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Nerds in the Air Force?
Renraku asks: "I know that I am considering joining the U.S. Air Force and going with their networking course. I saw in a story the other day how several people answered with comments about their own life in the Air Force, in the line of work I would be doing. Does anyone have any stories, or tips for surviving basic / tech school / Air Force life in general?"
Wecome to the deep south. Well, maybe not. If you go into the Communications Computer Systems Operator career field, you could end up anywhere - Guam, Turkey, even California. Operators go everywhere. Programmers - the enlisted programmer career track at least - usually end up in Nebraska, Boston, or Montgomery, Alabama.
It aint bad. I had a worthwhile time in the Air Force, and a wonderful pay raise when I got out. The experience was valuable. Just be sure that if you enlist, your enlistment contract guarantees that you'll get the career field you want.
Recruiters lie. Lots.
--Former Senior Airman J Pitts, Standard Systems Group, Maxwell AFB, Alabama. Proud TIB 95/97 Prior.
meh.
All other disadvantages of enlisting with the Air Force aside, keep in mind that the true purpose of the Air Force is to serve as a military force. This means that you will have to make yourself comfortable with the possibility that you will, either indirectly or directly, be responsible for the deaths of other people.
There are many ways to learn networking. Going through the Air Force may be free (and will no doubt use the latest and greatest technology), but in my opinion it is much more costly.
Karma: Chevy Kavalierma.
I work at the Air Force Recruiting Center in the database shop. It is a pretty nice place to work. I was never in the military (I'm a contractor), but about half of the people I work with are, and a good chunk of the contractors are ex-military.
The Air Force offers a great opportunity in IT that few companies will offer, because they expect to fill entry level positions and they understand that they need to offer training. There are all varieties of systems at the Air Force, so there is no shortage of interesting technical problems to solve. One nice thing is that they do take computer security seriously, although that can also be a pain in the ass sometimes.
How well you deal with basic military training (BMT) depends on you. There is a certain level of physical fitness and humility that you need to have. They simply will not put up with your crap, so don't try to pull anything. BMT doesn't last all that long in the big picutre, so I wouldn't worry too much about that -- the big question is what comes after that, where will you work, and what will you do.
I was very surprised to learn what now seems obvious: the people in the military are just people. Some are very cool and a few are jerks. Contrary to Hollywood images, they don't shout orders at each other all day. I'm most impressed with the senior NCO's. There really are some outstanding people in the enlisted leadership positions. I work with a couple E-9's who I am very impressed with.