Are there any USAF Space Operations officers willing to talk about their career field to help an AS 300 cadet choose for the dreamsheet?

2d Lt Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 03 Mar 2019 15:45:18 -0500

I'm torn between Intel and Space Operations. Both sound like a lot of fun. I'll need more details to know how to order my preferences.

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Mar 3 at 2019 8:46 PM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Sun, 03 Mar 2019 20:46:58 -0500

I wasn't space ops, and I'm not saying this to dampen your enthusiasm, honest...however, you'll rapidly one that "work" is most definitely NOT fun, I assure you...I was line engineering, winding up in a field I had no expectation to be in, zero, I'd wanted the clinical side, of all got totally bollixed up, largely due to my own ineptituee, honest...youre gonna need fortunate of your work is at least interesting, that, too, is NOT always a guarantee, by any means...you're gonna be under both civil svc, as well as active duty, which I'd never realized happens...further, you need to elaborate a good deal, OK? Major you're going for, specific course titles right off your transcript, are you assocs, Bach, grad level? You're gonna have to go for a !asters from day one, if you think otherwise, trust me, masters minimum, ASAP, part time, if need be, also, your PME ASAP, Squadron Ofcrs School (SOS), USMC command and Staff, both nonresidemt, I did both, I also tried Maval War College Command and Staff nonresident, as well...then, too, yoire gonna have t run daily, do other sports, incl martial arts, if you do any now, say which, I favor aikido amd iaido, i should've done them when I was in,i didn't...if you're a STEM major, as I expect, say what field, any work or externship/imternship exposire youve hadmatmwll, civilian work, wjhat type, any sipervision you've done, have you done the GRE genl amd subj tests, submitted for AFIT or Naval Postgrad School (NPS)? Amy flight interests, whether pilot or nav/WSO? Further, when you're on active, for your OERs or OPRs, whatever evals have morphed into, you're gonna need asked what you did semiammually or annually, keep a!running diary, as well as a notebook of all your taslts, wherever you're assigned, if there's a company grade officers council (CGOC), there likely will be, join it and go, regularly, of you can be your unit rep, also do volunteer charity drive stuff, fund raising like Combined Fed Campaign (CFC), I had to, most defnitely, CGOC often donated weekends where I was to help refurbish recreatiomal facilities, if there's an aero club at your imstallation, go for sport pilot, private pilot, instrument rating, multemgine rating, and commercial rating, esp if you have flight interests at all...those are the REAL addlmduties I was given or expected to do, I also had to spend a day with my base commamder, as well as was assigned by my air base group, to look into a junior airman who'd banged up a fender on a USAF truck, there was snow, o found it wasn't his fault...I tell you these things for many reasons...first, so you know the REAL of what you're gonna be expected to do...second, youre not done with work till tire done, I had to stay in an office many days tll 3 AM, only to me screamed at the next day, despite my genuinely best efforts by a GS-15 i was under, as well as get regularly screamed at as a pluperfect idiot...so trust me, "fun" was most definitely NOT part of my daily lexicon, I assure you...youre gonna have to travel, as well as likely deploy, though I traveled, I never deployed...I was in a VERY strict, VERY highly regimented atmosphere, constantly, trying to be as involved at the base I was at as I could be, incl scuba lessons summers in the base pool, running constantly, daily, minimum two to eight miles, so believe me when i tell you, I was doing VERY serious engrg, for VERY serious people, tell !e how much calculus you've had, differential eqns, other math, all your physics, both classical AND modern, comp sci (CS), IT, electronics, mech engrg (ME), numerical methods, scientific programming, various programming languages you've absorbed, that's the REAL of what we all need to know, I assire you, please trust what I tell you, OK? Been there, done that (BTDT),, I've been exactly where you wanna go, exactly for the same reasons...you need to look at, if you don't want flight, certainly, minimum, flight test engr (FTE) at the test pilot school (TPS), NOT solely space ops, I follow your interest in intel, however, you could wind up virtually anywhere, NOT necessarily where you'd wanna be, it happened to !e, it can happen to you too, OK? As I'd told you at the outset, my object ismt to dissuade you or dampen your enthusiasm, my object is to educate you as to REALITY, OK? If you wanna chat, im here, whemever you'd want, so, do a thorough, detaoled biosketch, take your time, and try to be as specific as humanly possible, so I amd others in here can try to help you as concretely as we can, OK?

