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somnolence posted:Everyone who's posted in response to what I asked has offered a very unique perspective to joining the military the likes of which I haven't seen before. It's very clear to me now that the military isn't something that you should jump into in a hurry before really weighing your options and fully considering the ramifications that it may have on your life the moment after you've signed it away to the government. If you've got another viable option in the civilian world, go for that. The military will wait (unless you're creeping up on 30 and we stop fighting wars entirely). quote:I suppose the main consideration that I'm facing after reading everyone's thoughts on joining is whether the educational benefits that are offered are really worth putting my entire life on hold for 3-6 years. I have a prior conviction for possession of The infantry isn't so bad if you have a sense of humor, and in my experience the easiest way to discourage people from being inhumane assholes is to do anything at all about it, but a lot of guys, understandably, don't like sticking their necks out. When you're dealing with 18-21 year old guys, it's rare that anyone actually drops their guard long enough to buck a trend. Most guys aren't assholes, but they assume everyone else is an rear end in a top hat, interpret that as an expectation, and act accordingly. You'd be surprised how far acting like a big boy will get you in the infantry- PFT ain't everything.
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May 30, 2013 07:29
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and I feel like that would put me at the mercy of the recruiters as far as job selection, etc. I have ~real world skills~ in healthcare and IT that I can utilize to stay employed and a decent safety net built around me even though I'm not currently living in my home town. I've bought my textbooks for next quarter already, so I will be putting off this decision for a while longer. At this point I feel like I will probably not join the military unless my financial situation becomes extremely desperate to the point where I'm literally unable to pay the combined costs of living here on top of tuition. The idea of giving up what control I have over my life to people who value pull ups so much doesn't sit too well with me. Thanks again for the responses everyone.
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Marines are supposed to regularly requalify on the gas chamber (maybe annually? And I think it's for all jobs but maaaaybe just infantry or combat arms). Either way, everybody does it at least once- in bootcamp. The only CBRN guys I ever saw during a workday (aside from the handful working the chambers all of the two times I was in one) was for canister exchange- they receive 100's of canisters and dole out 100's of canisters. Looked like a big ol' book-keeping butt-ache. Beyond that I'm with everyone else saying that it instinctively sounds like a bad deal for you considering you sound like you're content and/or doing well with college. edit: I'd be interested to hear how often they deploy and how frequently they get to investigate IEDs. We would get briefed on insurgents' half-assed past attempts at creating chemical IEDs but I don't recall ever hearing of one during my time in either Afghanistan or Iraq. I'm guessing a deployment for CBRN is boring and easy at best, or miserable and boring (see Momma Dawg) at worst. Victor Vermis fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Jun 18, 2013 |
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Jun 18, 2013 00:45
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But seriously if you're joining the military to join the military why wouldn't you go Marine Corps Infantry? You're going to hate yourself no matter what, might as well go full retard. If you're enlisting for a security clearance or to learn those IN DEMAND TECHNICAL SKILLS or whatever I guess good luck with that.
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Jul 2, 2013 05:23
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friend of the family DEATH TURBO posted:Army Infantry gets better gear. v (fart) I dunno. Sure, it would be nice to have nice things, but I can't think of anything that would absolutely increase my quality of life in the infantry gear-wise. An automated turret vice getting launched from the top of a truck when it hits an IED is the only thing that comes to mind, but I don't know how widespread those are/were in the Army while I was in. Fancier compass, fancier GPS, fancier mortar ballistic computer.. meh. The amount of use those things get varies as wildly as any given individual's experience while in the infantry, I imagine. And it's not like there's a lot of room for improvement on those things, anyways. We always trained with older beat-up stuff but ultimately had decent gear on deployments.
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Jul 9, 2013 06:13
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holocaust bloopers posted:While your point is a good one, it doesn't hold true if someone has a bullshit degree. Might get your foot in the door for an assistant manager position at a gas station or a fast food restaurant. Which is objectively better than being enlisted if your only goal is to make a buck. And you know, you're not the government's property for 8 years or whatever. Health benefits are a draw because although you may not be able to afford them as an assistant manager, the coverage you get from the military aside from dental is just going to serve to maybe fix whatever issues the military gave you.
