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Joining the US Air Force
07-13-2011, 10:33 PM
Right now I am likely to join the US Air Force. I am not 100% sure yet, as I am facing some dilemmas with it.
Given my current situation, does joining the military seem like a bad idea...? I am 23, still living at home with my parents, practically have no job experience, and no business sense (I wish I was able to start my own online business, but I simply do not know how). After college I saved up money and travelled around SE Asia for 6.5 months. That was AWESOME, and all I want to do in life is travel right now.. I can teach English in Asia, but that seems like a fucking waste of time. I can also become a bartender in Thailand and live for free, but that is also a waste of time. I CAN travel in ways like this, but I fear that whenever I get bored of it, I'll just end up back at my parents place in 2 years from now in the same situation-- broke, brainstorming ideas for things to do with my life. I think that joining the Air Force will give me good skills, and possibly take me to some cool places while I'm at it. Hopefully with the skills I learn, I'll be able to use them to start up something for myself (rather than have to work for somebody), or be able to get a job internationally. At the very least, at least I'll get some experience that will get me a job when I'm back home. Worst case scenario with joining the military- I have a less than desirable 4 years, finish my service by the time I'm 28, and have some money in the bank too. I'll still be young, but my early-mid 20's will certainly be over.
Does anyone have some advice they can offer on this one? I would love to start my own online business and be location independent, but I have no clue how to make it happen.
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Joining the US Air Force
07-13-2011, 11:11 PM
did u graduate college?
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07-13-2011, 11:18 PM
(I know where this is going). Yeah, I graduated with a bachelors degree. I went to an awesome party school, got shitty grades, and didn't learn anything practical. I was highly considering teaching English in Korea, but I decided against it. It would be cool to live in Seoul (or Bangkok, etc) for a while, but I know that when I get tired of doing it in a year or 2, I'll end up back in the SAME place where I am now- in my parents apartment, sitting in the living room, brainstorming ideas for the future. Living in Asia would be tight (plus, I've got a g/f living in Seoul who is probably the coolest girl I'll ever meet, and still have some connections there), but the teaching English for a full year part sounds like shit. I'm sure that it will be a dead end for me. A fun experience, I'll save up some money, but I won't REALLY get much out of it.
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07-13-2011, 11:23 PM
you ever thought about saving up some cash and getting into real estate investing?
you can save 14k in one yr in korea....
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07-13-2011, 11:31 PM
Actually, yes I have. Ironically, after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad, I'm a bit discouraged when it comes to investing. He made it seem like you shouldn't get into investing until after you develop a great business sense and start up a few companies. I've got zero business sense though. Do you know of any good websites/books to get started on real estate investing? Is it a good idea to get into it without any other business knowledge?
I actually sent in my fingerprints to the FBI over 6 weeks ago, and am still waiting on it. I've run out of patience with that shit.
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07-13-2011, 11:35 PM
thats bs. u dont need any business experience. all you need to know is EVERYTHING about investing.
FLIP is a good book. this is a GREAT website
http://www.123flip.com/ along with
http://www.biggerpockets.com
i got my fbi check back after 6 weeks so urs should be coming anyday now.
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07-13-2011, 11:48 PM
Travolta:
If you are considering enlisting, don't; good people and training but the pay is terrible. If you can get an officer slot, consider it; still not amazing pay at low ranks, but better and more marketable.
Also be aware that if you get in intending to get out in four but surprisingly find yourself at the end of 20, be aware that if you're married for all that time your wife can leave you with no reason and take half your retirement thanks to the friendly Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act and there won't be a goddamn thing you can do about it except bleed money for the rest of your life. Ask me how I know.
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07-13-2011, 11:52 PM
OTS is crazy competitive so his chances for getting a slot is pretty slim to none. Best way to try and be an officer is go back to school for 2 years and do ROTC. I was planning on doing this for the airforce after a graduated. Trained for field training and took the AFOQT.
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07-14-2011, 12:07 AM
I say do it. You just need to do it right.
Tell me why Air Force though?
After I separated, I was pretty unhappy with the military, and bad mouthed it a lot.
I realize that was wrong, and I was just getting my self back into a civilian way of thinking. Now I'm really embracing my veteran status. The amount of things I learned just blows my mind.
What really drove it home that I was wrong to talk shit though was my little brother. He finished OCS a few months ago, and came home for a while.
He left home a flat out surf punk, and came back with some balls. He was walking differently. There was so much more confidence about him. Every other word out of his mouth was "like" (or the Pidgin translation 'lidat') before he left, but no more. I'm proud of the little fucker.
Let me know what's up brah. Like I said, make sure it's done properly from day one. It will be the best decision you'll ever make.
Aloha!
