I entered the DEP in June of last year. Had to go to MEPS again in July to pass vision test which DQ me for CCT on the first visit. I wanted CCT as my job. After 3 months of waiting, i was offered a PJ for March (which i am still leaving for) and was told is was to make sure i get in quickly and if an opening for CCT opened up they would switch me. Im in fort walton beach and its said the recruiters here are straight up. Im pretty tight with my recruiter and he said he had no openings since except for one since July (a kid with a letter of rec from the general got it)

Everyone Ive talked to thinks its rediculous i couldnt get a job opening. There is a high rate of spec ops applicants here and im just wondering if the fact that i live here might have cost me a CCT slot.

Probably because everybody you talk to has subject matter expertise equivalent to your spelling and grammar skills.

There are three Air Force recruiting groups. Each Air Force recruiting group has oversight of eight Air Force Recruiting Squadrons. Each Air Force Recruiting Squadron has at least 6 flights.

How do you get to presume or assume the 331st Recruiting Squadron that covers an 80,000 square-mile area that includes Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana has more applicants for PJ or CCT at Ft Walton Beach than any other recruiting Squadron has at any other town, city, village or county?

Not only are each fiscal year quotas distributed equally to each of the eight recruiting groups which then disperse these quotas to each of their subordinate recruiting squadrons, these quotas are dispersed quarterly to match up with each seat available in the appropriate indoc or orientation course.

You signed up for a PJ GTEP contract, and considering you have an imminent report to BMT date you seem to be expressing some concern you are getting screwed, perhaps the emotional distress of marriage, not knowing if you are going to pass Indoc, and few other things are getting you to believe CCT pipeline would be more accommodating of your self interests.

Nothing left now but to hear from you of your success or failure story in about ten to twenty weeks. Good luck.

I think Steven has ONE valid point; there probably are MORE applicants for Pararescue and Combat Control in the Ft. Walton Beach/Gulf Coast region than in say, North Dakota. Why, HQ AFSOC, STTS, 23 STS are all here and featured prominently in the local media. Also, there are a lot of Dependents here and about half of all USAF Recruits were Dependents first.

Now, is he getting screwed? Heck no. I doubt that living in Ft. Walton Beach caused him to fail his color vision test. I certainly wouldn't blame the Gulf Coast for his decision to GTEP PJ when he really wanted to be a Combat Controller.

Steven,
While I'm sure everyone you know finds your inability to secure a CCT GTEP slot rediculous, I don't. You appear not to meet one of the physical standards. Did you do anything to attempt to get a waiver or to see an Opthomologist or Optomotrist to determine the extent of your vision problems?

Who MADE the decision to take the PJ GTEP slot? YOU DID!
Now man up and give it your best shot. Pararescue is a great career and lifestyle; one that many would kill to have an opportunity to pursue. Many have died while living it. Your best course of action is to stop bitching and make the most of this fantastic opportunity in front of you. If you make it into Pararescue and still don't like the job, THEN cross train into CCT.

I wish you luck.

Air Force Recruiting Groups and Squadrons The supply and demand is a problem for all aspiring applicants, it can't be avoided by living someplace else.

The problem unfortunately is not how many applicants is one area vs another area but that both CCT, PJ, SOWT are small in authorized manpower AFSCs combined with how the few hundred quotas are dispersed equally to the Air Force Recruiting Groups who then disperse their subordinate Air Force Recruiting Squadrons. The quotas are dispersed quarterly so that there are sufficient numbers of applicants to put into BMT for each indoc/orientation course. One recruiting squadron has no self-authority to grab a quota from another.

The getting a quota because lots of applicants are trying for these quotas comes down to sitting in a DEP holding pattern, first in the pattern gets the quota. Consequently, I believe the demand for a slot exceeds the supply in each region.

The maximum PJ production capability is 120 student PJs per year. The CCT constraint is 140 students CCT (CFTEP 2008) per year. Do the math, but I have suspicion the shorter CCT orientation course with perceived attrition rate lower than the PJ Indoc course had more to with Steven625’s Monday Morning Quarterbacking comments than how many applicants there are in the Lower Alabama (Ft Walton Beach) area. (FYI-Lower Alabama is the Spring Break location for those not going other more expensive places).

Regardless the initial entry medical examination standards for both AFSCs pertinent to depth perception and color vision are the same. Apparently Steven625 did go back to get the vision disqualification resolved and his recruiter subsequently offered him a PJ GTEP enlistment contract which Steven625 voluntarily chose to accept. Thus Steven625 made his decision and everything else is just Monday Morning quarterbacking, except he hasn’t yet showed up to play in the game yet and is putting out excuses he wanted to be CCT. Is he getting screwed, NO and I agree it’s time for him to man up and give his best shot. As I previously stated—with current Indoc course attrition rate being roughly 90% (80% eliminated for SIE, medical, or performance, and another 10% setback to a later class), there is nothing left now but to hear from Steven625 of his success or failure story in about ten to twenty weeks. Good luck.

Well first off, my spelling and grammar skills are just fine. I graduated from high school with a 4.2 GPA with honors and AP classes(including English and Writing). I scored a 97 on the ASVAB and qualified for every job except for one(applied geophysics). I turned down a scholarship and acceptance to UCF to join the Air Force. I had my choice at any job I wanted and still chose to do PJ, so I have no intention of quitting. Just because I don't use big words on FORUMS, leave out apostrophes, or proofread my replies doesn't mean you should be trying to insult my intelligence. I have stuff to do and would rather post my questions quickly. This is a site where I should be getting answers to questions(which I have), not being graded on my sentences.

