the enemy quietly from far away and gathers intel. What is the ideal job in the AF for this? (other than Special OPs)?

I think this is called counter intelligence. I like intel officer, but i dont want to sit their and examine reconn photos and stuff

Answer:
Well if it's the Air Force you want, and an officer you want to be, your ideal shot is to go to AFROTC or OTS. The Air Force Academy would be superior but most Academy grads go on to flight school. The career your thinking of is a Forward Air CONTROLLER. They sit in the distance and observe. Sometimes you’ll call in airstikes(i.e you will paint the target and watch the pilot do his thing) Para-rescue ocCasionally will perform that same task but their primary job is to get in, get our guy back and get out. You don't have to be an Officer to be a Forward AIr Controller but it is a lot superior than an enlisted man.
Answer:
I'm a retired Army Master Sergeant. The Air Force really doesn't do what you describe, which in the Army used to be called “long range reconnaissance.” I'm not sure what they're calling it now.

Increasingly the Air Force is using “pilotless drones” to observe the enemy and gather intelligence.

In addition to the Army, both the Navy and the USMC have units that do that sort of thing.

What you describe is *not* counter-intelligence. Counter Intelligence is actions taken to prevent the enemy from spying on you, not spying on them.

Answer:
If you want to gather intel long term, you want intelligence. But it sounds like you want to be in the field more.

Air Force doesn't do stuff like that, AFAIK.

It sounds like you want special forces. They’re on the ground, training resistance fighters, gathering intel, doing covert ops, stuff like that. Army Special Forces do that kind of thing the most, I believe. Though you might give the Marines a go, as well. It's my IMPRESSION (and nothing more) that Recon and the Navy SEALS are more about get in, hit hard, get out.

Answer:
Never have I seen any Air Force do anything anywhere near enemy except for JTEC, JTAC - not quite sure- their equivelant of the Army's 13f. If you want a job like that go Army or Marines.

At least in the Army Counter Intellegence actually interact with the local populace so that wouldn't be the “from far away” that you wanted- and also they changed the stipulations so you now have to be in for a while before getting that job.

Answer:
I'm sure those jobs are out there but they are not entry level positions. You will need to do your “time” before those become available to you. Remember, the Military is a large business and it allocates its personnel the way it wants at first. Once the military has a vested interest in you, you might be able to guide your assignments to some degree.

Answer:
i would advocate the army's calvary scout or the navy seals but if u wanna get to officer quickly go to westpoint… But if you really want the AF, i would state a pilot. ( but i don't know much about the AF as the army and marines)
Answer:
There's really no jobs like that in the air force, you're looking at the army, marines, or Navy SEALs. May-be OSI does that.
Answer:
ask your recruiter to research it for you and because they’ll probably not immediately know the answer, don't accept anything but a real answer

thank you for considering serving your country

Answer:
Forward Observer 13F U.S. Army - the eyes of death

I think the AF has observers, they travel w/ the Scouts in the Army. I'm not absolutely postive but there were some AF guys w/ us in the field one time

Answer:
The job you want is A) Not Air Force and B) Not an officer position in most cases.

These are mission for U.S. Army Cavalry Scout or Army Rangers (sometimes Special Forces) . They’re not Air Force Missions. Air Force Para-Rescue is just that…they go in and pick up downed pilots and then get back out, ASAP. They don't do snoop and poop missions.

To the extent that the Air Force does something like this it is done by aircraft and spacecraft that collect overhead images, and the PREDATOR drone air craft. The Army is increasingly going to drones as well.

Why?

A) Nobody has ever taken a drone air craft hostage and demanded you release imprisoned terrorists to get it back.

B) If a drone gets shot down his wife/mom/girlfriend won't be on CNN crying for you to go get him, and Jessie Jackson won't fly over to Syria and try to negotiate the return of the wreckage.

C) If a drone aircraft gets caught behind enemy lines, the terrorists don't torture it to death, burn it, then hang its body off a bridge, and show the photos on CNN.

D) Drone aircraft don't sneeze, poop, need resupply missions, or do other things that get them noticed.

E) Nobody has ever had a helicopter full of Navy Seals get shot down and killed while they were on a rescue mission for a drone aircraft.

F) If a drone aircraft gets shot down it can't be tortured into giving up any secrets. It won't tell the bad guys where it is based, who its commanding officer is, what unit it is from, and it won't get tortured into signing a statement admitting that it was a war criminal.

(Incidentally, F is the reason that officers generally don't do this sort of job either. The vast majority of the slots that exist for this will be enlisted.)

Counter intelligence is nothing at all like this. Counter intell is trying to find enemy agents within our forces. Counter intell would be looking for KGB or Al Queda spies working within the US Military, not hiding behind trees in Outer Fubaristan trying to spot the cave with Osama in it.

If you want to spend your time behind enemy lines hiding in bushes and acting very quiet, your best bet would be Army Ranger and Army Sniper Schools. To the extent that these things are still done, they’re the guys who do them.