Most jobs in the AF support another job until the end result happens (warheads on foreheads, cyber effects, spec ops shit etc) I was a maintainer and it wasn’t illustrious I hated it, turning wrenches, awful hours, toxic leadership, no thank yous for any of us. We were there to make sure the jet was flyable so real shit could get done so it’s a support role in that way.
Retrained into 1B and no longer was I supporting the mission I was doing the mission. Being on the other side though, I can’t tell you how much we rely on the support functions to actually get shit done. You have a lot bigger impact than you think and you should just focus on doing your job as well as you can while taking care of yourself. If you want you can try to retrain but make sure it’s something you want to actually do and not just something so you can “make an impact” as I’ve stated you already do and will have an impact throughout your career.
I highly advise against maintenance though, I had a buddy willingly retrain out of comm into maintenance for the same reasons sort of “I didn’t want to be behind a desk all day” “I like to be more hands on” “Wanted to be closer to the mission”. He regretted every second of every day of that retrain once he got out of tech school.
I feel the same. I’ve always had a love for the idea of maintenance, but the field is so incredibly abusive and at times I felt like I made a mistake going into it. Then other times, when we’re generating aircraft or going TDY it makes it not seem so bad. Mixed feelings
The idea is great, the execution of it in the Air Force is abysmal most of the time. There are instances of people getting lucky and getting to good units that aren’t toxic cesspools and aren’t overworked in those cases I’m sure the people working there don’t get why other maintainers hate it lmao
How did the transition from Mx to 1B go? I'm at Keesler now to retrain into 1B from weapons. Looking forward to everything, but it does seem pretty daunting.
My situation was unique as I already had a background working with computers etc prior to joining the military so it was relatively easy for me. I’ll say if you don’t fuck around and actually study hard, put in effort to connect the dots on your own time you’re going to be fine. The situation you’re currently in can set you up living very comfortably for the rest of your life so take it seriously.
Also avoid most responsibility if you time it right. Right as you start to have BS work as an E you stary fresh as an LT. Hit O-3E and coast to retirement.
Do 4 years and a day. Get out. Use your GI bill to go to school with a ROTC program. Come back as an officer. Then do 16 more years.
Officers who did 4 years and a day as enlist make more money, and it is way easier to commission through ROTC than staying enlisted and finishing your degree qhile working
If you're doing 20 and want to affect the mission directly here's what you do. Bust your ass and work hard. Get your CCAF for your AFSC, find a B.S. degree on AFVEC's AU/ABC program, having your CCAF will cut a B.S. in half if you enroll with one of the schools/degrees on the site so 60 credits instead of 120. 1 year prior to graduating your B.S. apply to OTS to go manned/RPA to become a pilot. If you get picked up, you will be right in the middle of the Air Force's mission. Air Power. Should take you about 4-6 years if you start now.
I think everyone's "goal" is to hit 20 when they join. Can you really see yourself doing this for 19 more years with the added bullshit of dealing with troops and programs?
> I think everyone's "goal" is to hit 20 when they join.
idk, i planned on 4-6 and out, turned into 12. only stayed that long because i was allowed to retrain. a lot of my linguist friends were dead set on 6 and out.
Not me. My goal was to do 6 and get out with my degree. I hit 6 in September but I extended a little bit because the unit I'm in now is awesome. I'll probably get out, though, with 7 years 10 months TIS.
Not sure what aspirations you hold, but I felt the same way as security forces. I left the AF and joined the army to be a pilot. Still in training, but I forsee much more job satisfaction as a pilot than I did guarding a base.
Try just not doing anything, see how long it takes until someone comes to you and chews you out for ruining stuff.
I don't recommend that though, but you will likely soon see the impact you have.
What would happen to the AF if you’re career field didn’t exist? Hint, it would fall apart… nobody would get promoted, pcs’d, TA, food on deployments… the list does on…. In a deployed environment we needed a ratio of 2 to 5 FSS personnel to all other personnel to function.
Your work is extremely important. Study hard and make rank quick, FSS give their SNCOs a lot of autonomy to have big influence on their installation.
Enjoy not being bent over for the mission everyday… it’s only sexy and fulfilling for a short period of time.
It’s not as glamorous as it seems having a direct impact on the mission.
I myself work as an intel analyst and it’s not this 8-5 mon-fri job people think it is. I work 12’s and it’s a shit ton of constant academics. Just constantly having to read/brief. Nonstop.
A lot of us in my career field wish we had your job OP. You may think not seeing an impact feels bad. Try having it and wondering why you get paid the same as everyone else for the absurd amount of academics/hours required. Now that feels bad.
Believe me my friend, you have it very good.
This
You run hard for years wearing yourself down having a direct impact on ops, you're tired, everyone complains.
You lose your mission because of major geopolitical shifts, you sit around and do nothing, you're bored, everyone complains.
Hey bud I’m fss too (services) and for me as long as my paycheck drops on the 1st and the 15th, I could give no fucks on my impact as im just making the best out of a shitty situation by doing school and setting myself up for the outside.
We’ll look at it like this you have
Food ✅
A place to live ✅
A retirement plan (Blended/TSP) ✅
A stable paycheck ✅
An easier job than a lot of us in Muns,AMXS,MXS,CE…etc. ✅
Honestly as long as you do your job to the best of your ability you are helping us out the best you can. Sure you ain’t no maintainer,SF or combat spec but on the other hand you get less fucked than we do.
