Military Service ( I need USArmy men)

[Devastatin Dave]

6 weeks, United States Air Force "boot camp"!!! As we say in the great Chair Force...

Simply Fi!!!

[KafirChobee]

Don't get caught up in the hype!

Weigh your options, find the course of study with the best opportunity (to be applied after you return to civilian life) and go with it.

Marines always get teary eyed reminiscing about boot, and sloggying thru the muck. Don't buy into the crap that their more elite than a soldier - they just have bigger heads. It's all that propagandic Semper Fi (always faithful) soup that was poured down their gullet in training. Good troops, but no better trained than the general infantry - and not nearly as well equpped (Navy likes to keep them poor). Their primary tactic remains "Hey diddle diddle straight up the middle".

J/K, btw. Stirs the pot.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

I've known marines all of my life and I have always been impressed. I have respect for all of our uniformed personnel.

To those of you serving or who have served, thank you.

To those of you who will serve in the future, thank you too.

To the thread originator -- do it. I never served (happenstance and distraction mostly) -- I now regret it.


Side Note:

As with all services, a marine officer may be commissioned upon graduation from one of our nation's military academies.


Seamus

[yesdachi]

Which branch would be best for short term? And for long term (career)?

It seems that Marines have a longer commitment (4 yrs) it wouldn’t make much sense go that direction if one was just going to go back into the “real world” afterwards.

I would imagine that the air force would be the safest/least likely to get killed in but are there as many advancement opportunities?

[Redleg]

Which branch would be best for short term? And for long term (career)?

Depends on what you want to do. Each Military Service has different skills that need filled. From individuals that do the simple grunt work - be it able seamen, infantry, or whatever they have in the airforce.

Pick a job that you want to do - and ask the Recruiter to explain the promotion scheme for that MOS. Some MOS's stop at lower ranks and transfer to a new one - others maintain the same throughout their career.

Officer Ranks work the same way in that aspect. Personally I am partial to my old Branch in the Army - Field Artillery. But other branches do better on the promotion cycle then the heavy bottom - light top that is Artillery, Infantry, Armor, and Engineer.

It seems that Marines have a longer commitment (4 yrs) it wouldn’t make much sense go that direction if one was just going to go back into the “real world” afterwards.

Read the contract carefully - a lot of the enlistment contracts in the Army while it is for a 2 year active duty committment - have a individual ready reserve commentment on them also.

I would imagine that the air force would be the safest/least likely to get killed in but are there as many advancement opportunities?

You would have to ask DD on that - however in the Army in 2000 it was possible to get promoted to SPC/E-4 within 24 to 36 monthes. I promoted a PFC to SPC when I was a commander at 23 monthes - but the average during my 18 monthes in command was about 28-39 monthes from Enlistment date. The fastest I saw a 13B get promoted to SGT/E-5 was 38 monthes.

[Devastatin Dave]

Well with the Air Force you can get a guranteed job (don't let the recuiter tell you otherwise). I did 10 years, within that time I re-enlisted once so I didn't have to worry about innactive reserve (this is where you serve 4 to 6 years active, then have 4 to 6 years of innactive duty with the possibility to get called back up, which rarely happens BTW). I was a computer operator and now I'm making good money basically doing now what i did then. It all depends on what you want. Some people will tell you not to go into the Army or Marines because you'll only be a infantry guy or whatever. That's not true, there are thousands of other jobs in all the Branches that you can transfer your experience into the civilian world. Military service just helps you focus a little more on your life while providing a service for your country. I'm biased, so I'll tell you to go Air Force. It was a great time with good people. Regardless of the branch of service you choose, you will love it, atleast once boot camp is over.

If you have specific questions, fire away, there are plenty of grizzled old vets in here that can provide good answers...

[yesdachi]

I don’t want to mislead anyone; I have no intention in joining the military. I’m too old now but in HS I considered it before I injured my knee (hyper extended it playing football ). However it is a topic I have been curious about and the info might help Shottie with a decision. So, keep it coming, I’m a sponge!

[Aenlic]

On the subject of faster promotions, the Navy has special rules for what it considers critical ratings. The two which I know were critical ratings were nuclear power and crypto, it may be different ratings now. If you agree to a critical rating assignment in the Navy, many of them have 6 year enlistments. This is because you'll spend so much time in training. In nuc power, for example, you'll be in training for almost two years, sometimes more. In exchange for the long enlistment (it's actually a 4 year enlistment with a 2 year extension), time in grade requirments are for the most part waived. Critical ratings make E-3 on the day they finish basic training. They make E-4 when they finish A school (which can take from 4-9 months or so), you'll have access to your first E-5 test sometime before you've been in 24 months, and if you score high enough on it, then you'll have made E-5 before you've been in 24 months. It's not uncommon for critical ratings to make E-8 and sometimes E-9 before they've been in 10 years. I knew a couple of master chiefs (E-9's) who had only been in 11 years. I also knew a couple of senior chiefs who went the WO route and became warrant officers at 10 years, and a couple who went from E-8 to OCS and moved up to O-2 immediately upon graduation. It's all what you make of the opportunity in a critical rating.

