Twist Recruiters Arm?

[HeliHand]

Hey ya'll, I've read through just about every thread on here about new fellas like myself wanting to come into the AF and become firefighters. I have yet to talk to a recruiter in person, I talked to some advisors online, and they gave me the runaround. They quoted out to me that after taking my ASVAB if I was qualified by my scores for a certain position, then that position would be guaranteed in my contract. But in the next paragraph it talked about going to MEPS and putting down your 5 choices and you are required to fill whatever position they want. Im 26, I've been an EMT for years, and I want this badly, is there seriously a way to get one of these used-car salesmen recruiters to GUARANTEE you a AF Fire job? (And if there is, any advice? )

[FWDbuff]

Yes. You get it in writing from the recruiter. When the time comes to sign on the dotted line, if your enlistment forms do not guarantee firefighter, you push your chair away from the table, say "Well, thanks but let me see what the Marine Corps can do for me" and you start to get up and walk out.

[ryguy1]

Yes. You get it in writing from the recruiter. When the time comes to sign on the dotted line, if your enlistment forms do not guarantee firefighter, you push your chair away from the table, say "Well, thanks but let me see what the Marine Corps can do for me" and you start to get up and walk out.

that about sums it up. if one recruiter won't do it, there are always plenty of other ones that want the bonus from you. just keep calling around until you get what you want.

[Extinguisher911]

Heli,

I grew up the son of an AF Sergeant, I spent 17 years so to speak in the military. I joined the year after my father retired as an E-7 Master Sergeant. I knew exactly what I wanted when I walked in the door of the recruiters office. I made the mistake of going there without my father. I went home and told him about my visit. Needless to say that conversation lasted less than 5 minutes before we were headed to the recruiters office. That recruiter had twisted the truth, and flat out lied about the AF to intice me to sign. Of course my father had him straightened out in a jiffy.

The recruiter CAN GUARANTEE you the exact job you will have! DO NOT wait to get to MEPS, if the proper paperwork is filled out by the recruiter, you will have your job before you get there. MEPS is where you meet the final "car salesman" he has a quota of jobs to fill. That is where people make the mistake and wind up in a job they don't want. The military could care less about that.

The ASVAB is just a general qualification. If I remember right it has 5 groups. For a job in aircraft maintenance, you have to have scores in each of the 5 areas above a particular number. Each job has a set minimum score that has to be met to qualify for the job. The areas this matters is usually on technical related jobs. The "grunt" jobs like Firefighting are usually lower in the scoring.

With a guaranteed job before you leave for boot, they bring you in according to a time schedule. That way you don't sit around after boot waiting for a complete class of people. So you may be waiting for some time. Put it this way, if it takes 30 people for a Firefighter school, once they have 30 signed up (whatever way) you all go to boot at the same time. I signed up in April, and did not leave until November since my guaranteed job was a specific field of aircraft maintenance.

I have been out for 10 years, I don't think the game has changed that much. You can talk to any recruiter you want, if you don't like a particular one, go to another office. There are good ones out there.

Good luck

[HeliHand]

You guys are awesome, thank you all for taking the time to reply to this! Its nice to know that a recruiter can get the deal done before I sign that line, had one guy get kind of ****y though, "This is your opportunity to APPLY to serve the AF, we are not going to let you come in here to shop for a specific job!"
Needless to say with that kind of attitude our conversation went downhill at a rapid pace lol.
Once again, thanks all!

[prfiredog]

Man it sounds like you might be getting the run around. make sure you have job lined up. Do not go if they are offering you other options. Like the 5 you can list. I did the same thing and ended up packing parachutes for a few years before I moved over to the Fire Dept. So make sure the contract states firefighter 3E7X1, that is the code for our job in the AF.