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JesusDoesVegas posted:Update: Went in yesterday to finish up some brief paperwork, ended up spending 6 hours in the recruiters office. I was originally scheduled for MEPS today, and took off work for the occasion. As it turns out my recruiter hosed up and put me in for tomorrow. Sigh... I want to save this quote. I want it in a time capsule so years later you can look at it, exactly as it is now, and say to yourself 'Oh if only I had known how bad it could really get'. This is the very tippy top of the iceberg of retarded poo poo you will come across. Much of it will be the exact same thing. Exact same. Not all of it, some will change the flavor of poo poo but all of it will be retarded and all of it will be your fault. Somehow. Welcome brother. We all float down here.
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Jan 17, 2013 01:24
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SumYungGui posted:I want to save this quote. I want it in a time capsule so years later you can look at it, exactly as it is now, and say to yourself 'Oh if only I had known how bad it could really get'. This is the very tippy top of the iceberg of retarded poo poo you will come across. Much of it will be the exact same thing. Exact same. Not all of it, some will change the flavor of poo poo but all of it will be retarded and all of it will be your fault. Somehow. Excellent. Clearly the system works.
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Jan 17, 2013 01:58
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I remember how much waiting I had to at MEPS. It was the worst, just sitting and waiting. A constant loop of sports center or Tyler Perry shows playing on the television. These days a 5 hour wait seems like nothing.
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Jan 17, 2013 02:05
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Sir Lucius posted:I remember how much waiting I had to at MEPS. It was the worst, just sitting and waiting. A constant loop of sports center or Tyler Perry shows playing on the television. These days a 5 hour wait seems like nothing. Perhaps I'll sneak in some reading material. Seriously though, I expected all this. I'm mostly reporting what's going on so others in my position can see what I'm dealing with. It could be worse... And it probably will be. I plan on sneaking in a phone charger so I have something to entertain myself... I saw some guys doing that when I was there for the ASVAB... even though one guy got his charger stolen while I was there.
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Jan 17, 2013 02:14
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Yeah, biggest mistake I made at MEPS was not bringing a book. A long book.
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Jan 17, 2013 02:42
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My MEPS experience was rather quick and painless in 2002, minus the fact that I was somehow disqualified initially because the doctor didn't like how I did the ditch-digging movement thing. My dad was a contractor, I've been digging ditches since I was like four. Motherfucker I know how to dig a ditch. So I got temp DQ'ed and had to come back two weeks later, where the exact same doctor saw me do the gesture once and said I was good. This mirrors my experience with administration and medical quite well throughout my service.
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Jan 17, 2013 03:11
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vacation in kabul posted:Don't feel like a douche about it, he's coming from a recruiters perspective. I wouldn't go on what he's saying, he has no idea who your recruiters are and can't guarantee they won't gently caress you over due to incompetence, malice, or sheer laziness. If there's some way they could lie to you to get you to enlist they'll do it, and they'll laugh about it after they ship you out. You're about to sign four or five years of your life away, I talked to a recruiter while I was still going to college, told them I wanted to enlist, and then ignored their phonecalls and didn't show back up to the recruiting station for four months. The same person still happily enlisted me despite probably getting his rear end chewed out four months earlier (this was in 2008 so the Army was wwwaaayyy more desperate for people then it is now). The Army is stupid for doing monthly quotas and treating their recruiters like used car salesman, there's nothing you can do about that. I wouldn't go so far as to imply that recruiter man would be doing high fives and laughing about lying to you to get you to join. I mean, it's not outside the realm of possibility I guess but lying to people and loving them over tends to be bad for business what with every kid having 500 facebook friends and what not. Word spreads fast if you are shady and no one wants to deal with you in the future. However, once you sign on the dotted line, there is no guarantee your paperwork will get filed correctly. If you wait until you are finished with college, you can have everything in writing up front and other than inconveniencing the recruiters, it doesn't hurt anything. The big take away is not to worry about the recruiter's mission. I ran a Marine Corps sub station for three years. Trust me when I tell you that one way or another the military will make their mission and one guy is just a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things. You need to worry about you and getting the best deal you can out of your military service. This is the only time you have pull because you are playing the role of customer up until you enlist. Once you are in, you are just a cog in the big machine and will have very little say in anything for some time. There is a lot of good things you can get out of military service but sometimes it can feel like the good you get out of your time in is in spite of, instead of because of, the military itself.
