the army gave me more direction than purpose in life.
see, like these other guys, i didnt have much of a choice. i didnt want to be locked up for years, so i took the army route. 8 years of my life...not bad i think...i've been in 5 with just 3 more to go and i'm acutally happy that i'm here not in jail.
i reclassed to the medical field as soon as i could and i actually like it. i found what i want to do with the rest of my life now.

you'll hear this a lot, "the military is what you make of it"
and that is more true than anything you hear anyone say.
if you are a shitbag and lazy to boot, you're not gonna do jack squat in the military.
go to school.
take college classes, get your degree.
if you want to make military a career, go officer, its much better on the officer side of the house.

i'm hating life right now because i'm in bumf*ck alaska. other than that, i loved my other duty stations.
Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, Loved it
Ft. Hood, Texas, LOVED it
Portsmouth Naval Hospital, Virginia, Loved it
Ft. Lewis, Washington, Loved it
Ft. Waiwright, Alaska,....well, we'll see.

hope you like it...btw, the air force treats you waaaay better than the army ever will.

 

I am a military brat.. so perhaps I have a unique outlook on military life. Granted, during those formative years, we were deeply involved in Vietnam and all that mess.. those were dark times for the military.

If I could have, I would have gone in. With my Crohnes I am 4F.. no ifs, ands, or butts (sorry). MY Father loved it, he would have been a lifer if not for his hips. Mt Girlfriend all through HS went into the Naval Academy.. she loves it.

Moving from base to base and state to state is hard. It is no fun to uproot a family, drag them across the country (or world) and try and put down some sort of roots so you can reassume the visage of normality. If you are planning a family, I would think about that. I really would. Military life is HARDER on the dependants than the person in the Military.

The dependants get held to a code of conduct also. If you embariss the Military or the person in the Military you are a dependant to, they can make life very hard for him or her.. if you screw up bad enough (happened to my cousin) they can even dismiss you from the service with a general discharge...

If you are single, it is a great life... just remember what kind of hell it can be for your girl/wife/family if you want to go that route.

 

i completed the ASVAB and picked an MOS. signed my name like 5,000 times. all i really had left was the MEPS and being sworn in.

i wouldn't have been good in the military anyways. i'm too fragile

 

It's a tradeoff.
fing02.gif you have a steady pay
fing02.gif You get alot of GI benefeits
fing02.gif You can get alot of good training

drillsergeant.gif You gotta do what they say
drillsergeant.gif You don't know where you're going alot of the time

Nothing like job security in these trying times though. If you get deployed, you'll make ALOT of tax free money. If i were to do it again, i wouldn't change anything. I joined as a RADAR Repairer, and got 1 year of electronics training on that. I'm now in Medical Equipment Repair school for this year. If you get a good job, it could pay off in the long run, but you may never get a high rank. If you get a simpler job, you may get promoted easier, but won't get the skills for the outside. I've been in for 6 years now and i like the military.

 

I see this is heavily Boys in Blue weighted but as a Greenskin I can just say everyones military experience is different. It depends on:

Where you go
What your job is
What you CHOOSE to do while your there.

You can spend alot of deployed time. . . could get you huge cash flow and no place to spend it.

You could have a shift job on homeland and spend LOTSA free time both on the job and at home.

It has been difficult more for my wife than for me and I am stationed at home with her. It is for her that I worry about deployment but wouldn't mind it myself and feel guilty I don't get to go and take the place for someone who wants to come home for 6 months to visit family.

You can make alot of cash for hazard pay, time over so many days deployed, or second job or doign work for people on the side.

You can see some AMAZING places if you get out and not be afraid of cultural differences. You can lock yourself up in the barracks and get SOOO depressed you'll kill yourself. Literally. Make the most of it and keep up your own morale.

I'm SatCom and 6 years is the ONLY availability to join as they can't keep us in due to all the money we can make in the real world. Military sites for civilians with security clearances already established alone offer gs13 status plus and just under 6 figures. You know commercial companies are forking at cash. We will not talk about overseas pay checks. You don't give a figure you give ballparks of percentage of a million your making at that point.

Anyway, as far as not going?? I don't know about the Air Force, but the will scare you and threaten BUT unless you get on that plane and GO to reception, you can walk at anytime.(less court ordered which technically doesn't happen anymore, but they exist as already been show in the thread) Some Drill Sergeants will even tell you if you didn't want to be here you didn't have to get on that plane. MEPS really other than paperwork and blood, physical etc. . ain't crap sworn in or not, just makes you feel obligated. I know people who gotten all the way to the airplane boarding and had a parent talk them out and pick them up right there with bribes of paying for school. When you get there, threaten to kill yourself. . . refuse to take part in PT or pass a PT test. Act out with failure to adapt to military life. These can all get you out with some work IF your serious about putting up with the criticism and humiliation till your gone. There are more.

Reception blows. Stand all day to eat and don't lay on the beds. Sit on the floor till it's chow time or bed time. That's it. do some stuff for gear but that is one long 4-9days. Some people are there for months till they just kick 'em out since they can't pass a pt test or can't lose the weight or injured. Basic is a game. Keep that in your mind. You'll hate it when your there, but you'll laugh and miss it when you out. Here is where 60% of all military stories come from. The rest are deployed troops. Everyone else has no more stories, less it involves a paper cut or falling out a chair etc. I have 2 ish more years left and am looking to get over to Japan and get out.

With the new Army structure, will suck for family. They want to make five MEGA BASES or so and move all family there and you in which it is cheaper for them to take care of and not pay out Housing allowances anymore, but means now that they are on post costs and cheaper, they no longer will move your family around. They are spending a fortune on housing right now on posts all over to get families on base. 7 ish years stabilization for first termers, less you get out before then, for your family while you get shipped (if job allows) all over the place. Iraq, Korea, Bosnia, Africa, Afghanistan(sp) etc. All grounded jobs are to be handed over to civilians like our spouses or such and therefore all military personnel are in deployable roles only. In a way it dumbs us down in some MOS's but oh well. So then you never get to see family for rotations at a time regardless of what you do as you move with your entire company/BN/Bgd etc to keep unit coherency.

This is the planned direction from what I understand, who knows if it will work. It's going to take a long while and we all know the military changes it's mind a hundred times a day. I don't like it personally. But just like the new uniforms we are suppose to get. . . still unapproved due to problems. . and the push for replaced humvees and replaced SAW's and replaced M4's. . etc etc etc.

And I'm with REDZ don't go if you don't care why your there. It affects alot of people.

 

LOL

Definatly not brother. I got out because I got tired of getting purple hearts. The BSM/Vs and the BSM were nice, but two ph's was enough. That and I'm I have other plans, like starting my own business and being with family members thats not in great shape.

drillsergeant.gif That reminds me, if anyone has any unit flags or would like to donate a unit patch or something, let me know, I'll be happy to put it up in the bar when I get it done. At the moment, I'm pulling my hair out trying to write up the business plan. offtopic.gif

 

I've got some stuff I can send you my man. PM me your addy.

 

cool man, i'll hook u up with some unit patches.