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Air Force Reserves
Hey there.
I was raised in a military family. My Step Dad was a Navy Seal, and we lived in Pensacola, FL and San Diego, CA for a few years of my childhood because of where he was stationed.
My Uncle is an Air Marshall.
My Grandfather served in the Air Force for 26 years.
I've dated three military men (Army Reserves, Marine Corps Special Forces Sharpshooter, and Air Force Military Police). Two of them were deployed more than once. I've also dated a civilian who moved to Japan.
I am used to time apart. I am familiar with the military, and I have friends that are in the reserves and active duty. My current boyfriend is Army Reserves.
At my work there is a dancer who I am close with outside of work who is in the Marine Corps Reserves. Our club allowed her to do basic without any issues and gives her no issue with drill or short notice work with her unit. The general manger's son just finished basic and is in the Marine Corps. So I know my strip club wouldn't care that I had to take time off.
I don't pay my taxes or have a dance card, so there is no record of me dancing. I legally have custody of my son, but his Dad is in the picture. The recruiter I spoke to said I didn't have to give up custody for reserves, I just had to have a temporary care plan for basic as part of my family plan.
I am wondering if any of you have experience with dancing and military reserves? I have heard women in the military are sexually harassed and considered sluts until proven other wise?
I want to do the reserves because of my son, if I did not have him I would love to be deployed. It would give me a good opportunity to have school paid for, have small, supplementary income, a signing bonus, medical care, and other benefits.
Any thoughts, positive or negative, would be appreciative. My boyfriend isn't too thrilled with the idea. He said he would support me hands down, but that he thinks I can do better than reserves. He said I should keep doing what I am doing and forget about the Reserves.
Thank you.
-Laurisa
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Re: Air Force Reserves
The Reserves can be a good thing, but there are things to keep in mind. For one, it is very possible you may be in combat zones for months, even years, can you handle that? Second, from what I understand benefits are only in effect if you are currently on active duty. Even if you choose to do this, I would not tell anyone you might meet in the military you are a dancer because I have heard that there have been women who got in big trouble for this. You will also be pressured to join active duty. I wanted to join the Naval Reserves but got pressured into the regular Navy. Personaly, for you I wouldn't recommend it because of everything else going on in your life. However if you decide it's a good idea remember it may mean not seeing your son for a long time.
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Re: Air Force Reserves
Thanks Kelly.
I forgot to mention that if I do enlist it would not be for at least one year. I will be finished with my Associates Degree then and will not have much debt.
My son and I already have health insurance, but I figured their insurance would be better.
It is the experience I am looking for. From my understanding I would not be deployed unless a new war broke out or my unit was deployed.
I am just throwing ideas around, but I wouldn't even start talking to a recruiter about signing my contract until summer.
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Re: Air Force Reserves
If you are really interested I would wait until you finish school, because the more you finish the higher your rank. For instance getting an associate you would likely go in as an E-3 or above. When I went in the Navy several shipmates had associates and they had a higher rank. If you get a bachelor's you'll go in as a possible officer. Another option is to check into ROTC in college. In hindsight I wish I had done this instead of gone enlisted. My brother did that and is now a doctor and a captain in the Army.
Generally speaking you probably wouldn't deploy unless there was a war, but of course there are wars going on now and probably will be for more years so that's why I mentioned being deployed for years.
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Re: Air Force Reserves
I was in the AF active duty for 3 and a half years. I never joined the reserve. If you do join do not tell anyone you're a dancer, because you WILL get in trouble for it:
Article 134 simply prohibits conduct which is of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, or conduct which is prejudicial to good order and discipline.
This is what they'll slap you with if they find out.
I personally worked at a hostess bar in Japan when I was stationed there and didn't even strip and I found out I was placed under investigation for prostitution and other crazy shit. I PCS'd before anything really went down with that.
Also, another girl I worked with state side was a dancer before joining and started doing it on the weekends. Our flight commander got wind that she used to dance and called her into his office and asked her about it. He told her he just wanted to make sure she was on the sam page and knew it wasn't okay for her to do it while she was serving. She denied doing it since she joined and just started traveling several hours away to dance.
The med/dental insurance isn't as great as it is if you're active duty, its kinda like being a dependent. You will have a co-payment. Its usually better though than what you would get when dealing with a regular civilian company.
If you don't want to deploy you really shouldn't join. Don't ever believe that you are safe from deployment. It might be true that your unit isn't deploying for more than a year but it is ALWAYS possible that you can be selected to deploy as an individual. This happens a lot in the AF, it is actually pretty common. All of my TDYs and my deployment to Iraq I was selected from my flight and attached to a deploying squadron.
Also, I don't know what your relationship is like with your child's father, but keep in mind that if you end up deploying he has first dibs on taking the kid until you get back. If he doesn't want to then he can go off with nana or whoever else you have for your family plan.
Oh and big upps on looking into the AF. AF is where the hot and smart chicks go.
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Re: Air Force Reserves
My Son's Dad and I have a good relationship. He keeps him 1/2 of the week, so we split visitation 50/50 but we never technically got a court order.
I know that if I am deployed he will keep him and I will send money home.
As I said before, I would not want to even begin signing my contract until summer. I know I have the smarts to get into the Air Force, and I did figure that dancing could get me in trouble in the military.
I'll look into everything before I sign up.
If I need to be deployed then I will accept it whole heartedly. I am not actively trying to be deployed which is why I mentioned reserves, but I would serve my country in a heartbeat.
Thank you.
-Laurisa
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Re: Air Force Reserves
My husband has been active for 10 years, and he agrees with Loki. You CANNOT do anything morally questionable like stripping while in the military, because it reflects poorly on it, and more than likely you will be discharged if found out. It's an entire DOD thing, not just an AF thing.
Kinda irks me about that, but whatever.
He also mentioned that in the AF women are NOT looked on as sluts, unlike other branches. There is an absolute zero-tolerance policy for things like sexual harassment. That's my experience as well, and my mom was ANG, and she was treated pretty well.
I didn't notice-did you say you would strip and do reserves, or just reserves? If not, then why not just go active duty? Better money and benefits.
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Re: Air Force Reserves
My mom was in the airforce & she was treated very well & wound up in a higher rank than my dad did. I was actually born over on Beale Airforce base in Northern CA.
She said she loved the experience & was even stationed in Cyprus for awhile.