Rangers vs Air Force Pararescue

[JaKe.19]

Today when I was in school, I had a discussion with the air force recruiter. I asked him what type of special forces they have. He gave me pamphlets about Pararescue, SERE, and something about air to ground control. I am most interested in Pararescue because they say that they work along side with navy seals, army rangers, and other special forces. I want to ask, how do you Rangers compare the USAF Pararescue to the Army Rangers? Which do you think would be a better decision?

[The Holmchicken]

Do what you think is right.

[al_2ndWolfhounds]

Since you have talked to an Air Force recruiter maybe you should visit with the recruiters from the Marines, Navy and Army. Each service has its own Special Operation Forces.

[colt1rgr]

Do you wanna be "combat support augmentation" or do you want to be a "Commie Killer, wreaking havoc upon the enemies of the United States for God and Country?" Choice is up to you, guess which one we chose?

[K.Ingraham]

Every element in the SOF alphabet soup; CCT, PJ, Ranger, Underwater Messkit Repair, MarSOC, SEALs, etc. have a specific mission. Do some research about what each unit does and decide which is the best fit for you. You have plenty of time ahead of you. Excel at what you do right now, it all matters youngster.

With the Atlantis having launched on its probable final mission today, the Space Shuttle door gunner MOS is now closed.

[Bravo57]

While there was nothing particulary wrong with your question, you might get better results if you posed your question like this:

"I wish to someday serve in the military, and I believe I would be most interested in doing _______ because _______. Rangers, in your opinion, on what unit or units, and what military speciality, should I focus my efforts to achieve my goals and aspirations? Thank you for you time and willingness to educate me; I will do pushups while I wait to thank you for your thoughtful responses."

The point I was trying to emphasize is that YOU need to know what you want to do.

Good post Ranger.

Jake,
Do you want to be a barrel chested freedom fighter or constantly compare your job to the Rangers?

[hobbit]

Don't forget now, in the air force even the pastry chefs are considered an "elite unit". :D

[panthersix]

Some folks just need to take whatever enlistment they can get....and be happy about it.

[dbmtrman]

Aren't PJ's like flight attendants for Rangers when they are flying in transports? I thought they were the guys who handed out the box lunches.

[Nomad]

Honestly, if I had to do it over again, I probably would have chosen the PJ route. Two good friends of mine are PJ's and both did right around 10 years. Another friend of mine (who was in 2/75) is now on a west coast reserve flight. He loves it.

Fact is that the recruiter I talked to at the time was more worried about eating lunch than he was in meeting my questions with honest answers. This was also around the time when we had AOL 3.0 and I didn't have a cool dial up connection at home. Living oconus at the time didn't exactly help either in getting answers to my questions.

You don't have those same circumstances and with the swiftest google search, you could learn a ton about the two career paths. Both will require a lot of hard work and dedication from you. Both will give you a chance to deploy, train with the best and open many doors for you in the future.

[Speedracer]

I would say look at all of them (each branch) and find what you want to do, one thing thou some recruiters are going to try and talk you into what they think you want, they have certin quotas to fill, look around and go with what you want, dont let them change your mind thou

[JaKe.19]

Rnagers,

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to go with the Rangers. The air force is not where I want to be.