Originally Posted by MooseAg03

This kid sounds like a lot of military pilots including myself, he's probably wanted to fly since he was old enough to know what an airplane was. Would I be in the AF right now if I had not had the opportunity to be a pilot? Absolutely not. I come from an entire family of civilian pilots and I'm proud to wear the uniform every day I go to work, but I can't say I would have chosen to serve if I hadn't had the opportunity to be a pilot. I know for a fact I would not have signed a 10 year commitment if I thought that time wasn't going to be spent flying airplanes. When I submitted my OTS package I only selected "Pilot" as a job choice, not Nav, not ABM and definitely not "Needs of the AF." Call me selfish, throw the Service Before Self line at me, but that's the way it is.

Look at the debacle that our budget process, force shaping, and government in general has become... I don't think I would want any of my kids to follow my path into the service. I would support them if that's what they truly want to do, but I would be brutally honest with them about what kind of environment they will be signing their life away to be a part of.