my Navy friend accompany me. I can take a Navy officer to a USAF recruitment center? Just wondering. Thanks!

[Kryssan]

Yeah, Navy right now is not accepting applicants unless you're going into a specialist field and have the scores to show you'd stand a chance. The nuclear community is currently so backlogged that we have hold students who've been in the training pipeline for years just waiting for a class up. Between the issues with the training platforms and the military's current downsizing and money problems, you'd be hard pressed for a Navy slot right now, even if you went for nuke. I don't know how the other services are doing, so I can't offer you advice there.


Generally speaking, if you like getting your hands dirty and working on something yourself, go enlisted. If you'd rather do paperwork, play with the politics, teach, or fly, you'll want to go officer. This is not totally true nor a written in stone kind of thing, but it is a fairly well accepted generalization.


As far as pay/rank goes, Army/Navy take the cake in time for advancement and actual advancements. USAF is the slowest to advance, but generally offers the greatest quality of life to their people. If you're looking to avoid deployment in a warzone, your best bet is USAF - the Army/Marines/NG are obviously deployed as much as possible, and the Navy has been doing a lot of extensive deployments due to ship availabilities (a standard deployment is 6 months out, 2-3 months in, but since about 2004ish deployments have been lasting 9+ months with 1-3 months in - this does not apply to the SSBN or SSGN) and also back around 2004-2005? they really ramped up the individual augmentee program, or IA, which will send you to join the Army/Marines/NG forces on the ground in the warzone for a deployment period. Of course, all forces offer some jobs that will never see deployment, but you'll be looking hard to find those right now unless you have someone who can assist you at the recruiters.


I'll honestly come right out and say I have no idea how either NG or CG is doing as far as personnel manning go though.

[jmc]

When I was inquiring with the army a few months ago, I was told not to even try for a MP position. Even though I know your going more so the air force route, just throwing it out there I was told once the economy sank every flocked for a MP/Protection services type of military job.


Best bet is just hitting up your local recruitment office, thats where I heard this info from when I was considering it shortly after getting laid off.

[heartslaught]

Speaking from the AF perspective, I know for a fact we are trying to get people out due to our end strength being too high right now (pm me and I can most likely swipe some info for you somewhere if you like on the more exact situation). It's not saying you can't get in but it's definitely more difficult. Recruiters can be very picky right now, and they will be. Let alone getting some recruiters to be upfront with you about prospects.

Just a hint... never ever go in open general. You have a 90% chance of either being security forces or services, unless you want to do these career fields. You're best odds are to have a good ASVAB score, no criminal offenses against you, and just impress all around.

Basic sucks, but most can deal if being beaten with PT doesn't scare ya and you can remember that blasted reporting statement. After that, tech school is bearable, and permanent party is actually quite nice (then again I'm with the weather squadron at Scott so life is REALLY good atm).

Those are my two cents from the inside, then again I've only been in for a year: two months basic, eight months tech school (weather tech school nuff said -.-), and three months permanent party here at Scott. If people have more experience, poke them as well, but once again I'm open for any questions you have.

[Zoolander]

Advice would prolly be a lot better if we knew your qualifications. I mean are you a college graduate, some college, what? And are you intelligent? Good with mechanics? Physically gifted? Average Joe? You know yourself.

My brother is not that intelligent, but his skills were always above average with mechanical stuff so he made it into the USAF. Now he just finished with tech school and is gunna be an aircraft hydraulics systems mechanic which will set him up nicely for a job after his time is served so all in all a pretty awesome situation for someone with no school after HS.

Really depends what you can bring to the table, since the USAF is tough to get into (Navy is gd impossible as others have told you - they said unless you were a chick you basically were not going to be in the Navy). And seconding that you can rank up quite a bit faster in the Army than the USAF - I would only consider the Army if I had some kind of skill set/degree they wanted though. Fuck being on the ground in Afghanistan or some other shit hole for years.

[Abandon]

I'm deployed right now. I'm sitting in the middle of a mall in Cartagena, Spain. Navy, though. Job availability isn't bad from what I've seen, we've had 30 new guys arrive on my ship in the past month. Officer life will net you more money, but goodness, the enlisted ranks are fun. but if you have the qualifications to go officer, by all means, go for it. Take someone with you if you can with military experience, though... even if it is a different branch. He may not know all the jobs for the other branch, but he can tell you if they're trying to feed you bullshit about different programs that you do/don't have available to you.

[Foof]

As people are already mentioning, enlisted life is fun. I'm an E-3 right now and it's basically like college during free time (if you so choose) and working otherwise (granted I'm overseas [not deployed] in a joint environment). I have no regrets joining up. I'm 2 years from getting a degree but I doubt I'd go the officer route now - seeing what officers have to put up with just turns me off from it entirely (admin work? no thanks).

