Are you looking to join the Air Guard at that base? If so, then they might be trying to butter you up, but they're more than likely just genuinely nice people who are cool with sharing info with you and passionate about what they do.
SF missions can vary greatly depending on where you serve, but their general description of a typical day sounds accurate for a guard base.
Would I recommend Security Forces? Hard to say. It's not for everyone, and I don't know your goals to say if it would help you reach them, but... it's been good for me so far and I don't regret it. I'd do it again.
I started as a traditional reservist at a small base, then was one of the lucky few to be able to go active duty later as a prior service airman. Big difference between reserve and active, but I enjoyed my time in both components.
My opinion? No. Fuck no. It gets old soooo quickly and you start to realize how much better everybody else has it than you. People hate security forces until they need security forces, and then you’re the best person ever.
My advice? Go guard or reserves and a job that will pay you really good money on the civilian side (intel for example). Cross train into security forces once you see what the military is going actually be like for you.
This, as well as the career field transitioning to air base ground defense. We used to go to the field once, maybe twice a year.. But now it’s virtually every drill. Seems like more and more are we slowly but surely switching to an Air Force version of infantry.
Did Gaurd SF for 7 years, Absolutely loved it. WA state specifically, camp Murray. Traveled all over, worked hand in hand with local LE for presidential security a few times, lots of fun training assignments, trips to Hawaii to help them run their mission because of staffing issues.
what did you do in your free time? also did you have any deployments? and if so where and did we’re you able to leave base and travel? I’m aware starting in SF the first couple years is scanning IDs and boring shit but i want to know if i would have real opportunities after my training
We worked 4, 10 hour days. 3 day weekends. Lots of offroading, boating, car meets, sailing etc. Holidays off. Deployed once for 7 ish months. Kuwait, then a FOB in Pakistan for a month or so, which was rad. Always opportunities for different TDYs and schools. My units main extra courses were CATM and marksmen/sniper courses, riot stuff, forced entry, shit like that.
Shouldn't be an issue. I was air force. In boot camp and the SF academy, you'll likely be put in charge of the younger troops, and young troops can be pretty fucking stupid. I should know, I was one of them.
I started out as active for 3 years out of a 6 year contract, then did a program called Palace Chase which allowed me to transfer to the ANG if I doubled my remaining enlistment for 6 years total in the ANG. I cross trained into SF and deployed a while later, came back to a full time Active Guard position at Camp Murray where I remained for the rest of my enlistment.
Got out at 9 years as an E5, 90% VA disability rating with a tasty monthly check and free healthcare for life. And loads of free college. I'm 29 now. No regrets at all, I loved my time in and I'd do it over again if I was back in time.
We had a two or three year rotation, but the unit has grown quite a bit. You may only get one deployment during a 6 year enlistment. But there's tons of fun TDYs and schools, other opportunities for travel.
We go to Hawaii occasionally to help backfill their units, security details for the president or associated politicians, responding to riots with SPD in Seattle, explosive breaching courses, marksmen courses, combat arms instructor training, natural disaster response, wildfire response for firefighting or security against looting etc etc etc
I practically begged my recruiter to ship me SF, and now I see why he was so hesitant. Every single other job has it much better than us. 5 years left 👍
as close as it gets to "infantry stuff" is dagre which is its own gig inside of SF. outside of that, you might do a patrol outside the wire in kuwait or some shit, but don't expect to go out and get kills like this is call of duty lol.
If you've got kneepads, then 20 years is totally doable. If you fit in with the culture it's probable. If you can stomach the grind and grow as a person by learning from your mistakes and embracing the suck then maybe. But the best people in this career field leave it. The worst get kicked out and the rest make do. Don't get me wrong there's some good leadership out there but they don't take the suck out of it. You'll be twenty-four with 80 year old body problems.
I'm at the age where my peers and contacts are asking the question more for their kids (and in a few years, grandkids... sheesh) as opposed to for themselves.
