I'm about (1 year out) to retire. I enlisted in 1991 right at the start of the first Gulf War. Took advantage of some great benefits and picked up my CCAF, a Bachelors Degree, and a Masters Degree. The Air Force paid for all of my college. The CCAF I used tuition assistance, the bachelors degree was provided via AF ROTC scholarship and GI bill, and the Master Degree was earned as a full time student at the Air Force's Graduate School. I didn't have all this planned when I enlisted, but I did research all the opportunities available and when the timing was right, I applied myself and am now an officer with a little over 22 years of active duty time.
To answer your question, the Air Force is great opportunity for getting training, an education, and experience. I know several people who joined for 4 years so that they could get their GI Bill benefits. Absolutely nothing wrong with that route and now they're doing great in the civilian sector. I personally enjoyed many (not all) of my jobs and one of the key reasons I stayed in was because of the Retirement benefits. I'm in my 40's now and when I retire next year my retirement pension will be about $4,800 a month (or two bottle caps).
As for individuals disliking the Air Force on this forum...there's a LOT of frustration right now due to high deployment tempos and now downsizing of the force. A lot of people suffered through 13 years of deployments and breathing shitty middle eastern air only to get caught under force shaping (downsizing) initiatives. I personally know several officers that were cut after 15 years of service with only a severance check because they didn't make the cut to Lt Col. I also remember officers that were RIF'd and "Force Shaped" back in 2006, and even further back to 1992-1993. The point is that the Air Force will at times treat the people that are critical to the success of it's mission very poorly. This is not a new concept though. That being said, when my parents worked at Boeing...there were so many times they were on the brink of being laid off.
With all that said, if you can make it retirement...things can be pretty good. You certainly will not regret that check.