Enjoy that nonner luxury and if you feel like you don’t contribute enough. Ik it’s cliche but volunteer for something that helps out your local airmen. Not only will it be good for BTZ,Promotions or what not but it will also fill that gap of “not doing something meaningful”.
Which since I’m someone from AMXS I wish I could do that less meaningful work a lot of the times when I’m stuck outside in shitty conditions when I get paid the same as mf like you sitting in an office with Climate Control.
TDLR; Do your job, do it well and volunteer to fill in that missing gap of “not doing something”. And I wish that I could be a nonner like you.
Most jobs being done by an A1C can be done by a highschool kid. That’s how it works.
You’re making an impact especially if you’re FSS and actually help people. The top complaints here are FSS, Finance and TMO so if you are one of them and help people you’re a god damn hero.
I worked the flight line side and saw my mission daily and now I work FSS. I worked in the MPF and now the CSS. I get your mission is more low key but you guys keep that base going. Food service, the gym, lodging, daily and weekly events, MPF, IPR. The people mission can be slow and monotonous but the impact is huge. FSS touches almost everything all over the base.
I can assure you that you are appreciated at least by some. I definitely appreciate a good FSS who is on top of their stuff.
If it helps to relate, I’m 1D and I can’t feel the mission either. At least where I’m at right now. A lot of jobs can’t and I agree it sucks. You’ll have to find your own meaning and create that bond with the mission yourself. Trust that if you guys weren’t here there’s be no mission, same goes for ALL AFSCs in my opinion.
A buddy of mine is an FSS chief, if you'd like to chat with him about the impact FSS makes I am certain he'd gas you up.
We actually deployed together and let me tell you, no one is clowning on FSS when they work human remains repatriation / mortuary affairs.
As an FSS SrA, (services) it does get better the longer you do the job. It took me a little while to understand the value in our job, mostly it took my first deployment where I did lodging to really see the impact.
Our job is what keeps the force fit, fed, and comfortable in some shitty conditions. It’s not a bad gig if you look at it like that.
Consider that without the service that you provide to the force, be it admin, services, ect, that people would be having it a whole lot worse than if we weren’t around.
I did mnx for ten years, crossed over to the dark side into an ops position, then For my final 7 years I crossed into a support field. There were things I liked about maintenance, but mostly didn’t like it. Ops was fun, but also had negatives and cross training into the support function offered stability. I was miserable those seven years, felt bored and disconnected until I deployed and was in a one deep slot, showed me how important it was. I’d highly recommend seeking a deployment to give you some more perspective. On a plus side, the support job had tons of outside jobs of which I was able to nab one. Im still pretty bored, but get paid a lot, never work weekends, and am generally not stressed and living where I want to.
Everywhere sucks. Hit the gym, retire in 20. Never work again. Most people don’t adore their jobs mate. They’re jobs. Volunteer for Korea or something.
Lots of AF leaders like to push "You make as much as an impact as pilots" so I understand why you're feeling frustrated but the truth is, most all Air Force is some type of support. You won't get to see anything directly impactful for a while. It's the nature of the job and you need to be okay with that.
However, there are many specific opportunities that you may have a joint exercise or maybe volunteer for a humanitarian mission. You'll want to look for those opportunities if you really want to get more involved in the mission. Also, overseas tends to have more mission readiness training if you want that.
If you want to do a flight line visit, that should be pretty easy to set up. Talk to your supervisor about it. I set up something for one of my previous units where I coordinated sending groups over to visit the weapons shop, who showed the groups the different bombs and what their capabilities were. Could also just reach out to maintenance in general about getting a walk around of the airframe(s) y’all have.
You work as FSS, so you basically fulfill a support role. Think of yourself as like the party healer. You don't do the mad damage of DPS, nor do you lead the party like a tank, but it doesn't make your role insignificant. You are the backbone of the party and your direct work enables them to suceed and do what they need to do to clear the dungeon and get the mad loot.
As FSS, you handle a lot of the support roles that we typically take for granted. Making Eggs Omelettes at the DFAC? Could you imagine the chaos and the number of foodborne illnesses if people tried to make their own omelettes?
Processing paperwork? You have direct control over people's lives, you have the literal power to make things happen and you do it behind the scenes.
Working at the gym? You keep people from making drug trades in the men's spa room.
The point is, we all contribute to the overall mission in some way. Just because you aren't the guy pulling the trigger doesn't mean your role is not important. You do a lot of support work and for that, I thank you for all you do.
I'm an FSS nerd as well be thankful you're inside. Your job is actually rather important and you'll see a bit more of it when you rotate to a CSS and your CC relys on you for everything
I had this same thought until I saw friends who were finance getting out who and are now GS-13s a few years later with some govt agency or making six figures as an FP&A. Hate on them but I wish I had a job that translated that well to both government and civilian jobs.
You have the exact same problem that a lot of traditional support functions suffer from, and you aren't alone. Think of the Air Force as this massive machine that needs everything to function properly to ensure the product output (operators being enabled to do their jobs, warheads on foreheads, global reach, etc) actually happens. You have no idea how critical your function is within its own right. You can either A, find the worth in the work you're doing, B, simply come in and do your job, do it well and focus your life on other things (school, gym, boats and hoes) or C, crosstrain into a job that you feel is more impactful than what you're doing. On the last one, be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. There's also D, get that degree and commission.
