Do you think signing up for the Air Force a good life decision?

We need more details. Why is joining the Air Force the solution to your problems? Because they will hand you a job and tell you what to do and it’s not quite as hard or dangerous as other services? Or do you have an aptitude for something like say, aeronautical engineering or flying? Are you likely to actually get to do what you want to do in the Air Force (such as flying – becoming an actual pilot is quite selective)? If you think joining the Air Force is going to solve your problems, you are likely to be sadly mistaken.

I had some thoughts here

My aunt and uncle really loved it. Keep in mind that they both went in with Bachelor Degrees so they had a bit of a say in what they would do in the Air Force.

Th career Air Force folks that I know loved it. I think you might find it very helpful in giving you your direction even if it does not turn out to be your final direction.

Yes

The Air Force won’t fix your life problems. But it might help you find the tools to fix them yourself.

In other words, if you’re not happy in life, don’t expect to find happiness in the Air Force. But you can expect – to a point – for military training and travel to help you mature and perhaps then you’ll be able to meet life better and on your terms.

no i think its a bloody stupid idea….its not just a job you know ..it may seem like a tool for your life but your signing your will to make a choice away seriously! if you have any respect for human life think very carefully about it…just because you lack stability your ready to pick up a gun…frankly that sits pretty badly with me

Ask Bluefreedom. He’ll give you the ins & outs of it.

Wow. You beat me to asking this question on fluther. I came to the site to do it today!
Have you done any research at all? The benefits of joining are impeccable and pretty much outweigh the cons. After that it comes down to, do you think you could make it in the Air Force? I’m struggling with the same issues, I feel stagnant as hell in my life and I wanted to do the Peace Corps but I’d rather do something that helps more monetarily and with education for the future. I can say it’s a good choice, from those I’ve asked or those who know people in the Air Force, each one said it was worth it, the opportunities and knowledge you get is amazing and it changed their lives for the better. I don’t know about you but it’s at the point that my amount of courage or no courage is what’s holding me back. You have to decide if it’s right for you, nobody else can. In 4 years if you don’t do it…where do you see yourself? Still at dead-end jobs with no savings or happiness? And where do you see yourself in 4 years and beyond if you do do it. Do you think it will give you the direction you need? Glad I’m not the only one with this question.

@onesecondregrets have to admit this totally yanks my chain i cant believe you people simply look at as a job..or a tool to make your life better…you disgust me…you do realise that the whole purpose of the armed forces is that at some point you may be asked to kill someone you do not know for reasons that haven’t been explained to you (and by this point will have no choice but to obey)...The reason its such a good plan is that they WANT idiots like who never stop and think….oh actually wait a second is this really the right thing to do…if you will join and be the person who after all the training will be asked to drop a bomb on someone and say no then for the love of god join but if you join for the perks and “career” then I hope you get the rude awakening you deserve when your ordered out to invade someone else’s country and shoot at 5 year old kids while their trying to shoot you

I think it would depend on what you do in the Air Force. My dad was in the Air Force, and never had a bad word to say about it. I’m not sure exactly what he did, but he once said he was never involved in any fighting.

My husband has a good friend who joined the Air Force for basically the same reasons as the asker of this question. He signed on for bomb squad training (not sure if that is the official name for it) because he got a larger signing bonus. He was trained, sent to Iraq, sent back to the US, and became a completely different person. He once told us one of his duties involved inspecting the bodies of soldiers who’d been killed overseas once they arrived in the US. He had to make sure the bodies were not “booby-trapped” with explosives. I think it messed him up. He started to have a lot of emotional and personal problems which ultimately ruined his marriage. He’s been out of the Air Force for a few years now, and I think he’s starting to get a handle on his issues.

I don’t think it would be easy, but it would help if you could find out as much as you possibly can about your options and the various opportunities within the Air Force.

@MissAusten i am sorry but i don’t believe that just because you arnt taking an active role in shooting people you “never had a bad word to say about it” I know its naive but hell if everyone just took a step back and thought “fuck i am actually signing a deal stating i am willing to kill people?” here the world would be so much better off…..every offence meant to your dad but he was as bad as the people that kill people for the same company and it is a company nothing more and nothing less….to everyone out there…please for the love of all that’s actually fun in this world stop and wonder why this is the only people whose doors are open and why they bait their trap so perfectly…money is only money do you want it at any cost?

@noodle_poodle I’m sorry, but I can’t even tell what you are talking about. It’s clear that you are against the armed forces in general, but it also sounds like you might be trying to insult my father. It’s hard to tell with the misspellings, incorrect punctuation, and lack of capital letters.

My cousin joined I believe a year ago. He tried college, and it just wasn’t for him…he couldn’t figure out what to do. He looked into the Air Force and decided it was the right move for him. He’s stationed in Utah currently, he goes to Vegas pretty darn often..and then he’ll be stationed in Kuwait.
I think you have to really commit to it. My cousin is young (22), single, and will be getting an education from the Air Force, and making okay money. It’s a great stepping stone in life, in my opinion. but I am glad my husband never joined anything.

I’m going to defend noodle_poodle a bit here. I think he is coming from a pure pacifist point of view, and I can respect him for that. I, on the other hand, think there are rare times when war is justified. That said, I still agree with him that anyone joining the military ought to think about the larger ramifications. It is not just a job, it is a job that involves killing. Even if you do not drop the bomb or pull the trigger, you enable the killing by doing your job. There’s no way to be in the military and be truly insulated from the killing. I firmly believe that neither of the wars we are in now were the right thing to do from a strategic view point, and one of them was definitely wrong morally, probably the other. You have to decide before you join the military if you are willing to accept being a part of whatever war our political leadership decides to involve you in. You won’t get a choice about whether it is a just war once you join. And finally, as MissAusten noted, war changes people. It causes serious psychological trauma. Post traumatic stress disorder is no joke, and it doesn’t matter how strong or stable you are now, you cannot determine what effect war will have on you. Even being in the military changes people. I had a friend who was a distance runner and one of the nicest, most easy going guys I ever met. He joined the Marines and could run circles around most of them, so the physical part of boot camp was no big deal for him. But he came back from boot camp different. He was a jerk. He wanted everything his way and got very angry very fast about little things. To sum up, don’t just think about the Air Force as a job, or a set of financial or learning opportunities, but way the risk of utterly changing your personality (and not necessarily for the better) and of going to war, killing, being killed, and the effect that will have on you.