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Jan 17, 2013 03:25
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How long do med waivers usually take? Not med waivers to get to MEPS but job med waivers. My recruiter says he submitted it, and that was a month ago. I've been trying to get a hold of him for a week to find out what's up, but he doesn't answer my calls or voice mails.
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Jan 17, 2013 19:55
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This is pretty similar to a question a couple of pages back, but I'm still foggy on one thing: I'm looking to get into the Navy as active duty, and I'm scheduled to go to MEPS on Tuesday next week. Problem is, I asked the recruiter about when I would pick my rate, and he flat out told me today that they wouldn't even send me to MEPS unless I was willing to settle for a job right then and there, and if I refuse to sign that day I'm barred from enlisting in the military permanently. His exact words were "We don't send people that want a certain job, we send people who want to be in the Navy." I'm pretty dead set on being a corpsman, but I have two other jobs I'm ok with as a fall back if corpsman isn't available. I'm definitely not going to settle for any job outside of those three, even if it does mean I can't ever enlist. I guess my question is, will I really be barred from enlisting if I don't sign at MEPS? I understand that they're probably getting a lot of applicants, and the jobs I'm looking at could very well not be available when I go to MEPS, but I'm willing to wait however long it might take for a spot to open up. But the recruiter didn't even say that was an option. I'm pretty sure he's just trying to intimidate me into taking any lovely job that they offer me at MEPS, which I'm definitely not going to do. But I figured I'd ask here to get a better grasp of the situation. The jobs I'm looking at are Hospital Corpsman, Aviation Weapons System Operator, and Air Traffic Controller, if that affects anything. Thanks for any answers.
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Jan 18, 2013 02:17
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AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, no. That recruiter is a wildly amazing douche bag, and you should just go see another. Not, however, before you walk back in there, defecate in your own hand, and rub it down one side of his face.
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Jan 18, 2013 02:23
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You won't be barred from poo poo. The way it works is you can refuse any of the jobs they offer you, and when you try to get a job again in the future they will notice this and ask you why you didn't take a rate last time. That being said, you will have a lot more pull if you do well on the ASVAB. Anyone can be a culinary specialist, but not everyone can be a corpsman. So study for that test, score a 99, and you'll be in a lot better shape. Also when they offer you nuke tell them you won't go nuke. (also get a CT rate)
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Jan 18, 2013 02:26
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Thanks for the fast replies guys, from reading this thread I had a suspicion he was full of poo poo. I actually already took the ASVAB and got a 95, so I hope that'll help me out. I definitely wont do nuke, and the recruiter is a pretty big douchebag. Thanks again.
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Jan 18, 2013 02:43
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Wow, what a douche. loving recruiters. Find a non douche recruiter then show up at douche's office all smug looking when you finish your initial training.
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Jan 18, 2013 03:12
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going to meps and QNE (qualified, non enlist) is like the biggest loving big bad deal in recruiting. Not excusing the guy, but it's horrible. Good thing is in the Army we pick their jobs before they even go to MEPs so it rarely happens.
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Jan 18, 2013 03:14
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MEPS is the worst part of the military
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Jan 18, 2013 04:34
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shyduck posted:MEPS is the worst part of the military However bad they seemed when you inprocessed, dealing with them on a daily basis is worse. Apparently some are pretty decent to recruiters, but Spokane MEPs is insane at times.
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Jan 18, 2013 04:36
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DEVILDOGOOORAH posted:going to meps and QNE (qualified, non enlist) is like the biggest loving big bad deal in recruiting. Not excusing the guy, but it's horrible. Good thing is in the Army we pick their jobs before they even go to MEPs so it rarely happens. I used to QNE guys all the time if my station already made mission for the month. Thing was, most guys are on board if you tell them the truth. I would just explain to them that we have already met our recruiting goals for this month and that while we would go ahead and qualify them, they would not actually enlist until the first processing day of the next month. Also, good recruiters sell the idea of being a part of whatever branch you are recruiting for. We had to learn that fast as Marine Corps recruiters because the Army always had way bigger bonuses and the Air Force and Navy had all the high tech jobs. If I sold someone on a job and all of a sudden I couldn't actually get that job for the guy, chances are he'd walk away. However, if the applicant was sold on the idea of being a Marine, they were usually more flexible with what fields we had open and available to them on the date they want to ship.