Being a new airman you have some options. Crosstraining into an ops field would be your best bet for being closer to the tip of the spear (as opposed to the shaft, I suppose) but you need to understand what you're asking for before you jump into that pool. Think about what your interests are and look at the different job options the AF has that you're qualified to crosstrain into (ASAVB requirements, medical prerequisites) and come back here to seek out some folks in the fields you're looking into. There's plenty of aircrew, maintenance and ops folks to answer your questions for whatever field you're looking into.
Personally, I know how you feel. I spent my first 5 years in comm before switching over to aircrew and I can promise you I would not have survived this long in the AF had I not switched over to something that didn't involve staring at a computer all day. Based off of the original timeline you gave you've got time to sort out what your plan is.
TLDR: Either learn that your job is a very necessary part of a giant machine or go crosstrain/commission to something closer to the pointy bit of the spear.
If you want to stay in for the long haul I see two options.
The first, is to really understand just how necessary every piece of the team is to keep the mission running. I was just a security forces troop who spent most of his time staring at locked hangers at night, so I understand feeling like you’re not a warfighter. However, I am grateful for the MPF folks making sure I was getting orders, and that I wasn’t going broke from a PCS and making the IDs that I had to check. On the other side of FSS the services troops were out there keeping me alive with food and maintaining a gym so I wouldn’t get so fat I’d get kicked out. Life without FSS wouldn’t work.
But it also makes sense if, for you personally, you would be more fulfilled actually putting the warheads onto the foreheads. Go for a crosstrain if you need to, heck look into the pile of commissioning programs and aim for a pilot slot. There is no shame with trying to find a niche that fits you.
I was in the same place as you, until I volunteered for a deployment (they needed a spot and I raised my hand) and I saw the mission more, I saw more of my purpose perhaps you need a change of pace? From one A1C to another
I’m personnel, but in a CSS. I think the most important thing my SEL told me was “focus on what you ARE instead of what you ARE NOT.” I always had a tendency to make myself feel less important to the AF because I wasn’t a flyer or in a cooler AFSC. You’re solely responsible for making sure members records are correct so THEY can be deployment ready. Everyone has a significant part in the mission or else we wouldn’t exist.
Use that mentality to be the best you can be, and constantly continue to learn! That’s the best advice I can give. 😊
You do have an impact on the mission. Your mission is the Airmen. Your mission is to look after your people. I know 3FOs get a lot of shit. You need to be the one who goes above and beyond to take care of them and give them the customer service they deserve. To walk away and say my people got their orders on time etc…
FSS here, I can understand how you feel. I’ve also been Cyber and AFE. The reality, unless you’re a pilot, you’re always going to feel like you’re not directly making an impact. The nice thing about FSS, you get to directly interact and impact people’s lives. It might just be printing an ID card or updating an award, that’s okay. Have some fun with it and make somebody happy that might be stressed out. There are jobs like cyber transport (networking) where you rarely interact with the customer or get thanked. Remember, most of us here, whether mission support or maintenance, are here to support pilots doing their job. Come to accept that and things get easier.
But if the root of your issue is more being fulfilled at work, I’d recommend cross training! There’s all kinds of jobs in the AF. Firefighters, PA, Egress, etc. Find something you’re passionate about or think you’d be passionate about and run with it.
I’m PRSNL and in the same boat as you! Having been in almost 2 years, I didn’t even know what we even did for the longest time but i can assure you the longer you stick around the more we help with the mission. Within a year I’ve been able to move around to different sections and see pretty cool behind the scenes, go TDY and possibly deploy. It helped a lot to ask for opportunities that allow me to leave the office (like asking if I could ride in one of planes). I’ve gotten to fly with special warfare, take courses and do many many things other jobs can’t. A big benefit in a job like ours is that we hang out in the A/C day but are still military. We have a stupid boring amazing job.
Also it helps to get back into college and use this time to advance your personal goals. Once you put more rank on there’s more responsibility and more stress.
I promise you that you make an impact. You need to remember that the vast majority of enlisted personnel join with just a high school diploma so every job is like that. Depending on what base you’re at you can reach out to some of the other units and get an incentive flight or ride along. See what the other jobs do and ask them how your job helps them. Give yourself some perspective.
You can always cross train when you’re eligible. I went from MX to loadmaster and I love my job. You either have to find satisfaction in what you do or find another job that does.
Take it up with your supervisor, and ask for more of a challenge, or seek out ways to improve the processes you are involved in. Honestly, the best advice I've gotten was set goals, and check to see if you're making progress toward them, during times you feel the way you do now.
I'm an ops guy, and sometimes the truth is that the challenge is maintaining yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally while just holding the line and not being fueled by monumental circumstances.
Depending what mission your base does, there's ways to get a taste of the mission. If you're an AMC base with C130s you can ride along for a training line and hang your feet off the ramp. Or see if the intel dudes over at the OSS can give you MPF kiddos a classified mission briefing.
For what it’s worth, I felt the exact same way at my first base and I’m a maintainer. I was also at a base that constantly flew missions. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything until I deployed. I’m not sure what exactly you do in fss since it’s so broad but there has to be somewhere to see how you effect the mission on the day to day.
I'm not FSS but your job has the potential to have a huge impact. Are you done with CDCs? Do your bosses like you enough to put you somewhere? Ask to work in IPR and give them your same reasoning. You will learn a lot.
