My Girlfreind is thinking about joining the Airforce Reserve. Does any one have enough expirence on the positive and negatives of doing this? I would gladly appreciate it guys. It would be a great great step for me and even bigger for her.

 

She would most likely be called to active duty and sent over seas. I know a few people from different branches of the reserve that got the nod to get deployed. Its a harsh reality but it is what it is. Im active duty Navy so Im not trying to blow smoke up your butt

 

If she's ok with a potential deployment and takes advantage of the school funding, it's not a bad deal. My brother is in the guard and will be paying for school and a decent lifestyle with the army guard, but he's spending a year in iraq as a cost.

It's good if you're the right type. Otherwise, it's a lot of work for your money.

 

it also depends on your MOS. I didn't join (due to my Army recruiter lying to me repeatedly) however, I know enough to say that what your MOS is, determines the likely hood you will end up in a combat situation...and in the air force's case, it's pretty unlikely she will end up in a combat MOS.

 

I dunno she has this mind set that girls are not going to be sent to fight out there because its the Air Force. She wants to sign up for two years on the reserves. She is going to make her decision soon, but I dont know what to tell her. She is bent on doing this now just like her sister, but her sister signed up to be in the Army and will most likely be sent to Iraq on the front lines as an Officer.

 

What is a MOS?

 

I am in the same situation. I'm already done with school, got my Bachelor's degree and got a stable job. I always wanted to join in the AF and i think I'm close to the cut-off age

I've talked to a recruiter today but he is in the health field... so he gave me the info for the proper recruiter.

The person i talked to lives in O-town if you like his Info... just PM me and i will give it to you in the AM since i left it at the office

-LAW

 

Well I kinda need some real life expirence. I know recruiters will brainwash you to a certain extent. I do not want my girlfreind to get screwed over. I care a lot about her and want the best for her.

 

sorry for using jargon..MOS is your job, basically. it stands for Military Occupational Specialty.

when I was going to join the army, I was going to be a 15Quebec. (15Q) which is air traffic control. Unfortunately, my recruiter told me I passed my class 2 flight physical, which I didn't (class 2 requires 20/20, 20/20 uncorrected vision, I had 20/20, 20/25). I didn't find out until 3 days before my ship date, which was too late to acquire a more "beneficial" MOS.

I don't want to sour you or her on the aspect of the armed services, because I love them, and am very proud of what they do for our country, I just want to tell you and her to be careful of recruiters, and what they may promise. Mind you, when I went to the AF recruiter, they told me that "they weren't hiring" so any MOS that she may get may be be good. the AF is pretty stocked up on their quotas, reserves or not.

 

All things above are true, but also in Iraq it doesn't really matter the MOS you have. I am in the Army and am currently in Baghdad, Iraq. As for a "safe" job, they are hard to come by while in Iraq. It doesn't really matter the FOB, Base or Camp you are at, they get rocketed or mortared or even the occasional LOB Bomb attack. VBC (Victory Base Camp) which is where the DIVs (Divisions) are at and the supposed safe easy placeto be at here gets hit all the time with rockets comeing from Sadr City. The MI (Military Intelligence) world could but you on a big camp or one of the supporting FOBs, we have SIGINTers (Signals Intel) on my fob which is a couple miles from Sadr City, they are made of Air Force and Army. As flight crew, you will go to any air base in the area, for us, BIAP (Baghdad International Air Port) at VBC. Any mos can go to VBC ranging from medical to finance to anything. Iraq is dangerous with whats going on. plus its only May here and its upwards of 100-110 degrees, getting hot real quick. Now a deployment to Afghanistan is not so bad, especially for Air Force personnel, they usually stay at their air bases which is Kandahar or Bagram (those are the only two i know of, I'm sure there are more in the north and west). Kandahar not so much action against the base, but its hot as balls there, up to 120 in the summer. Bagram is a wonderful place, hasn't seen action in close to 5-6 years, and its nice and cool there. So basically it depends on your job and the location in which you deploy to, but deploying isnt all that bad, I'm on my second in 3 years. But either way you look at it, give it a chance, if you can get a unit that is going to Afghanistan, try that out.