Looking to go from USAF security forces to army 13F. Does blue to green allow you to pick your MOS, and does anyone have any info on 13F/B2G?

2017-11-07T11:14:53-05:00

I am a SrA in the air force. I always wanted to be 13F but changed last minute to Security forces and regretted it. Honestly i am comfortable but i want more in way of deployments and experience. Please any and all info is appreciated on the 13F MOS (such as hows garrison life vs deployments whats the extra BS yall deal with etc..) And on the best way to go Blue to green.

Response by SPC Caleb Schiff made Nov 7 at 2017 8:21 PM

2017-11-07T20:21:00-05:00

No idea about blue to green. 82 2bct Garrison is alot of sit and wait be prepared to get done with pt and have your first line supperviser tell you he wants a layout of gear for the field problem your going on at 0900 that you never herd of. Remember in the army the 2 best units are the one you just came from and the one your going to. The worst one is the one your in. Had 2 short deployments one I was working with af truck drivers best deployment the outher was more 82 oriented so nothing but that didn't like that one. Saw no combat. What I understand with af is you deploy on individual basis so you deploy whenever you want no idea if this is true but if you want to deploy army your whole unit has to go so you just have to be lucky.

Response by SPC Michael Bennett made Nov 7 at 2017 9:47 PM

2017-11-07T21:47:23-05:00

13F? Welcome to the world of the Fister! Bastards of the Artillery. Guns think we're infantry and the infantry thinks we're guns, but everyone loves you because you make shit blow up. I don't know the specifics of what your looking for bit I can give you overview of My time in. My first assignment was in Korea with a radar bat, had no purpose unless the war games were on so I spent a lot of time in the motor pool, or hiding from bs "hey you" assignments. Then I was with the light infantry ( 2-14 inf, 2 BCT, 10th Mtn) and i spent alot of time doing infantry training without being acknowledged as infantry. Deployment for me was in a Tactical Operations Center planning fire missions and doing counter mortar fire. Was real jealous of the USAF JTac guys and their 8 hour days. Then I came home and got out. Your mileage may very but that was my time as a 13f

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 8 at 2017 3:32 AM

2017-11-08T03:32:30-05:00

I have been doing this for 13 years. I love it. The fact that you get to be with the infantry and artillery (King and Queen of Battle) makes it so much better. I am not going to lie to you there is a lot of dumb stuff that comes with being in the army, period. If you can look pass that you'll be fine. You ask about deployments. Those are not the same anymore, so you don't get to drop bombs and artillery all the time like we used to. Now you do a lot of Joint partnerships with other countries. As far as Garrison what can I tell you that people don't hate. Motor pool Monday, ranges, field exercises, NTC, JRTC all the stuff Soldiers do not like to do, Oh and late days at work. Do your research and make a decision base on what best for you. As far as going Blue to Green if you have a career counselor, that's the person to ask. Also you have the JTAC program in the Air Force. Let me know if you have any questions.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 9 at 2017 11:33 AM

2017-11-09T11:33:10-05:00

Same bullshit everywhere. You will deal with more garbage now that everyone is back in divarty. There is no real autonomy. With two masters you simply have more bosses to satisfy. If you volunteer for 75th or a similar unit you will deploy plenty. If not you will simply live the training cycle repeatedly.

Response by SPC Robert Reynolds made Nov 18 at 2017 6:35 PM

2017-11-18T18:35:03-05:00

Try getting jtac certified before you become a fister you will be loved

Response by SPC George Carney made Nov 26 at 2017 4:27 AM

2017-11-26T04:27:34-05:00

I was a 13F

Response by SMSgt Thor Merich made Nov 26 at 2017 7:00 AM

2017-11-26T07:00:45-05:00

Be careful what you wish for. I was active duty Army before I switched to AF. I find the AF culture more to my liking. Fewer knuckleheads overall.

I am a IMA (reservist assigned to actually duty unit) in a SF unit. In AFSOC we deploy a lot. There are still plenty of SOF deployments out there.

Think of the BS you put up with now and triple it and that will give you an idea of the Army. The culture is completely different than the Air Force. The culture change could be your biggest hurdle. Try to visit a Army base, see the Barracks and chow hall. Maybe the Army is better now, but back when I was in they didn’t have dorms. They had Barracks, 4 guys to a room. The food was shitty compared to AF chow. Guys in my unit used to drive 2 hours to the closest AF base just to eat at the chow hall (DFAC).

I don’t know if the Blue to Green program is still available. Ideally, you can find someone on RP who has done it. They can give you a better perspective.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my time in the Army. But I did it the easier way, going from Army to Air Force is much easier than the other way around. The living conditions in the Air Force are much better than the Army. Now that I know the difference, I could never go back.

Good luck.

Response by COL Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 26 at 2017 10:12 AM

2017-11-26T10:12:01-05:00

SrA Private RallyPoint Member, if you want to do that job, why not head over to the JTAC side of the world and stay in the Air Force? That would give you the chance to work with SF if you can get into the right unit. 13F is a great MOS, but like you've seen here, you work for two (or more) masters and neither of them is often kind.

Response by SPC Micheal Tinsley made Nov 30 at 2017 5:44 AM

2017-11-30T05:44:14-05:00

FIST works with infantry

FSE works in TOC

COLT IS THE BEST JOB EVER.

GOOD LUCK

Response by SPC Austin Ruple made Jan 30 at 2018 5:56 PM

2018-01-30T17:56:45-05:00

I was a 13 foxtrot and love it .... fisters

Response by SGT Justin Brothen made May 21 at 2020 5:48 PM

2020-05-21T17:48:31-04:00

Being a fister is like being a swiss army knife, so many uses. You'll be thrown into all sorts of jobs, your pretty useful besides just your Fire support skills. Given your security clearance, units will sometimes retask you into different jobs. In Germany they had me "train" into doing radar when they did not have enough personnel. Fort Hood tasked us with doing C.O.I.S.T.