Air Force Officer Opportunities

[Anonymous]

I have a good buddy in living in Switzerland who has suddenly decided she wants to be an Air Force officer, in the Intel field, and perhaps someday get a position at the CIA or NSA. Well I am Army enlisted Intel, and the only Air Force I have worked with are other linguists, so I am not very knowledgeable on this. I only know Air Force slots are becoming harder to get because of OEF/OIF.

So a question or two:
Do you have to have a scientific degree to be an officer? My friend majored in International Studies or something like that. Are there particular times of year it is best to apply for an officer slot? How long is the process from walking into a recruiter's office to getting a slot at OTS? She's also had surgery on her ACL after a skiing incident in aforementioned Switzerland, though to make matters somewhat less complicated she was mainly treated stateside.

Of course I told the girl she should be in the Army, but she says she wouldn't handle the mud and ruck marches and getting shot at very well. So thought I'd venture over here and ask you ladies, being subject-area experts:). Thanks a ton.

[Anonymous]

First thing first, the ACL is disqualifying BUT waiverable. She will need to bring the recruiter the pre-op and post-op paperwork...

Now to the nitty gritty. Intel is the most popular career field out there. This job is VERY hard to get. Currently, we are not even taking applications from Non-technical majors till July. (Don't need to have a scientific degree for Intel) The Air Force is going through Force Reshaping and we just don't need non-techs for a while. Most of our intel officers are not linguists. The enlisted folks are linguists.
The Academy and ROTC folks take all the intel officer jobs when they come available, so when we get an applicant that wants Intel going through OTS, we have them pick other career fields in case Intel is not available. When we do have selection boards available for non-technical majors (all majors other than fully educated Engineers) it is sooooo competitive.

Once we do have non-tech boards, it could take up to a year to leave for OTS depending upon the needs of the Air Force.

The quickest way to become an officer through OTS at this time is to sign up for Navigator. This could take 4-6 months. Our recruiting surge time is in the beginning of the Fiscal Year, 1 Oct, or at the end of the fiscal year 1-30 Sep.

I am still in the business so I am apprised of all the changes.


She can wait it out or apply for Navigator, as long as she passes the physical and meets the age requirement. For Navigator, it is 28.

Retired Recruiter

[Anonymous]

First thing first, the ACL is disqualifying BUT waiverable. She will need to bring the recruiter the pre-op and post-op paperwork...

Now to the nitty gritty. Intel is the most popular career field out there. This job is VERY hard to get. Currently, we are not even taking applications from Non-technical majors till July. (Don't need to have a scientific degree for Intel) The Air Force is going through Force Reshaping and we just don't need non-techs for a while. Most of our intel officers are not linguists. The enlisted folks are linguists.
The Academy and ROTC folks take all the intel officer jobs when they come available, so when we get an applicant that wants Intel going through OTS, we have them pick other career fields in case Intel is not available. When we do have selection boards available for non-technical majors (all majors other than fully educated Engineers) it is sooooo competitive.

Once we do have non-tech boards, it could take up to a year to leave for OTS depending upon the needs of the Air Force.

The quickest way to become an officer through OTS at this time is to sign up for Navigator. This could take 4-6 months. Our recruiting surge time is in the beginning of the Fiscal Year, 1 Oct, or at the end of the fiscal year 1-30 Sep.

I am still in the business so I am apprised of all the changes.


She can wait it out or apply for Navigator, as long as she passes the physical and meets the age requirement. For Navigator, it is 28.

Retired Recruiter

[Anonymous]

Don't believe she will be back stateside until summer, regardless. October would be the best time to apply, or should she apply for possible acceptance in October?

I thought the field might be more competitive than she was thinking. She's a Rhodes scholar though, even if her degree is non-technical. A case could be made that non-technical is better for certain fields in intel:). Technical systems are much less complicated than the intricate Arab tribal system of distributing influence and resources, for instance. (This may be more relevant to ground forces.) However, policy is policy, we run into it all the time in the Army.

I was aware that most linguist positions in the military go to enlisted, regardless of the service. This is why I am not an Army officer. It was more important to me to learn Arabic, as a language is what I would most enjoy working with in the civilian world, and German is not as much a seller anymore.

Well, thank you much for your time and answering a few questions. Applying to be an officer is always a long process and she has the ACL waiver on top of everything. I'm glad she at least had treatment in an English-speaking country, instead of in Switzerland. Would have made it just a little too interesting.

Thanks again, I will relay the information to her.
Hilary

[Anonymous]

Usually late Aug/Sep to get the process started for the next selection board. If they have one scheduled by then. I would have her contact a recruiter in August.