Should I join The Navy or Air Force
 

I'm 20yro, I'm a full-time college student earning a degree in Computer Science and majoring in computer systems/networking. I always wanted to serve in the military, and I like to keep opportunities opens before deciding - I've research the National Guard and Army; I felt the National Guard wasn't for me, and the Army is my last option.

I'm now doing a lot researching on The Navy and Air Force. I happen to notice that there's members on the forums enlisted in the military, it'll be cool if you guys gave me advises before enlisted.

If you can handle it, I'd say the Airforce.

My father was a Naval commander. 31 years.

He always told me to shoot for intelligence. And if possible, the Airforce.

I don't have any bias either,

<<<Never served.

Respect those who do though :usa:

Becoming an officer is where the money really at and I'm thinking about getting into communication.

AF

I was in the Air Force for 5 years, I joined right after high school. Frankly it was one of the best decisions I ever made. Not only did they educate and train me, I learned discipline and respect; something I was missing at age 18. I was fortunate enough to do some travelling and spend a few years in Tokyo.

After I got out I used the GI Bill to pay for my college degree and got a new job with the federal government.

I got out in 1998 so it's been a while but I can try to answer any questions you may have.

Either Navy or Air Force will provide you excellent avenues to put your skills to work and to build on them. Get an AFSC or NEC that will offer you the chance to gain a security clearance and you'll be set after you either retire or separate from the service. On the flip side, you would want to understand that the Navy lifestyle is very different from the Air Force, sailors go to sea. You'd be surprised how many sailors complain about having to do time on a ship at sea. Lastly, regardless of what branch you may choose to serve, they are all contributing to combat operations across the globe. What does that mean? It means the chances for being deloyed to a combat zone are virtually guaranteed. Military service is an excellent way to serve your country and to also gain priceless lifeskills. I'd be happy to help answer any questions you might have about the Navy in particular. There are plenty of Air Force here who can answer any of those questions. Good Luck!

I think Air Force is the way to go. A recent survey (or study?), found that the Air Force guys have a better lifestyle. (on base).

Never served although I wish I could. Disabilities FTL!

any branch I support. I have never served but I think I would probably go AF. My father and Grand father both served in AF. That probably make me biased though.

Just got out of the Air Force myself, though enlisted. Looks like you're interested in OTS and if I recall correctly, a technical degree such as your's is actually in demand right now.

From what I've heard, Air Force for a hitch, Navy for a Career. Air Force is great but advancement is said to be very slow compared to the other forces due to higher retention rates. I have no direct experience with either though.

Neither. Right now, the Air Force and Navy are downsizing and involuntarily seperating thousands. If you want to stagnate at E-4 for 5 or 6 yrs, join the AF. If you want to rank up based on your test taking ability, join the navy. If you want to get promoted based on job performance and leadership ability, join the Army. Soldiers can go from E-1 to E-6 in 4 yrs, based on the job. Unless your the type that wants to avoid conflict and collect college benefits and a paycheck for sitting behind a desk. Make the smart career decision here, join the ARMY!! And yes, I was a recruiter. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Both are going to keep you safer than any of the others. Either one my dad was in navy for 4 years than went over to af where he has been for 47 years.

Air Force....but I'm bias because I was in for 4 years. :tup:

If you want to fly airplanes, I suggest the Navy. You get a lot more responsibility and latitude in decision making in the Navy vs. the Air Force. Non flying, the Air Force will have a better lifestyle.

I would suggest contacting the nearest AFROTC and NROTC Detachments since you are still in college. They can give you all kinds of information on what their respective services have to offer even if you aren't interested in becoming a cadet. I would also ignore the comments about "avoiding conflict and sitting behind a desk" as well. As ZCarMan said, all of the services bring their own unique set of skills to the fight, and you are virtually guaranteed to deploy at this point no matter if you choose USN or USAF.

He's becoming an officer. I know officers are also downsizing but I think he's quite safe with his career route.

but didnt he use the term "enlisting"? not "commissioning"? and I believe the Army/Marine officer corps promote faster than the AF/Navy

The air force is no longer downsizing. The air force is trading planes for people. Less F-22s and more Airmen. But yes air force enlisted promotion rates are well behind other branches. However, becoming an Air Force Officer is a great choice. You don't have to deal with promotion testing you will get promoted at your 2 year point then again at your 4 year point. And those are big pay raises. AFROTC is the best way to get in for the officer route. OTS is much harder to get into. They only take the top 20% of applications. And yes technical degrees are in demand for the air force.

Thanks for all the reply guys and the information you guys provided is very informative. I'm still doing research on the AF and navy, and I know these branches promote are a slower rate than the Army or Marines. The military benefits are awesome and I do want help for my college tuition but I'm not joining the military to pay for my college, if I were too wouldn't I want to join the National Guard which offered a lot of college benefits ;)? It's a goal of mines, I want the military experience and see the world!

