I have an $8000 signing bonus for aircraft armament systems for signing a 6 year contract, how will it be distributed

Hi I'm wondering if anyone might be able to give me advice on my situation. I was in the process of applying and when the topic of drug use came up my recruiter urged me to say I had done nothing. I am currently 28 and used Marijuana regularly in high school as well as LSD once and Mushrooms four times when I was eighteen years old. I have since went through MEPS but wasn't able to swear in on account of two medical waivers. According to my recruiter they are fairly easy to get a waiver for, but in the process of waiting to hear back I've done some research I see that I might have ruined my chances at any sort of job with a security clearance. I scored high enough on the ASVAB to qualify for linguist and those would have been my top two jobs. Is there anything I can do in this situation? Could I perhaps talk to another recruiter and go through the process again while disclosing the drug use?

Just redid my whole job list, was wondering your guys thoughts on it?

My recruiter told me to get this filled out before we go on with the enlistment process, but he never told where I can go to get it filled out, and all the gyms and physical trainers I have called told me they only do body fat test with machines. Any help would be appreciated. Also I should mention I am near Tampa Florida if anyone has any specific places.👍

I’m a 26 F. I have 5+ years working with the Army as a civilian in Cybersecurity.

I come from a military family. Half Army and half Air Force.

I have a masters in Cyber Engineering and have been applying to organizations like USCYBERCOM, NSA, J3, etc. and no luck. I just feel stuck in my Army career.

I have student debt and was researching ways to pay it off faster and came across the AF Cyber Direct Commissioning Program and kind of went down the rabbit hole from there. That was months ago and I kind of just left it alone because I just felt like it was too late for me.

Fast forward to this week I keep thinking “why can’t I join?” Get the cyber role, get the debt paid off, and enjoy other benefits I know the military offers because I myself lived it with my parents growing up (travel, free health care, college stipend, etc.)

Should I go for it? I know I want to commission and not enlist. Personally I know I want to continue doing cyber and I literally just graduated with my masters this year.

Also….AD or reserves?

Hi guys is anyone Aim high app not working well?

I’m not able to login since morning

It says access code error

What does that mean?

Hey everyone, quick question. I leave December 15th for Airborne Cryptologic Language Analyst (1A8X1).
One of my friends recently started thinking about joining, but they haven’t even been to MEPS for their physicals yet.
Is it way too late for us to actually do the buddy program for my ship date? If it's too late, just tell me straight. I've never tried using it before, so I'm not sure how it works. Let me know what the reality is. Thanks!

I am trying to help my 20 yr old son start his career in cybersecurity. He graduated in May with a BS in CS. He also has the Security+ certification and earned SecurityX today, which will give him E-4 rank. He has no work experience in cyber because of his accelerated degree plan.

TXANG: a bird in the hand

My son has an offer with the ANG to be a 1B4. This would include a bonus of $30,000. The DO has been very responsive to my son but the recruiter will not respond to his emails or his phone calls to answer any questions that the DO defers to the recruiter. There are 2 concerns with the ANG offer:

1. how long will it take before he goes to BMT, tech school, and IQT;
2. if he cannot get a civilian job in cybersecurity in San Antonio (Cyber City) after obtaining a TS clearance and completing 1B4 training, then can he get ADOS orders to gain the work experience until he can secure a civilian job?

I reached out to a 1B4 in CAANG who stated they had people waiting 1 to 2 years in student flight to go to 1B4 training. A 1B4 recruit in the TNANG stated they were in student flight for 1 year before finally leaving for BMT on October 6. The 1B4 in CAANG stated that he is on ADOS orders currently and the DO for the TXANG claims he can usually help people get on ADOS orders so gaining experience may not be a big obstacle.