For the AF, they recently adjusted their PFT (or whatever the AF calls it) requirements to try to get rid of people. For the Marines, we closed recruitment for a bit to anyone with only a high school diploma regardless of ASVAB as we were over our limit too - I doubt much has changed. I can ask someone about the Army at work tomorrow, but your best bet is just asking a recruiter. Yea they'll lie to you and what not, but they can get you the info you want too.

My biggest suggestions are don't go open contract and know what you're signing for. I'm USMC, stationed in the UK and my MOS is communications signals analyst and I love the job. If you have any questions I'd be happy to try to answer.

[Fhloston]

Advice would prolly be a lot better if we knew your qualifications. I mean are you a college graduate, some college, what? And are you intelligent? Good with mechanics? Physically gifted? Average Joe? You know yourself.

My brother is not that intelligent, but his skills were always above average with mechanical stuff so he made it into the USAF. Now he just finished with tech school and is gunna be an aircraft hydraulics systems mechanic which will set him up nicely for a job after his time is served so all in all a pretty awesome situation for someone with no school after HS.

Really depends what you can bring to the table, since the USAF is tough to get into (Navy is gd impossible as others have told you - they said unless you were a chick you basically were not going to be in the Navy). And seconding that you can rank up quite a bit faster in the Army than the USAF - I would only consider the Army if I had some kind of skill set/degree they wanted though. Fuck being on the ground in Afghanistan or some other shit hole for years.

Well my qualifications aren't anything special right now, unfortunately. HS grad, no college. Average joe type... I like tinkering with PCs though so I figured I could try for a job geared towards that kind of work. Also have 4 years experience working in hospital supplies...which really doesn't amount to much, but I know the military has supply jobs... my only real talent is drawing, and the military doesn't have jobs for artists lmfao.

Edit: Wow just took a look at the USAF height/weight requirements..at my height I would have to lose near 95 lbs to meet the req... being 25 (26 in Sept) probably won't help either. Starting to wonder if it's worth going to a recruiter or looking in to something else......

[lovehatehero]

If you dont mind/and have your asvab scores, send me a PM. I have access to Careerer Consoler tools that at least for the navy show me what you qual for and what if any jobs are open. I can also get a hold of some USAF and Army peeps that can do the same for them, bypassing any bs a recruiter might be telling you.

[Neosutra]

Army is always hiring.

AF, little overcrowded.

And there is a reason: AF = half the work, half the deployment time, and 1/100th the death toll of the Army... For the same pay. (Im not hating on the AF, I'm dumb for joining the Army instead of AF).

However I would echo a few sentiments: If you're planning a career, go officer. If you're planning short stint for job/education/skills, go enlisted. The pay/benefits of being an officer far outweigh anything, but the job itself is FAR less enjoyable than being enlisted. (I've been enlisted and officer).

And yes, you'll be deployed in the next year if you join any service.

[Plow]

Are you decent with math? Navy still wants nuclear engineers.

[lovehatehero]

Right now, the navy are REALLY looking for SEALs obviously, but other rates would be AWS's( my job, helicopter crewman/rescue), Nukes, MA's ( navy MPs basicly ) IS ( intelligence stuff ) and IT's ( just what it sounds. Computer networking, etc etc. ) I can find out more monday when i get back to work and find out exactly what for what but i know those off the top of my head.

[Kryssan]

Are you decent with math? Navy still wants nuclear engineers.

Decent in math? Don't make me laugh. You should see the NNPP math course. A kindergarten kid could do it.


And like I said, want them sure, but they don't have the room atm. The hold lists are ridiculous. Nuke mechanics hold lists go out to 2015+.

[Plow]

Decent in math? Don't make me laugh. You should see the NNPP math course. A kindergarten kid could do it.


And like I said, want them sure, but they don't have the room atm. The hold lists are ridiculous. Nuke mechanics hold lists go out to 2015+.

Wha? I'm still getting massive offers for room/board/scholarship with guaranteed officer positions coming out, and I haven't been studying engineering for like 9 years now.

[Kryssan]

Wha? I'm still getting massive offers for room/board/scholarship with guaranteed officer positions coming out, and I haven't been studying engineering for like 9 years now.

They still need people, but the training facilities aren't able to support them. NNPTC has always had a hold program, but now even the NPTUs have hold students. Current estimates on getting caught up on passing people through is years out. Certain rates will be faster than others. Officers have several choices though for the nuke program. You could be a nuke officer that goes through the training pipeline, or go be a DILDO (Direct Input Limited Duty Officer - only in the NAVY man, we just set ourselves up) which is basically like a teacher. Several other options as well. I don't know how backlogged the officers are currently.

It's not just the nuke pipeline though. The military's funding has been shit lately. For example, the USN secured all SRBs last year for several months due to lack of funding. Everyone's downsizing, even the nukes - the newer classes of ships require fewer nukes (the Ford is going to require half as many), and once the Enterprise gets decomm'd it'll help out a lot as far as manning goes (its a horrible offender in the nuke world for manning).