USAF Enlisted vs. Officer! Pros & cons explained

E-1 = $1650/month. O-1 = $3385/month. Nuff said.

Enlisted many years ago, commissioned later. Actually served in the same unit, first enlisted, got out, commissioned through ROTC, came right back as a second lieutenant. The enlisted time definitely made me a much better officer. Been retired many years now.

I 100% agree that it is beneficial to enlist first before applying to OTS, even if you already have a degree. I enlisted with my Bachelor's, used tuition assistance to pay for my Master's, and was able to get accepted through the Medical Service Corps commissioning program thanks to my prior experience and degrees. Also, prior-service officers tend to get more respect as they can relate to the enlisted members they are leading.

Great channel, as an A1C this is great content that would be hard to find without you!

“Should (have) went officer”

About to graduate from college with a bachelors. My father is a retired officer (Air Force), but I’d rather go the enlisted route as of now. Your video is incredibly helpful! Thanks and God Bless 🙏🏼💙

Thank you for your service!

Cynthia, Great video! It’s awesome to see you use the YouTube platform to help your fellow Airman. My question to you is on Navy enlisted to Air Force officer. I have a STEM degree. I was wondering if you have heard of anyone doing that transition

That is a very interesting insight, E05 AF here, our structures and CoS are very similar, after 15 years I'm struggling to promote due to availabilities, I am definitely looking towards OTS as now the only logical progression in my career. Great video! 😊

If you already have a 4 year degree DO NOT ENLIST. Take yo behind to OCS/OTS. Trust me you’ll think me later.

This is exactly what I was looking for! I am just graduating with my cyber security degree and I felt like I needed to go officer or it would be wasted. But I'm totally ok going in a as a noobie after watching this! It's true. You need to see if the airforce is for you and the best place to start is at the bottom! Thanks so much for this. Now I just have to lose some weight to get in hahaha

You’re awesome. I needed to hear this, completed my Natural Science Degree. In processing for the Airforce now and really want OTS. I’m going to enlist first, see how I like then hopefully transition. Thank you so much! This was very helpful

Great video. You might also mention my scenerio of graduating from ROTC, I was commissioned and served 8 years active duty, transfered to the AF Reserves while taking a GS12 Federal Air Force Civilian Flight Chief. This way you can get a AF Pension from the Reserves and a Air Force Civil Service Pension...plus I also get VA Disability Pension at 100% due to medical conditions that occured while I was a active duty officer. BtW whats the tattoo on your right arm? Lots of great Air Force Civilian careers that you can get being prior Air Force military and if you don't do 20 years active duty, you can buy back your military time to add to your AF civil service time for retirement so you wont lose that 6yrs or 12yrs you may have done already either as a officer or enlisted member. Good luck Superstar!

Considering putting my CS Degree to good use. How has your experience been so far?

One thing to consider as well is the age of commissioning. The Air Force and Space Force allow you to commission up to age 39 as opposed to the Army and other branches which is 32 or 34.

You are awesome！

Hi Cynthia, after browsing through YouTube and clicking on your video I realized you look familiar from somewhere else, and it dawned on me you are on the same community page for our base. I won’t mention the name of the base on here for sake of your privacy because I noticed you don’t mention it, and neither do I on my videos. Anyways, best of luck on your tech school and YouTube channel!

Thank you for your video, I still hesitant on applying for ots just because on how competitive they came be also I have a family or 3 with a B.S in chemistry with a couple of year experience in laboratory. I always want to join the Air force but put it off and got married. I am concern about my age at 29 coming on 30 , if it might be already too late for me.

Hey love the video! I’m currently in school for a bachelors in applied computing (cybersecurity). I really wanna do AFROTC to be in Cyberspace operations. Any advice ? I’m really confused on to how competitive the space force is

My favorite argument for enlisting first: If you enlist first, you can join an Air National Guard unit while going to college, or you can do college while Active Enlisted. This would give you a chance to start racking up years-of-service toward retirement while also working toward becoming an officer. Also, you're getting paid for those years as Enlisted. So, as long as someone buckles down on college during their 4 year enlisted contract, I believe an enlisted-first officer can make more money in the long run compared to a college-first officer. And then there's the benefit of being a 4-years-in-service O1 with possible job qualifications that result in bonus pay.