Posted: 11/23/2009 9:55:20 PM EDT
|
Hello,
Applied to both services and just curious as to if others have also.Will either service, pay for 2 years of undergraduate and 2 years of graduate level study. Thus equaling a four year scholarship. This is coming from high school. If anyone is a PMS, please IM me I can discuss in detail. Also i have been looking at intel/space careers as those are the most interesting to me, as far as enlisted side. How would that be for an Air force or Army career? Thanks |
| I'm a Space and Missiles officer in the Air Force. While ICBMs have their ups and downs (like everything else, and enlisted guys don't do ICBM crew anyways) it seems the enlisted space guys have a good thing going. I plan on trying to get over to the space world on my next assignment. Feel free to PM with any questions you have that I can hopefully answer. |
|
Quoted:
I'm in AFROTC now, a third year. But I'm also an Army Brat and know the guys in AROTC here well enough. My tips to you coming in first year: Be humble. Keep your ears open. You'll have some fun. What do you do for PT? I was talking to a recruiter today and he basically told me AF PT is a joke. Granted I am certain he is slanted, but what is your daily and weekly schedule like in the AFROTC? Lastly, did you attend any schools in your ROTC career? |
|
Quoted: Quoted: I'm in AFROTC now, a third year. But I'm also an Army Brat and know the guys in AROTC here well enough. My tips to you coming in first year: Be humble. Keep your ears open. You'll have some fun. What do you do for PT? I was talking to a recruiter today and he basically told me AF PT is a joke. Granted I am certain he is slanted, but what is your daily and weekly schedule like in the AFROTC? Lastly, did you attend any schools in your ROTC career? First, I am a Junior Pre-Med student right now. Second, PT here is run by our PTFOs (Physical Training Fitness Officers) who are cadets (we swap out positions every semester). So, the PT program is almost entirely organized and run by cadets. Therefore, the intensity depends on whether the PTFOs are intense (and whether or not the cadre think it is tough/not tough enough). We do a lot of generic calisthenics... Push-ups, crunches, side straddle hops, bicycles, running, etc. Fun days might include Ultimate Frisbee (the Air Force loves this sport), basketball, flickerball, soccer, and whatnot. Tough days might include two-minute drill stations (our current PTFO is implementing a lot of football drills) where we cycle throughout, more cardio based workouts, suicides. With that said, it depends. I've had semesters with hardcore PT. I've had semesters with easy PT. The Army cadets here seem to do a lot of running compared to us. We have different PT schedules, so I don't catch them too often.
|
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I'm in AFROTC now, a third year. But I'm also an Army Brat and know the guys in AROTC here well enough. My tips to you coming in first year: Be humble. Keep your ears open. You'll have some fun. What do you do for PT? I was talking to a recruiter today and he basically told me AF PT is a joke. Granted I am certain he is slanted, but what is your daily and weekly schedule like in the AFROTC? Lastly, did you attend any schools in your ROTC career? First, I am a Junior Pre-Med student right now. Second, PT here is run by our PTFOs (Physical Training Fitness Officers) who are cadets (we swap out positions every semester). So, the PT program is almost entirely organized and run by cadets. Therefore, the intensity depends on whether the PTFOs are intense (and whether or not the cadre think it is tough/not tough enough). We do a lot of generic calisthenics... Push-ups, crunches, side straddle hops, bicycles, running, etc. Fun days might include Ultimate Frisbee (the Air Force loves this sport), basketball, flickerball, soccer, and whatnot. Tough days might include two-minute drill stations (our current PTFO is implementing a lot of football drills) where we cycle throughout, more cardio based workouts, suicides. With that said, it depends. I've had semesters with hardcore PT. I've had semesters with easy PT. The Army cadets here seem to do a lot of running compared to us. We have different PT schedules, so I don't catch them too often. Nice, so during your summers, have you had the opportunity to attend SERE or any schools of that nature? |
|
We call those "summer programs" PDTs - Professional Development Training. My second summer I went to Field Training, so you can't do a PDT. Field Training, which is the equivalent to OTS (Officer Training School), except shorter, or the cadet version of Basic Training. I graduated as Distinguished Graduate from my flight and that was a bunch of fun. Just a lot of getting yelled at and being tired/hungry all of the time, lol. This third summer I was going to apply for Freefall School at the Academy, but I realize I'm going to have to take some classes during the summer instead so I won't be doing a PDT. One of my good buddies though graduated from Freefall and has his jump wings. It's a highly competitive selection, only one cadet per Detachment gets to go per year. And our PT schedule this semester was: Monday - 1730 Tuesday - 0600 Thursday - 0600 Friday 1730 You only had to go to two a week though. Traditionally, PT is held only on Tues/Thurs at 0600. However, with the size of our Detachment, and the decision of the PTFOs this semester, two other days were added so that we wouldn't be over-crowded. |
|
Unless you do really well in undergrad school, AFROTC won't cover any grad school.