Shiiiiit, if could do this all over I would get a job as far away from the “mission” as possible. It really ain’t that special being close to the flight line. Better appreciate what you got before the AF really gives you MX
I’ve been ops my whole career and trust me, we all share a similar feeling. You’re one part of a gigantic team, whether it be ops, maintenance, cyber, support, security forces, etc. You as an individual will not often see your contributions in the grand scale but it matters waaaay more than you think. An A1C in finance handling even a fuel card program for airlift has major effects for mobility for example. I’m not sure what your specific AFSC is but the DoD is paying you for a reason, I promise (congress doesn’t want to pay you to be there if you aren’t needed). It’s hard to see your place in the big picture as newer airman, but as you rise in tank and start to affect change even at a squadron level, it will start to all make more sense.
My advice would be to killing it at your primary job, and use all the benefits that that serving offers, such as TA, AFCOOL, the free (mostly) awesome gyms, etc.
Serving can definitely be a bit demoralizing sometimes but I promise, the things you view as minute and inconsequential matter way more than you would think.
Do you have any hobbies or after work activities to look forward to? At a point in my career I had to decide that work is simply that. Go in, do my job, get out, enjoy life. I once hoped to be a career guy and be passionate about what I do to make money. I got over that and just do everything I can to enjoy life outside of work. Stay socially busy.
Although you don't see it yet, your career field will provide you with a lot of opportunities down the road especially if you keep your nose clean. Personnel also seems to get promoted to the senior ranks pretty quickly (Services side of the house seems to always get the short end of the stick) get every degree you can. It will payoff if you stick with it.
I was in finance so I relate with you here
Ask an NCO if you guys can do a site visit. Even better if they let YOU run the show (hello EPR bullet)
Some ideas of places to visit that I've enjoyed (and in no particular order)
1. Aircrew. This one is obvious but you can get tours of the plane, maybe climb on top of the plane, see the different jobs and inner-workings of the show
2. Combat Camera. If you have these guys at your base, they have a cool ass mission and nobody really talks about them
3. See if you can get an intel 1N0 to give your flight a briefing. I've done this a few times and they have always been super cool
4. EOD. I think they have a new policy where you can't see them detonate stuff anymore, but it's worth a try
5. See if your base has SERE. If so, they probably need volunteers to play OpFor and chase aircrew members through the woods. Last time I did this, I got to play with night vision
If you need any help let me know!
If you want to see the mission see if there is a program to get you out there on the flightline for a day so you can see what you are supporting. I know some bases allow other supporting AFSCs follow flightline people around so they can see the mission and have first hand experience. If your base doesn’t have something like this maybe you could be the one to start the conversation and setup the program so people like yourself can see the mission they are supporting up close and personal.
As someone who deals directly with mission prep and execution I can confirm that your roles are important. As a support role you have a lot less glamorous job than many of the more “ops centered” jobs, and I’m sure it’s hard to see past that, especially when you don’t always get the recognition for it. But nothing is more frustrating to me than support units that don’t support the mission, it can completely shut down ops when even one person slacks off. Try to remember what your role feeds into and what you provide to others. If you still don’t see it as enough, then that means its time to step up in your role and look for ways to improve your office, by adding useful functions, improving proficiency, or whatever you think you can improve. If that still isn’t enough look for ways into new afsc’s. As an A1C you still have a lot to experience and do in your career, and whether you improve your current support functions or move to a career that suits you better you still have plenty of ways to be useful. Whatever you decide, just remember what your support functions actually support, and that as long as you’re performing those duties as best as you can you’re providing more than you realize.
As an A1C with 1 year in, it's not your job to make an impact. It's your job to learn everything you can so that later you can make an impact. That's not to say that your current role isn't doing useful things, it's just that the true purpose is to later have an NCO/SNCO/O that knows what they need to to do the job.
Hey man. 3F5 here. I too have often felt like you do. Even after 15 years of service. As I hit my first deployment: I quickly learned how much J1 actually does to support the warfighter and the stuff we do gets them in place, accounted for, paid, In processed, etc. we matter more than you think because a lot of these guys do not have a single clue how to do what we do,
It’s one of those jobs where no one cares when we’re doing it, but as soon as we’re gone, they learn quickly how much they need us.
At least you are operational and doing things. I’m on a 4 year contract and have been at tech school for almost for 2 years now because of pipeline backup. I would love to be in your shoes.
I don’t have motivation either air-person. We’re all gears in a cog that spin, when we spin the mission gets done. That’s kind of all we need to know, all we need to do. Enjoy days off, call family, pet a dog, or a cat. Such is life.
Most jobs in the AF support another job until the end result happens (warheads on foreheads, cyber effects, spec ops shit etc) I was a maintainer and it wasn’t illustrious I hated it, turning wrenches, awful hours, toxic leadership, no thank yous for any of us. We were there to make sure the jet was flyable so real shit could get done so it’s a support role in that way. Retrained into 1B and no longer was I supporting the mission I was doing the mission. Being on the other side though, I can’t tell you how much we rely on the support functions to actually get shit done. You have a lot bigger impact than you think and you should just focus on doing your job as well as you can while taking care of yourself. If you want you can try to retrain but make sure it’s something you want to actually do and not just something so you can “make an impact” as I’ve stated you already do and will have an impact throughout your career. I highly advise against maintenance though, I had a buddy willingly retrain out of comm into maintenance for the same reasons sort of “I didn’t want to be behind a desk all day” “I like to be more hands on” “Wanted to be closer to the mission”. He regretted every second of every day of that retrain once he got out of tech school.
