How dangerous is the air-force?

Question

My sister is enlisting in the air-force. She is joining because she is rather aimless, and had flunked out of high school and college a few times for not going, she also lost her drivers liscense for an MIP. Her life is kind of dumpy and she thinks that the airforce will turn it around.

She has not yet taken the ASVAB, but I am pretty sure she will score well becuase she scored reasonably well on the ACT. Is the ASVAB similar to the ACT? Is a high score enough for you to chose a job that would keep you out of harms way? I want to know what kind of danger she is getting into. Do more people die in the Marines, or is it about the same? At first I was excited that she was turning things around, but now I'm starting to freak out.

Also, do they do any sort of personality profile before you enlist? She really doesn't have much motivation, and thinks job is a dirty word. I'm worried that they might turn her down based on this, or she won't make it through the intense training.

Do they take hair samples to see if you have done drugs, or do they just ask you? Or do the do a pee or blood test, which would only measure your drug behavior over the last few weeks?

Answer 1

The majority of people that were casualties in iraq were special operations and aircrew. She wont be special ops because she is female, and just dont pick an aircrew job and you will have nothing to worry about.

The asvab is a little easier then the act. Also compared to the marines and army, the air force casualties is FAR FAR less. She wont be in harms way, unless there is an accident like machinery, car accident, or a plane goes down. The same risk that is in civilian life.

THe airforce is great, and is the most laid back military branch.But i want to warn you of current events. Currently the bush admin is reducing the air force and navy because of there non combat roles and increasing recruiting for the army and marines. What this means is that it will be harder to get into the air force. The air force has always been the most selective in recruiiting. As long as she scores well on the asvab and has no criminal history she will be fine.

No personality profiling. The airforce will build you into the person they want during basic

EDIT: They dont take hair samples, if they did that many people would not get in. Hair samples dont go away but dont worry they dont take them. They do pee test you, and candidates should lay off the drugs for a good 3 months to be completely sure. And they just ask you, just say no! dont say i used to and stopped, just stop completely and say no

Answer 2

The following is done at the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS for short)

The ASVAB test is taken there
Blood Pressure
Blood is drawn
Urine test (testing for drugs)
Hearing Test
Vision Test
Fingerprints
Oath (swearing commitment to the military) and contract
And a TON of paperwork

She will need to score a minimum of 36 on the ASVAB to get into the AF, which isn't too hard. There are ASVAB test questions floating around on the internet. I never needed to take the ACT, so I can't tell if they are similar.

In the AF, most positions will not put the Airman in a combat position. There is of course a chance you could be deployed to Iraq or some other place, and there is a chance you can die, but there is no "ground infantry" job or anything like that. The AF is not especially dangerous.

They won't do a "personality profile," but the FBI will do a background check to make sure that she isn't a felon wanted in 16 countries and to confirm that the information given in her papers is correct. They need to do this check before they can give someone a security clearance.

In high school or college it isn't a big deal if you don't go to a couple of classes, or you are late, but in the military you can be punished and even sent to jail for something like that. So no flaky behavior. She's right the AF probably can help her turn her life around, but it is up to her to stay punctual and keep motivated.

I hope this helped.

Answer 3

The ASVAB determines what areas of careers you might be best suited for (mechanical, electronic, and a few other areas)

It helps the military decide what general career fields you are most likely to do well in.

If she's not motivated and thinks work is a swear word, and she still gets into the military, she will have to either change her attitude or not make it through basic training.

The Air Force has the least demanding basic training/boot camp but it is still a far cry from being a cake walk if you have no motivation.

As for the drug testing question, when I went in, tere was a urine test and they took blood during the physical but I don't think that was for blood testing. They didn't do hair testing at the time unless something else turned up a reason to.

Answer 4

The Air force is a safer branch to join, although when you are going over seas it doesn't matter what branch you are in it's still dangerous.
Females get the same privileges as males and they can pick any job just as the males.
Also in the Air Force you still have to share a hotel room and the chow hall is by far not even close to being a restaurant. Atleast in the Marines you get stationed at places like San Diego.. you should try being stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.. or some place lovely like Minot, North Dakota.
The military is needing people they won't turn her down.

Answer 5

Don't listen to bolt1. I was in the Air Force for 6 years. I joined in 2000. As a combat engineer. We work on electrical systems. We were never supposed to deploy or see combat. We did though and alot of it. Some of the Air Force is laid back and some of it, you are right there with the army and Marines. It just depends on your job. I had a lot of fun, and really enjoyed my 6 years in. Just look into what job you are getting into, and ask around. Reserves aren't deploying as much, but you still have chance too.

Answer 6

If she does not have a high school diploma she will not get in the Air Force. The ASVAB is very easy and multiple choice.

Air Force basic training is more mental than physical. If she slacks off they will yell at her a lot and she does have to pass a PT (physical Training) test.

As far as the danger part goes it depends on what she does on the ASVAB and her lift test. The Air Force makes you lift weight over your head. Certain jobs require a minimum weight to be lifted in order to qualify.

I hope This helped

Answer 7

Remember too, all branches of the armed forces have some MOS (ie individual jobs) that are more and less dangerous.

