Joining the Armed forces

[ssj245]

I might have asked this question already but I am not sure about my choice.

I want to join the airforce and become a fighter pilot.

The thing is that they dont make alot of money and they must spend alot of time away from family.

Its a job which I can see myself enjoy so much, and do what I have always wanted to do.

I feel that though the armed forces if I get the chance to be a pilot that I wont have time for other things and that Im scared my life wont turn out to be the way I want it to be.

I wanted my life to turn to be like a club going, BMW driving hot shot who isnt afraid of anything that sleeps with diffrent women everyday and lives in a nice apartment in some lofty city that flies fighter jets for a living.

Thats only in the movies Im guessing.

I figured I join the airforce and I get to fly and I prob will never get bored, and fly and love my job and on top of that, it will turn me into a total bad-ass and a person with more character and confidence.

But the whole many women and nice apartment isnt looking too bright, since as a Airforce fighter pilot you spend so much time on the base and in the air and you dont make that much money.

 

[Phoenix_of_the_ashes]

Yeah, Topgun was an awesome movie.

Dont even join yet buddy, its obvious that your not mature enough to decide yet.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Every Air Force recruit wants to be a pilot. But they only let officers be pilots. Join ROTC and let them pay for college before you go in. Even if you can get a commission as an officer, there is still a lot of competition for the pilot jobs. They give you a lot of tests. They screen out a lot of people for traits that they can't help, like vision, depth perception, height/weight. There is also a type of intelligence test they give you where you look at pictures of complex geometric shapes, and pick out how they would look reversed or up-side-down.

If you just want to be a pilot of some sort, anyone with enough money to pay for the training hours can get a civilian pilot's license. The limiting factor is usually the money.

 

[oakraiderz2]

They make a lot of money actually. I have a friend whos dad is a pilot and they have plenty of money.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Yeah, the salaries for commercial pilots are high. But for someone starting out to get a basic pilot's license, it will cost them a few thousand dollars to pay for the required hours in the plane.

If you want to be a military pilot, you have a better chance of flying something in the Army. But if you join the Army, they are sending you to Iraq. I have two cousins there now. It's not a place you want to be. One cousin had his seargent bleed to death in his arms because they would not send the medevac helicopter. They said it was too risky. I think the real reason is that they were not going to risk the lives of an officer pilot and an expensive helicopter to save the life of a lowly infantry seargent. A shot-down helicopter makes news in the US; a shot-down seargent does not.