Guard MC, I did not fail my color vision or depth perception. I tested 20/30 in one eye. I went to an Optomitrist, who said I was fine, and got a waiver done. When I went back to MEPS I tested again(without glasses) and passed 20/20. Just a bad day I guess.

I apologize if I came across as whining. I never once said I was getting screwed, I was simply curious about the question I posted. I just wanted to know why it was hard getting a CCT slot. I love the job of a PJ, I really do. I will love doing it. I wanted CCT because when I got out of the Air Force I wanted to take a job as air traffic control. I didn't mean to seem like I dont like PJ because I wouldn't have accepted it I didn't.

There are PJs who have separated after one enlistment or after serving twenty or more years on active duty who have become commercial airline pilots, Federal judges, elected office holders, medical doctors (surgeons, optometrist, psychologists etc), FBI, Secret Service, municipal/state/county law enforcement and etc., your civilian career path is not limited or enhanced by the duties you performed while serving a military obligation, it is determined by your capability, ability, aptitude interests and efforts to make it happen.

Regardless your question not only disclosed you are frustrated about something it also implied several action causes. These action causes are: (1) CCT GTEP enlistment opportunity was not available to offer you so you took less desirable PJ enlistment opportunity; (2) You took the less desirable PJ GTEP enlistment opportunity because you were told or you thought you could and would be able to switch to a CCT GTEP contract before you had to enlist to meet your PJ GTEP contract obligation; and, (3) yourself, your mommy, your daddy, your grandma/pa, your siblings and all your friends think it's ridiculous that you in your well deserving greatness could not get a GTEP contract for CCT and this is because of your bad luck of living in the Ft Walton Beach area that has too many other common in greatness applicants trying to become important special operators.

Disguised within your justification for asking the question is the assertion concerning factors behind your bad luck of living in Ft Walton Beach area is you were denied a slot you deserved more than anybody else. My response was not addressing your intelligence capability and ability, but your disclosed attitudes and belief the recruiting and selecting process did you wrong and that where you lived is an unfavorable environmental selection bias of prejudice against you. Thus I’m addressing your self-image of your importance to the Air Force or any other employer more than I’m addressing your intellect capabilities and abilities or lack of.

The selection and screening process you went through to get the PJ GTEP enlistment contract told you by all screening requirements that your opportunity to succeed in training was backed up by measurement and assessment of your abilities and capabilities (ASVAB, PAST, and MEPS accession medical examination). You disclosed you will be sworn into (enlisted into) the regular Air Force sometime within the next week or two for purpose of reporting to BMT on March 23, 2010. You disclosed also an intense desire to get married immediately after successfully completing Pararescue Indoc course or at sometime during the pipeline so the newly obtained spouse can be with you at Kirtland AFB, while you go through the long and difficult Pararescue apprentice course. Even those lacking any education in Industrial and Organizational Psychology (the branch of psychology concerned with the assessment of the well-being of employees within their work environment in order to improve performance and efficiency, job satisfaction, and occupational health) can see the self interest needs conflicting with the needs of the Air Force to train you to perform pararescue duties. You came across with having a problem causing control of job and marriage conflict pertinent to how you want it to be and how it now appears it will be.

Regardless, end-game of participating in the PJ Indoc course is about to begin and there is nothing left now but for you to do succesfully or to fail. In about ten to twenty weeks you will have the opportunity to disclose your success or failure. It’s too late to be contemplating the questions you are now finding need to ask, unless you are thinking about getting a DEP discharge. Good luck.

lol this guy doesnt understand he's talking to active/retired operators. Your lucky enough to get these answers from people who are in the careerfield, let alone thinking they are giving you a "hard" time. You'll understand it soon enough at medina.

Steve,
If I had a nickle for every High School kid who said he had your qualifications that quit or failed the Pipeline, I'd be a rich man. I had a BS and a 4.5 GPA when I GTEPed for CCT. I spent 6 monts prepping for the PAST, 6 months in GTEP prepping for Selection and 6 months at Lackland. NONE of it made any difference. NOBODY can predict how you will do in the greatest moments of stress. That is what the course is desinged to do; to show YOU, your TEAM, and your INSRUCTORS that you will not buckle under the stress.
Selection School (now called Indoc) pushed me to my absolute mental limits, as it did everyone; indeed as it is designed to do. Please believe me that you are about to face the greatest challenge of your life and you better get your head screwed on streight. Defend yourself all you want on the site, tell Yukon and I that we are wrong about your attitude. It really doesn't matter. You will succeed or fail based on your attitude at Selection. With the right attitude, anything is possible. I hope you get the right attitude when you are there, maintain it, and go on to do great things as a PJ. I really do.

Please don't feed me your resume; I've been doing this since 1993, been to war, seen frineds killed, done things that even now I am amazed I accomplished or survived. I'veworked with SOF of the US Army, Navy and many other countries. I have proved what I can do in combat to my peers, superiors and subordinates. So has Yukon. Someday, you will get that opportunity but right now, you've done nothing but complain about your plight. I am priveleged to have earned the right to membership in the elite community of USAF SOF Operators that you wish to join. Your High School resume is great but no indicator that you are ready to join this group. Only your performance at Indoc and even more so when you are on a Team will do that. You don't have to listen to Yukon or me. You will figure it all out for yourself in a few weeks, and if you are lucky, over the next several years.

Good luck to you.