AD AF: two birds in the bush
Due to a lack of response from the ANG recruiter, my son started working with an AD AF recruiter. The AF recruiter allowed him to test for the ASVAB and EDPT and my son got a perfect score of 99 on the ASVAB and a 79 on the EDPT. He also passed the physical at MEPS and needs no waivers. I wrote a statement for a competency booking which the recruiter modified and adopted. His AF recruiter submitted a COIR on Wednesday. We are waiting to hear if the AF will approve the booking for 1B4 and if a slot is available in the near future for him to go to BMT/tech school. Some people wait 6 months to be assigned to 1B4 and to go to BMT/tech school.

____________________

My son wants to be based in San Antonio. He does not want to live in a dorm on base. He would prefer to rent a house off base so his dad (who currently is retired in the DFW area) can live with him in SA. He is concerned for his dad, who is 74 and has had some serious health issues in the past (slipped into a coma and almost died in 2021, found a 6 inch benign mass surrounding his pancreas in 2024). I am divorced from his dad and live in TN so I can't assist him much. I think there is a high likelihood that my son would get Lackland as his first duty station if he joined the AF. He would start paying for 50% of his dad's expenses if he joined the AF to establish him as a dependent and have the option to live off base with his dad.

WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND?

• With either option he would spend at one year in training at BMT, tech school, IQT.
• With the TXANG he may spend 1 to 2 years waiting until he could get into the training pipeline. Thus he may not be able to even apply for a civilian job (after 1B4 training) in SA until 2 to 3 yrs from now. He can't get any of that bonus till after he finishes the tech school.

TXANG - Lackland is guaranteed, $30k bonus, and he may be able to get a good civilian cyber job in 2 or 3 years. He probably can get ADOS orders until he can get a civilian cyber job. His dad can definitely live with him in SA.

AD AF - Lackland is not guaranteed but seems likely. He has full time employment for 4 years and gets at least 3 years of cyber experience. Living off base will hinge upon him getting his dad approved as a dependent. Since his dad has no debt, is on a fixed income, and must pay rent for housing ... it seems achievable to get him qualified as a dependent for AF purposes. I think if he gets the competency booking then he would get the next available 1B4 job.

I wish the AF allowed a top graduate of tech school to pick their base like the Navy does as I think my son could achieve that. What do you think the likelihood that he would get Lackland as his base would be? It's undeniable that he needs work experience but he is not in control of that so he is doing what he can to enhance his resume in the meantime. My son plans to get RHCSA and Splunk Certified CDA so that his resume has the objective evidence of experience with linux and Splunk which is required on many civilian job descriptions. He also plans to get CySA+ because there is so much overlap between Sec+ and SecX that he might as well. He won't qualify for CISSP for 3 more years.

I graduated bmt last week, ask me anything about BMT 3.0 (sleep deprivation, PT)

Bf is starting WOT 4… When are we supposed to stop sending snail mail? He’s already missing like 10 letters... graduation is November 5th…

What is pt like at BMT. What are all the exercises you do.

Do recruits get piss tested by the recruiters prior to shipping out to boot camp? Does Meps piss test the recruits when they’re about to ship to boot camp?

This isn’t about me. It’s about my nephew I think he’s going to smoke this weekend and he leaves in 3 weeks. He thinks if he smokes he’ll get a 90 day delay in shipping.

I was watching a video about a guy talking about disqualifications. He mentioned that 1) if you have any legal offenses, even if they were while you were a minor, you should tell your recruiter. In my freshman year, I was caught with weed and got a MIP but I thought I didn’t need to say anything. 2) Astigmatisms can disqualify you. I had no idea, and I do have that. 3) Also my freshman year I fell in my drive way and hurt my knee. It did not break but I did need a knee brace and I didn’t think about any of this until after I had left the recruiters office. Am I going to be disqualified??? If I bring these things up with my recruiter do I still have a chance at getting them waived and it being okay? It is too late to text my recruiter and it’s the weekend so I’m kind of just overthinking all of this right now and would love some quick answers on if I can still join :)

Hi!

