Air Force reserves, officer training, and college?
Question by Zach H: Air Force reserves, officer training, and college?
I am currently a Junior in High School and I am interested in enlisting in the Air Force reserves, and use that to pay for a college education. Where would I start or even begin this process. I am also interest in attending some kind of officer training academy, and graduating 1st or 2nd Lieutenant. ROTC, or OCS. What it really comes down to is that I don’t really know in which order I would do what. Or what kind of traveling I would have to do. I do know however that a friend of mine’s cousin is in the Air Force reserve and he was suppose to get a paid education, but something went wrong with paperwork. But right now he is doing boarder patrol in Mexico, which isn’t the greatest job, but I figured I would serve my term and then retire from the military and go into what ever I went to college for. Thanks for you input
Best answer:
Answer by Nicholas E
all of your specifications are saying that the air force acadamy would be perfect for you because when you graduate you are immedeatly in the resurves unless if you want to join right away but the great thing is if you can make it in it is totally free that is where i plan to go
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This is exactly what I’m doing. I went from high school to college where I immediately joined ROTC, but then I dropped out of college because I could no longer afford it and joined the AF Reserve. I’m now in the process of rejoining ROTC, because you can actually be in ROTC AND the Reserve until 30 days prior to commissioning. One of the other cadets at my detachment is prior enlisted too and they told him it would be better if he switched contracts from Reserve to ROTC, although now he’s saying he would have made so much more money if he’d stayed enlisted until the last minute like I plan to do (GI Bill/Tuition Assistance, plus a guaranteed job until you’re ready to switch to an ROTC contract).
OCS, particularly Air Force OCS, is more competitive to get into than Harvard (I’ve heard between a 10-14% acceptance rate). Your best bet for a “sure” commission is ROTC.
I’m not sure what you mean by “what order” - in terms of commissioning source, you can only go through one, be it the academy, OTS, or ROTC. If you mean you don’t know if you want to join the Reserves first, you can only really join the Reserve BEFORE commissioning because once you commission you will be placed on active duty and can only go reserve after you’ve served out your initial contract commitment. You will graduate as a 2nd LT, unless you become a doctor, lawyer, or chaplain (those AFSCs have expedited promotions and you would graduate as a 1st Lt or even Capt if you went those routes).
Your friend’s cousin sounds like a unique case. I wouldn’t worry about it. There’s no reason why, if he has served honorably, he would not be entitled to the GI Bill/Tuition assistance, so there might be more to the story than you’ve been let in on. I have never heard of anyone being denied their educational benefits and being made to serve in a different branch in Mexico.
BTW, you retire after 20 years of service.