Air Force/ Army

C

cPFC/SAJROTC

Active member
I'm a 15 year old JROTC Cadet and I know that I want to join the US military after college, but I am having difficulty selecting the branch and area I want to go into. I was wondering if anyone could provide their advice on whether the US Army, or the Air Force was supperior (I know its a topic of debate in someplaces) and also, what area you would specialize in yourself.
 
The one area the Army is definitely better than the Air Force is promotions. I could have never made E-5 in the Air Force in 2 yrs 8 months.

I believe in the Air Force, you must test against everyone else in your job field to get promoted. Only a set percentage will make the grade.

In the Army, E-1 thru E-4 are almost automatic unless you are a dirt bag. You can also get promoted faster with a waiver if you are a good soldier. Promotions for E-5 and E-6 are based on points. The cut off score changes monthly due to the needs of the army. Normally combat arms MOS's have low cut off scores while support jobs can have extremely high cut off scores. Anything above E-6 is decided by the DA.

I know that the Army will give you some kind of promotion for being in HS JROTC.
 
I know that all branches award an automatic promotion to E-2 if you serve 4 years of JROTC in High School which is definely a nice bonus for joining.

Another question I had was about Basic Training and the more physical demands of the branches. Does anyone know the requirements for Basic? (eg, 2 Pullups, 25 pushups etc)
 
Wow, the Air Force is starting to look more like my kind of branch!

Now, between the two, what areas did you serve under, Infantry, Engineering?
 
cPFC/SAJROTC said:
I know that all branches award an automatic promotion to E-2 if you serve 4 years of JROTC in High School which is definely a nice bonus for joining.

Another question I had was about Basic Training and the more physical demands of the branches. Does anyone know the requirements for Basic? (eg, 2 Pullups, 25 pushups etc)
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Four years of JROTC will get you E-3, except in the Marine Corps (E-2).

It would not be wise to choose a branch based on how easy it may be physically. My .02.
 
Oh, I wasnt basing it on my physical ability too much, was meant to be a joke.

Thanks for correcting that, yes E-3 (PFC), I accidentally was using JROTC ranks in which you start as an insignia Pvt, rather than a no insignia Pvt.

For R&D of weapons, which branch would you suggest I enter?

I know the Air Force is the more technilogically advanced, but I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the Army's R&D department.
 
Undoubtly the Air Force takes care of their people better than the Army. Both services have their ups and downs about them. It realy depends what you want to do. Physically the Army is much tougher than the Air Force (but we have changed are requirements and they are stricter), but the AF is alot more technological and you must be smarter than the average "joe". I am active duty AF (18 yrs) so naturally I say AF, but its NOT for everyone. Know what you want to do first and than decide.
 
I was in the Army from 8-97 to 8-02. I have been in the Air Force from 9-02 to present. As far as which one is superior, it depends on what the individual wants to get out of the military. If you want to be in the "military" I would suggest the Army. If you want to wear the uniform and get all the perks and benefits of being in the military but be almost like a civilian, then the Air Force is the one you want.
 
I am going to be 17 in a couple of years, and I am planning on joining the ANG, Since I can go to college during that time, I wanted to do AFROTC, then when my time in the guard was up, I wanted to go active duty Air Force. Can I do that?
 
I am currently in my 2nd year of AFJROTC and you said that in the Marines you wont get your rank? e-2, PFC, so if you didnt have that ROTC you would be a plain old june bug private?
 
FULLMETALJACKET said:
I am currently in my 2nd year of AFJROTC and you said that in the Marines you wont get your rank? e-2, PFC, so if you didnt have that ROTC you would be a plain old june bug private?
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There are several ways to make PFC on graduation of boot. But you will not get Lcpl. Not for 4 years of JROTC.
 
Being in the Army, I'm going to say definately, join the Army. I'm not big into slogans, but for the most part, we DO do more before 09:30 than most people do all day. At least we do in my unit. If you go army, go infantry. Sure, some people say that you don't get any " Life Skills" joining the infantry, but when the SH@! hits the fan, who goes to work? There are 211 jobs in the army, and 210 of them support the Infantry. NO OFFENSE TO ANY PERSONNEL IN OTHER SERVICES OR BRANCHES OF THE ARMY INTENDED!! I've worked with some TAC/P's in Iraq, and they're a great bunch of guys. As far as you Artillery guys are concerned, thanks. You guys are lifesavers. HIGH ANGLE HELL!
 
Ok, I've gotten varying answers to this question, so I'm going to post it here. I'm in AROTC and I'm not going to get my US citizenship by graduation. I've heard that with three years of AROTC and a four year college degree, you jump straight to Segt. right out of boot. Is this true, or false?
 
Don't think that just because you join the Air Force you'll be home everyday at 4:00. Until I was 14 I rarely saw my dad except on some weekends. Pretty much my entire time in elementary school he left for work at 6:30 AM and got back at 8:30 PM after I was in bed. Also, because of his career field he was very often TDY.

Secondly, if you have a degree why enlist? Seriously now, commission.

Thirdly, did you mean Army JROTC? You cannot go through four years of Army ROTC as a non-citizen, you are required to contract before that point and cannot contract until you gain citizenship.
 
I'm only going to be going through three years of AROTC. I'm not a US citizen and won't be able to apply for the citizenship test for another three years. I'm in college right now and have another two years left. That's why I would enlist and then do OCS. My question is, will the degree and ROTC experience get me a higher enlisted rank after boot?
 
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