armed forces

[company141]

I want to join the national guard for extra points so that I have a shot at entering the FDNY. Will this work or will I have to go active duty?

[krazykarl]

I see you having a better shot at serving time in Iraq, or other exotic places of destination instead of working on a FDNY apparatus.

[JTFIRE80]

I see you having a better shot at serving time in Iraq, or other exotic places of destination instead of working on a FDNY apparatus.

...what he said!!!

And from a vet/ff, if you are joining just to get the points, that makes you a MUTT!! Have a nice day.

[company141]

I want to join the national guard regardless if it gives me points or not, I just want to know if I CAN get those points.

[DocVBFDE14]

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcas/html/employment/employ.shtml

There. I have already done more for you than I intended to.

Joining the military just to get on FDNY? I take it you are not even a NYC resident? You know little of what you are getting into. If you are joining the military for a firefighting job after you get out, the real world of the military is about to smack you in your blindside.

Joining the National Guard or Reserves? Prepare for a first class ticket to Iraq or Afganistan.

Need to know what you need for Military Credit on exams. See the link above.

[clark918]

I was once told by a recruiter a couple of years back that if I WANT to go to Iraq, I should join the National Guard or Army Reserve. He said you even have a better chance of staying home in the active duty Army than you do in the reserve.

[JTFIRE80]

I was once told by a recruiter a couple of years back that if I WANT to go to Iraq, I should join the National Guard or Army Reserve. He said you even have a better chance of staying home in the active duty Army than you do in the reserve.

Also a VERY TRUE statement!!!

[company141]

Thank you all for your help and your honesty involving the difficulty of my goals.

Another thought I had was to join active duty as a army firefighter but I heard that I wouldn't even make it through aa school before they shiped me off to Iraq. I was told that I wouldn't fight fire at all. What is your take on this?

[THEFIRENUT]

Thank you all for your help and your honesty involving the difficulty of my goals.

Another thought I had was to join active duty as a army firefighter but I heard that I wouldn't even make it through aa school before they shiped me off to Iraq. I was told that I wouldn't fight fire at all. What is your take on this?



Sad, but true!!!

And one other thing, if you join the guard or reserve, you will not get veteran points until you actually do active-duty time (so going to Iraq would actually help in this case).

[Ladder8]

There is a ARNG Firefighting Det. west of you. Talk to a recruiter about the 21M MOS.

They have been deployed at least once, if not more.

If you choose to go Active Duty and get to the MOS school - you will probably get the chance to finish. I don't think that they would yank you out of school and reclassify you into something else unless you flunked out.

[the1141man]

There is a ARNG Firefighting Det. west of you. Talk to a recruiter about the 21M MOS.

They have been deployed at least once, if not more.

If you choose to go Active Duty and get to the MOS school - you will probably get the chance to finish. I don't think that they would yank you out of school and reclassify you into something else unless you flunked out.

Guard units only recruit for the billets they have in their own "house"--and Guard enlistment contracts will specify the MOS the Soldier is enlisting to. There is no "Open General" enlistment into the Guard, nor DEP--you pick a position that's available and get a contract, or you wait until what you want opens up.
Further, Guard Soldiers are considered "nondeployable" until they are MOSQ--so they can't yank you from AIT and ship you off to Iraq. Of course, the day after graduation........ ;)

[company141]

After I finish school is there a chance that I will get to do what I wanted to do or is it pretty set that I will be sent to fight?

I have a friend, he wanted to open up a restaurant but he joined the army instead, probebly to get away from his CRAZY wife :). He said he was going to be a cook and I asked him if they would make him fight, so he says, "Nah, my recruiter told me they don't do that." I don't know what happened to him yet but I am pretty sure his recruiter is full of sh!t, as most of them are.

[Ladder8]

After I finish school is there a chance that I will get to do what I wanted to do or is it pretty set that I will be sent to fight?



Not everyone who is deployed goes out on patrol....


(look up "Fobbit" for more info)

[JTFIRE80]

You can definitly be a FF in that Army and do "the job"!! My unit was there for a little over a year and ran close to 1100 calls. That's 1100 calls with NO fire alarms, co detectors and shoe runs. We ran building fires, veh rescues, building collapses, aircraft crashes (on/off base), brush fires, veh fires, haz-mat, etc... Not counted into calls, but we did assist the MASH (hospital) when they had Mass Casuality Incident's. We operated a joint Army/Air Force Fire department with an average of 30 personnel on duty manning 3 Engines, 3/4 Crash trucks, 2 tankers, 1 rescue, 1 TAU, 2 chiefs, and 1 station Captain.

Oh, and about the fighting, we didnt even carry our weapons for the first 6 months there, unless going off-base.

[bluebilldays]

You will need a DD-214 to get vertern points. To get a 214 you will need at least 180 days of active duty, Requardless of your active duty assignment (Iraq, Afganistan, or in the U.S.), and branch of service. Hope this helps, and thank you for wanting to serve our great country.