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Jan 18, 2013 05:01
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Hekk posted:I used to QNE guys all the time if my station already made mission for the month. Thing was, most guys are on board if you tell them the truth. I would just explain to them that we have already met our recruiting goals for this month and that while we would go ahead and qualify them, they would not actually enlist until the first processing day of the next month. Oh we've definitely let dudes QNE if they offered them some bull poo poo like bath and laundry specialist, on those odd occasions they had to pick a job on the floor. If I can say one thing about my station, is we're real with the applicants. I think the worst I hear is "you can reenlist after your first contract" and poo poo, which is really only a half truth. Navy guys are pretty loving douchey here. Had an applicant come window shop all the branches, eventually decided on the USN. They Test/Phys'd him, he came back 111111 but had a lovely AFQT, like a 38 or something. They wanted to make him boatswains mate on the floor and he walked off the floor and informed the USN he'd be talking to us. He came back to us and we SPFd him and he went 11x Infantry, and was pretty stoked to do something about it. So we enlisted him. The USN recruiters start sending the dude, now our DEP, loving texts about how he threw his life away because apparently Boatswains Mate is some awesome job (I know next to nothing about the USN but AFAIK its one of the worsts. poo poo like that pisses me off, and I almost went to their office foaming at the mouth. Between USAF, USA, and USMC, we all get along, and obviously we want to keep our applicants, but if another branch simply gives the kid whatever is more in line with what he wants, I usually sleep at night because I'm just glad the kid got into something that he maybe happy with. Hell sometimes we escort dudes to other offices so they can them out if they're not qualified for us and vice versa. But the USN, those dudes are weird man.
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Jan 18, 2013 05:09
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Pro tip, Guyglaze, you should have Vacation in Kabul come out with you to the recruiter because that dude is full of really good advice that you should definitely listen to.
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Jan 18, 2013 06:36
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MEPS trip report: This was the longest, most exhausting day of my life. There was a lot that happened, but I honestly just don't care to write it all out. The hurry up and wait was expected, the seemingly constant mindgames were not. Long story short, after ten long hours I got to sit down and pick my rate. CTN was my rate of choice, however it was not currently available. MC however was, and it's one I looked into a bit while doing my research. After much back and forth I ended up signing my contract, and I leave for basic on Valentine's day. I didn't think I'd leave so quickly, so that's a bit frightening, but I'm happy with my choice of job. My suggestion would be to be clear and up front with the guys at MEPS who present you with available jobs. Dude had some awful contract for some sub job printed up before I knew what was happening, and I had to be very clear that I had zero interest in the rate before he decided to show me other options. You go in expecting to know what to do, but you don't expect to be so beat up. I can't stress this enough... the day is designed to exhaust the living hell out of you, probably so you're more likely to just sign anything put in front of you at the end.
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Jan 18, 2013 09:04
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JesusDoesVegas posted:MEPS trip report: This was the longest, most exhausting day of my life. There was a lot that happened, but I honestly just don't care to write it all out. The hurry up and wait was expected, the seemingly constant mindgames were not. Long story short, after ten long hours I got to sit down and pick my rate. CTN was my rate of choice, however it was not currently available. MC however was, and it's one I looked into a bit while doing my research. After much back and forth I ended up signing my contract, and I leave for basic on Valentine's day. I didn't think I'd leave so quickly, so that's a bit frightening, but I'm happy with my choice of job. MC is the poo poo. I had a few friends that were MCs out on the ship. We started a band and watched lovely movies in the TV studio. Are you in to media production at all?