I still have a lot of times to think my final decision.

well, you will see more of the world in the Navy, since ships go everywhere. I loved my 10 years of service, but I was somewhat of a primadonna with the planes I flew, since I only deployed from Hawaii to the West Coast, and from California to Antarctica.

Don't forget about the Air Force and Navy Reserves. That is also an option.

I think I could chime in with my info, being that I am currently AF for 6 years and serving another 5 right now.

My thoughts -

NAVY - Good school if you go to Annapolis (Can't say for NROTC, but I can't imagine it being any worse...

AF - Good school if you go to the Academy (AFROTC Is not bad either)

I Love serving in the military. I really do. I'm a bit of a historian, and an AF Junkie you could say cause I love all things flying and the history and all that. And I love military movies and the brotherhood of the military. I was the kid watchin the military movies and wanting to be those guys who've got best friends forever cause of what they went through together. Even now movies like Black Hawk Down, Band of Brothers, Patton, Saving Private Ryan (Before they find Matt Damon), those are what get me soggy chinned... Cause I love that sort of stuff.

Now, the military today is NOT what you would think. It is not a machine that when it gets revved up into action it is an unstoppable force. Not anymore. It is a chained animal, but not by laws or government... But by it's own incompetance. Here's what I mean... FOR EXAMPLE:

I reenlisted in March of this year... Lucily enough, I was able to get a Re-enlistment bonus based on my career field and how low manned it was for me to stay. Cool right, $36,000 not bad! Shouldn't be a big deal, just like winning a golf tourney, where's my check right?! WRONG. A month goes by, still no check... I go to finance (I'll explain my original point here in a second), they say that they never received the reenlistment contract paperwork that I signed to give me a bonus... OK No big deal, I'll walk to the NEXT BUILDING OVER to Re-Enlistments and ask them WTF? So They said, then ran the papers over to finance, finance must have lost them... OOOOOK. So I go over to finance again. They have no recolection of it... So I go BACK to Re-Enlistments and ask them can they send another copy over. They said well its finances goof, but ok they'll do it. Alright, situation averted right? WRONG.

2 weeks go by... Still no $$$ At this point, I'm just a bit perterbed.. I go back over to finance, WTF?! Still no paper... I go over to Re-enlistment, they sent the paper... Finance even Signed for it. I said ok enough. GIVE ME THE PAPER. And I walked it to finance myself, scanned a copy and WATCHED him enter it into the computer. He said, ok it's done... should be 7-10 Buisiness days... OHHHH Right, the AF has moved all of its central finacing into one location in South Dakota, which means the actual 'finance' shop on base has now been Voided of all abilities. So yeah I had to wait another week, but finally I got it.

The point is, you can be the best Officer, Senior NCO, NCO or Airman, but you will still get F-ked over by the lowest of the low. That is our military nowadays. Either that, or everything is done via electroics... Which means when you can't access the one webpage thats designed to give you access to everything, you can't do anything.... It's not fun.


And about the promotion piece, the reason why the AF/Navy have Lower promotion rates is WHAT exactly your being tested on. The reason the Army/Marines have such high rates is because a big portion of their Promotion criteria is PT. Pass your PT test, don't get an Article 15, and your sure to get promoted. Or if your Company First Sgt takes a hit, someones gonna have to get promoted to replace him... Thats how it is.

In the AF from my own experience, and the Navy as well (i think), our testing consists of a Points system. You get rated each year by your supervisor on how good he things you have done based on 5 categories. You need to be a well rounded individual, not just a rifle toater who can do 500 push-ups. They want to see educational advancement, community service, base/squadron representation, and of course solid work performance. You take that plus your awards and decorations, and you get points. You then take 1 test based on general Air Force Knowlege, and 1 based on your particular AFSC/NEC/MOS. Those two test scores, plus your rating scores, give you a number. The AF/Navy then say we can promote XX people this year from Grade A to B. So they take the scores, stack them, and count from the top down XX people. That last person becomes the cutoff score, if you didn't make the cut, you don't get promoted. Simple as that. The AF Actually has a HIGH promotion rate right now. E-5 AF avg this year was 49%. Alot of people are hitting their post 9-11 enlistments and bailing now they got their education. And the rest are getting out cause the AF Ops Temp is getting increased alot. People are deploying more and more, and they don't like that.

Ok, that was alot and I'm really not even close to being done lol. But I don't wanna kill another thread lol. So with that, I'll at least try to end with something comical...

http://www.acc.umu.se/~zqad/cats/117...0589954981.jpg

i say research ROTC at your college.

+1 to ROTC. Before I can say my opinion, what do you want out of your experience?

You can't go wrong with either or, but of course I'm going to say AF (bias). Also, I work with many Navy O's, and ...for me, can't get into the "Navy customs and culture" and treating a building as if you were on a ship (terminology, ceremonies, etc). However, these Navy tradition are "history" which dates back during the revolutionary days, while the AF tradition is less than 100 years old.

For the AF, they completed the downsizing and now just maintaining the numbers. There are talks of possible upsizing.