Full Careers

For Military members in the Army and Air Force - what is the difference? and is there a program for couples?

I'm 18 years old, and not sure what I want to do with my life. I've been raised Air Force but my boyfriend and his family are all Army. I'm thinking about joining the Air Force, it's actually something I really want to do, out of all the things I'm unsure about doing in the long run...it's something I think I could excel in & grow from. I've heard that joining the military gives you experiences and knowledge that is invaluable. The AF is also a lifestyle I'm use to. My boyfriend and I plan on getting married and because of the mixed brances I was wondering if there was a program so that couples could be stationed closer together? He plans on the Army as a career, I want to be in the Air Force for 4 years and do not have any plans to stay in longer. The program question applies to military members in mixed branches who are not married as well as married. Also, what is different between lifestyles of Army members vs AF members? Say, if I ever wanted to cross over into the Army.

Public Comments

1. I was in active AF and in the Army reserves. I can tell you from experience that the AF treats its people much better than the Army in all aspects.
2. Unmarried, there is no program to ensure you will be together and the reality is, very little chance of it. Even married, active duty in two seperate branches have no garuntee of being stationed together as there are really very few places that have both branches on the same post. The military would do it's best to keep you "reasonably" close to one another, but the definition for this is "within 100 miles of one another". Most people will agree that the AF has the best quality of life out of all the branches. Deployments are shorter and are very rarely extended signifigantly at the last minute. Air Force bases have some of the best housing and support facilities as well. If you two decide to marry (and since you are still young you may want to wait a bit), you have the greatest chance of being stationed together if you are both in the same branch. Keep in mind though, that even then it is not set in stone garuteed...career fields, rank and deployment schedules will all come into play as well.