Does anyone have any experience with Air Force recruiting recently? Perhaps last 12 months. My nephew just graduated college and has been talking to recruiters. He’s very specific regarding Air Force security officer. So far, he’s been told he has to go enlisted first. I find that hard to believe given every branch has an officers program.

Anyone with insight know if the AF is getting tight with commissions or is the recruiter giving us typical recruiter BS?

Typical recruiter bullshit.

Recruiters will always try to steer people to Enlist, even when that person should be steered towards a commission.

This lays it out. Having graduated, he needs to apply and get accepted to OTS.

https://www.airforce.com/how-to-join/process/officer

That link basically lays it all out and can't make it any easier.

quote:

Originally posted by PD:
Does anyone have any experience with Air Force recruiting recently? Perhaps last 12 months. My nephew just graduated college and has been talking to recruiters. He’s very specific regarding Air Force security officer. So far, he’s been told he has to go enlisted first. I find that hard to believe given every branch has an officers program.

Anyone with insight know if the AF is getting tight with commissions or is the recruiter giving us typical recruiter BS?

I’d guess you’re getting the bs. Find the officers selection office.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Typical recruiter bullshit.

Recruiters will always try to steer people to Enlist, even when that person should be steered towards a commission.

This lays it out. Having graduated, he needs to apply and get accepted to OTS.

https://www.airforce.com/how-to-join/process/officer

That link basically lays it all out and can't make it any easier.

Thanks. I familiar with the site but the recruiter is saying no billets available. Don’t believe her. As JJ suggested, I need to hunt down an officers selection office.

AFMPC determines how many are needed. They provide those quotas to Recruiting Service and the requirements change often. If there are no AD slots and he really wants Security Forces officer talk to Air Guard and Air Reserve recruiters. Many officers entered AD service by way of Guard and Reserve. The recruiter obviously needs Security Forces enlisted to meet quotas.

Or wait them out.

If he has his degree or is about to finish, tell him not to enlist, head straight to zero's section.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
If he has his degree or is about to finish, tell him not to enlist, head straight to zero's section.

Thanks. First order of business on Monday.

Back when I went in, I talked to ALL of them. That is all branches, including the Reserves of some flavors. This was for Officer programs.

The needs & entrance requirements vary with the times & Service. I would recommend a wider net, have him check into more than just the AF.

quote:

Originally posted by PD:

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
If he has his degree or is about to finish, tell him not to enlist, head straight to zero's section.

Thanks. First order of business on Monday.

Also realize that because there are fewer Commission Officer billets, more patience is needed to obtain one.

Competition for the billets is high. Selection boards happen periodically, not every week or even every month. OTS / OCS classes make up product tha ROTC / Service academy’s aren’t filling, but those positions already have a slot. So if numbers need to go down, they cut from OTS / OCS billets first, because ROTC / Service Academy already has bodies in the pipeline.

It will likely take months or even a year to secure a slot. It’s not like Enlisted positions where they need more bodies and are running people through at a much greater pace.

Again, patience - it can be a marathon sometimes. Lots of people will say ‘no’ (like the recruiter). But don’t take their word as law, because usually it isn’t.

What kind of security?


Air police?

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
What kind of security?


Air police?

Air Police ceased to exist in the mid-1960s and became Security Police. In the mid-1990s, they became Security Forces.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...orce_Security_Forces

Unless things have changed recently the Air Force has separate enlisted recruiters and OTS recruiters. An enlisted recruiter has zero incentive to to help him even talk to an officer recruiter.

Your nephew needs to find a recruiter who is assigned to recruit for Officer Training School.

Much advice for locating recruiters and navigating the frustrating OTS app process can be found on the airforceots.com discussion forum.

Also, you say your nephew is interested in Security Forces (SF), which suggests an interest in LE. He needs to understand that USAF SF officers go through the LE training, but will be managers, and do little to no actual LE work.

Check back with his college and see if there is an officer recruiter that has a relation with the school. The Marine OCS recruiter used to stop by my college a couple times a year.

Also apply on the website Rhino posted.

I'd recommend googling the Air Forces officer manning levels. They may be filing most of their billets through the AF academy and ROTC.

quote:

Originally posted by PD:
. . .My nephew just graduated college and has been talking to recruiters. He’s very specific regarding Air Force security officer. So far, he’s been told he has to go enlisted first. I find that hard to believe given every branch has an officers program. . .

Question, PD: Why didn't your nephew go through ROTC while he was in college? That route would've been the most obvious gateway to the commission he wants, and would've helped him cover his college expenses, too.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
What kind of security?


Air police?

The website is useless. No point in even posting. Very pretty but useless.

I’m retired Navy but Air Force security appears to be a respectable career; force protection, nuke security, etc. (It’s not like the AF is going to let anyone walk up to to the most expensive high tech aircraft in the world).

We’ve had lengthy conversations. This is what he wants. While still in college he completed some very intensive internships with government law enforcement agencies. Graduated college at 21 so he’s ahead of the curve and he can probably walk into a special agent application process with DEA, FBI, or ATF. However, he wants to serve his country on active duty FIRST. I’m in no position to say no. Just don’t want him to get stuck as an enlisted guy like his uncle.

quote:

Originally posted by PD:

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
What kind of security?


