young guys

Exactaly, when I first started at 16-17 I had the SJS "GET THERE FIRST OR YOU'RE SCREWED" mentality. But that was mainly because I had friends who were getting hired into the right seat of regional jets with wet commercials not much older than myself. A year later those same friends were almost all out on the street, and I thought long and hard, did some research, and concluded that there is no way I'm going 121 with a wet commercial, and there won't be a lot of jobs for low-time guys anyway so might as sit back and enjoy the journey as I get my ratings. Don't get me wrong, I'm not really dragging my feet or anything, I'm diving into my IFR the day after I get my private. However, I'm not in the "OMG MY PRIVATE TOOK MORE THAN 40 HOURS" mentality I was in before.

To the guys that are on here at 16 or so just starting out, I really wish I knew what you must know now from reading the threads on JC. My only advice to you is network, network, network. Thats what the site is here for.

Boy, I'm 19 and you guys are making me feel like an old man.
 
Hacker15e said:
Since it apparently didn't make sense, let me spell it out for ya.

You said, "Unless you can convince me ANG has got the perks I have been looking for."

As if you were auditioning the ANG for the honor of having you in it.

Doesn't work that way, unfortunately. You don't join the military for "perks". It's not called "the service" for nothing, ya know.
Click to expand...
All right nevermind then.I was trying to get your view on ANG.
 
For a bit there were a lot of really young guys posting. Now I feel much better about the old fart thing :)
 
Hacker15e said:
Since it apparently didn't make sense, let me spell it out for ya.

You said, "Unless you can convince me ANG has got the perks I have been looking for."

As if you were auditioning the ANG for the honor of having you in it.

Doesn't work that way, unfortunately. You don't join the military for "perks". It's not called "the service" for nothing, ya know.
Click to expand...


That certainly isn't how they sell it these days though. I know a lot of guys whose sole motivation for joining up was to pay for college, be able to get good financing to buy a house, find some extra money. In fact, most of the people I know had ulterior motives when joining.
 
Well, it's marketing to get you through the door to get you to sign!

Remember the "YMCA" lyrics? They don't mention anything about sitting in a steamy room below the water line for weeks at a time watching pressure gauge on scow-line plumbing, do they? :)
 
ChasenSFO said:
Boy, I'm 19 and you guys are making me feel like an old man.
Click to expand...

:rotfl:

HAHA, I loved how in college as people were turning 21 and we're able to have their first (legal) beer, they started calling themselves "old". You ain't even that old yet kid.

ppragman said:
That certainly isn't how they sell it these days though. I know a lot of guys whose sole motivation for joining up was to pay for college, be able to get good financing to buy a house, find some extra money. In fact, most of the people I know had ulterior motives when joining.
Click to expand...

The Air Force has never had problems finding top-quality folks to fill UPT slots. As a matter of fact, I don't believe the modern AF has ever had a problem recruiting, period; After I got in, there was a (unwise, IMO) huge drawdown on junior officers, particularly LTs. The other services may be a different story requiring different tactics to get people to sign on the dotted line. When I was in high school, I got plenty of unsolicited phone calls from all the services except the Air Force.

You might see the flashy fighter pilot ads to get you in the door, but the recruiters know what specialty quotas they need to fill this month--UPT slots probably ain't one of 'em. Consider yourself lucky if you can even convince them to help you put together a package for the selection board.

The point is that the AD, guard, reserve, etc aren't going to be knocking on your door to tell you why you should want to come fly planes for us. There are already enough folks out there who already know they want to become officers in the greatest Air Force and fly cool jets while they're at it.
 
ppragman said:
That certainly isn't how they sell it these days though. I know a lot of guys whose sole motivation for joining up was to pay for college, be able to get good financing to buy a house, find some extra money. In fact, most of the people I know had ulterior motives when joining.
Click to expand...

I know very few folks who decided to go into mil aviation to pay for college (none come to mind actually).....it is an extremely long obligation just to take care of school. I'd say a lot of other communities, especially those among the enlisted ranks, advertise the "skills and money for college" angle, but it's kind of hard to say "give us 10 hard years of your life minimum and we will pick up the tab for college".....in other words, you really need to WANT to be here to make it and not hate your life.

Agree with Germb....you may see Hornets in our recruitment ads, but you had better believe that is not what they are going to try and get you to do when you sign up. I know plenty of folks who paid their way through expensive private schools just to be eligible for OCS, and I'd honestly say it's about half and half among my friends here in the training command, in regards to who got their school paid for and who didn't.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top