If you do really well, "ROTC" continues for you as a 2nd LT and when you are done with your masters, you are a 1st LT and continue as normal. That being said, if you don't do as well, you will be expected to get a masters at some point while you are an officer. (If you don't, your long term promotions will be harder to achive, but we are talking many years out at this point.) That all being said, I seem to remember that if you are a full time grad student, you can work AFROTC that way too. (But you don't get to double dip for undergrad/grad unless they select you to go to grad school for a free ride.) |
|
Quoted: Unless you do really well in undergrad school, AFROTC won't cover any grad school. Yep. I forgot to address this. AFROTC will cover undergrad if you deserve it. As far as grad school goes, they won't and you have to give the Air Force a good reason for why you should go to grad school rather than commission straight into an AFSC. My girlfriend wants to go to grad school right after, but she has to pay her way according to the AF. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Unless you do really well in undergrad school, AFROTC won't cover any grad school. Yep. I forgot to address this. AFROTC will cover undergrad if you deserve it. As far as grad school goes, they won't and you have to give the Air Force a good reason for why you should go to grad school rather than commission straight into an AFSC. My girlfriend wants to go to grad school right after, but she has to pay her way according to the AF. Does it matter if they pay 2 years of under grad and 2 years of grad, or it a deal where they won't pay into another if they pay into one? Just wondering if I procure a 4yr hs scholarship how that would work? Graduating hs with an AA is why i am wondering. |
|
Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Unless you do really well in undergrad school, AFROTC won't cover any grad school. Yep. I forgot to address this. AFROTC will cover undergrad if you deserve it. As far as grad school goes, they won't and you have to give the Air Force a good reason for why you should go to grad school rather than commission straight into an AFSC. My girlfriend wants to go to grad school right after, but she has to pay her way according to the AF. Does it matter if they pay 2 years of under grad and 2 years of grad, or it a deal where they won't pay into another if they pay into one? Just wondering if I procure a 4yr hs scholarship how that would work? Graduating hs with an AA is why i am wondering. ETA: I misread your post. Your credits will transfer and whatnot, but as far as I understand it –– the Air Force, at least, will not pay for your Grad School under normal circumstances. They will pay whatever they need to for you to complete your Bachelor's Degree. They want to commission you and get you working as soon as possible. 2nd ETA: And the two years that they don't pay for because you already have an AA may go straight into your bank account. I'm not sure how that works, you'd need to ask the Officer in charge of recruiting at the Det/Unit. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Unless you do really well in undergrad school, AFROTC won't cover any grad school. Yep. I forgot to address this. AFROTC will cover undergrad if you deserve it. As far as grad school goes, they won't and you have to give the Air Force a good reason for why you should go to grad school rather than commission straight into an AFSC. My girlfriend wants to go to grad school right after, but she has to pay her way according to the AF. Does it matter if they pay 2 years of under grad and 2 years of grad, or it a deal where they won't pay into another if they pay into one? Just wondering if I procure a 4yr hs scholarship how that would work? Graduating hs with an AA is why i am wondering. ETA: I misread your post. Your credits will transfer and whatnot, but as far as I understand it –– the Air Force, at least, will not pay for your Grad School under normal circumstances. They will pay whatever they need to for you to complete your Bachelor's Degree. They want to commission you and get you working as soon as possible. So although I would be the recepient of a 4 year scholarship, in actuality I would be the recepient of a 2 year scholarship, unless I scaled back my credit hours? |
|
Quoted: Quoted: ETA: I misread your post. Your credits will transfer and whatnot, but as far as I understand it –– the Air Force, at least, will not pay for your Grad School under normal circumstances. They will pay whatever they need to for you to complete your Bachelor's Degree. They want to commission you and get you working as soon as possible. So although I would be the recepient of a 4 year scholarship, in actuality I would be the recepient of a 2 year scholarship, unless I scaled back my credit hours? I'm not quite sure, actually. You need to ask the Recruiting Officers themselves on this issue since they know how the money works. If you graduate early with a scholarship, I think you might just get that money straight into your account because they are fixed amounts. But there could be a chance that the money could go towards a Master's, now that I think of it. Like I said, better to ask. I'm assuming you applied to the HS Scholarships online and haven't really been in contact with a unit yet? Whatever school you are looking into, go to their ROTC website and shoot them an email. They will be more than happy to fill you in.
