Anyone in the coast guard or air force? need help guys

[alindeman1989]

so i have been looking more and more into joining the coast guard but would like to hear some first hand experience from some of you guys on here before i go into the recruiter or make any rash choices. I was also thinking of maybe the air force cause a lot of my buddies are in it and love it, but that's not the reason i would like to join. also for the coast guard when i test what jobs should i avoid or what are the better jobs?

[fliprayzin240sx]

so i have been looking more and more into joining the coast guard but would like to hear some first hand experience from some of you guys on here before i go into the recruiter or make any rash choices. I was also thinking of maybe the air force cause a lot of my buddies are in it and love it, but that's not the reason i would like to join. also for the coast guard when i test what jobs should i avoid or what are the better jobs?

Coast Guard is actually harder to get into. Very selective and you'd have to wait a while for your job to open up. I had an uncle who joined the Coast Guard. He liked it but he had to wait a year to get his job lined up. Basically he got done with Basic Training, usually you go to your tech school right after. Well, his job did not have any opening for him so he had to work odd jobs on boats until then. He ended up waiting and working as a deck hand for almost a year.

[HalveBlue]

Like flipr said, the Coast Guard is pretty selective as it's the smallest of all the armed services.

Don't know much about the Coasties except little anecdotal stories here and there. A few years ago I actually thought about transferring into the USCG...

Anyway, talk to a recruiter to get more info. Also, might be worth going to a USCG station near you and talking to people there to see what it's like.

Good Luck!

[alindeman1989]

so would you guys recommed the air force instead? so if i joined the coast guard i would like sign up and have a wait super long to go to basic? or like after basic i would be haveing to basicly kill time till my job opens up. i was reading online that at basic like one of the last weeks you pic the distric you want to work in. so if i pick my distric do i just wait on base till it opens or how does this all work?

[VAs13]

i was looking into the coast guard back in september went and talked to them. its about a 1 year waiting period. My father is in the coast guard, hes getting ready to retire next year with 30yrs in. he tells me these things about too many people in the coast guard, and how if the older gents want to get out they are letting them where as it wasnt that easy before. but with the economy being the way it is most want to stay in.

[lewisfk]

First of the coast guard is a part of the home land security and only falls under armed services during war! The coast guard is small but they use the same rank structure as the navy! They dont have a medical section so they rely on the nearest military treatment facility (MTF)! If I had the choice I would go air force do to the nature of the jobs! Air Force personnel have a better chance of getting their civilian equivalent! What I mean by that is, the training you will receive will translate into a job in the civilian sector! Regardless if u do 20 years in the service or 4, make sure u have a future when its all said and done!

[alindeman1989]

yeah maybe ill look more going into the air force instead. after i test what jobs should i try to aviod. i know not to go open on anything cause you always get screwed over. and i know matanice is brutel my buddy does it. what would you guys recommend? What should i know about basic like the does and dont. i assume dont say anything dumb back to them.

[HalveBlue]

Step 1. Talk to a recruiter. He'll answer a lot of your question. Depending on the recruiter he might feed you a lot of BS also.

Remember, if it ain't in writing it doesn't exist.

But yeah, talk to a recruiter first. Then go from there.

[drewford]

My brother is a coastie. Your place to start depends on your performance in boot camp. The higher placement, the more likely you will get your 1st, 2nd, etc choice of location. He was placed in FL but alot of his boys had to go to Alaska and Guam. After basic, he did 2 years in FL doing boat crew things until he was accepted into A school (which is their tech program). There is a long wait into the school and its based on points so the more points, the higher on the list to get in. After finishing A school there were no spots for him in So Cal, so he went with the Bay Area, where he is finishing his duty. That's only a short summary of his term.

Best advice is to go to the recruiter and ask ALOT of questions.