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Jul 11, 2013 23:33
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If you don't have any college debt, and you have a BFA from a legitimate school, why the gently caress would you enlist? Just because you don't have a Doctorate in Bio-electric-genetic-accounting doesn't mean you're going to be sucking food-stamps out of a social worker's rear end the rest of your life. What happens when your enlistment is up? Now you have that awful BFA and 4 or 5 years experience as a peon?
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Aug 28, 2013 23:43
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gleep gloop posted:I'm not planning on enlisting I already did that, it was a hypothetical question you dingus. McManus got a BFA on the 9/11 GI Bill. DINGUS.
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Aug 29, 2013 00:07
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The Leper Colon V posted:I would love to be behind the wheel, stick, or keyboard of some big sexy vehicle that makes things go boom. If this is your primary motivator in joining, you should reconsider. The military sucks the fun out of making things go boom; either through sheer repetition or because of the amount of work required leading up to, and in the aftermath of, the boom. If you want a free education and maybe a push towards being a more productive person, enlisting probably isn't a bad idea. You'll have to be more specific about what kind of job you want in order for people to give you advice in here. Look up some information on the various branches/MOS. "Occasional Depression" could be an issue, depending on what exactly that means.
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Aug 30, 2013 08:19
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Kanish might be a source on this stuff, he talked about some work he did with dead guys in the Your most (O_o) military experiences thread.
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Sep 3, 2013 22:58
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I always wondered what the "proper" disposal plan was, because dumping incinerated remains that the family doesn't even loving want always sounded very reasonable to me.
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Sep 4, 2013 18:48
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Axolotl posted:I don't get the outrage, either. It's not like they were dumping cremated bodies in the landfill. With regards to civilian practice, when we amputate someone's limb or remove tissue, that poo poo just gets incinerated with other medical waste sometime after the pathologists are done with it, as far as I know. Sometimes they find stuff afterwards. As I understand it, families decide beforehand, in the event that more is found, whether they want each new piece sent to them or not. Understandably, many choose not to subscribe once the majority is properly buried.
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Sep 4, 2013 19:40
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the posted:They made it seem so cool Have you considered USMC infantry? Lower enlisted will never have to touch powerpoint and by the time your 4 years are up you can re-test that engineering market with professional badass at the top of your employment history.
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Oct 2, 2013 23:32
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the posted:I'm turning 30 in two days. Perfect. Maturity and life experience. gleep gloop posted:You can still say you're a marine. I mean, sure, you can.
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Oct 3, 2013 04:30
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the posted:So I feel like there's a lot of joking going on, I mean that's cool and all but seriously: We had a 30 year old guy fresh outta boot/basic, and several 23-27 year old guys. It's not unheard of. Dunno if this is your angle or not, but Infantry guys are really the eyes and ears of intelligence. Enlisted Intel guys gather up whatever is given to them, digest it further up the chain, and then poo poo it back out. As Infantry, you will catch your peanut-riddled, stringy intel on it's way back down the poop chute sometimes, except now it's been inflated and disfigured in order to make everyone supporting you look really super important. Ultimately, all kinds of major intelligence decisions are made at the squad level. Before your four years are done, you could be positively ID'ing and taking down high value targets. At which point, Officer Intel guys clock-in and write up that report, because again, it's important to look important. I don't know what Navy Intel does. Catalog Taliban-boat sightings?
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Oct 3, 2013 04:56
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But seriously I sometimes get the impression that folks pop in here with a ready-made explanation of how they think being in the military will further their civilian career goals because they think we'll make fun of them if they come right out and admit that they're unsure about what to do with their life after high school/college and really just want to try their hand at being a bad-rear end for a little bit. But (obviously) we don't give a poo poo about all of that! Hit up Hekk's office and request 0300 open. He'll try to talk you into using your big brain for BATTLEFIELD COMMAND COORDINATOR or TACTICAL HEATING AND AIR CONDITIONING REPAIR but really you know that within you there is a goddamned prehistoric ape, bare-assed and shrieking, crushing monkey skulls under jungle canopies. Do you know what that ape is shrieking? "gently caress AIRPLANES". gently caress sucking dick to get promoted- You don't even want to be promoted- you want to be the most miserable motherfucker you can be, because he who has it worst slings the biggest dong of all. FACT.