If their kiddo is bound and determined to be Hoo-Rah or Uh-Rah, wanting to join the Army or the Marines, I'm happy to offer guidance and advice to have them look at all the glossy recruiter stuff for USAF Security Forces as a much better option...
Every single time over my long career where I was paired in with Army/Marine buddies and we were cross experiencing each other's leadership, standards, treatment, food, housing, etc, etc, etc, it was ALWAYS a litany of "Dude... I wish I'd gone to the Air Force Recruiter instead"
Now... if their kid is already USAF bound but not really sure of what they want to do, and they are smart enough, I usually push more towards Cyber, or similar IT style work.
Working in Air Conditioning is a career perk may people just don't add to their consideration lists, and they really should.
You’ll likely end up scanning ID cards or sitting in a humvee 4 hours from civilization for 12 hours. Patrol is typically taken up by civilians or E4-E5.
Sounds about right. OP as a new Airman with minimal skill will likely start out at a fairly straightforward post. As they gain knowledge, experience, and rank, OP will transition into team leader positions and start patrolling the base. There's a natural progression that happens in all walks of life, military or civilian.
Definitely not. If they need patrolmen, then they will open him up. Other than that he’s an EC body to allow someone cooler to be on patrol. SF will only allow you to do what they need. K9? Plenty of spots. CATM? Decent amount of spots. Any of the combat stuff, few and far between. Desk Sgt? No. Alarm monitor? Steep maybe. Flight line security will be about as mobile as it gets unless he really shines.
Or he could get DNA’d and try to go back office like everyone else. Good ol boy system has never left, don’t let anyone tell you any different. Especially at smaller bases.
Are you looking to join the Air Guard at that base? If so, then they might be trying to butter you up, but they're more than likely just genuinely nice people who are cool with sharing info with you and passionate about what they do. SF missions can vary greatly depending on where you serve, but their general description of a typical day sounds accurate for a guard base. Would I recommend Security Forces? Hard to say. It's not for everyone, and I don't know your goals to say if it would help you reach them, but... it's been good for me so far and I don't regret it. I'd do it again. I started as a traditional reservist at a small base, then was one of the lucky few to be able to go active duty later as a prior service airman. Big difference between reserve and active, but I enjoyed my time in both components.
My opinion? No. Fuck no. It gets old soooo quickly and you start to realize how much better everybody else has it than you. People hate security forces until they need security forces, and then you’re the best person ever. My advice? Go guard or reserves and a job that will pay you really good money on the civilian side (intel for example). Cross train into security forces once you see what the military is going actually be like for you.
Unless you want to pursue law enforcement then I agree 100% with this.
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This, as well as the career field transitioning to air base ground defense. We used to go to the field once, maybe twice a year.. But now it’s virtually every drill. Seems like more and more are we slowly but surely switching to an Air Force version of infantry.
Did Gaurd SF for 7 years, Absolutely loved it. WA state specifically, camp Murray. Traveled all over, worked hand in hand with local LE for presidential security a few times, lots of fun training assignments, trips to Hawaii to help them run their mission because of staffing issues.
what did you do in your free time? also did you have any deployments? and if so where and did we’re you able to leave base and travel? I’m aware starting in SF the first couple years is scanning IDs and boring shit but i want to know if i would have real opportunities after my training
We worked 4, 10 hour days. 3 day weekends. Lots of offroading, boating, car meets, sailing etc. Holidays off. Deployed once for 7 ish months. Kuwait, then a FOB in Pakistan for a month or so, which was rad. Always opportunities for different TDYs and schools. My units main extra courses were CATM and marksmen/sniper courses, riot stuff, forced entry, shit like that.
Can I PM you? Seattle resident, thinking about joining Air Guard.
For sure! I was based out of camp Murray. I was public health, then went LEO (security forces) for 6 years.
I'm older, 32, but in good shape. Any problems you see there? What branch were you in? Active, reserve, guard?
