I have spoken with both a ANG and a AFR recruiter and completed my ASVAB after speaking with the ANG recruiter yesterday. I scored a AFQT score of 93 with a breakdown of M97, A92, G94, and E93. I plan to complete my physical this coming week with the anticipation of no problems and then talk to both recruiters again to see what jobs are available from both the ANG and AFR. While I'd love to have a true kickass job like being a loadmaster, I'm curious what types of jobs you guys with experience would recommend that have real value on the civillian side of the lake.
That's a great question. As far as having relevency in the civilian world, I'm very partial to IT jobs such as 3C0. Since the AF uses a lot of proprietary equipment and applications (Such as Cisco routers and Windows 2003 domain controllers), you'll get training that will be exactly what employers in the civilian world are looking for.
There are many other positions that have civilian applications, but I would say hands down computer and communications related AFSC's get you the highest paying jobs in the civilian world right out of tech school, especially if you immediately follow-up with some certifications or grab your 5-level and an associates from the CCAF. Combine that with the fact that most comm jobs will get you a Top Secret clearance and you become a shoe-in for a good civilian DoD contractor job. Nearly all of our reservists in my comm squadron also work on base in the NOC as contractors or in the area doing something similar.
However, don't get me wrong ... With the great education benefits of the military, you really can't go wrong. If you don't like computers, it would be better to pick something you enjoy and go back to college later for something else.
Airmanpbh, thanks for the good info on both this post and one of my prior post regarding state transfers. I'd like to pick your brain a bit further outside of this discussion board regarding the unit in Shreveport. Would you mind shooting me an e-mail to jxm0290@gmail.com? I have some specific questions regarding that unit that I was hoping you could answer for me because I plan on speaking with my reserves recruiter possibly on Friday after I complete my physical on Thursday. He was pushing both Barksdale and Keesler pretty hard.
Shot you an email, feel free to ask any questions, I'll do my best to get you an accurate answer. I should be able to poke around here and get you a good idea of what you'll actually be doing day-to-day with various jobs.
It's kind of hard to tell what jobs transfer nicely to the civilian side. Unless you keep all of your training and practical knowledge up to date with any ANG job, some employers will still look and say you've only done it one weekend a month (24 days a year plus 15 days AT) which may not be quite good enough.
Just as an example...I'm a fighter Crew Chief. When I went to get my FAA letter to take my tests for an A&P license to work on civilian aircraft they wouldn't even look at my ANG experience. Luckily I had 4 years active duty to fall back on prior to my ANG time which they did look at because I did the job 365 days a year x4.
I'm not trying to spook you, but I'd be weary of anything remotely high tech carrying over into the civvie world from the Guard. Not saying it can't be done, but experience does play a major factor with a lot of jobs.
Weasel is correct, many employers who truely understand how the ANG or AFR work will be aware that this has not been a "permanent" job for you, and on average weekend warriors don't possess the experience of their AD counterparts without some AD background.
But because you and I live a couple hours from the nearest military installation, employers aren't quiet that savvy down here. If nothing else, the training you get in the AF should put you ahead of an otherwise equally matched peer.
