 At the end of this video, I'm gonna be dropping some knowledge on you guys. But first, let's jump into the topic at hand. A lot of people when they join the Air Force wanna know what rank they're gonna be when they start out. Now, there's three options that you're gonna have. You're gonna be an E1, an E2, or an E3. So we're gonna start off working our way backwards from E3 down to E1. So in order to join the Air Force as an E3, you'll have to meet one of these three criteria. JROTC three year certification of completion. Completed 45 semester college credits or achieved the Civil Air Patrol Billy Mitchell, Amelia Earhart, or Carl Spatz Award. Now I'm gonna assume that most of you guys watching this video are joining the Air Force and that's why you wanna know what rank you're gonna be when you join the Air Force. Well, if you are joining the Air Force, then you definitely need to know about Sandbox, which is the sponsor of today's video. 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If you're gonna join as an E2, you're gonna have to meet the following requirement. JROTC two-year certification of completion, completed two years of ROTC at a college, completed 20 semester credits in college, or achieved Eagle Scout or the Gold Award in the Boy and Girl Scouts. And remember, for E3 and E2, you just have to meet one of the requirements. You don't have to meet all of them. So if you just have enough college credits but you didn't do any of the other stuff, that's totally fine. You will still be able to join as that rank. Now unfortunately, if you don't meet any of the requirements for E3 or E2, you're gonna be joining as an E1. Now don't sweat if you're joining as an E1, it's really not that big of a deal. If two people join at the exact same time and they both sign for your contracts, but one's an E2 and one's an E1, you guys are both gonna be promoted to E4 at the exact same time in your career. So in the short term, one of you might outrank the other, but in the long term, we're talking three years into your career, you guys will be the exact same rank with the exact same data frame. Now overall, there's only a six month difference long term between signing a four year and a six year contract. The six year is just gonna give you an extra six months of rank. And you might be thinking that if you sign a six year, because you get promoted faster, you're gonna make more money, which is true. But realistically, it's not that much money. You're talking a few hundred dollars over the course of four years, which isn't much money. If you want some more information about four versus six year contracts, I made some videos a while ago breaking down each scenario, whether you're joining as an E1, E2 or E3, and I compare a four versus six year contract for both of those situations. Now if you're gonna be joining as an E3, there is literally no difference to signing a four year or a six year contract. You do not get promoted faster, you will get nothing from it unless they are doing an enlistment bonus for six year contracts, which they usually don't do unless that's a specialty job like linguist or a para rescue. So here's where I'm gonna drop some knowledge on you guys. I signed a six year contract back in 2013. I'm obviously out now, but I would personally recommend a four year contract. And here's why. Not a lot of jobs offer enlistment bonuses, but some jobs offer re-enlistment bonuses. If you sign a four year contract, you will be able to re-enlist sooner, which is pretty crazy because that means that you're gonna get your money two years faster if you signed a four year and then re-enlist. Now here's the flip side to that. If there is no re-enlistment bonus, it does not matter because neither of you are making more money. Here is where it does matter though. If you sign a four year contract and say you do not like your job or you do not like the Air Force or life changes and circumstances make you not want to be in anymore. If you sign a four year, you can start that next chapter of life sooner. If you sign a six year, you have to wait an additional two years past somebody that signed a four year contract. So realistically, somebody joining as an E1 has the most to gain by signing a six year contract. So at the beginning of the video when I said I was gonna ask for your opinion and your feedback, here's where I want you to comment what your feedback is on what should people do? Sign a four or six year contract and why? I really am interested in knowing what you guys think. I don't think six year contracts are the worst thing ever but I don't think that they give enough to make it worth it and I still think that the four year is the best for most people. So like I said, I would love to hear what you guys have to say about four versus six year contracts and I will see you guys in another video.