[MickeyMcD]

You'll be doing all of the nitty, gritty work in squadrons (ex: chip paint, paint over chipped spot, etc). If you're going in as an E-1, it'll be two years before you're even eligible to get a rating. An E-3 could potentially get one in six months (how often this occurs, I can't say) On the flip side, however, you do get to see what all the different aviation ratings actually do so that you know what you might want to try and strike for. There are several other threads on this forum that cover the PACT programs in a bit more detail.