Post: #1

Hey all,

I don't have any access to military mentor's right now. On a remote base and I really am dying for a brain to pick. And I'm hoping with how versatile this forum is, there will be someone here to offer insight.

I'm currently in 4th year of enlistment in the Air Force. I have an opportunity for retraining next year and I'm seriously torn between:

1. Combat Control Team
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Sta...ntrol_Team


2. Air Force Office of Special Investigations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Sta...stigations


3. Special Instruments
https://www.airforce.com/careers/detail/...specialist


All three have huge travel advantages. CCT and SI both sending you all over the planet. CCT to where there is war and Spec Instruments to just where ever, including Antartica. AFOSI, you can just pick and volunteer for whatever base and do sweet gigs like provide guard for generals.

Other than that, I know that CCT will by far-and-away provide the most adventure, challenge, and fulfillment. I lust for all three, but the washout rate is a stunning 85%, and there's the high chance of death...but I get to be apart of an elite brotherhood and be apart of the fight in a way few ever will.

AFOSI will provide extreme career opportunity for when I get out, I know that. It will give me a nice easy way into the FBI, Marshal, CIA, all those three letter agencies.

And then there's the nerdy career option: Special Instruments. It's the easiest of all of them, a lot of travel, sounds easy, but from what I hear you can really get fucked into a computer desk job for a decade.

Anyone got experience in any of these? I have a year to decide, but I really want to start getting shit rollin in one direction.

Post: #2

1. If you are considering other options now, you will consider them again during CCT indoc. The mental state on entry must be that the only way is to completion. Have you taken any qualifying tests?

2. FBI light.

3. Technician.

Quote:AFOSI, you can just pick and volunteer for whatever base and do sweet gigs like provide guard for generals.

Did a recruiter tell you this?

Post: #3

When you are young it is not the job - it is the adventure... until you find a special lady that actually does stand by you and you want to provide her a secure life for her and your future kids... and do not want to be deployed away from her for a year plus at a time....

I did the combat data systems role on nuclear submarines which combined the thrill of stealth action against those that might launch nukes against us from under the oceans around the world with super geek hardware, software and systems skills... after 6 years I had enough of being a perpetual undersea incel and took my honorable discharge and went into IT in a Fortune 100 - and civilian poosy paradise at the time ... however now we have a tidal wave of Chinese manufacturing offshoring and Indian H1B onshoring making those career paths unreliable and unpredictable.

With the potential for another 2008/09 financial correction and possible Clintons redux with open borders, waves of Latin American Narco Terrorists and Soros Open Borders floods of Radical Islamist Extremist Terrorists - plus possible acceleration of turning the US Military into a Social Engineering lab driving Females and Gays and Trannys into Combat positions - any sort of highly specialized Military Law Enforcement Experience - AFOSI - plus finishing a degree in Criminal Justice or CSI style forensics will be a direct career path to specialized investigators opportunities as a Fed or State or private Corporate Security executive....

With the uncertainty facing our world there is a huge demand for Cyber Security, Corporate Security and Government Security Officers and Executives - not just low skilled low paid security guards - but highly paid executives and specialized officers since good security costs good money - plus a likely USAF Top Secret Clearance is directly transferrable to over 100 Top Government Prime Contractors providing billions in services to both Military, Civilian and Homeland Security agencies

Choice is yours. Choose wisely.

Post: #4

(07-27-2016 10:15 PM)MidJack Wrote:  1. If you are considering other options now, you will consider them again during CCT indoc. The mental state on entry must be that the only way is to completion. Have you taken any qualifying tests?

Yes, I've taken the PASS test and I passed it. Honestly when it comes to mental, I don't really know how to prepare for that. Outside of combative skills training I haven't really been able to see myself in anything as strenuous as what I imagine a CCT pipeline would be.

Quote:AFOSI, you can just pick and volunteer for whatever base and do sweet gigs like provide guard for generals.

Did a recruiter tell you this?
[/quote]


No, I run a photo studio on my base and I took passport photos for an agent. He was PCSing to D.C. to do a security detail for the chief of staff. Just sounded cool.

Am I wrong or was he lying?