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Jan 18, 2013 09:23
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Welcome to the Machine. MEPS is your introduction to how insignificant you really are. It's long and exhausting because each day they churn a metric fuckton of applicants through and if they took the time to treat you like anything other than livestock it would take even longer. There is no grand conspiracy to wear out your defenses in order to get you to sign up for a lovely job. In fact, the Navy and the Army are the only two branches that pick jobs at MEPs. Marine Corps and Air Force do this back at their recruiting office. Also, I think you might be confusing how unpleasant people who don't care about you with mind games. However, you were smart to be firm and upfront with your MEPS Liaison about not wanting his lovely field offers. Clearly voicing what you want in a firm manner is good advice to anyone looking to sign up. Otherwise you get what's available and no one is going to jump through their rear end because they know you are going to join either way. If you are firm about not joining unless X, you stand a better chance of getting what you want.
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Jan 18, 2013 09:25
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MC is pretty cool. I think the A-school is at Fort Meade too.
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Jan 18, 2013 18:31
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MancXVI posted:MC is the poo poo. I had a few friends that were MCs out on the ship. We started a band and watched lovely movies in the TV studio. Are you in to media production at all? I'm actually much more of an IT guy, but I work with Sony Vegas for one of my jobs, and I have done quite a bit of at home music recording in the past. If there are any MCs out there id love to hear your experience.
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Jan 19, 2013 00:04
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Can any Army guys weigh in on what I can expect after OSUT? I'm hoping to stay an additional 4 weeks for Airborne. My recruiter said I'm sent back home to collect my belongings and have them ship it to wherever they end up sending me. What's that process like? How long do you usually have from the end of training to being sent to your duty station?
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Jan 19, 2013 21:53
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AFAIK, usually you go right to your duty station after completing IET unless you're heldover for medical, Airborne or something like issues with your clearance. At least when I went through AIT all my active counterparts with the exception of 1-2 went directly to their respective duty stations.
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Jan 19, 2013 21:59
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DoktorLoken posted:AFAIK, usually you go right to your duty station after completing IET unless you're heldover for medical, Airborne or something like issues with your clearance. So when would you move your belongings?
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Jan 19, 2013 22:07
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Ohms posted:So when would you move your belongings? They've probably changed it by now, probably, but if you're single you don't get HHG or anything to your first duty station. How much poo poo could you possibly have? You've moving into a shoebox that you probably have to share with another dude. Think dorm rooms, but you have to actually keep it super clean. TV, xbox/PS3, some clothes, end.
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Jan 19, 2013 22:14
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Vasudus posted:They've probably changed it by now, probably, but if you're single you don't get HHG or anything to your first duty station. I don't have a house full of poo poo but I do own things. Like you mentioned, TV, Xbox, clothes, and my computer, motorcycle, etc.
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Jan 19, 2013 22:20
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Yeah, from IET to your first duty station you tend to get a little dicked. What you want to do is take a week or so of leave, go home, pack your poo poo and find out the most economical way of sending it wherever, and then head to where you are going. Or, better yet, just go to your first duty station and have someone pack and send your poo poo to you. Straight shipping - as they call it - sounds gay as gently caress but is the best plan all round. Straight shipping you get your flight paid for to your next duty station, and thus you have incurred no real expenses except for shipping your gear from your home to new duty station. The taking leave idea is not ideal as the Army pays for pretty much nothing except for the flight from your home to your duty station (I think).
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Jan 19, 2013 22:40
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Ohms posted:I don't have a house full of poo poo but I do own things. Like you mentioned, TV, Xbox, clothes, and my computer, motorcycle, etc. I'm assuming you're not married right?
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Jan 19, 2013 23:40
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iceslice posted:I'm assuming you're not married right? Correct (for the record, I own a lot more than that but I figured I'd be leaving most of it behind)
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Jan 19, 2013 23:44
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Hey guys, I'm going to be taking the AFOQT here in two weeks and I was wondering about the Pilot sections. Specifically, I'm not interested in becoming a pilot, so does my score on the Aviation and Instrument sections have any bearing? The rest of the test seems pretty easy, but I have no experience with piloting aircraft and would need to study to do well on those sections.
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Jan 20, 2013 23:54
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Conqueror Bounma posted:I know there are more knowledgeable people in this thread but I would guess joining post cancer would be very difficult. I heard stories of people needing waivers for dry skin and too much earwax when I was going through MEPS the other day. Best of luck however. Just had this confirmed, so it looks like I'm poo poo out of luck on joining up. Turns out you're automatically disqualified from serving if you've had any cancer treatment of any kind within the last five years.