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07-14-2011, 12:09 AM
Thanks for the resources Dash. If you're very serious about the real estate investing business, I'm sure Korea will work out well for you. I'm still considering getting a job in Seoul, but the Air Force seems like a way better option (it's more of a backup plan, in case I suck at investing or whatever else I try). Even if I do join the USAF, I suppose I could study things like real estate investing in my free time and on weekends. I'm about 90% sure about joining now, although I'm desperately looking for alternative solutions, where the pros out weigh the cons... solutions that involve me traveling, etc. I haven't come up with anything yet. The "military experience" seems like it might be pretty cool though.. in case you can't tell from the tone of my posts, I'm a bit scattered and indecisive on this whole decision.
Stitch, that law is fucking b.s, and that sucks that it happened to you (I'm assuming that's what you were implying). If I join, I'll make sure not to get married for quite some time.
I'd be going in as enlisted. My GPA was garbage. Although I was told that it's possible to become an office in as little as 1.5 years, as long as you work really hard.
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07-14-2011, 12:17 AM
Kona. Interesting points.
I'll start off by saying why I don't want the other branches.
Army: everybody seems to say bad things about it. I don't want to go into combat, so i don't have much interest
Navy: seems alright, but I don't want to be stuck on a ship for 2 weeks at a time. It's cool that you travel and all, but it's not the type of travel I want to do... stay on a boat for 2 weeks, stop at a port for 3 days, then go back on the ship for another 2 weeks.
Marines: really cool, but a bit too hardcore for me. Once again, I don't want to risk getting shot
Airforce: seems the most "academic." Even if my job ends up sucking, at least I'll come out with some useful skills after I'm done. I hear that the quality of life is awesome, and that the bases are usually pretty close to civilization. If I end up stationed somewhere like Germany or Japan, I'll be damn happy.
The main downside with the Air Force is that I won't be guaranteed a job when I sign in. These days, they have you select 8 jobs (2 jobs from 4 different fields), and you usually get 1 of those jobs (unless they don't have a need to fill those positions). It's a bit of a gamble, but hopefully everything works out if I chose 8 good ones.
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07-14-2011, 12:18 AM
have you considered moving to miami and enlisting in the coast guard there?
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07-14-2011, 03:25 PM
USCG is extremely selective due to how small the branch is. You could fit the entire coast guard into a football stadium and have several thousand seats empty. My grades are great, I have two officers for brothers in the Army, and it will still be difficult. I've been thinking about it for a while though...
consider Army OCS if the Air Force isn't calling you back.
travolta, its funny how similar your situation is to mine right now. I just graduated from UGA and moved back home. (feels bad man lol) I'm studying to get my ACSM Personal Trainer Cert but the military is looking more and more like an attractive option. Good luck brother!
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07-14-2011, 04:04 PM
Thats true. USCG has anywhere from 40k-50k active duty members. A football stadium holds 70k people.
So yes, USCG is VERY selective. Most people who try to get in are unsuccessful and go to the Air Force.
Mixx
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Joining the US Air Force
07-14-2011, 05:03 PM
I think the Air Force would suit you if you had a more "technical" degree. Here at the "No Such Agency", there are Air Force soldiers all over the place and VERY few were deployed.
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07-14-2011, 05:06 PM
I was gonna do the air force rotc while I got my masters two years ago. But decided I needed to travel and live up my 20's
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07-14-2011, 05:59 PM
Just a heads up, you don't know how your mind might change in Korea. It's not the USA, you might have your perspective totally altered on everything. You might find that you like teaching. If you know a cool girl over there who can get you into the culture without a lot of hassle, that's huge. Korea is not some backwater, it has huge companies that may want someone like you to work for them once you get tired of teaching. They are paying huge salaries to English teachers for a reason. Don't be so quick to knock some time away from what you're used to as a "waste of time."
I'm a bit biased though. I can't even remotely imagine taking orders and existing happily in such a hierarchical organization like the air force. Who knows when they'll send you to bomb some country you may not necessarily want to bomb. Sure you want to co-sign on whatever Uncle Sam feels like doing? It's not for me.
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Joining the US Air Force
07-14-2011, 10:55 PM
My head is definitely not 100% into the military thing. I'm not cool with doing whatever Uncle Sam tells me to do.. Only thing is that I get the feeling the USAF will be a better decision for my future. Honestly, all I want to do right now is travel and fuck bitches (one of my hangups about joining the military is that I won't be able to go out and fuck bitches whenever I damn please). I just don't want to go to Asia, teach English, waste my time, and regret not joining the Air Force. I'm about 90% sure about joining the military, but something is definitely telling me not to do it.
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07-15-2011, 12:52 AM
going enlisted fuking blows! you dont make shit, and you are your CO's bitch!
if you do join go air force. its the lesser of the two evils lol
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07-16-2011, 10:56 AM
An old buddy of mine was stationed in the USAF and stationed in Alaska and he fucking hated it. You have to go wherever they tell you, and it could be East Fuck, Alaska, remember that.
