My brother's going away =(

[Froogleyboy]

My older brother is going into the air force on Monday and I just cant help but feel sad.

[Vmag]

It's cool, man. From what I can tell from the Airmen I've worked with, the chances of him actually deploying downrange are slim to none. Their presence in the active war zones really isn't anywhere near as dense as it is for the Army and Marines.

Your bro will either end up someplace very safe, or simply stateside for the entirety of his career. The one thing you should feel sorry for him, though, is that his promotion rate is horrendously sluggish. If he signed up as an E1, for instance, he'll hit E2 when his buddies in the other services, who signed up on the same day, are hitting E3 or going halfway to E4.

Air Force is a nice in-between for College and the Functional World.

[Hell Puppi]

It really depends on what they do and where they're stationed.
Cops in Tucson? They deploy every 6mos-1 year. Some other career fields don't deploy at all.

...and yeah I know how you feel. My little brother is now in the Army. It's...weird.

[Vmag]

So, these brothers, what are they going in as? That gives a good idea as to what sort of career they'll be expecting. Do they have anything special planned out for them?

[Froogleyboy]

He's gonna be a mechanic

[Flame of Anor]

He's gonna be a mechanic

From what I know, they don't got shot down very much. :smallwink:

[Coidzor]

mmm, logistical support.

[Vmag]

Don't go knocking logistical support. If we didn't already establish that he'd be an Airman, I'd have reminded you that logistical support is often right there with the forward operations, supporting the good fight from the front.

[Coidzor]

Actually, I've always been told that if it looks like the draft is going to be coming back or you're actually in a place where it looks like an option on the table to join the military, logistics is the way to go.

So yeah. Pretty silly to be hating them anyway...

[Vmag]

The silly thing is that you're either logistics or no. Not everyone can be the hoo-ah Airborne Ranger Infantry, and a large bulk of careers aren't exactly directly combat-oriented.

Sure, everyone trains to kick down doors and kill, but a huge bulk is logistical. It'd be kind of like making a comment about heads for not being tails.