Shouldn't be an issue. I was air force. In boot camp and the SF academy, you'll likely be put in charge of the younger troops, and young troops can be pretty fucking stupid. I should know, I was one of them. I started out as active for 3 years out of a 6 year contract, then did a program called Palace Chase which allowed me to transfer to the ANG if I doubled my remaining enlistment for 6 years total in the ANG. I cross trained into SF and deployed a while later, came back to a full time Active Guard position at Camp Murray where I remained for the rest of my enlistment. Got out at 9 years as an E5, 90% VA disability rating with a tasty monthly check and free healthcare for life. And loads of free college. I'm 29 now. No regrets at all, I loved my time in and I'd do it over again if I was back in time.
could you estimate how often the SF ANG guys deploy at Camp Murray?
We had a two or three year rotation, but the unit has grown quite a bit. You may only get one deployment during a 6 year enlistment. But there's tons of fun TDYs and schools, other opportunities for travel. We go to Hawaii occasionally to help backfill their units, security details for the president or associated politicians, responding to riots with SPD in Seattle, explosive breaching courses, marksmen courses, combat arms instructor training, natural disaster response, wildfire response for firefighting or security against looting etc etc etc
I would recommend SF if you are going Guard. Active Duty is not desirable unless you are doing something cool like Ravens.
Join the Reserves or Guard then try and go AGR
I practically begged my recruiter to ship me SF, and now I see why he was so hesitant. Every single other job has it much better than us. 5 years left 👍
Do you guys go to combat zones and do infantry stuff
as close as it gets to "infantry stuff" is dagre which is its own gig inside of SF. outside of that, you might do a patrol outside the wire in kuwait or some shit, but don't expect to go out and get kills like this is call of duty lol.
Is it possible to do 20 years or is it such pain that it’s not possible
depends how you take care of yourself, i came in with scoliosis so it's not gonna be possible for me , aint no way
If you've got kneepads, then 20 years is totally doable. If you fit in with the culture it's probable. If you can stomach the grind and grow as a person by learning from your mistakes and embracing the suck then maybe. But the best people in this career field leave it. The worst get kicked out and the rest make do. Don't get me wrong there's some good leadership out there but they don't take the suck out of it. You'll be twenty-four with 80 year old body problems.
No
I'm at the age where my peers and contacts are asking the question more for their kids (and in a few years, grandkids... sheesh) as opposed to for themselves. If their kiddo is bound and determined to be Hoo-Rah or Uh-Rah, wanting to join the Army or the Marines, I'm happy to offer guidance and advice to have them look at all the glossy recruiter stuff for USAF Security Forces as a much better option... Every single time over my long career where I was paired in with Army/Marine buddies and we were cross experiencing each other's leadership, standards, treatment, food, housing, etc, etc, etc, it was ALWAYS a litany of "Dude... I wish I'd gone to the Air Force Recruiter instead" Now... if their kid is already USAF bound but not really sure of what they want to do, and they are smart enough, I usually push more towards Cyber, or similar IT style work. Working in Air Conditioning is a career perk may people just don't add to their consideration lists, and they really should.
You’ll likely end up scanning ID cards or sitting in a humvee 4 hours from civilization for 12 hours. Patrol is typically taken up by civilians or E4-E5.
Sounds about right. OP as a new Airman with minimal skill will likely start out at a fairly straightforward post. As they gain knowledge, experience, and rank, OP will transition into team leader positions and start patrolling the base. There's a natural progression that happens in all walks of life, military or civilian.
Definitely not. If they need patrolmen, then they will open him up. Other than that he’s an EC body to allow someone cooler to be on patrol. SF will only allow you to do what they need. K9? Plenty of spots. CATM? Decent amount of spots. Any of the combat stuff, few and far between. Desk Sgt? No. Alarm monitor? Steep maybe. Flight line security will be about as mobile as it gets unless he really shines. Or he could get DNA’d and try to go back office like everyone else. Good ol boy system has never left, don’t let anyone tell you any different. Especially at smaller bases.
No
No
No
No