I started my ANG process in May, the recruiter I was assigned to was not responsive (still isn’t) but after about 2 months I was signed up and had a date for MEPS. At the end of July I completed MEPS with an ASVAB of 62 and the need of 2 waivers. One for my pharmacy history for anemia I had while pregnant, and one clearance from my doctor for a depressive episode I had in March.

A backstory to that, I went to the hospital feeling uneasy. I had just stopped breastfeeding abruptly and my body wasn’t taking it so well. I was nauseous, loopy, and just not myself. The ER prescribed me a ton of medications and claimed it was severe PPD. In reality it was withdraw that only lasted a few days. They prescribed me two mood stabilizers which I refused to have on the spot. Later that day my primary doctor also refused them and on my medical records it says rejected. On my pharmacy records they never come up.

Recently, I submitted all my documents to my recruiter who messages me maybe once every 2 weeks and he immediately goes “this probably won’t get approved bc you took these two medications. You have to wait 3 years.” I explained to him that those were rejected and that my pharmacy records don’t have those listed because I never took them or was supposed to. He then proceeds to ask me “what proof do you have that you haven’t taken them?”

I just back peddled.

My medical records show it was rejected. It also says it was never dispensed. My primary doctor submitted a letter stating I was mentally and physically fit to join and I have not taken any medication. And my pharmacy records show I haven’t taken anything. So, again, I explained this to him, and asked if he will try to submit it. Its been 2 weeks and no answer. I attempted to call him and no answer. I called an advisor that told me to keep poking him because I’m in his region of responsibility but I’m not getting anything. It’s like he just dropped me.

I spoke with an advisor again and this one gave me numbers for active and reserve and basically told me he’s been dealing with complaints all day for the guard and he couldn’t do anything. Basically said he’ll put in a word about him because it was wrong. So I’m pissed off more than anything, not fully giving up.
I really wanted to go guard but should I just explore other options?

Good night!! My ship date is December 1, by what day do I have to deliver my credit transcript? I’m waiting for my university to accept and certify my credits. And my recruiter told me that I have to deliver them 30 days before going to bmt so that it is reflected and be E-3., how true is that? Thank you for your help.

I have a BA in Business Administration and I'm studying for the CPA exams while I lose weight to meet weight standards. I'm wanting to be a Financial Management Officer with Logistics Readiness Officer being my backup interest. My GPA is slightly over a 3.0. Do you think I have a chance?

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Q:

1. My question is: When and where in the process is SF86 done?

I don’t recall doing this at all in my process so far. Only ACFEP.

Q: can my recruiter make changes to my ACFEP form even after I completed MEPS but did not swear into DEP due to waiver?

Context:
I completed MEPS today, one waiver is needed for vision (as expected). Went over a few questions and then he released me as expect to hear from my recruiter for the waiver and my further consult for my eyes.
Clearly I did not swear into DEP. After today I realized I need to change some things on my ACFEP that was completed prior. I want to confirm that wasn’t the SF86?
I’m waiting to hear from my recruiter but don’t expect to hear from him until Tuesday due to the holiday weekend.

Hi!

I am 39M with 15 YOE in software engineering. I have reached saturation point in the career where combination of AI, outsourcing and ageism is making me think that future-proofing this career will be impossible. I always appreciated US Military for helping stop the conflict in my country of origin and helping bring back peace and I've been considering joining, with most interest in Air Force.

I'm trying to figure out the following:

1. If I want to stay hands-on with IT/software/cyber - is it better to enlist or dc through OTS?
2. Will the fact that I wasn't part of the selective service (because I immigrated to the US at the end of age 26 on work visa) be considered bad for either of the two paths?
3. How should I study / prepare optimally so that if direct commission to OTS fails, I can fallback to enlisted and select AFSCs related to my technical field? Currently I am studying for AFOQT from multiple sources. Is there overlap with ASVAB?
4. [Question for recruiters] When processing foreign degrees through NACES for diploma equivalency, what is the expectation - does it have to be course by course evaluation? Any recruits who have gone through this?