[FEDVVFAC]

From what I know (working for the Army as a civilian), most Army enlisted firefighters end up guarding ammo convoys and the like; not performing firefighting at all. Most firefighting in the sandboxes are contracted out, but the AF still does some in their forward bases. If it was me, I would look to joining the Air Guard or going active duty AF with a sure bet of being trained and actually performing the job as a firefighter. Guard will NOT usually get you veterans points until you have X amount of active duty time (see above posts). However, the military, especially the AF, is not a bad choice for anyone. Good luck to you though, whatever you decide!

[Kev9494]

You can definitly be a FF in that Army and do "the job"!! My unit was there for a little over a year and ran close to 1100 calls. That's 1100 calls with NO fire alarms, co detectors and shoe runs. We ran building fires, veh rescues, building collapses, aircraft crashes (on/off base), brush fires, veh fires, haz-mat, etc... Not counted into calls, but we did assist the MASH (hospital) when they had Mass Casuality Incident's. We operated a joint Army/Air Force Fire department with an average of 30 personnel on duty manning 3 Engines, 3/4 Crash trucks, 2 tankers, 1 rescue, 1 TAU, 2 chiefs, and 1 station Captain.

Oh, and about the fighting, we didnt even carry our weapons for the first 6 months there, unless going off-base.



Hey JTFire, I am also intersted in this kind of route into becoming a firefighter. If you could give me some more information on it, and what kind of process it is to become a military firefighter, I would really appreciate it! Thanks, Kev

[Kev9494]

From what I know (working for the Army as a civilian), most Army enlisted firefighters end up guarding ammo convoys and the like; not performing firefighting at all. Most firefighting in the sandboxes are contracted out, but the AF still does some in their forward bases. If it was me, I would look to joining the Air Guard or going active duty AF with a sure bet of being trained and actually performing the job as a firefighter. Guard will NOT usually get you veterans points until you have X amount of active duty time (see above posts). However, the military, especially the AF, is not a bad choice for anyone. Good luck to you though, whatever you decide!

Same thing man, if you could help me out with more info on that it would be great. Thank you in advance, Kev

[ddgx300]

I am an AF firefighter, been so for 7 years, also had 5 years in the civillian world as a firefighter. Listen up, join the AF for firefighting, it is the best job period. You will get some of the best training in the world at the fire academy in San Angelo Texas. But be prepared, it will be a tough job to land, compared to other AF career fields it is small. But if you are patient you can get the job.

[Kev9494]

I am an AF firefighter, been so for 7 years, also had 5 years in the civillian world as a firefighter. Listen up, join the AF for firefighting, it is the best job period. You will get some of the best training in the world at the fire academy in San Angelo Texas. But be prepared, it will be a tough job to land, compared to other AF career fields it is small. But if you are patient you can get the job.



Hey thanks for your help, I recently spoke with a firefighter who was a AF Firefighter. He also said it is a tough job to land. I will be graduating college in May. How can I prepare for becoming an AF FF? How do I go about doing this with a recruiter? I dont want to be a mechanic or have any other job in the AF besides a firefighter. I guess Im just worried about signing all these papers then getting stuck with something that I dont want.. I dont know...any more help would be great Thanks!


PS do you get to choose where your base is? Because I would love to be training near home. What kind of work is it on the base? Thanks

[Kev9494]

I hope you got my last post ddgx...but if you didnt I would love some more info on becoming an AF FF. The commitment, time, probability would all help, thank you in advance

[company141]

there is a good amount of infromation on the web site. It's good to look before post that way you have more specific questions ;)

[the1141man]

Hey thanks for your help, I recently spoke with a firefighter who was a AF Firefighter. He also said it is a tough job to land. I will be graduating college in May. How can I prepare for becoming an AF FF? How do I go about doing this with a recruiter? I dont want to be a mechanic or have any other job in the AF besides a firefighter. I guess Im just worried about signing all these papers then getting stuck with something that I dont want.. I dont know...any more help would be great Thanks!


PS do you get to choose where your base is? Because I would love to be training near home. What kind of work is it on the base? Thanks

Best advice ever: if you're going active-side, and want a specific job, do not take an "Open General" contract in the hopes that maybe you'll get offered it later. Either it's in writing in the contract, guaranteed a slot in an MOS/AFSC/rating, or you tell them you'll wait till they can do that for you.

[DFurtman]

The Active Duty Air Force is downsizing the Firefighter AFSC 3E7X1.. you may find it more and more difficult to find a slot as people may be being pushed from their location or job. I'm surprised they are putting anyone Active into the AFSC guaranteed.

-Damien

[the1141man]

The Active Duty Air Force is downsizing the Firefighter AFSC 3E7X1.. you may find it more and more difficult to find a slot as people may be being pushed from their location or job. I'm surprised they are putting anyone Active into the AFSC guaranteed.

-Damien

Well, if he goes Open General, he'll probably end up in Security Forces. Hey, at least he'll still get to drive something with lights... ;)

[DFurtman]

Well, if he goes Open General, he'll probably end up in Security Forces. Hey, at least he'll still get to drive something with lights... ;)

The Air Force made Firefighters so Security Forces would have someone to look up to..

-Damien