Expert: James Bell - 10/4/2007

Question
James, wow when I found this site I was excited to hopefully get some good info and make up my mind.  This question will be a bit lengthy so please excuse me.  I've been in the Air Force for a little over two years now as an NDI troop. My friend in my shop is about to xtrain to FE and will be leaving for school in November.  Originally I wanted to train into an Intel field because not only do I find it very interesting but I wanted to get into an area that would serve me better on the outside.  NDI from what I understand is a good job on the outside but it just doesn't interest me as much as other areas do.  When I heard I could train into FE I decided to get as much info as I could to see if it is a good choice for me.  I understand that depending on the a/c you could be gone up to 200 days a year.  Due to the fact that I'm married and have a daughter who will be 16 months later this month I just want to make sure I make a decision that is good for me and good for my family.  I just returned from Afghanistan in June so we got our first deployment out of the way and as far as my family morale goes it was a success I feel.  However, like I said I want to make a decision to retrain based on how well it will serve me and ultimately my family in the future.  So that's my back story and dilema.  Basically I would just like to know if you think this is a good career to enter for a family man and if so or if not why. I just worry about the quality of life for my family.  Another thing that holds me up would be life after the military.  I don't know if this is something that would serve me later on.  Ultimately I would like to enter a career in some sort of Federal agency in an intelligence center. Obviously it would be most beneficial for me to enter into the Intel career  field and get some experience, education, and a top secret classification.  Would being an FE give me in your opinion any leverage in this area should that dream come to be?  And finally do you know how may credits towards a CCAF you get through to FE pipeline?  Thank you for your time and I'm sorry about the length of this (these) questions.  Thanks in advance for you help.

Jeff

Answer
Greetings Jeff -

As an FE, you will receive a TS/SBI clearance.  That is still short of what an Intel troop gets, but it's definitely more than the average person.  If you want to get into the Intel business after the military, that would probably be the best way to go.  I have often said the best jobs in the military have the smallest jobs outside.  Those that aren't so great have lots of outside possibilities.

Having said that, if you want to pursue an FE job with a cargo carrier after getting out of the millitary, you will need to have both your (FAA) A&P and FE tickets.  You can work on your A&P through your NDI career field.

Deployments these days are a way of life in all career fields.  In the FE career field you will find some aircraft deploy more than others, simply due to the nature and demand for that particular aircraft's mission.

I hope I have given you some useful information.  Good luck and write back if you have more questions.

Sincerely,
James Bell