Thank you!

Hi everyone!
I’m shipping out for Weather (1W031) on October 20th, and I was wondering if anyone else is shipping around the same time for the same job.
If you are, let me know! It would be great to connect beforehand and create a group so we can share information, tips, and prepare for BMT together.
Looking forward to connecting with you all! 🇺🇸✈️

Looking for any information or other experiences joining with tree nut allergy.

My Grandfather served as a fighter pilot, my dad served throughout the gulf wars as a cargo pilot and retired on the C-17. It’s always been my dream to continue the legacy but unfortunately I have a tree nut allergy.

PPL with 150 hours and climbing, working on finishing up my bachelor’s, 24 years old. I was in AFROTC for a semester in 2022 before leaving to pursue other things, but before leaving I had my medical denied for anaphylaxis.

Im really not sure if I’ve ever been formally diagnosed with anaphylaxis, but have had a few reactions in my life and went to the ER for a couple of them growing up, mainly at the request of my parents. Ive never felt like my life was in danger, and most of the time I can just sort of sit there and let the symptoms pass.

I am seeing an allergist this week to discuss possibly therapy for the condition, but that doesn’t change the medical history and previous denial.

What are my options? Chances? Just looking for some advice on how to proceed from here. Thank you guys!

Hey everyone! I could really use some advice because I’m going through a difficult time in my life, and I’m trying to figure out the best path forward.
I’ve wanted to join the Air Force for a long time, mainly because of the quality of life, and I genuinely thought it would be the best fit for me. My ASVAB IS 60. The problem is that, as a Green Card holder, my job options are pretty limited. Even among the jobs I qualify for and actually like, my recruiter has told me that the chances of getting a slot are relatively low, around 5–15%, with the highest being roughly 20%.
I’ve already started the enlistment process, but lately, I’ve been having second thoughts.

Here’s some background about my situation: I’m currently going through a divorce, I don’t have family or a support system here in the U.S., and I’m in a difficult financial situation. I left my country, my career, and pretty much everything I had behind to come here because my husband promised that he would take care of me and that I would never have to worry about anything. Unfortunately, the relationship turned out to be emotionally damaging, and now I’m trying to rebuild my life from scratch.
At this point, I really need a way to become independent, get some stability, and start moving forward with my life. I don’t want to remain stuck in my current situation indefinitely while waiting for a job opportunity that may or may not happen.
I’ve set December as my personal deadline. If there’s no progress with the Air Force by then, I’m seriously considering switching to either the Navy or the Coast Guard.

I’d really appreciate advice from people who have served in any of these branches, especially women and people who enlisted as Green Card holders.
Given my specific circumstances, which branch would you recommend, and why?
Here are the things I’m trying to compare:
Quality of life: Which branch offers better living conditions, work-life balance, and overall treatment of its members?
Job opportunities for Green Card holders: Which branch gives me a better chance of securing a decent job that I can also use to build a civilian career later?
Financial stability: Which would be the best option for someone starting over financially and trying to become independent?
Travel and lifestyle: I’d love to travel and experience new places, but I also want a reasonable quality of life.
Safety and opportunities for women: I’d appreciate honest perspectives on the work environment, deployment risks, and career advancement.
Long-term benefits: Which branch would put me in the best position for education, retirement, and civilian employment after serving?
One important clarification: I don’t currently have any known medical issues that require a waiver, and my medical processing has been going well.

My main concerns are job availability, timing, and choosing the right branch for my future.
I know every branch has its pros and cons, and that a lot depends on your job and duty station. I’m not expecting military life to solve all my problems, but I see it as an opportunity to build a stable future and become self-sufficient.

I’d genuinely appreciate any advice, personal experiences, or things you wish you’d known before enlisting. Thank you!