Can I be a single mom and join the air force??

[panda20]

I'm a single mom but the father of my baby and I are still together. I want to join the air force, but when I talked to a recruiter they told me I had to be married. No questions asked. I walked in, filled out a sheet of paper with my basic info, they looked over it, then immediately told me I had to be married if I was a single mother in order to join. Could someone please give me some insight on this. I thought it was discrimination to require someone to be married for a job.

[Lillian0499]

You will need to turn primary custody of the child over to the father. If you deploy that child needs to be somewhere.

[JEM1307]

NO. You need to get married or turn over all parental rights. All military branches "legally" discriminate towards applicants. People with disabilities and diseases are not allowed to join either. You got turned away because there is no way that military will be held responsible for any issues that will arise from you being a single parent. They don't want to be blamed for separating you from your child during training and if something were to happen to your child during training that will require you to drop out (hence the AF wasting money on you). I know it sounds harsh....if you really want to join, get married or turn over your rights. If that's to much for you, think about becoming a federal employee....they get almost the same benefits as military members and they even get to travel. Here's a site: www.usajobs.comGOOD LUCK!!

[Greshnab]

it would only be discriminatory if they let single dads join.. they don't... as far as why.. that has been answered but i will repeat it... all military units have to be ready to deploy for any length of time with no warning whatsoever.. how as a single parent can you go to work and tell the baby sitter i should be back in ten hours..... or it might be a year.

[src501216]

The military isn't just a "job." There is a legitimate need for such "discrimination." You are subject to recalls, extended work hours, overseas tours and sudden deployments.

[Mrsjvb7678]

Single parents MAY NOT ENLIST into ANY Active Duty Branch. period. they may not give up custody just to enlist and they may not regain custody at all during their first term of enlistment.Serving is not a right, but a privilege, and there are standards in place for a reason. statistically, the only people who are more likely to not complete their initial term of enlistment,costing the military and the taax payers money and time, are non HS graduates. single parents are more likely to try and get out of duty, deployment or other commitments because the 'can't find a babysitter'so get married, or go reserves.

[TLS]

You can join the reserves or guard and complete a family care plan. Then you can apply to take active tours, even in support of a contingency. No "active" branch takes single parents. You can also do most ROTC programs as a single parent. It's "discrimination" the same way not taking people over a certain age or not letting people over a certain age become officers is "discrimination."

[MissDejay]

ugh.. ok. I am going through this right now. All you have to do is get a court order signed by a judge stating that your childs father has sole custody of the child. The AF also just wants to see that you are not ordered by law to have the child for periods of time (i.e. 3 months in the summer) sooo.. that is that. You are a simply signing away custody, not your rights as a parent. Signing your rights away would be like if someone was going to adopt your child. ** Not the same thing** You cannot sign over custody for the SOLE purpose of joinging the military, which means the order cannot say something to the effect of " Child is in custody of father while mother is in the armed forces" that will not fly. It has to be done "for the benefit of the child". Point blank. It cannot be temporary custody either. It has to be indefinite. Also, even though you dont have LEGAL CUSTODY, your child will STILL reap the benefits of the military. So.. you CAN join, its just going to take some work, and I would suggest you take care of it before talking to an AF recruiter because they have a tendency to brush you off when you arent as easy to recruit as the next guy. * not bashing the recruiters, just speaking my truth*