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Jan 22, 2013 17:24
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GuyGlaze posted:I'm looking to get into the Navy as active duty, and I'm scheduled to go to MEPS on Tuesday next week.  I'm a bit late but what a loving dick  Don't be an AO unless you want to break your back lifting bombs. 95 is pretty high. They calculate requirements based on how you score total overall in different areas though. But I'm sure you're good. They'll always try to bully you with the "if you don't get what you want at MEPS take a job and change it in bootcamp." Don't fall for that. But yeah if you don't want it don't sign it. Find another recruiter. If you have any other questions about being a Corpsman let me know. I know it's tough to get into the Military these days but I think if I'm understanding correctly the Navy kicked too many people out but who knows.
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Jan 22, 2013 19:22
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JesusDoesVegas posted:I'm actually much more of an IT guy, but I work with Sony Vegas for one of my jobs, and I have done quite a bit of at home music recording in the past. Not an MC, but I've worked with a bunch of them and known a few intimately. On a carrier they seem to have a good life, big shop, air conditioning, lots of happy people, plenty of computers, so you'll be able to email whoever, whenever. Put out a little school paper for the boat. Make some amusing videos. Take pictures, interview people, just do whatever. As far as jobs go, you got lucky, nice and easy. I used to stand duty with the PAO on my boat (that will be your divisor officer when you get to it) and they seemed like a good bunch. I believe there's also billets for like, tough guy poo poo where you go hang out with Swcc or something And I think a lot of them chill in California on land until theyre called to go tad to a boat at some sort of ultra laid back MC headquarters. Again, I am not a MC, but I have heard this all from MC friends of mine.
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Jan 22, 2013 20:01
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Christoff posted:
I was told when I went that if I walk out of MEPS without signing a contract after being offered a contract you get some sort of flag. I don't know what weight that holds, but luckily I was offered a decent rating so I didn't have to find out. Today's Tuesday, so hopefully he gets offered the job he wants. In looking for info on MC I found this blog - http://usnavymc.blogspot.com/2011/01/become-mc.html I may have accidentally stumbled into the best job in the armed forces. Another thing I've been curious about... Are any of you musicians? I play drums, and my biggest fear for the next 5 years is not having the chance to play. Moving around and living in barracks/on carriers seems like it would cut those opportunities. I've always wanted to get better at guitar, so I plan on picking one up and bringing it with me, but my real passion (and where all my talent lies) is percussion. Someone said earlier they started a band. How did practice space etc work out? Are my drums going to be covered in a thick 5 year layer of dust? JesusDoesVegas fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Jan 22, 2013 |
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Jan 22, 2013 22:09
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Short answer: Get married Long answer: Depending on your command, time in, and rank, you can get BAH. It's a housing allowance that changes depending on where you're stationed and if you have dependents. From what I've experienced/seen it's plenty enough to have your own apartment or share a house whilst still pocketing cash. General rule of thumb for the Navy is e-4 over 4 get it. E-5 is usually a guarantee. I had it as an e-3 but only because there was no room in the barracks. The Military is really shifting to this "quality of life" thing where they're building these new nice barracks. You can have whatever you can fit in there usually. Not sure how a ship is. If you're stuck living there or get a barracks room too. Point being that yes, eventually you'll have room for your drums. A lot of dudes play guitar and lug it around. I've known a few in a band that jammed at the local bar. Nostalgia4Dogges fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Jan 22, 2013 |
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Jan 22, 2013 23:08
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I have made money hand over fist by marrying my girlfriend, especially when she lived across country, and already had a good job anyway supporting herself. I'm still spending deployment money! That sweet married, deployment cash... Same goes if you're a lady, but don't marry some shore mate you meet in a school If you wanna be rich as hell as a junior enlisted hero get married to someone with a real job (not a stripper) Beria fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Jan 22, 2013 |
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Jan 22, 2013 23:20
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This all seems like solid life advice. Male or female, marry for money. Check.
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Jan 22, 2013 23:24
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