I'll let people with experience flying fighters or helicopters speak on the difficulty needed to down one of their aircraft or how thrilling each one is. The consensus seems to be you'll be thrilled with whatever you fly.

You're probably right: the danger aspect is probably not the reason most people join the military. I do think many people consider it because of the machismo factor of: "how would I react to that situation? would I be brave or would I use my pants as a restroom?" Perhaps I wasn't clear about the way I phrased it. Having a family full of law enforcement and military servicemen, I've been able to see many people with many reasons to serve. Not the least of which is: "it's a hard job, but who better to answer the call than me?"

However, you did key in on something truly great in an earlier post, which is the chance to do something that really impacts the way we live. You are still young enough to give this decision a good long thinking over. Honestly, do as well as you can in school, pick a major you enjoy, maybe try to get in some flying over the next few years and see how you feel when you're 21. If flying for the military no longer interests you, you'll still have some flight experience and a good GPA.

I guess you don't remember the USCG helos getting fired upon during Katrina by some fine Americans in New Orleans.

I got news for you. In today's deployed environment you WILL put your life at risk. If this is your criteria for picking an airframe or service then do all of us, and yourself a huge favor and don't join.

I don't. Why the hell would they do that?

I'm not going to repeat myself again, so I suggest you read some of my posts responding to this.

I did read your post and based on them once again I advise you to NOT JOIN the service.

werent those army national guard helicopters? either way. i wish people here would shoot at me so i can shoot them in the face.

blujay, i think you'd be surprised at the thrill of riding in/flying a helicopter in the profiles that the military flies them. and you fly them, they don't fly themselves with an autopilot. also, they inherently want to crash unlike a plane that has dynamic/static stability. so, you get to "fly" them constantly. we dont get shot down all that much. hostile fire accounts for a lot fewer accidents than midairs and wire/tower strikes.

but whatever floats your boat or sinks your ship. i haven't talked to any military pilot who didn't like his airframe or job.

So if the desire to serve your country and so something that really matters in the real world instead of sitting behind a desk are terrible reasons for joining the service, what are some good ones? I would like to know.

What exactly are you looking for here? You showed up ostensibly looking for advice, yet you have chosen to ignore or argue every piece you've been given. What is it you want?

Hey, I'm not a military pilot - I'm another hopeful like yourself. I'll relate a little bit of information/advice that I've picked up around the internet and in talking to a handful of recruiters for various services. Most of this you probably already know, but hopefully this will be a decent rough summary of military aviation. For those more knowledgeable than myself, please feel free to correct me if I misstate or misrepresent something.

1. For just about anything except for the army or army national guard, you pretty much have to have a college degree. Typically you go through some sort of boot camp, then officer training, and then flight training. At each stage you can be washed out for physical or other problems, including just plain not being good enough. It is a very competitive environment, but it seems that most people who are smart, hardworking, motivated, and thick-skinned are able to eventually get to where they want to be, barring medical disqualification.

2. Regardless of what people end up flying, or what they thought they wanted to fly initially, most military aviators I've talked to seem to swear by the notion that their aircraft is the best and they wouldn't trade it for anything.

3. Pretty much any military aviator except maybe instructor pilots will be deployed at some point. For how long, and what the lifestyle will be like during deployment varies wildly from one service to the next. ANG fighter units tend to deploy for as little as 3 months; army guard units deploy for a year or more, but as infrequently as once every 5 years. So, even if you go reserves/guard, plan on spending a good amount of time away from home, both for routine training and drill weekends, but especially for the several deployments that you will undoubtedly go through.

4. Take a look at the reserves. The Army National Guard operates various types of helicopters and a few types of fixed-wing transports. The Air Force Reserve has fighter, tanker, transport, and other units, flying everything from F-16's to C-130's. The Air National Guard has similar missions, with more fighter squadrons. One of these reserve services may be a good fit because you can still maintain some semblance of a civilian career, although you'll probably be deployed a few times, for anywhere from 3 months to a year depending on your airframe and your unit.

5. Another advantage of the reserves (although this is sometimes possible through AD too) is that it may be possible to make your service dependent upon getting a flight slot, which may help to ensure that you have the role of your choice in the military. To be specific, for the ANG, you apply to a particular unit for a particular role, e.g. to be a F-16 pilot. You either get in or you don't. Once you get in, provided you make it through all the training and tests, you know what you'll be flying, and where you'll be based. Which is nice if you've already got a family or what not.

And, as a general piece of advice, make full use of the internet, recruiters, and active service people. Different people will tell you different things, so don't take anything as fact until you see it in writing in an official document. Even different recruiters will give you different stories, so take everything with a grain of salt. There are lots of resources out there, and they all have their own advantages and disadvantages. Examine all your possible options, and do some serious soul-searching before you sign anything.

All of that is hopefully pretty much common sense, but maybe it helps to give you some general orientation as to military aviation, as I know it so far.