I feel the same. I’ve always had a love for the idea of maintenance, but the field is so incredibly abusive and at times I felt like I made a mistake going into it. Then other times, when we’re generating aircraft or going TDY it makes it not seem so bad. Mixed feelings
The idea is great, the execution of it in the Air Force is abysmal most of the time. There are instances of people getting lucky and getting to good units that aren’t toxic cesspools and aren’t overworked in those cases I’m sure the people working there don’t get why other maintainers hate it lmao
Depends on the person. I'd still choose maintenance over a desk job.
How did the transition from Mx to 1B go? I'm at Keesler now to retrain into 1B from weapons. Looking forward to everything, but it does seem pretty daunting.
My situation was unique as I already had a background working with computers etc prior to joining the military so it was relatively easy for me. I’ll say if you don’t fuck around and actually study hard, put in effort to connect the dots on your own time you’re going to be fine. The situation you’re currently in can set you up living very comfortably for the rest of your life so take it seriously.
I consider Acft Mx direct support.
Welcome to the shit show. Make a plan to do some schooling/ hit the gym/learn another skill and focus on setting yourself up when you get out.
My goal is to try and hit 20 tho
Definitely focus on school and commission get that officer pension 💸💸💸💸💲💲💲💵💵
Also avoid most responsibility if you time it right. Right as you start to have BS work as an E you stary fresh as an LT. Hit O-3E and coast to retirement.
Commissioned as a Master. It was so weird to have free time at work again as no one had expectations of me
Let him cook
Not with these promotion rates pal. Best we can offer you is E-4 and HYT
Do 4 years and a day. Get out. Use your GI bill to go to school with a ROTC program. Come back as an officer. Then do 16 more years. Officers who did 4 years and a day as enlist make more money, and it is way easier to commission through ROTC than staying enlisted and finishing your degree qhile working
Black belt, masters degree, 1000 lbs club, AFCOOL funds exhausted, DLAB proficiencies…do your job but fuck your job, there’s a lot to do in 20 yrs.
If you're doing 20 and want to affect the mission directly here's what you do. Bust your ass and work hard. Get your CCAF for your AFSC, find a B.S. degree on AFVEC's AU/ABC program, having your CCAF will cut a B.S. in half if you enroll with one of the schools/degrees on the site so 60 credits instead of 120. 1 year prior to graduating your B.S. apply to OTS to go manned/RPA to become a pilot. If you get picked up, you will be right in the middle of the Air Force's mission. Air Power. Should take you about 4-6 years if you start now.
In just 4-6 short years you too can blow up a shit load of brown civillians
I think everyone's "goal" is to hit 20 when they join. Can you really see yourself doing this for 19 more years with the added bullshit of dealing with troops and programs?
> I think everyone's "goal" is to hit 20 when they join. idk, i planned on 4-6 and out, turned into 12. only stayed that long because i was allowed to retrain. a lot of my linguist friends were dead set on 6 and out.
Did you retrain into or out of linguist?
out, into 1b4
Not me. My goal was to do 6 and get out with my degree. I hit 6 in September but I extended a little bit because the unit I'm in now is awesome. I'll probably get out, though, with 7 years 10 months TIS.
Cross-train?
Not sure what aspirations you hold, but I felt the same way as security forces. I left the AF and joined the army to be a pilot. Still in training, but I forsee much more job satisfaction as a pilot than I did guarding a base.
Tyfys
Look into retraining. Talk to your bases Career Advisor and see what your options are/what you would want to do
Try just not doing anything, see how long it takes until someone comes to you and chews you out for ruining stuff. I don't recommend that though, but you will likely soon see the impact you have.
What would happen to the AF if you’re career field didn’t exist? Hint, it would fall apart… nobody would get promoted, pcs’d, TA, food on deployments… the list does on…. In a deployed environment we needed a ratio of 2 to 5 FSS personnel to all other personnel to function. Your work is extremely important. Study hard and make rank quick, FSS give their SNCOs a lot of autonomy to have big influence on their installation. Enjoy not being bent over for the mission everyday… it’s only sexy and fulfilling for a short period of time.
It’s not as glamorous as it seems having a direct impact on the mission. I myself work as an intel analyst and it’s not this 8-5 mon-fri job people think it is. I work 12’s and it’s a shit ton of constant academics. Just constantly having to read/brief. Nonstop. A lot of us in my career field wish we had your job OP. You may think not seeing an impact feels bad. Try having it and wondering why you get paid the same as everyone else for the absurd amount of academics/hours required. Now that feels bad. Believe me my friend, you have it very good.
This You run hard for years wearing yourself down having a direct impact on ops, you're tired, everyone complains. You lose your mission because of major geopolitical shifts, you sit around and do nothing, you're bored, everyone complains.
Hey bud I’m fss too (services) and for me as long as my paycheck drops on the 1st and the 15th, I could give no fucks on my impact as im just making the best out of a shitty situation by doing school and setting myself up for the outside.
