Atheist airman must swear 'so help me God' or get out in November

You are correct about "airman" being a generic term. Unless I skimmed the article too fast, it doesn't mention his specific rank or pay grade.
Not sure about advancement, but just like all branches some jobs get the promoted faster than others. About the time I retired from The Army bassoon players could write their own ticket to the top pretty fast.

I wanyed to join the Air Force band outta high school...but it was back at the beginning of the war and my mom thought the Chair Force was actually in combat.

The irony of that is the Navy still has more boots in the ground in the ME than all the other branches. Hell, they've even got a forward deployed fleet coming online to bomb Iraq as needed.

Well the AF is in combat now with bombing Syria, but the odds of any of those pilots/crew members getting shot down are about zero. Then again that's always a dangerous job no matter how you slice it.

Yep, the best friend I mentioned in another thread joined the Navy right out of high school. After 9/11, he found himself in the Persian Gulf. Then he found himself in the desert, helping to clear buildings. That one didn't make any sense to me.

Um. No. Sorry. Even if you include all the Jarheads*, Navy has less troops on the ground than Army.

*and even I wouldn't be so disrespectful to them!

Well played.

It's Volpone. Sucking anus is a specialty of his.

If you insist, I will refer to you as "the Anus of Epic FailTM," but I take issue at the idea that I "suckle lovingly" at you.

Oh, and kill yourself.

Poor Anna.

It's so disappointing to see you lash out at the people who love to see you succeed and rise to your full potential of awesomeness and instead cozy up to those who call you "Oreo" and want nothing more than for you to get back on the "plantation," take your welfare check and vote "Democrat."

Oh, and still