Air Force Questions?

Question

If I get my BS in Psychology next Spring, what are the chances of being able to get into OCS to become officer in Air Force?Would I might just be enlisted still?What options are available as officer with this type of degree?How far could I get in a four year contract rank-wise/would I have to go to graduate school(or only to move up in rank)?If enlisted, what types of job might you recommend?I like medical, traveling, helping people, etc.Are load masters away from family a lot?

Answer 1

While a little time on the Air Force website would give you general answers to your questions, a little time with a recruiter would give you specific answers.

Answer 2

Well the difficult part is that the Air Force is cutting back 45,000 positions due to budget cuts. But it is still very likely that you can get in. With a Bachelor's degree in Psychology it is very likely that you will get a direct commission into the service, and will obviously be a Psychologist. In that case you could go into any service and it would be more or less the same. Otherwise you will have to go through Basic Training, OTS, all of that. People with college degrees very rarely are given enlistments. With a Bachelor's Degree you can expect to get up to the rank of Major, but attaining anything higher would practically require a Master's degree. If you become a Psychologist you would be in the medical branch of any service, you would be helping people, and as a member of the military would be asked to travel, including time away from your family. It probably would not be as often as combat personnel but it would still occur. Also, such specialized personnel may be sent to a combat theater, but would obviously stay well away from actual combat and in relative safety. Basically in the type of position that people on the ground would be envious of. :-) I hope that this helps.

Answer 3

You would have a great shot at being an officer. It's true that the AF is overmanned in certain fields. I was an Air Battle Manager and they are paying us to get out right now. I don't know about psychologists. With that degree you can do almost any officer job in the AF, most of them only require that you a degree, any degree, not a specific field. You could be a pilot, a cop, a maintenance officer, procurement officer, etc. That being said, if you want to actually do something psychology-related there are opportunities there. The AF uses psychologists for personel evaluation (we don't want crazies flying 30 million dollar fighter jets), mental health care. You could design tests, do human factors research, accident investigation, work for the OSI (Office of Special Investigations), all kinds of stuff. Ever hear of psychological warfare?

Answer 4

why would you want to be a load master,, watching them load planes,, not really a fun job and planes come in at all hours of the night, yep being in korea at 30 below at 230 am was a blast on the flight line, but hey you may like it, go for the desk job and be an officer, you wont regret that,,

Answer 5

It depends if on your GPA, if its a 3.0 or higher yes you can, but if its lower you can't, my husband is in and his brother has a BS in history but it was a 2.5 so he couldn't, loadmasters DO travel a lot but they make good money doing it, they are probably not going to put you in a job that has to do with your psychology degree, which lets face it unless you have a masters is pretty much useless,

Answer 6

Eh, I'll let others answer your questions specifically. I just wanted to add some food for thought. The Air Force is very overmanned at the moment. They have been letting many officers go.

Answer 7

All good questions. Sorry, I can't answer most of them, but I can tell you that getting your degree will help your efforts of going to OCS. Contact a recruiter. Good luck to you!

Answer 8

Once you get your eligible for OCS. I'd be a pilot if I were you. You'd likely get out as a captain.