Pros
-Life experiences like none other -Lifetime friends -Serving your country is an honor -Traveling the world (if you are lucky) -Valuable work experiences -Opportunity for early MEANINGFUL supervisory/managerial experience
Cons
-Those benefits you EARN may not be there tomorrow. Our government has become very unfriendly to veterans as of late. I don't expect retirement to exist in it's current form after the next 5 years or so. -The medical is not good, nor is it "free". It is part of your benefits package. Be prepared to deal with relentless bureaucracy if you need treatment for anything worse than the sniffles. Also be ready to be treated by incompetent MDs who you have no legal recourse against. I have experienced this many times, you will too. -Politics, Politics, Politics -Communication is often one direction, top-down -You aren't going anywhere without throwing someone else under the bus and claiming their work as your own. -Deployments to airbases where the Air Force is WAYYYY too self important. You'll know what I mean when a chief chews you out for wearing socks that aren't completely white while in PT gear. God forbid you are fighting a war. -Strange emphasis on doing things that are not duty related, like volunteer work during duty hours. Not having "checked the boxes" for volunteer work and off duty education will often result in marked down performance reports....even if they have no impact on your performance. -Experience is not valued. Every time personnel cuts come around, it's the older guys and gals who get the looks. Also applies when that idiot butter bar tells you he knows better, fails, and then blames you. -The "good ol' boy' system is alive and well throughout the service. -Not good for family life. At all. -Wasting money everywhere. I support new weapons and necessary equipment acquisitions. But all too often units spend all their money on useless crap like 80+ flat screen TVs that are used to display pictures in the hallway. Just so they can have the same budget the next year.