I know three air force officers with jobs of

1. public health (drinking water, etc testing)
2. project management for big airplanes (engineering type)
3. weather studies/forecasting

None of this too dangerous. Remember, she'll need to speak up and try to get into a program that fits stuff she likes and they're going to pay for the training, school, etc.

I know another guy who flys big fat cargo planes and they do occasionally go to some strange places and shove food out of the plane to people on the ground who need it.

She'll be fine. She just needs to stick with it--don't back out, and get things back on track. It could help.

Answer 8

no the asvab is fairly easier than the act. she has to have some motivation to join the armed forces. dont worry the drill sgt's will get the motivation out of her and give her some well needed discipline that she needs.no the air force is not dangerous she should be fine, but remember there are no guarantees in war.

Answer 9

First thing to really understand: it is the military, soldiers jobs are to be like robots and do as commanded-take orders. They are to fight, get shot at, be in harms way, drop bombs, kill. Ask your self do you want a life being a soldier and possibly going to some far away place to die for some war that you do not support or understand? If you get injured or killed the USA will not care, the medical treatment is substandard(Reed). Military is for people that have no possible vocation alternative. If you do sign up, be careful, the recruiters will lie to you and make lame promises. Get everything in writing signed by their commander. Negotiate what you want, you tell them what training you want! They will try to dictate to you, but they need you(recruitment at all time low) so negotiate tough, and stick it to them before they screw you. Do not sign anything until you have taken the contract home and studied it and it states everything you want, and the recruiter's commander has signed it. Verbal agreements are not binding. Treat the recruiter like a slimey used car salesman, and BEWARE, he will try to screw you...Why? because he is under Pressure to recruit poor, naive, uninformed kids to **** jobs. Find the job you want in the AF, then demand it. Good luck! War, whats it good for? Absolutely nothing!

Answer 10

From what your saying I think the Air Force will be a good direction for your sister to go towards. Of all of the branches, it is the one ( I feel) that is most rewarding and not every one is combat. Marines do have more casualties along with the Army because they are the first ones on the ground running things and they are HIGHLY trained in combat. (cousin is a Marine!!) There is a chance that she will be deployed overseas but we are in wartime as all branches of the military are deployable. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It is a chance you take by signing your name on the dotted line. She will learn everything she needs to learn before she deploys and usually Army and Marines are doing the combat fighting and air force is more for the directing operational type stuff. Depending on what type of job she gets , is really what will determine how much she deploys and how much danger she is in. If she goes in the Civil Engineering part of the Air Force, or Security forces (military police), she should be expected to deploy alot and be very much involved with the army and marines. Jobs in this area are EOD (explosive ordinance disposal), Engineering assistant(my husband does this!!), Dirtboys (construction) Electrical, HVAC and so on. If she wants to do more administrative type work( I do this , 3A0) then she should look into being a personellist, or information manager. Medical is a great field to get into as well, because healthcare is always in demand. I wish I would of signed on in medical because you actually have a lot of great skills to take with you if you seperate. Also, If she does anything on the mechanical /aircraft maintenance side she should be expected to deploy alot as well. Remember that anywhere the jets go, the mechanics/maintainers go because they have to fix/maintain the jets.
The ASVAB isn't really all that hard. There are many study guides for her to use before she takes it and on military.com, they offer practice test to help you out. It was mostly just an overview of things learned in high school. The higher the score she gets, the more jobs she will qualify for. The high score doesn't keep you out of harms way it just means you qualify for jobs that require a lot more knowledge(low scores will get you into personnel, administrative, some medical, Security forces, higher scores get you into some medical, Civil engineering, Communications (Information security type stuff), Legal and so on. She will get to pick her job, although some jobs are looking for people more than others, don't let the recruiter pick her job out for her. She should ask to see a list of all of the jobs that her score qualifys her for and research that job extensively. Even come back on here and ask, Ill be more than willing to help. As far as a personality profile , I didn't really get one. They just asked what I wanted to do with my life, and thats it. The Basic training isn't that intense. Its more of mind games and mental stress. I have heard that they now have a more in depth training week for combat skills but they're not there to kill you. This is just to make sure that you know what to do in case you do have to do convoy duty overseas and it is very helpful. The training should still be about 6 weeks as it was for me, and as long as she is not too lazy and ready to work and be a team player she will be alright. If not, the MTI (military training instructors) will let her know how its done and make her do it right. Basic training is actually hard to fail/get kicked out of. They want you to succed but this comes from them breaking you down, then building you back up to be respectful and all that jazz.
JUst a heads up I know that the air force is looking for nurses bad right now. She will deploy with that job , but she will be an officer and get paid more. If she likes medical she can look into that program. I know that you are only required to have some school. (about 45-60 credits) going towards a bachelors degree. Also, they are recruiting hard for Military police and anything in the Civil Engineering field. LIke I said if she doesn't want to deploy and be on the front lines a lot (nurse =hospital =baghdad green zone) that much , look into something else.
As for the Drug test They do blood and pee test for drugs.. best bet is to stay clean months before.