How is the Air National Guard?
613838
Very good outfit to get into, better then regular airforce.
1028671
Yes, Air Force is slowest of all.  But I still enjoyed it.  I had my own room, I had great training, I could go home every night.  I never had to sleep in a tent, nor carry a back pac.  Never carried or even shot a gun, and no one ever shot at me.  I did have to shovel the walk a couple of times, march in a parade or two, and there were a couple of room inspections.  It was brutal.  I may not have done much soldiering (thus the reason I went Air Force), but worked incredibly hard and came out of the service with a job offer of 3X's my military pay.  So fast promotion was not an issue with me.
281352
check your other post..again the Civil Air Patrol is just what you need!
992070
first off i'm sure the flight into Baghdad says it all. Air Force One has the most sophisticated protection system possible for a civilian aircraft and possibly military aircraft. The Secret Service goes before the Prez to insure all grounds will be safe. The USAF flys a series of protection aircraft for AF1 including F-15s,F16s and Navy aircraft. The plane is equiped with flares,chaff and other arrays of counter-measures to insure the safety of the Prez and staff.
787999
Joining the national guard is a great decision.  I joined the army (active duty) about three years ago and am very happy with my choice.   I am a much better person both personally and professionally for it.  Some of the most challenges times of personal moral change have been in the army.\n\nNow for the national guard vs. the reserve or active duty their are many pros and cons.  While he will get to stay at home for a good part of the time and live an otherwise normal life, the guard and reserve actually have a higher chance of deploying than active duty soldiers.  Now, I really do not think deploying is a bad thing.  It will make your fiance a better soldier, leader and will give him a chance to save up some money.  \n\nAnother downside of the guard is that promotion is slower.  Becuase of how the guard is structured and because of its size they need less people to get promoted every month than the regular army does.  If he joined the Army Reserve or went active duty, he would get promoted faster.\n\nAnother downside of the national guard is the quality of equipment and training.  Though this is changing because they are doing so many deployments, the budgets for equipment and training are sometimes smaller than they would be for the reserve or for active duty soldiers.  If you want to go the citizen/soldier route, I would reccomend going into the reserve rather than the guard because they will generally have a little more money for training and equipment.  Yet this does not mean that the national guard is a low quality organization at all.  It is a group of high quality nco's and officers.\n\nGood luck to him whatever his choice.
971742
thanks i am pretty awesome.\n\n\nseriously though  thanks to all who have served and are serving for our freedom. (to say the air force is a bunch of chumps), haaaaaaaaaaa.
1085777
Good luck with that one.  The Air Force can be rather selective since they usually aren't hurting for recruits.  I knew someone who had a minor drug possession charge which had been wiped through an ARD Program and the only way the Air Force would take him (after spending months on the paperwork) was if he took any 'job' they gave him despite him scoring 98 percentile on his ASVAB.  He didn't want to get stuck doing something he didn't like, so he joined the National Guard instead.
841139
Whatever your recruiter promised, make sure it's in your contract. Some of them will say anything to get you signed up.  I'm not in the National Guard but my husband is.  He got his bonus and the medical coverage.  Tricare is great as long as you're on active duty when you use it.  Also, dont be fooled by the name "National Guard".  As my husband says now, they are technically the "International Guard".  He served fifteen months in Iraq.  Hopefully you wont have to.
