Airforce in Iraq????

"real facts are that there are very little air force personnel in iraq and some of them that are there voulenteerd to go over and even if they are there then their deployments are only like 3-6 months long and they have it the easiest out of everybody just like in everything else."

Blaster couldn't be more wrong. He definately doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to your question. Many Air Force personnel are in Iraq. Further, you cannot volunteer to go out of your AEF rotation unless they are looking to fill a slot for someone that has to come home or cannot go for some reason. Period. Then the crap he posted about easiest and ONLY 3 to 6 months...like I said...he don't know jack. No part of being over there is easy...period. Further, our deployments over there have gone from 6 months to a year. (Security Police) In some cases, over that. Lets not forget all the personnel we had $h!t out along with the Marines to take over the prisons because the Army couldn't hack it. Lets not forget all the patrols and QRF's the Air Force and Navy are posting to go rescue all the units that get caught up in ambushes and firefights.

Easy answer...she will most likely go over. All the services are equally represented in Iraq...yes, even the Navy submariner's on foot patrol.

Contrary to popular belief, there are a ton of Air Force personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. Apparently all the army folks think all those planes fly in from nowhere. I would say a good 80% of the high number of deployments from my base are to Iraq and Afghanistan and I know other bases are similar.

The big difference is that the Air Force treats their people a million times better than the Army does (another reason Army guys hate us). The other main difference is that the Air Force's mission is to send our planes out do to the bombing and close air support/air strikes (you're welcome special ops guys), so there's not a lot of us going outside the wire to kick down doors. Simple fact of the matter is, that's not the job of the Air Force. However, there are plenty of AF guys out on the front lines right along side of Army personnel.

Air Force leadership tries extremely hard to keep to our 4 month AEF system...however, as stated by some others, it's not possible for some career fields. I suspect our system is one of the main reasons that the Air Force doesn't have a recruiting or retention problem (hell, our leadership is trying to get people to leave).

Now before I get a thumbs down from every Army person on here...I have great respect for every last one of them. They are the ones on the front lines every day putting their lives on the line without a second thought. I think it's pathetic how Congress and Army leadership treats their soldiers. I find it hilarious that the leadership can treat their people like total, expendable garbage, and then wonder why people leave the service by the thousands every month. Not a week goes by that I don't read news about some new program the Army is spending money on to try to get people to enlist (up to $40,000 for a house???)

My husband has been active duty AF for almost 8 years and he definitely deploys less than army or marines. The AF has a system that most everyone is in a bucket system (basically assigned to a certain # bucket) and you go when your bucket number is up. Generally speaking, it's around every 15 months that your bucket comes up and the AF generally doesn't deploy for more than 6 months at a time (usually 4 months if you're in a normal sort of job). All of this, of course, depends on the job (MOS) she has, because there are some jobs that are on a completely different schedule and deploy more often. This is just a general idea of what deployment schedules are like. Not every job has the same schedule and she shouldn't go into it thinking she will only deploy every 15 months because she could be severely dissapointed.

Yes the AF does go to Iraq and yes it depends on your unit, your job, your AEF cycle, if she volunteered, and if she's medically cleared. She can also be sent to other countries in support of the war efforts. Many AF members are deployed to Saudi, Kuwait, Qatar, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. Their are other deployments for humanity missions....she can possibly be sent to Ecuador, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Africa, etc.

The last branch to go to Iraq/Middle East would be the Coast Guard and/or the Navy, not the AF.

I was in a combat unit so I would deploy every year for no less than 120 days. I have friends who are in other units who deploy maybe every 15 months for about 120 days.

The standard deployment is 120 days, there are deployments that are 6 months long (Cops & CE), some that are 8 months long (if deploying to help the Army), and some that are 12 months (considered a short tour).

GOOD LUCK to her!!!

my husband has been in iraq 3 times now....6 months, 8 mths,8mths,and is leaving for a year next month. he has not been home longer than 10 months at a time since 2001 and has been on the ground in combat situations every time......some get lucky and go to kuwait to some cushy base for 3 months at a time.....will depend on job

That is not true. Depending on her MOS, there is a good chance she could go. It doesn't matter what branch you are in, you should always accept the fact that you might be deployed, whether it is Iraq, Greece, the Horn of Africa, etc....

I hope this helps.

Dillion

Some AFSC have higher chances of going but overall 5% of the total AF is deployed.

real facts are that there are very little air force personnel in iraq and some of them that are there voulenteerd to go over and even if they are there then their deployments are only like 3-6 months long and they have it the easiest out of everybody just like in everything else. if she is worried about getting deployed and trying to dodge it then she probably shouldnt join because there is always a possibility to get deployed because the job of the military is to fight wars and protect the U.S. so anybody who thinks otherwise is sadly mistaken