5 common military misconceptions
You mean, you''re in the Air Force, and you''re not a pilot?
by Rachel Engel
October 6, 2015
By Rachel Engel
M1 Staff
For those that didn’t grow up around the military, they usually assume things about service members that couldn’t be further from the truth—the common military stereotypes everyone’s heard a thousand times.
All airmen fly
A very small percentage of airman are even allowed on the flight line, and an even smaller percentage of that are allowed on the planes at all, and even smaller percentage of that actually touch the controls that guide the plane. Contrary to popular civilian belief, not all airmen are pilots, and trust me, you don’t want them all to be.
All military are soldiers
Just… no. All Airmen are airmen. All Marines are marines. All Navy are sailors. All Army are soldiers. Collectively, they are troops or service members. Will they smile and appreciate your handshake anyway? Yep. But, they like it a lot better when you recognize their branch.
Enlisted personnel are uneducated
Is a college education needed to enlist in the military? Nope. Do many have one? Yep. It varies across branches, but in the Air Force, nearly 60% have some sort of college education in their background. Between on-the-job training, and outside college classes, many enlisted personnel are juggling their full-time military responsibilities and at least part-time education duties.
The Coast Guard isn’t part of the military
For some reason, few people realize the U.S. Coast Guard is one of the five branches of the military, and the only one that acts as part of the Department of Homeland Security. On the contrary, members of the Coast Guard are active duty military members who deploy, and move with their families every two to four years.
Military members get married for the wrong reasons
Some military members enlist right out of high school and marry their high school sweethearts. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. Some members wait, enlist, meet their spouse and marry after spending four years in the service. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. All of this happens in the civilian world, too.
All service members follow the same religion and vote the same political party
You’d be amazed at the diversity among the military in regards to hot button topics—a number of religions are represented among the troops, and there are members all over the spectrum of political affiliation. A one-size-fits-all approach to military politics and votes doesn’t work as well as it has in decades passed.