861053
Not in the AF, but am in the Navy for the past 10 years. \n\nThe pros of joining the Air Force is that, you have a really easy and laid back job. Won't lie to you. The basic training (know known as BLT Basic Leadership training) for air force enlistment is also SOOOO very easy. You have to run 2 miles to pass and in order to join. How difficult is that? as in any branch of the military, you can enjoy traveling the world on the miltary expense, and you can meet new and interesting people. People who will become apart of your family, and when in times of need they'll always be there for you. There is no such thing as an enemy in the military, you may not like someone, but they'll always be on your back for your well being. Also you don't have to worry about housing, insurance or any of that, its all covered for, if you decide to buy a house, the AF will finance your house, and you also get very decent rates. I just bought a house with about 5.87% interest rates, when the average rate right now is over six. There are perks, like being able to go to theme parks for free, or very discounted prices. \n\nThe con's of being in any service branch is being away from your intermediate families for lengths of time. Thats about it, and well, working 8-5. sometimes training goes a little over, but i'm sure you'll be able to do it. \n\nTake the ASVAB test, to see what you score, you'll have a lot more options then. \n\nIf you have any questions please feel free to email me. \n\nI'm not a recruiter for the USAF, but I can help you with anything general.
797513
My brother is in the Coast Guard and really enjoys it.  he is currently a mechanic and works on one of the big boats.  he spends 3 months at a time "out".  He's gone all over the place, his favorite place is Columbia (for the coffee of course).  he's gone all the way down the coast of South America and back.  he spends a good deal of time in the carribbean and has been just   about everywhere down there.  the only draw back is the promotions.  My brother has been in for about 6 years and is an E-4.  He is excellent at his job, promotions are just slow after E-3.  He is currently cross-training out of boat mechanics into Helicopter maintenace.  So if you go in and you want to change jobs, you can do that !  Basic Training is not bad either.\nIn comparison for promotions, my husband is Air Force and after 3 years, he is an E-5.
508986
It depends on which branch you are talking about.  I've heard that the airforce is treated more like a 9-5 job.  I only have secondary experience with the marine corps so the only answer I can give you is "Weekends..... what are weekends?"
843062
I worked for the Government for 25 years first as an ART (Air Reserve technician) -- (which is just an Air Force reservist that works as a civil servant for 160 hours per month, and the one week-end per month you change into your Air Force uniform and work an additional 16 hours) \n\nI started at a wg-8 level because of the (then 8 months) of training I received as an Air Force Reservist "Avionics Electronics Specialist." \n\nMy job description was under position AF job classification position number 32830 “Avionics Communications Specialist”\n\nThis was a 6mo. temporary position. As I neared the end of the 6 months, I was able to get a “Career conditional” position offer for the same job and same pay, the only difference is that I had to move my family 2000 miles to Vienna AB, near Youngstown Ohio to work for the (then) 910th TFG (Tactical Fighter Group) to work on the avionics gear in the twin jet engine Cessna built \nA-37 “Dragonfly” – it was a cool little jet and fun to work on. \n\nWhile in this location I was promoted to wg-11 and also moved up in military rank from Airman Basic to Sergeant in the AF Reserves.  I also went from career conditional status to Career status. \n\nIt is at this point where it starts to get difficult for the government to get rid of people that don’t do their jobs, because there are a LOT of regulations protecting civil servants – this is why Civil Servants get a bad reputation – (it is also my opinion, why we have pin heads running the government, but that is another bedtime story)\n\nAnyway I worked at this location for 2 and 1/2  years and then applied for a lateral transfer to my original work location at Hill AFB in Utah *\n\n·*  Side note to the moderator: pay attention and I will reveal enough personal info that you can find out exactly who I am and then complain about my other politically incorrect posts on yahoo, and then whack my yahoo account\n·Or just save time and ask me, I’ll tell you, and then you can whack my yahoo account\n·Or save even more time and just whack my yahoo account. \n\nNot a hard decision is it?\n\nAny way back at the ranch;\n\nI got the Lateral transfer back to Hill but I had to compete with other Career Civil servants with equivalent training and skills and good yearly appraisals and BLAH BLAH BLAH – what it boiled down to is that I got my old job back for the same reasons anyone would get their old job back.