Steven Wagner wrote:

Does anybody know what the USAF tends to do when people with a directly
translatable skill, i.e. civilian aircraft mechanics or computer programmers,
enlist?

It depends whether or not they are found qualified
for their desired field. A civilian mechanic would
surely score high enough to be used in that capacity
- but a programmer might not be well versed in electronics
(which is the area from which programmers are selected,
if they can be spared from their warskill electronics
AFSC). Aside from common elements of electronics which
everyone should have learned in a high school physical
science course, the surprise is that excellent spacial
relations - mental "eyeball" geometry - are absolutely
essential qualities for entry into the upper echelons of
USAF electronics fields (which, as I have said, include
programming as a minor, but related, element).

There are a few places for windows wizards and networking
gurus, of course - but these are essentially administrative-
maintenance slots, often filled by on-base glad-handers
seeking a break from flightline duties.

If you can determine what a number of very oddly-shaped
boxes would look like - if unfolded flat - you might
qualify.

I expect that they would have to go through basic training, but
would they have to go through the entire course of technical
training that somebody with no experience in the skill would have
to go through?

You really wouldn't want to skip through tech school. Classes
six hours per day, (for up to a year) with the rest of the time
essentially free; the college grads among the guys with which
I atttended compared it very favorably with their carefree days
at school: lots of beer and free time.

Though drafted during the Tet offensive, I ended up in the USAF,
committed to an "electronics" career. Coming out of Basic Training,
the orders read "Armament Systems Operator/Maintenance (Pool)":
I would be a 32010 unskilled "helper" while I attended tech school.

Fortunately, I ended up in the very first AN/APQ-120 Weapons Control
Systems class anywhere; it was the system used on the (then) brand-
new F-4E aircraft. One of the eight in my class had worked for
McDonnel-Douglas as a civilian, installing and aligning the older
AN/AWG-10 systems in Navy F-4s. He skipped the electronics
fundamentals portions (about four months of training) and flunked out
shortly before graduating. (Lucky for him, they kept him on at
Lowry AFB anyway - maintaining the trainers on midnight shift. He
thus avoided the Vietnam war.)

Almost a year later, we graduated as 32231Q "semi-skilled" WCS
troops. We thought we knew it all. Instead, we knew very little.

Check out section 3.a ("knowledge requirements") for a fully-
qualified 7-level technician from about a hundred years ago (1982):
http://www.geocities.com/32271q/afsc.htm

A number of these guys chose to do their "guaranteed year in the
states" (between overseas tours) as 305X0 Computer Programmers,
instead of staying current on the weapons system. Since we were
a "Chronic, critical-shortage CONUS/OVERSEAS imbalance" AFSC,
the USAF permitted such a 365-day "break" between the overseas
tours.

Today, the AFSC numbers have been changed, as have the aircraft
systems - but there is no shortcut to success. Besides - Uncle
Sam may know that you are actually more qualified for a different
role - other than the one you chose in civilian life... and if
my experience is any guide, Uncle is rarely wrong in this. You
may find a whole new career, which actually uses ALL of your hidden
talents.

- John T., former Msgt, USAF, WCS