I suspect that critical ratings work somewhat the same way in the other branches, though perhaps not exactly the same. And re-enlistment bonuses for critical ratings can be very lucrative. When I was in 25 years ago, the re-up bonus for my job was $25,000, and if you did it on the right day, because of the 4+2 initial enlistment, you only extended your time another 2 for a total of 8. $25K was a lotof bread for a young guy back then. I'm not sure what it is now.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

It all depends on what you want. Some people will tell you not to go into the Army or Marines because you'll only be a infantry guy or whatever. That's not true, there are thousands of other jobs in all the Branches that you can transfer your experience into the civilian world.

Wise words. Even in the Marines and army most people are not grunts. When I joined I was what they call aviation garrunteed. In other words I was garrunteed to be in the airwing. No 20 mile humps and no people shooting at this boy. Or so I thought But really most of my time was spent going to school. I went to aviation school teaching you the basics of aviation, then basic electronics school. After that they gave you a choice of MOSs by your place in the class. In other words those with the highest ranking(me ) get first pick of the available spots.I chose photo recon. So it was off to Pensacola for 4 monthas of basic photography and then advance photgraphy school. Your then sent to a squadron for some OJT. Every few months its off to another school like a systems school on the particular systems used in Your MOS and aircraft. So after all this electronics and potography trainingg what did I do when I got out? I went right back to the same old job I had before I went in. Being a projectionist. Really dumb of me now that I look back on it. Nothing prepares you better for a good job in civilian life than the military. Id like to add that no matter what branch you choose I am proud of you for offering your services to our country.

Oh man I cant believe what I just found. My eyes are tearing up as I post this. Heres one of my birds I used to work on. Man I was all over this thing.
Good old double nuts.



Brings back many fond memeories. Well this has given me the idea for another thread.

[Devastatin Dave]

Wise words. Even in the Marines and army most people are not grunts. When I joined I was what they call aviation garrunteed. In other words I was garrunteed to be in the airwing. No 20 mile humps and no people shooting at this boy. Or so I thought But really most of my time was spent going to school. I went to aviation school teaching you the basics of aviation, then basic electronics school. After that they gave you a choice of MOSs by your place in the class. In other words those with the highest ranking(me ) get first pick of the available spots.I chose photo recon. So it was off to Pensacola for 4 monthas of basic photography and then advance photgraphy school. Your then sent to a squadron for some OJT. Every few months its off to another school like a systems school on the particular systems used in Your MOS and aircraft. So after all this electronics and potography trainingg what did I do when I got out? I went right back to the same old job I had before I went in. Being a projectionist. Really dumb of me now that I look back on it. Nothing prepares you better for a good job in civilian life than the military. Id like to add that no matter what branch you choose I am proud of you for offering your services to our country.

Oh man I cant believe what I just found. My eyes are tearing up as I post this. Heres one of my birds I used to work on. Man I was all over this thing.
Good old double nuts.



Brings back many fond memeories. Well this has given me the idea for another thread.

My Dad worked on F-4's during Nam.

I miss the life sometimes..

[Gawain of Orkeny]

The C in VMCJ refers to it being a composite squadron.In other words we operated two types of aircraft. Heres the other.



These babies were jammers. They were sent in ahead of the photo aircraft as we carried no weapons. Speed was our main defence and of coures the EA-B Prowlers abiltiy to make us invisible.

[el_slapper]

About joining US armed forces : wait until the Iraki mess is over, take care of your health

About what to join : cover your ass & take info on what can be done AFTER with the path you'll have chosen. Full-life careers are scarce, better prepare the after.

About what branch to join : don't listen them. Everyone will tell you its branch is the best one. Was the same in franch army(was conscripted, didn't like it, but some did). We "Chasseurs Alpins" were told we were kickass. Same for Paras. Same for Marine infantry(who depends upon the army in France, but otherwise has same missions than US marines). Same for "fusillers-commandos"(air force's infantry, trained towards short but tough battles). And so on.....

About bayonets : I'm pretty sure in Iraq in 2003, a guy from Guatemala(or maybe Panama?), short on ammo, did charge alone with its bayonet in hand before getting slaughtered. He managed to make the ambushers flee. Nice job, man! .

[Proletariat]

If you can stomach to medical field, give it a shot. I went in as a combat medic, got picked up for occupational therapy assistant school, and then made $26 dollars an hour when I got out. At the time, that was like winning the lottery for me, after making like $6-8 an hour until I was 20 or so.

Don't let these guys kid you, though. 99% of all MOSs lead to being an $8-an-hour security guard in the civilian world. Either do something fun, or make sure you can get a decent job with your military skills later. Ask around at temp agencies and other employment services and get a feel for what military career paths also have valuable skills to the private sector.