\n·I worked hard\n·I went from a wg8 to a wg-11 in less than 3 years (which doesn’t happen often)\n·They knew who I was and how I worked\n·And of course; “It ain’t what you know it’s WHO you know” that gets a LOT of jobs – yeah it isn’t fair, but neither is life – cowboy-up and deal with it.\n\nI worked for the 508th TFG for about another 3 years and then when they got the new F-16 Falcons, (and became the 419th TFG),  well let me put it this way; Did your parents ever buy a new car when you were a kid? – all of a sudden you weren’t good enough to ride in the new car were you? Well that is sort of what happened to me. All of a sudden I wasn’t cutting my hair short enough on Reserve weekends and my mustache was too long, I just wasn’t making the grade in keeping compliant with the Air Force Regulation 35-10 (their dress code)\n\nSo away I went on another lateral – which I had to compete with just the civil servants on Hill AFB this time, and got magically transformed from an ART to a straight Civil Servant doing depot level maintenance on Avionics ATE (Automated Test Equipment)\nNow I was still working on the F-16 but I was repairing the Circuit cards that went into the Avionics Black boxes. So skill wise it was like going from being a dental assistant to a brain surgeon.\n\nBOOWAHAHAHA! That will teach them to make me cut my hair!\n\nuh, No, I don’t suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it!\n\nAnyway I did a lot of other stuff for the Government, (some pretty cool stuff actually) t
902098
i don't think that the cost guard deployes overseas anywhere....if they do then its news to me.  air force does deploy to iraq, usually with the army.  and navy does llllloooonnnnnggggg cruises which means being cooped up on a boat for months.  but i don't think they go to iraq unless they are docs for the marines.
876938
I'm in the Air Force. I like my job. I load bombs, missiles and do mechanical and electrical work on the F-15 fighter jet. It's a great job with better people. I like the "military life-style". it's really no different than a regular job. You go to work (although sometimes you work 12hr days or have to wear chem gear to work) and then you go home. There are co-workers and bosses and pay checks. It's a great community. If you want me to tell you more IM me. If I had it my way, I'd be a Marine, but I have a husband.\n\nThere are all sorts of jobs in every branch. Everything from being a regular doctor in a hospital, dentist, computer geek, cafiteria chef, all sorts.... not everyone in the military goes to a war zone. My friend is getting out soon. He's served his 4 years and has never been deployed (going to a war zone) or been TDY. I don't think he even left the US.\n\nP.S. basic training isn't hard! I actually had fun. If you're in shape and mature (or at least can follow a simple instruction) you'll have fun. I've heard of tons of tohers who have had fun there too. It's only 6 and 1/2 weeks anyway (air force)
179345
Actually, each state's National Guard unit draws on volunteers from within the state, but the President of the nation and the state governor share control of the National Guard (so it's run by the states, but can be called on to serve the nation as a whole).\n\nIn times of peace, the National Guard is virtually entirely state-run and used in local and state emergencies (think natural disasters, terrorism). However, the President can call on the National Guard to deploy in military actions.\n\nWhat essentially is happening now is that there are many National Guard units posted in Iraq/Afghanistan by presidential order. And a lot of state governors are becoming rather angered that the National Guard units are no longer able to serve their home states (since the President and the governor should have joint control). For instance, during Hurricane Katrina, around 3,000 members of the Louisiana National Guard were in Iraq, which affects how the state can respond to emergencies at home.
608132
My Mom and Dad have a memberin the Air National Guard thatis currentlyactive.... ME (LOL)   Im currenly stationed in Houston Texas.
981622
Honestly?\n\nAt this point, there's not much of a difference. NG's are mobilized for 18-24 months at a time, AD go for a year at a time...... \n\nActive, you have the continuity of benefits, and pay, while Nat'l Guard, you have the intermittent pay and benefits only while he's active.... \n\nIt all depends on what he (and you) are lookign for. Security, and stability is Active. Nat'l Guard is uncertain...... you never know when he'd be activated or for how long.\n\n\nADDED: Warrior Training is crash course basic, for those that don't need the whole thing agan. Like a Refresher course. He can see if there are any "STAR" MOSs available for him that he'd qualify for. Those are high demand jobs, that are currently seriously understrength.