Originally Posted by Golden Flyer
How is it in the air force? Is it possible to have a social life and have fun out of work? Visit family etc... Do you guys find it demanding? Better to go civilian route?
Well, Friday the 13th back in August of '82 was my first day of active duty, and no regrets so far!
Of course there are always ups and downs, but overall the friends I've made are lifelong (even if we don't send christmas cards regularly), we can not talk to each other for two years and then run across one another and pick right up where we left off.
The "US vs. THEM" squabbles you see between management and the workforce at FedEx, UPS, etc. is very, very rare in the military. "Upper management" in a flying squadron usually started out where the pilots they lead, not as a direct-hire management pilot like you may see in the civilian outfits. We are more on the same page as far as objectives go, the camarderie is usually pretty good between the managers and "worker bees."
It's not all perfect in the Air Force, of course. Since we started the Air Expeditionary Force system, you can count on being deployed for 4 months out of the year in such garden spots as Balad, Kandahar, etc. The family life for a military pilot is usually worse than the civilian counterpart with regard to time away from home and additional duties when you are home. The FedEx pilot can schedule his next month of flying (or reserve) and know what his schedule has in store; the military pilot may get called for a three-week trip with two days notice. When the military pilot is at home, they usually have an office job or other additional duty whereas the FedEx pilot is HOME, period.
I could go on forever, but you should ask some more specific questions instead of me boring you silly with "war stories."
Best of Luck,
Dave.