Post: #5

Did you just "pass" the PAST or did you crush it? The PAST is easy to pass and like MidJack said, if you are not 100% hell-bent on CCT, you will most likely quit. It's a long, long pipeline but out of the three mentioned, by far the coolest and most rewarding. Also, you get to avoid the PC part of the AF as you will be working with SOCOM, Army, and Navy.

Post: #6

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:AFOSI, you can just pick and volunteer for whatever base and do sweet gigs like provide guard for generals.

Did a recruiter tell you this?

No, I run a photo studio on my base and I took passport photos for an agent. He was PCSing to D.C. to do a security detail for the chief of staff. Just sounded cool.

Am I wrong or was he lying?

I should have been more specific. It is true that OSI provides security for general officers (although not exclusively). It is not true that the career field allows for unusual individual control over assignments. There are still plenty of assignments nobody wants and regular deployments to that need to be fulfilled.

Post: #7

Did you just "pass" the PAST or did you crush it? The PAST is easy to pass and like MidJack said, if you are not 100% hell-bent on CCT, you will most likely quit. It's a long, long pipeline but out of the three mentioned, by far the coolest and most rewarding. Also, you get to avoid the PC part of the AF as you will be working with SOCOM, Army, and Navy.

Post: #8

@MidJack: Good point, and that is something I'm heavily weighing in my head. I've heard they work long ass hours for no legitimate reason and that's more or less what I'm doing now.

@RMD: What would you consider crushing the PAST test to be? Because probably not. But, again I have a full year to train my ass off.

And I am ready to go all-in on it. My mind just drifts to other viable careers because I know that CCT will bring about the biggest lifestyle change BY FAR, and that does make me initially hesitant.

Post: #9

Talk to checkmat,

and use this forum

http://www.afforums.com/index.php

Post: #10

I have been thinking about this thread, and I'm going to go outside the scope somewhat to suggest an alternative way to look at this.

It sounds like you are at a juncture, and you are not satisfied with the direction you're are headed. That is understandable, and it happens to many people at all stages of a military career. Because you are immersed in the military and relatively isolated, it appears that the only options available are those right in front of you, the Air Force specialties we've been discussing.

Here is another way to look at these choices:

1. Combat Controller: Aircraft controller and air operations coordinator in the field. A civilian controller sitting in an FAA tower at an airport in the US will likely make more money over their career, have faced much lower barriers to entry, and enjoyed a stable home life. Many are federal government jobs with hiring preference for military veterans.

2. OSI: Criminal investigation, counter-terrorism, counter-intelligence, and other functions. Less training and emphasis on law enforcement than the standard FBI agent. The FBI guy probably has to periodically move to a new field office in the US, making home life less stable, but deployments do not happen as in the military. Hiring preference for military veterans.

3. Special Instruments: Likely involves training better acquired through an equivalent civilian trade or technical degree that is more comprehensive. The military has a habit of distilling technical training down and then convincing servicemembers that their skills are greater or more marketable than they actually are.

I completely understand the desire to stay in service and try something new and potentially exciting or dangerous. I did it myself and do not regret it. However, my advice is do not limit yourself to considering only options in the military. For example, with the GI Bill, you can have a high value degree and no debt in your mid-20s, and that would place you ahead of the vast majority of your peers.

If you think you have the fortitude for CCT, commit and don't look back. Do not settle for half measures. Over the past decade, the military has become a very politically correct and generally onerous place to be employed, active duty or otherwise. I believe operations is the only place worth being any more, so if you want to put bombs on Haji, go do it.

Have you deployed to CENTCOM?

Post: #11

I'm in the same boat as you, I'm going for EOD. I have TACP and AFOSI as plan B and C in the back of my mind. Since you already did the PAST then CCT should be at the top of your list.

Post: #12

What happens if you attrit the CCT pipeline for whatever reason? RTU?

I waited too long and became too senior to apply for any special programs, Ill regret it until my dying breath.

Do it and don't look back.

Rejection > regret.

Post: #13

(07-28-2016 10:55 PM)MidJack Wrote:  I believe operations is the only place worth being any more, so if you want to put bombs on Haji, go do it.

The most beautiful sentence I've read.

Thank you for all that man.

And no, I haven't deployed with CENTCOM.

Post: #14

Whats your approximate age? Points have been covered though