Expert: Howard Lorenz - 7/6/2010

Question
I am a 24yr old female with an accumulative of about 45-50 college credits. I am not sure if I'll finish up my associates before I join the military but I'm going to try. I want to join at the end of this year but I'm not sure if I want to do Air Force or Navy. I am not just joining to get all the benefits of the military but more for the discipline and to be part of something bigger than myself with the possibility of making it a career. I don't really know the major differences as far as jobs and lifestyles of these two branches. I have had friends in the Air Force who have made it seem like they are just BS'ing around on their jobs; usually bored. They tell me they didn't get the job they were pretty much promised at the beginning but once they joined it all changed. I don't know how it all works but is there any truth to this? I see you have experience on the Air Force end so maybe you can help?

Answer
If you have friends BS'ing in their jobs, they are not all they can be doing. The have a very crappy undisciplined view that they are instilling in to your thought pattern. They have many things that they can be doing to better their education and career. The job is what YOU make it. There are alot of young airman who actually believe that WE the supervisors owe them something. In the military, if you want something, make a plan and follow that plan. Many are too complacent in their jobs and their social lives that they often forget what they came in for.

Make your own decisions on your career. You can not base your decisions on the faults of others, you will go down the same path ending up with the same result. Make your own path to achieve your goals.