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Oct 25, 2013 12:19
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Oxford Comma posted:Can we move this thread to E/N because people asking for advice on joining the military always post the saddest vignettes of life imaginable. gleep gloop posted:A whole lot of people manage to not be homeless and not be in the military. There's always something, it's just you usually don't get a magic ticket that takes you from broke as hell to rich as gently caress instantly. genderstomper58 posted:Also lots of companies love getting employees more education and there are options for having an employer for your schooling depending who you sign on with. So when you guys jerk off in front of the mirror do you make eye contact with yourself or do you stare into your own rear end in a top hat from between your legs? The military is for gently caress ups and retards. If you're about to be homeless, you're probably one or the other. Give it a shot, it's easy money and free college.
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Nov 27, 2013 21:37
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gleep gloop posted:Just trying to help people from being forced into something they absolutely can not easily leave for years if they don't like it! Of the people I knew who couldn't hack it in the military (whether because they were a drug addict, murderer, or so irreparably hosed up from childhood that they were immune to military programming like "occasionally wash yourself and your clothes" or "don't steal from co-workers") 100% of them would be better off eating a bullet. But yeah, I'm sure if they avoided the military in the first place and instead just did something, anything, they could have been getting paid to go to school by a civilian employer. Doing four years is not the end of anyone's world- especially if they're already aware that their next four+ years is going to be poo poo.
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Nov 28, 2013 03:00
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Oxford Comma posted:It would be one thing if the stories in this thread went along the lines of this: "Hey I'm 19 and graduated high school a few months ago. I don't have the money to pay for college, so the GI Bill looks like something good. What's the best way to get the GI Bill without having my life suck for four years." I guess you came away from the military with an entirely different opinion of it than I did, because eventually rocking stripes in the laundry room and lording over the lesser tards while collecting a paycheck twice a month is a goddamn dream come true for example #2. Being in the military -and not even being able to drink legally- is a goddamn nightmare for example #1.
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Nov 28, 2013 03:56
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KirbyKhan posted:See the thing is, he isn't a gently caress up or a troublemaker. He's just useless in the most harmless ways. Intelegent enough to memorize the pdg and tech data but too dumb to understand social concepts and other people. While it may not be true of all branches/jobs, an inability to understand social concepts isn't necessarily going to affect his work when most of the day is spent interacting with people who are identified by/the embodiment of the number of stripes on their sleeve and/or the billet they hold. The tier of people you interact with on a daily basis as human beings is rather small in comparison to the literal Army of strangers who, luckily enough, are conforming to rules of interaction that are hammered into you from day one. As a bonus when dealing with strangers, you'll only ever have to learn 10 names: your branch's enlisted ranks from E1 through E9 and "Sir". 100% of the people I dealt with on a daily basis were guys I'd never have encountered in the civilian world, but whether they became my bestest bros or just another person I'd struggle to tolerate, you find a way to relate to them or minimize how weird they are (ie only speak to them in a professional capacity, which is easy because your job is your life while you're under contract) and continue on. If none of that rings true to anyone's experience in the Air Force, I guess I'll take this opportunity to suggest The United States Marine Corps as an ideal branch for socially awkward weirdos. Oohrah and smemper fi.
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Dec 3, 2013 00:39
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Hekk posted:Just keep him away from [0311s and 0331s] since the alpha male complex is usually worse there.
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Dec 3, 2013 01:56
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iyaayas01 posted:if you are a lazy gently caress up now all you will be in the military is a lazy gently caress up who gets yelled at and who has some other lazy gently caress up control literally every aspect of their life. Your mileage may vary on this one. One man's lazy rear end in a top hat is another organization-of-lazy-rear end in a top hat's outstanding and motivated individual. I dropped out of college multiple times over a span of six year and had zero credits and a bunch of permanent F's on my transcript to show for it. In the Marine Corps, as a newly enlisted individual, your responsibilities are ridiculously simple and unless you're immune to criticism, you do not shirk those things- the notion will not even occur to you. The experience won't necessarily FIX you, but a little bit of conditioning- hard bought at an 8 year commitment- is bound to stick with you. If you can muster up the nut to enlist, I'd say mustering up the nut to see a mental health professional is probably a better idea than making a big commitment to pay for something you're not even necessarily going to finish. I can't speak on the reserves from personal experience, but I seriously doubt one weekend a month is going to do anything for you besides become a constant temptation to skip drill and continue being a lazy rear end in a top hat. Boot camp alone will not fix anyone. tl;dr Seek help for your brain. Then consider active duty enlistment. 4 Years. USMC infantry. You're welcome.