|
|
Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Unless you do really well in undergrad school, AFROTC won't cover any grad school. Yep. I forgot to address this. AFROTC will cover undergrad if you deserve it. As far as grad school goes, they won't and you have to give the Air Force a good reason for why you should go to grad school rather than commission straight into an AFSC. My girlfriend wants to go to grad school right after, but she has to pay her way according to the AF. Does it matter if they pay 2 years of under grad and 2 years of grad, or it a deal where they won't pay into another if they pay into one? Just wondering if I procure a 4yr hs scholarship how that would work? Graduating hs with an AA is why i am wondering. ETA: I misread your post. Your credits will transfer and whatnot, but as far as I understand it –– the Air Force, at least, will not pay for your Grad School under normal circumstances. They will pay whatever they need to for you to complete your Bachelor's Degree. They want to commission you and get you working as soon as possible. So although I would be the recepient of a 4 year scholarship, in actuality I would be the recepient of a 2 year scholarship, unless I scaled back my credit hours? ROTC doesn't grant you an automatic scholarship. What grad school are you looking at? Generally the .mil isn't going to pay for you to go to grad school because they don't need you to go. Once you're in you'll have TA to pay for it, but you'll have to do it around your work schedule because the .mil will be expecting you to turn in a full work day. If you're going to law school or med school the .mil is much more likely to pay for it because that's something they need. |
|
In any case, if you applied for a scholarship you need to wait and see if you get it first. Not everyone gets a HS Scholarship, especially if you don't have a military family background or don't exactly have a resume that makes the .mil think you're worth it. Most cadets show up at the unit first and THEN earn a scholarship if they are doing well enough in school and unit. I never applied for any of the HS Scholarships because my ol' man, 27 years of service, didn't want me to at first. He caved in to me wanting to do ROTC after the due dates for those applications. So I showed up to the Det with no contract like most other cadets. After a semester, I earned a 3.5 year competitive scholarship. There are two types of in-college scholarships on the AF side: competitive and express. Express scholarships are granted if you decide to do a major that the AF needs (language, engineering, etc.). Sadly, I don't get an express scholarship for Pre-Med so I had to compete for my scholarship (but luckily, Med School should be set if everything works out).
|
|
<–– AF enlisted intel on a joint army/AF base This is all based on what I've observed working in a joint and multinational environment for the past 3-1/2 years. As far as enlisted AF or Army, the Army seems to have more 'gung-ho' types of jobs if you're into that kinda stuff. The airborne guys I know (officers and enlisted) regularly go on year-long deployments with the rest of their units and are going outside the wire on a regular basis. One of my good friends that just came back on his mid-tour had an RPG impact the windshield in his humvee about six inches to a foot in front of him, only to end up in a firefight for the next 2 hours taking small arms fire. The simple fact that he made it out of that with only a couple scars on his face is a miracle. They do some serious stuff. If you're up for it, go army. On the flip side, the Air Force tends to be more desk-jockey or grease monkey oriented unless you are in one of the few combat career fields. I pretty much sit at a desk all day in front of a computer, with 90 minutes of PT three times a week. I would expect the same occurs in enlisted space AFSCs. The AF treats seems to treats junior enlisted folk better, but will expect a lot out of you in return. As an E-4 1N051, I regularly perform work that my army peers expect from NCO's and junior officers. I brief 0-5's and 0-6's regularly and have on occasion briefed 2, 3, and 4-star generals. That will differ based on your assignment, however. The AF also has higher standards of living (several of my army friends from bible study claim that they've had AF guys come on exercises/deployments with them and the AF folks got an allowance in their checks for 'substandard living conditions.') Our deployments are also typically only six months at a time (subject to change of course) and for intelligence folks tend to be in rather secure areas away from the action. A downside (at least that's my view) is that the Air Force tends to have a more 'corporate' rather than military culture, from the top ranks, all the way down. As far as educational benefits, I'm not sure about the army, but for officer or enlisted the Air Force pays 100% Tuition Assistance up to $250/SH while you're on active duty. I'm using it towards an my undergraduate studies right now. I know several officers using their TA to pay for their Masters degrees. Enlisted life isn't too shabby, but if I could have done it all over again I would have went the AFROTC route. It seems like every ROTC-grad intel officer in my shop got a full-ride scholarship. They played airman for a couple days a week, went to a field training one summer, and came in as commissioned officers. They earn more money and respect yet do, for the most part, the same thing I and other enlisted intel do on a daily basis. Call up a local ROTC detachment and see what scholarship prospects are. Failing the ROTC scholarship route, you could always enlist, knock out your bachelor's degree using TA, then put in for OTS when you're done. Either way will get you there. As for what service to join, neither one is 'better' than the other. Pick whichever one sounds the most appealing to you and go for it. |
|
If you graduate early with a scholarship, I think you might just get that money straight into your account because they are fixed amounts.
No, they aren't fixed amounts, and no, you won't get it. Otherwise, folks who pay in-state vs out-of-state tuition would see a difference in what they receive from their scholarship, which doesn't happen. The money goes straight to the school, not to or through you. If you want .mil to pay for your grad school, the safest route is to go Guard. New officers pursuing a masters are a low priority, but most states have school money left over each year that nobody uses. For summer training, Airborne and Air Assault school are not hard for our cadets to get. They ended Ranger School for cadets when I was a cadet due to injuries, but there are still some less common alternatives out there too. If you're GPA is solid that should help you be high on the OML. I'm an Army instructor at one of the SMCs, so maybe things are different in the AF... |