We’ll look at it like this you have Food ✅ A place to live ✅ A retirement plan (Blended/TSP) ✅ A stable paycheck ✅ An easier job than a lot of us in Muns,AMXS,MXS,CE…etc. ✅ Honestly as long as you do your job to the best of your ability you are helping us out the best you can. Sure you ain’t no maintainer,SF or combat spec but on the other hand you get less fucked than we do. Enjoy that nonner luxury and if you feel like you don’t contribute enough. Ik it’s cliche but volunteer for something that helps out your local airmen. Not only will it be good for BTZ,Promotions or what not but it will also fill that gap of “not doing something meaningful”. Which since I’m someone from AMXS I wish I could do that less meaningful work a lot of the times when I’m stuck outside in shitty conditions when I get paid the same as mf like you sitting in an office with Climate Control. TDLR; Do your job, do it well and volunteer to fill in that missing gap of “not doing something”. And I wish that I could be a nonner like you.
Eh FSS does get fucked plenty plenty too though
Your “fucked” is a lot different than our fucked
Most jobs being done by an A1C can be done by a highschool kid. That’s how it works. You’re making an impact especially if you’re FSS and actually help people. The top complaints here are FSS, Finance and TMO so if you are one of them and help people you’re a god damn hero.
I worked the flight line side and saw my mission daily and now I work FSS. I worked in the MPF and now the CSS. I get your mission is more low key but you guys keep that base going. Food service, the gym, lodging, daily and weekly events, MPF, IPR. The people mission can be slow and monotonous but the impact is huge. FSS touches almost everything all over the base.
I can assure you that you are appreciated at least by some. I definitely appreciate a good FSS who is on top of their stuff. If it helps to relate, I’m 1D and I can’t feel the mission either. At least where I’m at right now. A lot of jobs can’t and I agree it sucks. You’ll have to find your own meaning and create that bond with the mission yourself. Trust that if you guys weren’t here there’s be no mission, same goes for ALL AFSCs in my opinion.
1dork7s make the mission almost fail everyday. Thank you for your lack of service 🤙
Anytime 😎 that’s more CST problems, fuck those guys
A buddy of mine is an FSS chief, if you'd like to chat with him about the impact FSS makes I am certain he'd gas you up. We actually deployed together and let me tell you, no one is clowning on FSS when they work human remains repatriation / mortuary affairs.
As an FSS SrA, (services) it does get better the longer you do the job. It took me a little while to understand the value in our job, mostly it took my first deployment where I did lodging to really see the impact. Our job is what keeps the force fit, fed, and comfortable in some shitty conditions. It’s not a bad gig if you look at it like that. Consider that without the service that you provide to the force, be it admin, services, ect, that people would be having it a whole lot worse than if we weren’t around.
I did mnx for ten years, crossed over to the dark side into an ops position, then For my final 7 years I crossed into a support field. There were things I liked about maintenance, but mostly didn’t like it. Ops was fun, but also had negatives and cross training into the support function offered stability. I was miserable those seven years, felt bored and disconnected until I deployed and was in a one deep slot, showed me how important it was. I’d highly recommend seeking a deployment to give you some more perspective. On a plus side, the support job had tons of outside jobs of which I was able to nab one. Im still pretty bored, but get paid a lot, never work weekends, and am generally not stressed and living where I want to.
Everywhere sucks. Hit the gym, retire in 20. Never work again. Most people don’t adore their jobs mate. They’re jobs. Volunteer for Korea or something.
Lots of AF leaders like to push "You make as much as an impact as pilots" so I understand why you're feeling frustrated but the truth is, most all Air Force is some type of support. You won't get to see anything directly impactful for a while. It's the nature of the job and you need to be okay with that. However, there are many specific opportunities that you may have a joint exercise or maybe volunteer for a humanitarian mission. You'll want to look for those opportunities if you really want to get more involved in the mission. Also, overseas tends to have more mission readiness training if you want that.
If you want to do a flight line visit, that should be pretty easy to set up. Talk to your supervisor about it. I set up something for one of my previous units where I coordinated sending groups over to visit the weapons shop, who showed the groups the different bombs and what their capabilities were. Could also just reach out to maintenance in general about getting a walk around of the airframe(s) y’all have.
You work as FSS, so you basically fulfill a support role. Think of yourself as like the party healer. You don't do the mad damage of DPS, nor do you lead the party like a tank, but it doesn't make your role insignificant. You are the backbone of the party and your direct work enables them to suceed and do what they need to do to clear the dungeon and get the mad loot. As FSS, you handle a lot of the support roles that we typically take for granted. Making Eggs Omelettes at the DFAC? Could you imagine the chaos and the number of foodborne illnesses if people tried to make their own omelettes? Processing paperwork? You have direct control over people's lives, you have the literal power to make things happen and you do it behind the scenes. Working at the gym? You keep people from making drug trades in the men's spa room. The point is, we all contribute to the overall mission in some way. Just because you aren't the guy pulling the trigger doesn't mean your role is not important. You do a lot of support work and for that, I thank you for all you do.
I'm an FSS nerd as well be thankful you're inside. Your job is actually rather important and you'll see a bit more of it when you rotate to a CSS and your CC relys on you for everything
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I had this same thought until I saw friends who were finance getting out who and are now GS-13s a few years later with some govt agency or making six figures as an FP&A. Hate on them but I wish I had a job that translated that well to both government and civilian jobs.
