US Air Force Reviews

Pros

The military has good benefits.

Cons

Very long hours and there is no true "off time."

Pros

Experience. The reason I would recommend anyone to work in the US military is for life, educational, and career experience.
Travel. I have completed 2 deployments and I would not trade those experiences for anything.
Benefits. The US Military has some of the best benefits in the workplace.

Cons

As with many others, my only gripe with the Air Force is the PT standards. I am an excellent technician and a good trainer, but for the past few years my annual performance report has suffered heavily simply because I am weak in the Push-up Department.

Pros

Best way to get paid for traveling the world.

Cons

These days, the military is not as stable as before.

Pros

Good medical benefits, great amounts of training, education benefits are great, promotions are good, personal are treated the best out of any branch, and who gets 30 days paid vacation right off?

Cons

Lowly and dirty work such as mopping and vacuuming happen alot at first, there are tons of guidance that get passed just for the sake of passing it, and most of the people staying in making decisions are still in because they can't make it on the outside

Advice to Senior Management

learn what your people actually do, and try to garner an understanding of how it is currently done and why. If it works great, don't mess with it!

Pros

Unique job oppourtunities and locations to work, deployment. Unique training and professional development oppourtunies (for example prolonged exposure and cognitive processing therapy for PTSD), TBI conference, etc. Great deal of responsiblitiy and authority in the clinical setting. Work with many young and motivated airmen. Oversees job oppourtunities. Their is a culture of caring and support that you find in the military.

Cons

Paternalistic culture of the military. Less pay. Depending on location and current responsilibities can work longer hours for same pay, especially when you move up to flight commander, SGH, and squadron commander positions. Having to move to a new location that you either dont want to move to or are not ready to move, this is especially true for remote locations in US or overseas. Basically you do give up a lot of personal freedom of choice in the military (from clothing you wear at work to where you live), but if you are ok with this and enter into it with open eyes it can be a great fit.

Pros

Job Security
Location
Benefits Package
Sense of accomplishment

Cons

Lower pay than Contractors
Inept Management

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your Technicians. They are the subject matter experts. Not you.

Pros

Serving your country, solid pay check, and good health benifits.

Cons

Lack of control over career progression. lack of thinking things through. lengthy process to get anything approved.

Advice to Senior Management

take care of your people as much as you take care of yourself!

Pros

Benefits, Pay Scale, Tuition reimbursement, easy work, very little thought process required on a daily basis, had a good boss.

Cons

If your senior leadership is bad you will hate you life. Deploying to Iraq isn't great either. Coworkers are awful.

Advice to Senior Management

Do not make it so difficult and selective for somebody to change career paths. You have people that are either blindly picking a job when they are 18, or have no choice in the matter at all. This leaves people that may not be best suited for the particular job they are in stuck.

Pros

Great Cause/Contributing to National Defense
Contingent on specific occupation, access to great technology
Generally good group of co-workers
Opportunity to experience the middle east or central asia in either a relatively high threat or low threat setting, great for adrenaline and action junkies.

Cons

Overwhelmingly poor and self-centered leadership not focused on efficiency and on sensible practices. Generating bullets for one's OPR/EPR/CV or pursuing accomplishments regardless of impact or gain for the organization and its people seem to be the primary motivators. Substantial competence is not a standard, but the ability to "appear" competent and to "satisfy" the boss' demands no matter how unreasonable more important. Complete disregard for fiscal responsibility, spend spend spend even if such happens to be on items that are not necessary, because not doing so, results in getting less funding next year.

Advice to Senior Management

Groom leaders or individuals who understand what it takes to achieve organizational goals without completely taxing human capital/people, through the repeated implementation of inefficient processes. Develop a culture of accountability by extending leadership assignments to 4 years vs. 2, so as to force leaders to adopt a mid term perspective as opposed to the prevailing short term costly outlook w/little accountability. Implement random audits vs. inspections. The ladder represent a huge drain on resources.

Pros

They have a decent benefits package - free health care, life insurance, college, etc.
You get 30 days off a year plus holidays.
You can control the rate at which you are promoted.
They teach you how to be a leader

Cons

That decent benefits package has it's downsides - the free health care is like the worst free inner city clinic you can imagine, the life insurance will only pay out if it has to, you have to wait 3 years for the MGIB/Post 9-11 MGIB before you can use it and Tuition Assistance is likely to go away soon. That 30 days a year of leave and holidays you get off are all given on the basis that it doesn't affect the mission. While you can control the rate at which you get promoted you have to be extremely political and do all the things you are told to do even if they run against your beliefs. They teach you how to be a leader by genuinely showing you how bad leaders can be. The cream doesn't rise to the top. 99% of the time, the people that kiss the right ass rise to the top.

Finally, and this is the most important, they own you. They tell you where to be every single day, how to dress, how to cut your hair, how to speak....everything.

Advice to Senior Management

You're a corrupt institution. There is no saving you.