Putting 'proficient with suppression fire and flanking maneuvers' on your resume to IBM might not work very well, but maybe you could land a job at the Post Office. (ba dum bump ching!)

[Redleg]

Putting 'proficient with suppression fire and flanking maneuvers' on your resume to IBM might not work very well, but maybe you could land a job at the Post Office. (ba dum bump ching!)

It landed me a job as a supervisor for a manafactur of fincial documents.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Don't let these guys kid you, though. 99% of all MOSs lead to being an $8-an-hour security guard in the civilian world.

Is that what they pay you. Damn Prol thats the biggest load of BS youve ever spewed forth. Again theres no better traing for a job than you get n the military. Do you think theres for instance no jobs in the aviation electronics field? How about those from the motor pool. Do you think they will be mechanics or security guards when they get out? Even MPs tend to become police.In fact its pretty easy for anyone with military experience to become one. Eductaion and learning a skill is one of the major reasons people join the armed forces. Dont listen to her please. Hell even the grunts can now mercenaries.

[drone]

I'm not military, so take my next comments with this in mind. My dad worked for the US Army TRADOC and FORSCOM though, so I'm a little familiar with the way the army works. And maybe the real service(wo)men here can chime in on this.

The US military (I believe the Army is the worst hit) is having problems meeting their recruitment quotas. We all can argue about why this is, but for the sake of this thread let's not get into it here . Say you sign up for the Army, and want to follow a particular skill path (not infantry). If the Army needs boots in the desert, I'm thinking that chances are good that you are going to be cleaning sand out of your rifle after basic training, regardless of your desired path.

I don't know what kind of guarantees you get when you enlist these days, but this might be something to keep in mind. Any thoughts from those that have been through the military's bureaucracy?

Good luck with your choice though. You will be honored, even if your leaders aren't.

[Krusader]

If you have never been a Marine I doubt you will understand what makes them so special. Its something intangible. You find to people who were in the army and they will say thats nice. But anytime two Marines meet its like meeting a long lost brother. It doesnt matter when they were in. In fact it doesnt even matter what country their from . British Marines were always some of my Favorite blokes to go bar hopping with overseas. Marines stick together no matter where they are or when they have served.

Reminds me of my 1-year conscription in the Royal Norwegian Air Force, Norway's kindergarten. There's a rivalry between the four branches in Norway's military, and often in bars there can be a fight between the 'quack-quacks' (Navy & Marines) or 'flyfillene'/air-sluts (Air Force) or Army guys.
However, if any civilians attacked a military person, every soldier jumped them no matter what branch.

From a Norwegian perspective: Marines seems to be the most prestigous.

And if you join them and come to Norway for excercise, then remember warm clothes, so you won't freeze as the last marines did.

[Divinus Arma]

Don't get caught up in the hype!

Weigh your options, find the course of study with the best opportunity (to be applied after you return to civilian life) and go with it.

Marines always get teary eyed reminiscing about boot, and sloggying thru the muck. Don't buy into the crap that their more elite than a soldier - they just have bigger heads. It's all that propagandic Semper Fi (always faithful) soup that was poured down their gullet in training. Good troops, but no better trained than the general infantry - and not nearly as well equpped (Navy likes to keep them poor). Their primary tactic remains "Hey diddle diddle straight up the middle".

J/K, btw. Stirs the pot.

Another jealous non-Marine.

Ever hear a Marine say these things?

As for your comments on tactical idiocy and brainwashing, I will allow the history and everyman percpetion of the Marine Corps to speak for itself.

[Divinus Arma]

To re-answer the question:

You have to decide what it is that you want and what is important first.

Do an honest self-assessment and see where your desires lay and understand what "it means to be you".

Each branch is different and has its advantages. The truth is, the Marine Corps is the elite of the branches, but that also means discipline is harder, training is harder, and failure is less acceptable. Yes, you will have a rougher time as a young person in the Marine Corps. And I think no one doubts any of this.

If you want to relax and not feel much like you are in the military, than join the air force. If you want to travel without seeing the hard times like Marines, then join the Navy.

I do not recommend joining the Army unless you have a long family history of it. The army does have many options for training, but you can find a similar program in any of the other branches.


If you have ANY desire to join the Marines, then do not join another service. You will seriously regret it. I have know many from other branhces who "wish they went in the Marine Corps". Marines are looked at as more prestigious and there is a valid reason for this. Imagine if the Coast Guard just starting saying that they were more badass than the Marines! They would get laughed at. Same thing with the army. The only thing the army can do is squabble about their own "best of" troops like rangers and berets.

I hope this helped.

[Aenlic]

Marines are looked at as more prestigious and there is a valid reason for this.

Unless you're in the Navy, in which case you'll look at Marines as passengers.

Unless you're in the sub fleet, in which case you'll look at the Marines as unfortunate passengers on a floating target.