AF firefighting

[rypaul]

I am 18 years old and about to get out of highschool. I have questions about whether or not to join the AF to become a firefighter or just stay away from the military. I have heard from several people that the AF is a well respected fire academy. What other options are out there? please help.

[JayDudley]

Military

I think everyone should do their part and join......Any experience you can get will help. I never regretted my four years as a Damage Controlman in the Navy.

[fire49]

See what is required to apply at city departments in your state
Get it and start applying

If you possibly want to travel then join the af and you may get lucky to get a ff job and get out if the states

Some af bases do not have many building fires and remember most bases mission is to support the flight operations

[dfwfirefighter]

The patriotic thing to do is serve as a member of our armed forces.

Specifically, with regards to the USAF, I believe that most, if not all, "firefighter" positions are enlisted. The few "officer" positions are usually coupled with another official job in addition to fire suppression duties (almost as if fire suppression was a "stash" assignment).

As stated in this thread, most of your fire suppression duties in the USAF (or any armed forces, for that matter) will be ARFF-related.

Also, many military facilities have Federal Firefighters onboard to provide fire and EMS services. You'll likely be working alongside them at most duty assignments in the CONUS.

As far as relevance to a municipal firefighter job, any experience helps. Unfortunately, it will not necessarily get you any preference (other than veteran's preference points added to you civil service score) in the hiring process as you progress. If I were in charge, anyone who served honorably in our armed forces would go immediately to the front of the line with regards to hiring and preference.

Good luck. I think you'll have fun if you do it.

[TL678]

I am 18 years old and about to get out of highschool. I have questions about whether or not to join the AF to become a firefighter or just stay away from the military. I have heard from several people that the AF is a well respected fire academy. What other options are out there? please help.

Only join the military if you wanna serve your country don't do it for a job.

[USAFfiredog]

ALL military Airforce Firefighters are Enlisted. We do not have any officers in our Dept. The commander of the Squadron wears a fire badge, but is NOT a firefighter or trained as a fire fighter. They attend a little class and get to wear a badge to feel cool and say they are a fire marshall or some crap, but they have nothing to do with our department other then being the overall commander for the squadron that the dept falls under and the fire chiefs boss.

The federal civilians are ranked as officers, but nothing to do with the military. Ie. we have civilian Capt. and Lt. just like civilian departments.

I did 8 Years in the AF and now work as a civilian for the AF. Post any questions you might have...

[Jmason66]

@ USAFfiredog sorry was going to pm you but not an option, can you shoot me an email if you get a chance, I want to ask you a few questions. I'm a military spouse at Vandenberg AFB. [email protected]
Thanks Bro!