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Mar 3 at 2019 9:02 PM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Sun, 03 Mar 2019 21:02:46 -0500

I al!most forgot...I was assigned to do disaster preparedness for my unit, entailing a !ass briefing to virtually the whole group, about a hundred people, that got me the only certificate of appreciation I got from my unit CO, I got no other awards, so believe me, I was nervous, terrified, trust !e, fin is the very LAST thing you're gonna have, I assure you...youre gonna be facing hard, grinding, slogging day to day work, juggling your AFSC tasks, whatever and wherever your assigned, addl duties, I assure you, plus PME, plus grad school part time, all often when exhausted to the point you can't see straight, trying to have some level of social existence at the same time, and I can assure you, you won't have much time for that, by any means, if you get married, have kids, youre gonna be run even more ragged, promise...so believe what I tell you, trust what I say, and eliminate "fun" from your considerations, I wish I could tell you it:s not gonna be like that, however it most definitely will be, promise...I worked with AFROTC grads, USAF OTS grads, I went through USAF OTS twice after 3 urs Army ROTC, I also worked with Academy grads, we were all quite literally worked to nearly oblivion, honest, cross my heart...that's the REAL of what youre gonna be in for, OK?

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 8 at 2019 6:01 PM

Capt Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 18:01:04 -0500

Space is awesome. It is what you make of it, but the next 5-10 years are going to be incredible. I'd go with that between the two. My personal opinion as a 5 year space ops guy.

Response by 2d Lt Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 8 at 2019 6:17 PM

2d Lt Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 18:17:19 -0500

If you're willing to indulge my questions, I've broken my 18 questions down into four categories; Your role(s)/experiences, initial training, initial positions/duties, deployments, and career development.

Your Role(s) and Experiences
1. What is your current role (in a level that you can tell me if some level of your tasking is classified)? What were your past roles?
2. How frequently do you give briefings? What are some of the things you tend to do frequently besides briefings?
3. Do you tend to work mostly with other officers or are you mostly in charge of enlisted personnel?
4. Do you usually have consistent work hours, or do they rotate frequently for 24/7 coverage?

Initial Training and Positions
1. What does the training pipeline look like for newly commissioned second lieutenants?
2. How long can we expect after commissioning before we get our EAD date? I know pilots can have up to a year wait.
3. Is there much hands-on training, or is it mostly academic?
4. What kind of base options can we expect to start with? How do those options evolve over time?
5. What kinds of skills, characteristics, and academic background are most helpful for success?
6. What do you wish you knew when you started that you know now?

Deployments
1. What kind of deployment opportunities are there?
2. How frequently and how long are typical deployments?
3. Are deployments typically voluntarily, mandatory, or something in between?

Career Development
1. Besides normal USAF trainings like Squadron Officer School that everyone should attend in person or remotely, what are continuing education opportunities for Space Operations officers?
2. When we get ready to pursue a Masters, does it matter what it's in, or just that we have one?
3. Are there opportunities to develop, acquire, and/or maintain foreign language proficiency?
4. What are general duties for Space Operations officers?
5. Is there any other general advice you would want to pass on?

I greatly appreciate you taking the time to respond to my laundry list of questions. It will give me valuable insight into how I order my dream-sheet. Thank you!

Response by Lt Col Brett Meyer made Aug 28 at 2019 8:24 PM

Lt Col Brett Meyer — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 20:24:12 -0400

Go Security Forces...... see the world .....