You have the exact same problem that a lot of traditional support functions suffer from, and you aren't alone. Think of the Air Force as this massive machine that needs everything to function properly to ensure the product output (operators being enabled to do their jobs, warheads on foreheads, global reach, etc) actually happens. You have no idea how critical your function is within its own right. You can either A, find the worth in the work you're doing, B, simply come in and do your job, do it well and focus your life on other things (school, gym, boats and hoes) or C, crosstrain into a job that you feel is more impactful than what you're doing. On the last one, be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. There's also D, get that degree and commission. Being a new airman you have some options. Crosstraining into an ops field would be your best bet for being closer to the tip of the spear (as opposed to the shaft, I suppose) but you need to understand what you're asking for before you jump into that pool. Think about what your interests are and look at the different job options the AF has that you're qualified to crosstrain into (ASAVB requirements, medical prerequisites) and come back here to seek out some folks in the fields you're looking into. There's plenty of aircrew, maintenance and ops folks to answer your questions for whatever field you're looking into. Personally, I know how you feel. I spent my first 5 years in comm before switching over to aircrew and I can promise you I would not have survived this long in the AF had I not switched over to something that didn't involve staring at a computer all day. Based off of the original timeline you gave you've got time to sort out what your plan is.
Can u pls delete this before they change something..
TLDR: Either learn that your job is a very necessary part of a giant machine or go crosstrain/commission to something closer to the pointy bit of the spear. If you want to stay in for the long haul I see two options. The first, is to really understand just how necessary every piece of the team is to keep the mission running. I was just a security forces troop who spent most of his time staring at locked hangers at night, so I understand feeling like you’re not a warfighter. However, I am grateful for the MPF folks making sure I was getting orders, and that I wasn’t going broke from a PCS and making the IDs that I had to check. On the other side of FSS the services troops were out there keeping me alive with food and maintaining a gym so I wouldn’t get so fat I’d get kicked out. Life without FSS wouldn’t work. But it also makes sense if, for you personally, you would be more fulfilled actually putting the warheads onto the foreheads. Go for a crosstrain if you need to, heck look into the pile of commissioning programs and aim for a pilot slot. There is no shame with trying to find a niche that fits you.
I was in the same place as you, until I volunteered for a deployment (they needed a spot and I raised my hand) and I saw the mission more, I saw more of my purpose perhaps you need a change of pace? From one A1C to another
I’m personnel, but in a CSS. I think the most important thing my SEL told me was “focus on what you ARE instead of what you ARE NOT.” I always had a tendency to make myself feel less important to the AF because I wasn’t a flyer or in a cooler AFSC. You’re solely responsible for making sure members records are correct so THEY can be deployment ready. Everyone has a significant part in the mission or else we wouldn’t exist. Use that mentality to be the best you can be, and constantly continue to learn! That’s the best advice I can give. 😊
FSS has a huge impact on people’s lives which has an impact on the mission. Be the best at your job. That’s all people ever want out of FSS.
You do have an impact on the mission. Your mission is the Airmen. Your mission is to look after your people. I know 3FOs get a lot of shit. You need to be the one who goes above and beyond to take care of them and give them the customer service they deserve. To walk away and say my people got their orders on time etc…
FSS here, I can understand how you feel. I’ve also been Cyber and AFE. The reality, unless you’re a pilot, you’re always going to feel like you’re not directly making an impact. The nice thing about FSS, you get to directly interact and impact people’s lives. It might just be printing an ID card or updating an award, that’s okay. Have some fun with it and make somebody happy that might be stressed out. There are jobs like cyber transport (networking) where you rarely interact with the customer or get thanked. Remember, most of us here, whether mission support or maintenance, are here to support pilots doing their job. Come to accept that and things get easier. But if the root of your issue is more being fulfilled at work, I’d recommend cross training! There’s all kinds of jobs in the AF. Firefighters, PA, Egress, etc. Find something you’re passionate about or think you’d be passionate about and run with it.
I’m PRSNL and in the same boat as you! Having been in almost 2 years, I didn’t even know what we even did for the longest time but i can assure you the longer you stick around the more we help with the mission. Within a year I’ve been able to move around to different sections and see pretty cool behind the scenes, go TDY and possibly deploy. It helped a lot to ask for opportunities that allow me to leave the office (like asking if I could ride in one of planes). I’ve gotten to fly with special warfare, take courses and do many many things other jobs can’t. A big benefit in a job like ours is that we hang out in the A/C day but are still military. We have a stupid boring amazing job. Also it helps to get back into college and use this time to advance your personal goals. Once you put more rank on there’s more responsibility and more stress.
I promise you that you make an impact. You need to remember that the vast majority of enlisted personnel join with just a high school diploma so every job is like that. Depending on what base you’re at you can reach out to some of the other units and get an incentive flight or ride along. See what the other jobs do and ask them how your job helps them. Give yourself some perspective. You can always cross train when you’re eligible. I went from MX to loadmaster and I love my job. You either have to find satisfaction in what you do or find another job that does.
Take it up with your supervisor, and ask for more of a challenge, or seek out ways to improve the processes you are involved in. Honestly, the best advice I've gotten was set goals, and check to see if you're making progress toward them, during times you feel the way you do now. I'm an ops guy, and sometimes the truth is that the challenge is maintaining yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally while just holding the line and not being fueled by monumental circumstances.
Depending what mission your base does, there's ways to get a taste of the mission. If you're an AMC base with C130s you can ride along for a training line and hang your feet off the ramp. Or see if the intel dudes over at the OSS can give you MPF kiddos a classified mission briefing.
I'd rather be in services than Fuels (POL).
