What is the general deployment schedule for an Air Force intelligence officer?

[fitche]

I have several questions. My husband, who has a bachelors in business/finance and a law degree is considering joining the air force. If possible, he'd like to be an officer and he'd like to do intelligence. My first questions is, if he manages to get that preference, what is the deployment schedule like? I've tried to find this information online and it's hard to find information this specific that is also current (aka, post 2009).

My second questions is, how likely is it that he can go in as an officer and do the intelligence field? He has only taken the AFQT and his score was somewhere in the 80's (I don't remember). I realize that is not the relevant test for answering this question, but is it any indicator at all? Also, I'm a bit confused about the timeline on all this. So, will he take the ASVAB before he has to sign up? Can he know what job he is going to have before signing up? Finally, he would love to learn a language, but is it possible to do the Defense Langauge Institute as an officer? If not, is there something else he can do that involves language?

Any info would be greatly appreciate! Please try to keep the military lingo to a minimum as I definitely don't understand most of it yet. And, just in case anyone is fixated on the fact that he has a law degree and we're not talking JAG here, he has not passed the BAR and does not want to be a lawyer at this point anyway. Thanks!

[montgomery69]

I have several questions. My husband, who has a bachelors in business/finance and a law degree is considering joining the air force. If possible, he'd like to be an officer and he'd like to do intelligence. My first questions is, if he manages to get that preference, what is the deployment schedule like? I've tried to find this information online and it's hard to find information this specific that is also current (aka, post 2009).

My second questions is, how likely is it that he can go in as an officer and do the intelligence field? He has only taken the AFQT and his score was somewhere in the 80's (I don't remember). I realize that is not the relevant test for answering this question, but is it any indicator at all? Also, I'm a bit confused about the timeline on all this. So, will he take the ASVAB before he has to sign up? Can he know what job he is going to have before signing up? Finally, he would love to learn a language, but is it possible to do the Defense Langauge Institute as an officer? If not, is there something else he can do that involves language?

Any info would be greatly appreciate! Please try to keep the military lingo to a minimum as I definitely don't understand most of it yet. And, just in case anyone is fixated on the fact that he has a law degree and we're not talking JAG here, he has not passed the BAR and does not want to be a lawyer at this point anyway. Thanks!

Here is how it works. In the military we DO NOT deploy individuals or jobs...we deploy UNITS.

So when he is ultimately assigned to a UNIT..he will deploy when and if that UNIT deploys.

And until he is assigned to a UNIT there is no way of telling what his deployment future will look like...and no one without access to the classified deployment database will be able to tell you besides.

[josephus]

Hello Sheri,

Well, your husband wants what is not generally possible for him to achieve.

1. There is NO deployment schedule for the Air Force. None is developed or made public. People have gotten used to this "deployment" as that is the only thing to worry about in the Air Force. People in the AF serve at bases in the US and Overseas all the time and there is no "deployment" for them. Deployment is only done when certain job skills are needed in the combat zones currently in the Middle East since the beginning of that conflict in 1991. As the US military pulls away from the Middle East "less and less" AF people will be needed to send there. Thus, "deployments" will be a lesser activity in the future.

2. Your husband "should" have taken AF ROTC in college. Then, he would become an officer. But, NOW, he has to compete for about one of 60 seats in one of 7 annual classes at Officer Training School of the Air Force. His chances are very slim that he will get selected. BUT, that doesn't mean that he should not try. He needs to google AF OTS at Maxwell AFB, Alabama and follow the application process. He might have to try 2 or 3 years to maybe be selected.

3. Your husband "should" take the BAR exam. Then, he can apply to BE a lawyer officer in the AF's JAG. Lawyers are admitted as Professionals - differently than enlisted or officers in general that have to do AF ROTC.

4. Even if your husband manages to become an AF officer he will be assigned to an officer field that the AF "needs" him in. The NEEDS of the Air Force comes before the WANTS of the Individual.

5. The AFQT is for enlisted people and the AF requires a 50% to be eligible to enlist. Your husband's AFQT score of being in the 80s is great. That means that he could be enlisted. After that the AFQT means nothing more. But, it IS part of the 9 subtests of the total ASVAB which is broken down into 4 aptitude areas we call the MAGE.

Mechanical, Administrative, General, Electronics.

Enlisted people join into one of those areas. And, enlisted Intelligence jobs are in the "General" area. But, so are 18 medical jobs, 2 dental jobs, cops, firemen, fuels, and a number of other jobs that are not in the other 3 aptitude areas. The NEEDS of the AF dictate what job an enlisted person gets. But, he "can" present a list of 10 jobs he would "like" to have. The technical school schedule determines what schools are open when he graduates basic training.

6. DLI. Defense Language Institute has a separate test to determine if a person actually "has" an aptitude to learn a foreign language. Currently the "popular" language being taught is "Modern Standard Arabic." But, others are taught also: Russian, Chinese, Korean, etc. Arabic is a 12 month school + another 4 months in "electronic" training at a different base. I took the test back in 1961 and didn't qualify for DLI.

7. If he has an AFQT score he already took the ASVAB. AFQT is part of the ASVAB. If he is going to enlist (if he is not older than 27 years of age!) he needs to ask "What are my MAGE scores." He doesn't care anymore about the AFQT. He is already qualified, academically, to enter the AF. His MAGE score will determine (when he graduates basic training) what AF technical school and job he will get. NO he doesn't know ahead of time what his job will be. He only knows that aptitude area he is enlisting for.

Best wishes.
Larry Smith
Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Ret.)
First Sergeant

[CSM]

Great post, Sergeant Smith!Thanks for taking the time to share the information even though I'm not the OP.