Colorado Technical University

Joining air force reserves as a post-BA grad...?

I am defending my Master's this summer and evaluating the possibility of military employment. Problem is: I know nothing about it. No one on either side (parents in law or blood relatives) of my family has serves in any way. Thus, I hope someone can answer a few questions for me. 1. My Master's is in Foreign Policy/Migration. Does a degree like that qualify me for a higher post in the reserves (officer)? 2. If I get rectruited..How do things proceed from there...Do I go off to training school, leaving my hubby/10 month old behind for a few months? 3. As a reserve, do I then come back to a chosen station (in my home state, hopefully) and live on base (with dependants) I really apologize if my question sounds ignorant...I am really just getting started understanding the different branches of the military, the various careers possible, etc. I really would like a meaningful, interesting job. I put in a request for an advisor to contact me, but have not heard back yet as it is the weekend. Thank you in advance for information.

Public Comments

1. With a Bachelor's, you can apply for officer Candidate school. I don't know how easy or how hard it is to become an Officer in the Air Force. But I know about the Army. Talk to a recruiter and tell them about your degree. They'll tell you what they can offer you.
2. Having a BA should qualify you for officer's status. You best get it in writing though. Seriously. Don't believe the recruiter when they say "you can take care of that when you're in." You should push for the officer's status as it will mean better pay and better treatment. You should be careful in assuming that you will be able to come home right away. The idea behind the reserves is that you stay at home and do training on the weekend and then for a few weeks out of the year, but if there's a need for more people in the regular air force, you're called up. Hence the term reserves. Think of like being on the bench in a basketball game or as back-up. The problem with today is that overall there are less people joining the regular forces (full time) so there's a much greater chance of you being called up to go full time. Once you sign the dotted line, you're agreeing to be ready to be called up whenever the Air Force sees fit for the next eight years. This is not meant to discourage you but you need to be realistic. I think you'll be assigned to a base nearest your home but I'm not sure. I don't think you get to live on the base as a reservist.
3. 1) Having your bachelors means you can apply for OCS or OTS. These are commissioning programs that if accepted into and completed, will result in your commissioning as a 2nd Lt. (officer). YOU DO NOT APPLY FOR THESE THROUGH REGULAR RECRUITERS. Go to the website of the military service you wish to join, click the commissioning options, then fill out whatever info they have. An Officer Selection Officer will call you, after a few days. Anyway, your degree isn't exactly a technical degree, so you'll have a harder time getting accepted into OCS/OTS. They tend to go for degrees that have "engineer" at the end of it. Business degrees are also good ones since most programs will teach you leadership and you also have to be good at math, similar to engineering degrees. 2) Now, assuming you join, if you did become an Officer, you'll easily be away from your family for at least 8-9 months, but probably longer. If you just enlist as a regular recruit, you'll be away for less time, but not by much, depending on your MOS (job). If you enlist, because of your degree, you'll enter with a higher rank, usually around E-3 or E-4 (typical recruit enters as E-1). 3) If you're a reserve, you don't get the regular benefits of active duty military. You won't get base housing and things like that. You just get paid a few bucks a year to train, unless deployed (off to war). At this point, you either need to join ACTIVE DUTY or just finish school. I don't think you'd get accepted into a commissioning program with your degree. Your GPA also has to be about 3.5 to realistically be competitive.