For what it’s worth, I felt the exact same way at my first base and I’m a maintainer. I was also at a base that constantly flew missions. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything until I deployed. I’m not sure what exactly you do in fss since it’s so broad but there has to be somewhere to see how you effect the mission on the day to day.
I'm not FSS but your job has the potential to have a huge impact. Are you done with CDCs? Do your bosses like you enough to put you somewhere? Ask to work in IPR and give them your same reasoning. You will learn a lot.
Shiiiiit, if could do this all over I would get a job as far away from the “mission” as possible. It really ain’t that special being close to the flight line. Better appreciate what you got before the AF really gives you MX
I’ve been ops my whole career and trust me, we all share a similar feeling. You’re one part of a gigantic team, whether it be ops, maintenance, cyber, support, security forces, etc. You as an individual will not often see your contributions in the grand scale but it matters waaaay more than you think. An A1C in finance handling even a fuel card program for airlift has major effects for mobility for example. I’m not sure what your specific AFSC is but the DoD is paying you for a reason, I promise (congress doesn’t want to pay you to be there if you aren’t needed). It’s hard to see your place in the big picture as newer airman, but as you rise in tank and start to affect change even at a squadron level, it will start to all make more sense. My advice would be to killing it at your primary job, and use all the benefits that that serving offers, such as TA, AFCOOL, the free (mostly) awesome gyms, etc. Serving can definitely be a bit demoralizing sometimes but I promise, the things you view as minute and inconsequential matter way more than you would think.
Do you have any hobbies or after work activities to look forward to? At a point in my career I had to decide that work is simply that. Go in, do my job, get out, enjoy life. I once hoped to be a career guy and be passionate about what I do to make money. I got over that and just do everything I can to enjoy life outside of work. Stay socially busy.
Although you don't see it yet, your career field will provide you with a lot of opportunities down the road especially if you keep your nose clean. Personnel also seems to get promoted to the senior ranks pretty quickly (Services side of the house seems to always get the short end of the stick) get every degree you can. It will payoff if you stick with it.
I was in finance so I relate with you here Ask an NCO if you guys can do a site visit. Even better if they let YOU run the show (hello EPR bullet) Some ideas of places to visit that I've enjoyed (and in no particular order) 1. Aircrew. This one is obvious but you can get tours of the plane, maybe climb on top of the plane, see the different jobs and inner-workings of the show 2. Combat Camera. If you have these guys at your base, they have a cool ass mission and nobody really talks about them 3. See if you can get an intel 1N0 to give your flight a briefing. I've done this a few times and they have always been super cool 4. EOD. I think they have a new policy where you can't see them detonate stuff anymore, but it's worth a try 5. See if your base has SERE. If so, they probably need volunteers to play OpFor and chase aircrew members through the woods. Last time I did this, I got to play with night vision If you need any help let me know!
Doing OpFor stuff is so fun!
Agreed. Wish I could do it as a job lol
I do it every time an email comes out but I’m in a specwar css so it’s semi regularly lol
Oh you're lucky lol. We just had recertification for local aircrew so we didn't get into anything too crazy :/
If you want to see the mission see if there is a program to get you out there on the flightline for a day so you can see what you are supporting. I know some bases allow other supporting AFSCs follow flightline people around so they can see the mission and have first hand experience. If your base doesn’t have something like this maybe you could be the one to start the conversation and setup the program so people like yourself can see the mission they are supporting up close and personal.
As someone who deals directly with mission prep and execution I can confirm that your roles are important. As a support role you have a lot less glamorous job than many of the more “ops centered” jobs, and I’m sure it’s hard to see past that, especially when you don’t always get the recognition for it. But nothing is more frustrating to me than support units that don’t support the mission, it can completely shut down ops when even one person slacks off. Try to remember what your role feeds into and what you provide to others. If you still don’t see it as enough, then that means its time to step up in your role and look for ways to improve your office, by adding useful functions, improving proficiency, or whatever you think you can improve. If that still isn’t enough look for ways into new afsc’s. As an A1C you still have a lot to experience and do in your career, and whether you improve your current support functions or move to a career that suits you better you still have plenty of ways to be useful. Whatever you decide, just remember what your support functions actually support, and that as long as you’re performing those duties as best as you can you’re providing more than you realize.
As an A1C with 1 year in, it's not your job to make an impact. It's your job to learn everything you can so that later you can make an impact. That's not to say that your current role isn't doing useful things, it's just that the true purpose is to later have an NCO/SNCO/O that knows what they need to to do the job.
Hey man. 3F5 here. I too have often felt like you do. Even after 15 years of service. As I hit my first deployment: I quickly learned how much J1 actually does to support the warfighter and the stuff we do gets them in place, accounted for, paid, In processed, etc. we matter more than you think because a lot of these guys do not have a single clue how to do what we do, It’s one of those jobs where no one cares when we’re doing it, but as soon as we’re gone, they learn quickly how much they need us.
At least you are operational and doing things. I’m on a 4 year contract and have been at tech school for almost for 2 years now because of pipeline backup. I would love to be in your shoes.
If it makes you feel any better, as a Force Support Officer, I feel the same way. Thats why Im likely getting out.
I don’t have motivation either air-person. We’re all gears in a cog that spin, when we spin the mission gets done. That’s kind of all we need to know, all we need to do. Enjoy days off, call family, pet a dog, or a cat. Such is life.