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Dec 19, 2013 23:56
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"Unnecessarily tense" is a pretty fitting description of the military experience in general, I think. Maybe not so much for pilots. Pilots seem pretty chill.
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Feb 13, 2014 10:29
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ArbitraryTA posted:Guess I'm gonna have to go in as an 11X and be a True American Hero Might as well go USMC infantry, then.
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Jul 23, 2014 19:33
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Cole posted:But he could become a mortar and get an airborne slot and ranger slot in basic that he would rob himself of by being a pog. Marine corps doesn't have that stuff except mortars but they use old army equipment anyway. You can go from being a mortarman to a scout sniper if you want. But then why the gently caress did you become a mortarman.
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Jul 23, 2014 19:46
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Before I shipped (maybe even before MEPs) I had an interview with a civilian where they asked in detail about drug and alcohol use since I mentioned those things on my forms. I always assumed it was a clearance thing but apparently I never had a clearance. So I'm guessing it would work similarly with admitting you have financial issues? Give them a heads up. Hekk posted:They aren't privy to the operational or strategic level importance of what they are doing. This is super conducive to keeping grunts invested in THE MISSION. It became apparent very quickly that  Strategic Corporal is just a nice way of saying War crimes are bad even at the fire team level!
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Jul 24, 2014 04:15
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I got a 93 on the ASVAB, but found out I couldn't get some stuff waived to do what I thought I wanted to do. After taking a few weeks to think about what I really wanted out of the military, I decided to do infantry. I still think that was the right choice for me. If you want to enlist because you want a home and a paycheck, pick something more comfortable than infantry. If you REALLY want to be infantry then at least do it right and go USMC, nerd.
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Jul 30, 2014 03:39
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Stultus Maximus posted:Peacetime USMC infantry I keep forgetting. Nevermind, go A/C Repair.
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Jul 30, 2014 03:44
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Pon de Bundy posted:I'VE read the thread from top to now, but the coast guard isn't given much love in here apparently. Enlisting is different from commissioning. The coast guard is different from the military (it isn't the military) which is why you don't see any Coasties in GiP. There's probably a federal jobs thread in Ask/Tell somewhere where you can find out about working for the Department of Homeland Security.
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Aug 19, 2014 17:27
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Pon de Bundy posted:Since when is Coast Guard not the military? Come on now. Semper Paratus Enlist in the Marine Corps. 0300 Open
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Aug 19, 2014 17:34
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Pon de Bundy posted:I don't have a degree, I'm just wondering since Coast Guard isn't "military". The Coast Guard is the military, and everything you read in this thread about enlisting with a degree in the military applies. Enlisted life in the military is a great place for dumb people and people who are incapable of being a grown up adult and getting a college education with whatever tools their upbringing and high school education gave them. If you can get your degree, do that. If you feel like the military is something you need, then do that instead. All other justifications for enlisting you create for yourself are stupid and will be forgotten well before you're halfway through your contract.
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Aug 19, 2014 17:43
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zombie303 posted:We always ran faster than an 8 mile pace. I don't think we ever did for daily PT because A.) Hang-overs and B.) Running in formation sucks. Probably the hardest running in formation I did in my 4 years was when the SNCO of our section at the range was trying to get into shape for his return to an infantry unit. So he regularly dragged us short-timers along kicking and screaming on like a 10 minute pace or thereabouts. We ran a mile at the end of a company hike one time with crew serves and all the fixings but I'm guessing it looked like the trail of tears from the safety vehicle's perspective.
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Oct 18, 2014 17:14
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vintagepurple posted:Seriously, if I plan to only enlist for like 3-10 years and then go to college with my sweet government bux (and I'm smart and dedicated just take my word) how bad will I regret combat arms? Every time I think about it I really want to just army the poo poo out of my army period. IDK what I want to do with my life anyway. Nobody knows if you'll like the military or not because you aren't volunteering any information here. Why do you want to enlist? Tanks? Do you have a question about tanks that hasn't been answered yet?
