My oldest son turns 17 this year(WOW!) he is talking about joining up in the military after high school. His long term goal is to become a electronic engineer. He has a real interest in working with robots and computers. He has been looking over many of the jobs in the Air Force showed me a few of them one was maintenance on drone's but I told him I do not think they from what I read they do anything with the electronic parts.

So I told him that he needed to ask around and I would try doing the same for him . So any advice from any branch would be a great help!

If he looks at the Navy he would be able to go the AT (Aviation Electronics Technician) route and make sure he chooses to go "I" level rather than "O" level.

The difference between I and O level is this.  I level or Intermediate Level Repairs works on the internal workings of the electronics units whatever they may be.  O level or Organizational is the guy who troubleshoots the actual aircraft and removes the failed box for the I level guy to repair.

I'm not sure of the availability of D level jobs.  D level is Depot level and they usually repair the actual PC boards but it is usually a manufacturer sort of thing.

I did 2 years as an AX and 18 years as an AT.  I worked O level on helicopters.

Why not suggest he look into an Electrical Engineering degree at the AF Academy?  He gets the training he's looking for, ends up with an officer's pay when he graduates, and receives an opportunity to put it to work.  

If he didn't totally goof off in high school, sounds like a win win to me...

if he wants to be an EE then he needs to go to college. closest the army is 35T  and that isn't as hard a shcool as 33s was back in the day.  I suggest check with the local guard units and see if they will pay for school if money for school isn't there otherwise.

That is the problem! He is slacking off he is a good kids and all his teachers stay he passes all his test with A's or B's just that he never turns in homework! I wanted him to do AF academy that but with him failing most of his classes because he will not turn in homework not sure how well that is going to work.

He has no chance at a military academy if his grades are shit.  College would be a better route, if he is good on tests.  His lack of discipline to turn in homework, will equate to a bad experience in the military.

Navy.  Go as an ET and then work hard on the ship and request 2M school.

Be a combat engineer, because you will never be that cool as an engineer ever again.

I am a Biomedical Equipment Technician in the Air Force, 4A2X1. It is the most intense electronics training that you will get in the military. The army and Navy go through the same tech school with us and have the same jobs so whatever service you pick is your choice. It will give him an AAS and experience. It's up to him if he really likes it or not. I think most people don't really distinguish want and motivation. It would be a mistake for either of you to go into debt for something that he isn't motivated to finish. At least this way he will have TA and a GI Bill to figure himself out. I finished my Bachelors and am currently working on my Masters. That's my advice.

GI BILL....

Navy nuke.

It's been a long time since I got out. When did they combine all the different 33 series into 35T? I worked at the school at Ft. Devens for a bit back in 91 and all the courses were tough. Most of them were over a year long.

He won't have a hard time getting a good job after the military if he gets through the nuke program.

No one in the military, officer or enlisted, does electrical engineering.

It's all outsourced to DOD Civilians and contractors.

Navy ET(Me) is about the closest you can get on active duty, but it's not very close.  It's more about fixing electronics that were engineered in the 50's and 60's and manufactured in the 70's and 80's.  You can do some engineering, but that's not what the job is.

If you want to be an engineer, get a degree and look into the intern programs on usajobs.  If you want to serve your country, do some time on active duty, but understand it's not going to make you an EE and you're not going to get to do EE stuff.

His sons goal is to become an electrical engineer. I don't think he expects to become one in the military, but rather he's looking for a military job that will provide useful experience.
If he's not turning in homework, he's gonna get killed in college. It'll just be a huge waste of time.
I'm a EE, but I have no military experience. Working on even old electronics will be beneficial even if he's just learning how to read a print and getting an understanding of what things do.
In college, I studied all kinds of circuit diagrams and I knew what capacitors and resistors did, but I couldn't pick one up out of a box of parts.
I've run into guys with engineering degrees who struggled to use hand tools.

One of our new hires worked his way through school doing electrical component repair.

I had another coworker who went from HS to college, struggled in college, dropped out, joined the Navy became a Sonar man, went back to school, breezed through and got his EE.

If the kid is not focused on school and is interested in the military, it could be very good for him in the long run.