Air police?

The website is useless. No point in even posting. Very pretty but useless.

I’m retired Navy but Air Force security appears to be a respectable career; force protection, nuke security, etc. (It’s not like the AF is going to let anyone walk up to to the most expensive high tech aircraft in the world).

We’ve had lengthy conversations. This is what he wants. While still in college he completed some very intensive internships with government law enforcement agencies. Graduated college at 21 so he’s ahead of the curve and he can probably walk into a special agent application process with DEA, FBI, or ATF. However, he wants to serve his country on active duty FIRST. I’m in no position to say no. Just don’t want him to get stuck as an enlisted guy like his uncle.

Send me an email at my profile email. I did a lot of years AF and AF reserve. I may be able to provide some useful information.

Has he considered AF OSI if he’s a college grad, sharp kid, and interested in special agent stuff?

As Chief Hayes suggests, you might consider Reserve or Air National Guard. I used to be an ART (Air Reserve Technician). Not a lot of people know about the program. There may be an option to get a commission in the Reserves and a full time federal civilian position as well. Depending on whether your nephew wants to travel a lot or not, the Reserves has some pretty good options which can lead to an active duty commission or a dual reserve commission along with a full time federal civilian career.

I would be very weary of active duty recruiters who attempt to steer your nephew towards enlisting if he has his bachelor's degree and qualifies for OTS.

quote:

Originally posted by PD:
. . . Air Force security appears to be a respectable career; force protection, nuke security, etc. (It’s not like the AF is going to let anyone walk up to to the most expensive high tech aircraft in the world).

While it's an important, and respectable, mission, he probably should look elsewhere if being a Criminal Investigator (aka Special Agent), with a federal LE agency is his goal. As I said earlier, as an officer he will be almost entirely a manager, not actually doing the work of LE and/or security.

Second, with you saying he wants to serve in the military prior to going into fed LE, he should be looking at the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI). OSI is a military criminal investigative organization (MCIO), just like Army Criminal Investigations Division (CID), Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), and the Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS).

OSI like the others IS federal law enforcement, but they concentrate on cases with a nexus to the USAF. OSI has "civilian" GS-1811 Criminal Investigators (using the title of Special Agent), and military (officer and enlisted) Special Agents.

Many years ago the only to get into OSI as officer, through OTS was to be a prior enlisted Special Agent. That is no longer true. OSI now accepts people without that prior enlisted experience with OSI. When I went through the OSI Academy we had two such officers in my class, and there was one in the class ahead of us.

Applying, and getting into, OSI will help later when applying to other "1811" jobs (FBI, DEA, ATF, HSI, USMS, etc), if he does a good job working cases with OSI. He would be getting real world experience working complex criminal investigations (something he won't get in Security Forces), and will likely work joint cases with agents from other agencies. That will help with both figuring out which agencies he'd really enjoy working for, and for getting recommendations in the hiring process.

It's very competitive to get OSI, especially as brand new 2Lt, and and even more when trying to commission through OTS. However, that would seem the best way to serve in the military, and set himself up for his future goals.

quote:

While still in college he completed some very intensive internships with government law enforcement agencies. Graduated college at 21 so he’s ahead of the curve and he can probably walk into a special agent application process with DEA, FBI, or ATF.

While it's possible to walk right out of an undergrad into a GS-1811 Criminal Investigator job (aka Special Agent, but also includes Deputy Marshals and Postal Inspectors), it's very rare. The internships might help, but usually only with the agency he interned with, and not others. Even then it only slightly increases the chances.

Most interns at my current agency are rejected at the 1st step in the process, and advised to get more life experience. It's extremely rare one of our interns gets hired, unless they are not only truly exceptional when interning, but have acquired "life experience" outside of college. Often those are military vets, who went to college while in the military of after getting out, and are older than the typical undergrad interns.

In addition to upping the odds through an internship, sometimes agencies are short on special skills, and will have periods (sometimes brief, sometimes long) where those possessing those skills are heavily recruited, even if they are fresh out of their undergrad.

Most fed agencies, when hiring Special Agents, want a few years of "life experience" after earning the undergrad. For example, you mention the FBI as a possibility. He would have to wait an additional two years, since they have a minimum age requirement of 21. Even then, with rare exception, they require 3 years of "professional work experience," which is fairly narrowly defined in the following way:
"For Special Agents, professional work experience is defined as having work experience in:

- Any occupation that requires a college degree, and may include specialized training; and/or

- Any position that includes managerial, supervisory, or leadership; and/or

- Professional Athletics such as a full-time career participating in Major League sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, etc.) or International Competitions (Olympics).

Summer jobs, internships, seasonal positions, temporary employment and/or volunteer work are generally not considered in the professional work experience category.

In addition to the definition above, the FBI determines if an applicant meets the professional work experience requirement based on the general requirements needed to perform Special Agent duties."

So, in general if he's motivated to serve in the military it might help with his future plans. However, given his stated goal of fed LE as an 1811, he should really make OSI his top choice when applying to USAF OTS.