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Oct 23, 2014 14:19
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lol if you walked into a recruiter's office not knowing exactly what circumstances you would enlist under and anything else be damned. So "lol you enlisted before you were old enough to drink/avoid an assfucking", I guess. zombie303 posted:Why go infantry and not join The United States Marine Corps?
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Oct 23, 2014 17:15
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Cole posted:What I waited 3 months to sign an Infantry contract. Originally I was told it would be more like 6-7 months, but I was persistent. And this was during the surge. The Marine Corps has plenty of people interested in being grunts. It's the other poo poo they want to try to convince you to do. Reading the "Ask Us About Joining the Military" thread from 7 years ago is pretty embarrassing but illustrates the point pretty well, I'd think.
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Oct 23, 2014 18:28
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SLAMMYsosa posted:Hey guys, another dumbass college grad checking in. I'm 27, graduated B.S. Physics from a state school with a poo poo 3.0 GPA in 2010. Been doing stuff like semiskilled labor and working at restaurants ever since. I've gotten to point where I'm ready to give up looking for a technical job. You have a degree. Regardless of what your degree is in, and regardless of what you've done with it, you have a degree. The "don't enlist with a degree" rule isn't to keep you from joining the military, it's to keep you from shorting yourself a lot of money and winding up like every other miserable fucker on this sub-forum who did not appreciate the novelty of being treated like a bad doggy for the duration of their contract. With that said, if you REALLY know what job you want to do, and you REALLY know what that job is actually like (ie you have spoken to people who did that job) then go ahead and get that job guaranteed and do that job. No idea about your questions. Just wanted to clarify the enlisting-with-a-degree thing.
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Oct 24, 2014 00:41
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Everyone gets the GI Bill. Nobody gives a poo poo what you did for four years in the military.
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Nov 2, 2014 04:31
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Godholio posted:Flight safety experience is valuable. Logistics experience is valuable. Infantry skills... Consider this, then. And a different branch. If you don't care about employment and just want to do something different, I still recommend USMC Infantry. The most bizarre four years of my life. Be humble and lower your expectations. You will not be treated like a human being for the first year or two.
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Nov 2, 2014 05:53
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Hekk posted:There is lots of stupid poo poo about the military but the phonetic alphabet and numbers aren't one of them. Most folks are most familiar with talking on VHF radios. If you don't have a good line of sight to whomever you are talking to the transmissions are very static covered. Trying to call in a grid for close air support or ZAP/KILL numbers for CASEVAC with that static is difficult. The phonetic numbers help those on the other end understand what you are trying to convey even if they can only hear like 50% of it. This. I encouraged new Marines in my section to use proper radio numbers and letters in every day conversation. "Niner" instead of "Nine", "Zero" instead of "Oh". Also 10 is not "ten", it is "one zero". Sure it sounds dumb, but later on when you're sending directions, ranges, and grid locations back and forth through static it can save you from dropping rounds on the wrong people.
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Nov 4, 2014 07:43
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I probably would've offed myself if I hadn't enlisted. Spending four years doing only what you're told to do leaves a lot of room for figuring out what you *want* to do. It was great. Being able to participate in Iraq and Afghanistan was great, too. Not because the experience was particularly rewarding or life-changing, but because it was so completely underwhelming. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't done it. 98 days out of 100, you are bored out of your mind and/or miserable. The other 2 days something exciting happens and/or someone you know dies. I think I should've stuck around for another year or two, but I'm pretty sure a 20-year career in the military wasn't for me. But then again I'm pretty sure regular employment isn't for me, either. So maybe I missed my calling. ManOfTheYear posted:You have no idea how jealous I am of this. Here in Finland you literally cannot do anything without studying at least for 3 years, even police academy is 3 and half years and 90% of anything you study is mostly useless filler bullshit. All the aspiring police officer I've met in my state were pursuing a four year college degree while looking for jobs state-wide. It's competitive here and the degree is required.
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Nov 6, 2014 21:20
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Hekk posted:What they don't see are the silly hats, stupid dietary restrictions, and forced haircuts.
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Nov 6, 2014 21:39
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