Posted: 2/25/2010 10:16:18 PM EDT
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Hey all. I fairly recently seperated from the Army as a Sergeant/31B20. My transition to civillian lifestyle has not been sucessful. Can't find any meaningful work on the outside for 3 months now. I am considering re-enlisting after this school semester, however I am interested in going Air Force and trying to get into a significantly different field. (No idea what, other than I know I don't want to be Security Forces.) What is the AFs take on prior service? Failing that, AZ Air Force NG, if it is possible to do fulltime. |
| Looking at the numbers, fewer than 100 personnel moved from the Army to the AF last year. The Air Force is in the process of "right sizing." IF you can make it, you'll probably take a reduction in grade. You have a much better chance getting on with AF Reserve or Air Guard. Getting an AGR job with them is probably next to impossible, like it is for Army. |
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Active Duty not to friendly right now to prior service.
ANG would be the best option as prior service is seen as a + , you will lose some rank probably get in as E-3/E-4 but is easy to get rank up to E-6 in the ANG rather quickly if you do any AFSC other than Security Forces. A big plus with the Guard is you can Guard Bum/ Temp Tech and make reasonable $ when times are tuff... |
| Unless there is a direct equivelant of your MOS in the AF they are not going to take you. You can try the reserves like I did however my experience is less than positive. It was a downright pain in the ass. I was trying to enlist as a flyer and the medical process was ridiculous. After I year I told them they could keep it. |
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Quoted:
Hey all. I fairly recently seperated from the Army as a Sergeant/31B20. My transition to civillian lifestyle has not been sucessful. Can't find any meaningful work on the outside for 3 months now. I am considering re-enlisting after this school semester, however I am interested in going Air Force and trying to get into a significantly different field. (No idea what, other than I know I don't want to be Security Forces.) What is the AFs take on prior service? Failing that, AZ Air Force NG, if it is possible to do fulltime. Why not hit up the USAR and get a new MOS while you are at it? And hit them up for one that will get you some skills marketable on the civilian side. Drill/AT pay is not a full time job, but it helps, and you can buy into Tricare dirt cheap. You can get a 2 year no deployment contract as well. I know a guy who just went to the USAR and got a slot as an LPN- he will be in school almost a year, and will come out an fully certified LPN. Bingo, an LPN can get tons of nursing jobs, and he alreday has a school that offers a bridge program to RN lined up. So he will get E-5 pay to go to school full time to be an LPN, then once he gets home the USAR tuition assistance will pay all the bills for him to go get his RN. Another buddy of mine is going to school for Biomedical Equipment Repiar. He is getting E6 pay to go to school for almost a year, and will come back very marketable to any hospital. Plus, there are some pretty good bonus programs for prior service coming in to the USAR. |
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My biggest problem for USAR is the drive! All the units are up around Phoenix area and 3-4+ hours each way; Drill pay *might* cover gas. That does suck sometimes. We have a number of guys that travel that far, we help them coordinate carpools so they share expenses, and anyone over 110 miles gets a paid hotel stay Friday and Saturday nights. You might contact the units and see if they have people from your area that you can hitch a ride with, |
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My biggest problem for USAR is the drive! All the units are up around Phoenix area and 3-4+ hours each way; Drill pay *might* cover gas. How 'bout AZ National Guard? I have a contact number if you're interested. Sgt.XXX is at 10222 N 7th St. Phx Az. IM me if you like. |
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My biggest problem for USAR is the drive! All the units are up around Phoenix area and 3-4+ hours each way; Drill pay *might* cover gas. I did a 4.5 hour drive for almost three years. It does suck. When I started looking for NG units, one of my set-in-stone deal killers was that it had to be under two hours. |
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There are avenues you can take to join the AF as prior enlisted. It'll be pretty much PJ/CCT/TACP though, since we always have a hard time filling those positions. If you have the physical and mental aptitude for those jobs talk to a recruiter about it. Other than those there are only a select few jobs that you could possibly fill, pending qualification. The AF has always hated to take prior enlisted, I have no idea why. |
| Timing is everything, Chairborne is right in some regards though. Recruiters often don't want to deal with prior service because they don't get the same credit as they would a new recruit. However I worked with guys from all branches that saw the light and joined the AF. They all said it took some work to get back in but they got it done. One guy went through three recruiters before one would work with him. If you stay on a recruiter and let him know you really want it, something will shake loose for you. |