brump We love our poorly educated dog-faced-pony-soldier

  • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
    hexbear
    7
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    Then I guess all those people getting 31 on the test and joining the air force just sit around on base and become pencil pushers, maintenance, or janitors?

    No wonder it's nicknamed the chair force.

    Can't say South Africa is any better, for general military stuff they'll take anyone between the age of 18 to 22 with a pulse. You need the equivalent of a 1.5 GPA to get in (17 out 42 APS score). If you're over the age of 22, any tertiary qualification will do. Luckily no more conscription since the end of apartheid.

    • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
      hexbear
      6
      5 months ago

      yeah, like for every pilot there's probably 50 bozos filling up generators with diesel and accidentally putting it in the wrong tanks while huffing the fumes and like 100 guys with jobs like "handing out socks in a tent" or "load cargo planes with frozen hamburgers and white phosphorous."

    • Southloop [he/him]
      hexbear
      5
      5 months ago

      To clarify, this is the AFQT which is a seperate subtest from the ASVAB and specifically for USAF service that you actually have to put a modicum of effort into, but for the good jobs — and by good I mean interesting, stimulating and potentially lucrative as a civvie — no. 30 won’t get you into special operations, specialized maintenance/aircrew, or the good “chair force” jobs like combat engineering, space, medical, scientific support, cyber, weather…etc. It’s also probably going to ding you for officer or hinder the climb to higher NCO, which is similarly equivalent to warrant officer in other services.

      No, it’s going to be stuff like “light vehicle driver,” or “airport maintenance” where you ride around in the bed of a pickup and shoot a shotgun in the air to scare off birds. It used to not even qualify you to be a cop it’s so low.