I am planning on joining the Air Force and I was wondering if you can put where you want to be stationed at in your contract. For example I know a woman who joined and her husband was already in, she was planning on putting in her contract to be stationed at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center at Ramstein, De. Is this possible to do or no.
2007-12-16 05:04:55 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Military
I'm not sure about being able to do this when you first join, but they do offer base of preference for reenlistment. It's possible they do this for initial enlistment, as well, since they definitely do this for choosing a career field. You're 'guaranteed' a job in a particular career field if it's part of your enlistment contract.
Of course, the way the 'guaranteed' job works is that if the Air Force can't live up to its side of the bargain, you get two choices - get out or choose a different career field. Considering you've already made it through almost all of your basic training, the alternate choices would have to be pretty bad to decide packing up and going home would be the best option. In my case, the alternate option turned out to be so good I was almost afraid to take it (the description was so good it made me a little suspicious). I did wind up deciding to take the alternate job and wound up spending 20 years in the Air Force.
If you are guaranteed where you'll be stationed, keep in mind the guarantee is only for your first assignment, not for your entire career. If you stay in for more than one term, you can almost be assured to be stationed at more than one base (although there are exceptions - I stayed at my first base for 9 years, but that was partly due to the Air Force temporarily reducing the number of moves because of budget constraints - for a while, virtually the only way to move was to volunteer for an overseas assignment and those were pretty scarce in my job).
Edit: A couple mentioned the 'dream sheet' which is just a list of preferences, not a guarantee. I did receive my first choice, but swapped that assignment for my last choice. That may have also contributed to me staying at my first base so long. I managed to confuse them so badly they couldn't figure out how to make my life miserable. (Location isn't everything - the job at the nice location would have sucked while the job in the boring place was very interesting.)
2007-12-16 05:35:03 · answer #1 · answered by Bob G 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have a dream sheet where you put up to 8 CONUS bases and up to 8 overseas bases. Though that does not mean you will get one of the base you put on there. That's why they call it a dream sheet. The woman you spoke of probably did a join spouse assignment. If you are married and you are both military the AF will try to assign you to the same base. But even that does not always work out. Good luck.
2007-12-16 06:49:04 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If there is a position open at that particular station, then yes, you could be sent where you indicated. In the Army, we were given three options. I chose Alaska, Hawaii, and Germany, in that order. No openings were available at the first two so I got my orders for Germany.
2007-12-16 05:15:00 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
My uncle is a Wing Commander (like a General). He said you can list five places you'd like to be and you have a good chance of getting stationed there.
2007-12-16 05:13:19 · answer #4 · answered by pdidit 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
no guarantees whatsoever. especially in an initial contract.
2007-12-16 07:10:35 · answer #5 · answered by Mrsjvb 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes you can put down where you'd like to be and they will put you where they need you to be.
2007-12-16 05:09:40 · answer #6 · answered by doricescottage 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Why would you want to?
Roll the dice and enjoy the scenery.
2007-12-16 05:20:44 · answer #7 · answered by Dawg Star 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes but don't count on it
2007-12-16 05:24:16 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