Before you make your decision, do more research. Things have changed, and it's not the same as it was years ago. I re-enlisted in 2000 for 6 years because I loved my job and the Air Force. A little more than a year ago, I had "unshakeable" plans to stay in for over 20 years. I was in over 9 years, almost halfway to a retirement check every month at the age of 38. Here I am today, growing a beard. I could not stand the extra thankless hours [thankless by my superiors, not the US citizens - you guys are great in supporting the troops], the lack of drive and experience that some people get away with because others carry them, and I hated having my motives and methods questioned by those higher AND lower in rank and experience to me. Some things are absolutely ridiculous in the military and some things are wonderful. I was tired of getting mostly the former and less of the latter, that's all. Your experience may vary.
Some BS things I've seen:
Worked a 20 hour shift during an exercise. Not war - practice.
Worked 6am-6pm all week during an exercise, and was called in at 1am to sign an "important" piece of paper. Again, not real war - an exercise.
Had a subordinate cry to me that I don't trust them to do the right thing, and that I am always watching them. Then, when I left him to do his thing and he screwed up, he said I am the supervisor and should have been watching him.
This person didn't know their job and was a complete f_ckup at work who never got in trouble off-duty, but didn't know his job. He got a 5/5 on his annual performance report because he tries really hard, but we have other guys who know their job and don't get in trouble who still get 4/5 reports. I was tired of running my shop during the busiest shift and still being asked for more. One week we had one aircraft available to fly, it flew twice every day/night that week. That means my shift worked AND FIXED every discrepancy when the aircraft came down. If we had a problem left over, the next two shifts did NOTHING to fix it, and we worked it the next night. It was getting insane.
Here is an example of how messed up and disrespectful things are:
A girl from another flight in my section said something about getting an incentive flight. She's been in for 2 1/2 years and went on 2 already. The flight crew also gave her a really nice benchmade knife. I said that's messed up, I've been in over 9 and I've never had an incentive flight. She said that's because she's not a piece of sh_t. She got away with saying that because her supervisor, who is in her chain of command, insisted that he would handle it. I couldn't do anything about it. Meanwhile, if I would have said "No, it's because I don't have tits" [or even alluded to the fact that she received special favors because of her sex], I would be in major trouble with my chain of command, and would probably be investigated by the base Equal Opportunity office.
Many of these kids are just downright disrespectful, and they get away with it. When I was new, they were still doing "wall-to-wall counseling" where if you were a f_ckup, they threw you from wall to wall to whup your ass and straighten you out.
Let's not forget the incident where I was arrested on base for not wearing a bicycle helmet while riding - you can find that thread on this forum somewhere with a search.
If you want more information, PM me, or you might want to ask some other people who were in for awhile - Malloynx, outofstep, or pokey. There are good things, and I have dwelled upon the bad. I just left with a really bad taste in my mouth, and it's still not fully washed out.
If you join and are not an officer, and want a new BMW M3, you're in crappy debt. Good luck.
