The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
How to best get into the Firefighter field (MOS)
My son is considering joining the Air Force. His dream is to be a Firefighter, but the recruiter is requiring that he give five job choices. He was told that he would get one of the five. and the fact that he is already FF1 national certified would help but not guarantee that choice.
My question now is, is there a chance of "back dooring" it by going into the reserves first, or is that going to be the same route to get in as active duty?
I'm not to impressed with the idea of pick five and throw the dart. I did it 30 years ago with the Marine Corps and ended up in the Infantry instead of Tanks of course a slightly dishonest recruiter played a small part in that no doubt.
Thanks for any ideas any of you may have.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Doug on
-
Tell him to put his foot down, firefighter or nothing. However, the fire protection field isn't as in high of a demand as it once was, even just a few short years ago, as a lot of bases are going to civilian DoD firefighters. I considered myself pretty lucky, I already had prior experience as a firefighter, and I had a pretty cool recruiter.
-
-
Permalink Reply by Randy Lowry on
-
As Doug said, "Put his foot down." Unless things have changed since I retired from active duty 3 years ago, there should still be the option of going in with a guaranteed training slot. If not then maybe going into the reserves or guard will be the only way into fire protection. Then he can see about transferring to active duty. Either way, thanks for yours and his desire to serve!
Aim High
Randy Lowry, MSgt (ret), USAF -
-
Permalink Reply by Paul Fraraccio on
-
I went in guarenteed electronics (before I realised I didn't want that). I changed tech schools and became a firefighter (there were openings, I didn't even know that was an AF career field!). I was lucky. But your son definately needs to put his foot down. Good luck to him.
-
-
Permalink Reply by Marvin Hawk on
-
I find it strange telling a MSGT your welcome as I was only an E-3. My service in the military and my 21 years in the vol. fire service are a direct result of the brothers who served at Torrejon AFB in Spain in the 70's and went through the annual Sparky the fire dog /fire prevention week classes for the kids. Yes I still remember them as being 10 foot tall an being able to talk directly to God. I've learned the latter is something that all firefighters do at some point or another.
The reason I am suggesting the Air Force is they seem to be the only ones left that do it all, where as the other branches have turned the "bread and butter" firefighting over to contractors and have concentrated on ARFF. Thank you for your thoughts, and your service as well. -
-
-
Thanks Doug,
I didn't know that that was an option still. I guess it's time for dad to step in and let the recruiter know that the boy is not in any hurry to join as college is an option for him also. My biggest fear is that he get into some field other than FF and find that he is going to be miserable for the next 4-6 years. I saw to many guys go bad with AWOL and desertions because they had been career jammed into a mos they didn't really want. -
© 2024 Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.
Powered by