I was an I level AT in the Navy.  Lots of theory in "A" school if he wants to learn it but, they feed you information with a fire hose.  I also went to 2M school and gained some useful knowledge there as well.  One poster below said ET would be closer and with my limited knowledge of their curriculum I can't say if it would or wouldn't be but, I would guess the core is similar with nuke stuff added later.  Seems to me either rate would be useful if he wanted to attend college later.  

ET and AT probably aren't all that different -- AT is obviously aviation focused and ET is *everything* focused.  I've fixed aircraft electronics, and I've taken equipment up to the ATs on the CVN to have them do things to it I didn't know how to do (cal, mostly, but some odd stuff in the 2m world as well).

Calibration Technician (TMDE)... I think they're pretty much across all services.

Another option is to go army Counter-Intelligence and then go for TSCM (Technical Surveillance and Counter Measures).
It's a pretty intensive course and they work with a pretty wide range of electronic equipment. My wife did this and the pay in the civilian side is very good.

11b. We are full of electrunic enginurs

I much preferred the way the ATs explained it back when I was at Norfolk... "I" works on equipment inside; "O" works on equipment outside.

My answer was going to be slightly similar to yours, actually: Electronic Technician.  Granted most ETs get radars or comms, there are also billets for electronic test equipment and computers.

Of course with any Navy rating, do good in your tech school.  Unless things have changed drastically, order picks are often based on your grades. (with exceptions for people getting orders to join a spouse etc).


Also while he's at it, why not get ahead now?  Check out this link: http://www.cbtricks.com/miscellaneous/tech_publications/neets/index.htm - The infamous NEETS modules - 24 volumes of free study information.

And believe me this stuff is good...  I remember grabbing a couple of mods that I felt weak in and studying those before a rating exam.  One of my coworkers said, "Why are you studying THAT?  That's not going to be on the test!"  I rolled my eyes at him and went back to studying.  When it came time for the test, I almost started laughing; some of the questions were lifted straight out of the NEETs mods.  I made rank that test too.


Also, yes what some of the others have said is correct - in the Navy as an ET you don't really do "engineering" exactly.  You're not designing circuitboards, but if your soldering skills are good, you can be repairing circuitboards on older equipment.   The key point is that you learn how to troubleshoot the physical side of the electronics, down to the component level (be it an IC chip or a resistor).  

That kind of hands-on experience can be a goldmine for future endeavors.

I don't know of any specific MOS, but as EOD ive gone to probably a dozen lengthy electronics courses ranging from basic to advanced skill levels.  I kow several guys that got out to go on to EE in the civilian world.

Be a real engineer first (12B), then move on to the smart people stuff when your body is worn out.  Best job of my life, wish my knees would have stayed together better.

Avionics Technician.

They have to be able to defend every question on the exam based on an instruction.  NEETS is the easiest place to pull them.  SEMO is another one that's used a lot, I saw questions from it on every test from DS2 to ETC.

HAHA That's what I did. Once my knees got so bad, the Army reclassed me to a machinist.

Airforce or navy.  Army has very little use for actual "engineers" until late CPT and no use for gEEks.

Infantry

This is what I was going to say. If I could have a do over, I'd shoot for ET. I know a reserve ETC(E7) that is doing very well in the civilian world in the telecommunications industry.

AF.....

Bio Med Equip

PMEL... Crazy long tech school but you will actually do component level repair/troubleshooting on all sorts of electronics.

A lot of other electronics jobs you are just a box swapper these days.

College.

I was a Navy ET in the 80s - seemed like we were doing more component level troubleshooting while the ATs swapped parts.

That said it is not engineering and from what I've observed the Navy seems more screwed up nowadays then when I was in (no women on combat ships back then).

I'd recommend army or marines for a one term enlistment - have fun playing soldier then go to school on GI bill after.

Army:
94e, 94f, almost any 25 series
Navy or air force. Dont know
Good luck

Without a hot GPA he's not goingt to get into any service academy.

But he can go to a college with an ROTC program so he can graduate and get commissioned at the same time.

Navy can also do this too - Electronics Technician, Fire Control Technician, Aviation Electronic Technician, Interior Communications.

0311.

You will have to go to college afterwards anyways.

Might as well enjoy the misery first. ??