<p>My mom came home from Bible Study today with a very interesting story. A woman in her study has a daughter that is a 1st Lt. in the Air Force. Originally attached to an Air Force fighter wing as an intelligence officer, she is now in charge of an Army Stryker unit in Iraq. The daughter, who told her mother, who told my mom, who told me, says that this is becoming very common and that a lot of junior Air Force officers are being shuffled in to fill gaps in Army/USMC units overseas. Could anyone let me know how true this is, and the likelihood of it happening? I don’t have any problem with being deployed, but I think it would suck to be shuffled into a job that has little to do with what I was trained to be, and in a different service at that! </p>
<p>I haven’t had a chance to talk to the mother or the daughter, but if anyone could provide some insight into this it would be great, thanks!</p>
<p>If you are concerned about going outside your comfort zone and what you are originally assigned to do in the AF, you really need to think harder about being in the military. I have heard many stories of that type already. I think ds could provide better details though.</p>
<p>Hornetguy: It’s not about the comfort zone, I’m just surprised to hear that officers could be shuffled around to different services post-commissioning. Wouldn’t putting AF officers in Army/USMC billets leave gaps in AF units? I suppose I worded my original post wrong. What I was trying to say was that I have no problem serving where needed, but I can imagine “Surprise! You were supposed to be USAF intel but now you’re in charge of an Army Stryker unit!” being a let down for some people. Like I said, I haven’t talked to the mom or daughter directly so I don’t know all the details, I’m just trying to poke around and see how common of a thing this is nowadays.</p>
<p>“…I can imagine “Surprise! You were supposed to be USAF intel but now you’re in charge of an Army Stryker unit!” being a let down for some people…”</p>
<p>Do you think the military cares, or even should care, about some officers feeling “let down?”</p>
<p>The truth is that the Army and USMC are undermanned, and the AF can afford to spare some personnel. In the military, as dntw8up pointed out, your own personal feelings are usually unimportant. As a servicemember, you put those feelings aside and do what is required of you, because the good of the nation will obviously always be more important than your own personal interests.</p>
<p>Bah, I’m having a really hard time to articulate what I want to say today! I was looking to clarify the story a little bit since by the time my mom told me the details got a bit lost. I was just curious to see how prevalent this kind of situation is and what kind of people they pull to do it. Sorry if I seemed like I was putting my own future wants/needs above the “greater good,” I didn’t mean to come off like that. Like I said, just having a hard time getting things to come out the way I mean them.</p>
<p>I think I understand what you’re trying to say. To answer your question: yes, this does happen. How often depends on the career field your in. As 07PETKO said, the ground forces (particularly the Army) currently have a tremendous need to fill combat support slots, such as intel. </p>
<p>This kind of thing started happening in 2003, and really raised some eyebrows in the AF. But when this first started out, it was exclusively aligned to the AEF cycle, so tours down-range were for 4 months at a time. Now, how can we complain when we’re only there for a third of the time our Army counter-parts were there (believe me, they complained about this enough for both services). This changed in 2006; now our intel folks are the for 180 days+, and some of our support folks are there even longer. </p>
<p>Like others have said, it comes now with the territory. We’re part of a joint team, and are expected to pull our weight. (I even ended up at Camp Victory, Baghdad in 2004 for the summer, wearing my body armor and strappin’ my 9. With a puzzled look on my face, asking “what the heck am I doing here?” ) Kind of stink? Yep. But am I proud of my time there? You betcha, and I even bet that the Intel Lt. you mentioned is just as excited and proud to be doing something there as well. A little different than her job in a fighter wing? Yes again, but ever Intel Officer I’ve talked to find it exciting, as the Army Intel job is very in tune to the tactical fight as it happens. She’ll come back with some great stories from her time there.</p>
<p>Not a problem. However, if you do get into a cockpit, I wouldn’t count on the powers that be sending you to pull some ground duty during the middle of yor first operational tour. As you get older (Major and above); that’s when they’ll ask you to take your operational experience and share it in some headquarters. But seeing as that is 15+ years from now for you, who knows what will be happening by then? Constant change is the only thing that is constant in the service! :)</p>
<p>It isn’t just intel. You will find many careers in the AF that are contributing along side our brothers/sisters in green. The way the Armed Forces are shape today require the services to cooperate with each other in ways that were unthinkable years ago. When you put that uniform on depending on the needs of the mission, you may be working with the Army, Navy, Marines or even Coast Guard.</p>
<p>Absolutely true. You’ll currently find quite a few AF transportation specialists driving in convoys throughout the Iraqi theater, to name another example. Our weather personnel, air traffic controllers, manpower specialists, lawyers, doctors, etc. are all contributing to the current battle. Let’s face it, we’re no longer, “the guys living in hotels in the rear”.</p>
<p>Now your just making me feel old, as I remember sitting in the theater for that movie on opening weekend. Walked out convinced I would some day sing “You lost that loving feeling” in a few years for the first time I was ever in an O’Club. </p>
<p>BTW, don’t do that, unless you want a LOT of guys ready to pummel you for being corny. :)</p>
<p>You are forgetting Broken Arrow (John Travolta), and by the Dawns Early Light (Powers Booth & Rebecca DeMorney) OK it was a little Kelly Flynn-esq.</p>
<p>We just watched “Wings”, 1927 silent movie about pilots in WWI. It is interesting and 2 1/2 hours long. Some of the “dog fight” scenes were pretty awesome. I think TNT is playing it now. It was the first movie to win the Academy Award for best picture.</p>
<p>Bullet while I realize those aren’t really “Fighter” movies (B2 and B52), and Bat 21 isn’t really either. We wont even talk about Owen Wilson in that Scott O’Grady rip-off “Behind Enemy Lines” chahging it to Navy F-18’s (Sorry Hornet), but we do have a really great “Fighter Pilot” movie made right here at Nellis during Red Flag and aptly titled “Fighter Pilot”</p>
) Kind of stink? Yep. But am I proud of my time there? You betcha, and I even bet that the Intel Lt. you mentioned is just as excited and proud to be doing something there as well. A little different than her job in a fighter wing? Yes again, but ever Intel Officer I’ve talked to find it exciting, as the Army Intel job is very in tune to the tactical fight as it happens. She’ll come back with some great stories from her time there.</p>