Pros
1. They train you. 2. They give you plenty of responsibility. 3. You get to move a lot. 4. You go to some really cool places to do some really important things. 5. There are advanced degree and other education opportunities. 6. There are opportunities to try jobs completely different from your core career. 7. If you retire after 20 years with 50% of basic pay you won’t starve in retirement. 8. It is possible to enjoy the privilege of service for 30 or 40 years and eat somewhat better with 75% or 100% respectively - find more about that elsewhere. 9. The impact you get to make in the world and satisfaction that comes with it. 10. The rules of the game are clear and easy to follow. The higher your skill, the more you get to make some of your own rules. 11. During times of conflict such as now, rewarding opportunities exist to participate.
My core career field is 21A; Aircraft Maintenance Officer. The AF gives leadership training prior to commissioning an officer and then again at several points in your career. Day one at my first permanent duty station I was handed a mission in an existing operation complete with resources including money, facilities, tools, equipment and 90 subordinates – great opportunity. We get to move jobs frequently; 6 mos. to 2 yrs. We get to move locations often; currently 4 years for junior officers, 2 years for middle and senior-level officers. We have worldwide opportunities for short and long durations - mine: DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Los Vegas, OK, GA, NM, NC, OH, FL, CO, and by my bad choice not enough time overseas - Guam and Korea - loved it. Many people get to spend much more time overseas. If I were starting over I would too. Great variety of jobs within a single career path - mine: At least 5 distinct jobs on 7 different aircraft. Jumping paths is encouraged as a way to build knowledge across career fields - during my time out of aircraft maintenance I learned much. The AF paid my salary and all expenses for a Master of Science degree in Operations Research - 1.5 years of advance calculus, statistics, modeling – I learned how to solve or operational methods or problems. After school I used the degree in two jobs of 1.5 years each. As a scientific analyst for 50 Space Wing I learned patience as much of my work was predicting long term effects of planned system improvements on a communications network. I also learned a lot as I got to interact with analysts and Operations Officers from AFSPC units, NRO, NASA, NOAA to provide support for their systems. Next as a college calculus instructor at the AF Academy I learned about influencing young minds. I was offered the chance to stay in that career field but turned it and the $60K bonus down. I had to get back to my core 21A for the faster pace, greater leadership, and immediate mission impact. When we plan the logistics for a mission, or a deployment of my unit’s people, equipment and jets to go operate from a forward location we get to see the result as our skills make the mission happen. Sometimes you read about it in other countries’ newspapers. Sometimes you get to explain it to high level officers in our allies’ militaries.
Cons
Downsides in the AF are the same as those in any big company. 1. If you’re in the field you can’t understand why HQ is so dumb - If you’re at the HQ you can’t understand why the field is so dumb. 2. You’ll always have: a boss who isn’t as smart as you and workers who are smarter. 3. You’ll never have: enough time in the day to finish all your work or enough resources to meet all the objectives you’re tasked with. 4. Every company has an unfair evaluation and promotion system. 5. Every company has rules of the game. Your challenge is to decide whether they suit you. If you’re not exceptionally skilled you’ll have to play by them. 6. I almost forgot to mention you may volunteer or be sent to a hostile area as a non-volunteer. The level of danger varies by factors such as AFSC and position.
