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Anyone else considering military after you are done your undergrad?

R

RichardE

Banned
I'll be graduating with about 45k in student loans when all is said and done. The recruiting officer said there is a good chance the army would pay off most of my student loans (35k worth, the other 10k was for a college diploma) as well as pay for grad/professional school if I signed a contract.. (5 years after Grad/professional school).

With today's economy, even though I could make probably more in the private sector when I get out, it is a enticing deal (professional school could get very expensive...) Anyone else doing this or considered doing this?
 
And you believed the recruiter? Be sure to get everything in writing before you sell yourself to the military - it's more likely you'll be cannon fodder in Iraq than whatever job you were promised.
 
I posted this in another thread, will say it again here:

Was thinking about going JAG but found out loan repayment program (LRP) is only for enlisted, not officers. I can get a full ROTC scholarship possibly for the last 2 years, but thats a big maybe. Careful what the recruiter promises.
 
Originally posted by: boredhokie
And you believed the recruiter? Be sure to get everything in writing before you sell yourself to the military - it's more likely you'll be cannon fodder in Iraq than whatever job you were promised.
Click to expand...

Why the outright hate with recruiters? A few bad seeds don't spoil the bunch. Almost no recruiter will outright lie... some are terrible with only selling certain aspects but even then, the majority are upfront about things as long as you are equally upfront.

Everything RichardE stated in the OP is truth, at least for Enlisted. Going Commissioned Officer, I'm not sure if you can get future schooling paid for, and I know Loan Repayment is not an option, nor are signing bonuses.
Then again, I am also not sure how it works if you sign Enlisted with the intention of going OCS. I know you can sign Enlisted with basically a statement that places you into OCS very quickly, but if you go Enlisted and just happen to be a good Soldier for your first few years and seek OCS, then at that point you'll already have earned all the Enlistment bonuses since you basically just fulfilled the Enlisted contract and then went OCS.

The Army doesn't post blatant lies in any of their documents, and everything he listed is easily found on the US Army's website. The only clarification is the signing bonuses, which is always listed as "Up to $xxxxx", because not every MOS (profession) will earn the max, as it is based on demand... hell, some basically get almost nothing because there is no need to entice recruits into signing up for those professions.
 
Why would an educated person like yourself even consider joining the military..? Feel like throwing puppies off cliffs or something?
 
There was one girl from my school who ended up with the Air Force after school. It sounded kind of cool since she got to fly airplanes.
 
Gave serious thought, went to recruiter, got forms, bulked up, gave final last minute thought, did not turn in forms. I can't deal with the 'shit happens' aspect of war.
 
09S gets no signing bonus... maybe 2k for the effort... 09S is the OCS candidate MOS. And the LRP (Loan Repayment Program) only pays up to 20k of "qualified" loans... pretty much federal only.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Do not believe everything the recruiter says, because as well intentioned as he is, there are a lot of miscommunications about bennies and such and these things change quite often.
 
Originally posted by: amdhunter
Why would an educated person like yourself even consider joining the military..? Feel like throwing puppies off cliffs or something?
Click to expand...

Troll. Plenty of educated people join the military. I met a lot more intelligent people in the service then out of it.

Anyways, 2 years of ROTC and I'll be a 2nd lieutenant.
 
I went as far as to take the initial tests for entry into the air force, but they told me I couldn't be a pilot because I had a slight color blindness, so i was thinking about the marines... but then the Iraq war started. I always wanted to join up really, I was in the cadets and everything, but by the time I reached an appropriate age I had developed a concience and decided I couldn't justify taking part in that invasion. Maybe when we pull out of Iraq and concentrate on afghanistan I'll think again.
 
There are many people going into the military now due to no jobs.

Whatever you get promised get it in writing and remember you can back out at any time until your swear in. After that deal followed or not your ass is Uncle Sams.

 
Originally posted by: RichardE
I'll be graduating with about 45k in student loans when all is said and done. The recruiting officer said there is a good chance the army would pay off most of my student loans (35k worth, the other 10k was for a college diploma) as well as pay for grad/professional school if I signed a contract.. (5 years after Grad/professional school).

With today's economy, even though I could make probably more in the private sector when I get out, it is a enticing deal (professional school could get very expensive...) Anyone else doing this or considered doing this?
Click to expand...

With Bush and Co out of office and in ruins, the time could not be better, but dont commit to more than 4 years. You never know, in 4 years the U.S might have a brain laps and relected war mongering republicans again.
 
You're Canadian, right? Sounds like they're promising way more than they can deliver. I considered joining in during university when I was insecure about my prospects and debt was piling on, but I passed since it didn't seem like a good deal.

Pretty glad I did too - I'd be stuck in some place like Barrie working a boring government job (yes, the military is still a government job) for a pittance.
 
Originally posted by: amdhunter
Why would an educated person like yourself even consider joining the military..? Feel like throwing puppies off cliffs or something?
Click to expand...

No but he could always throw you off a cliff
 
The govt. will pay your monthly payments if you sign a contract with them (it just says as long as you are with them they pay for your monthly payments).

go to usajobs.gov and get a GS-9 job.
 
Like my brother said, who enlisted USAF after he got his undergrad, "the gubment aint going out of business soon"
 
Originally posted by: RichardE
I'll be graduating with about 45k in student loans when all is said and done. The recruiting officer said there is a good chance the army would pay off most of my student loans (35k worth, the other 10k was for a college diploma) as well as pay for grad/professional school if I signed a contract.. (5 years after Grad/professional school).

With today's economy, even though I could make probably more in the private sector when I get out, it is a enticing deal (professional school could get very expensive...) Anyone else doing this or considered doing this?
Click to expand...


If you want to join the armed forces, do it because you want to join the armed forces, not because you want to pay down your school loans.

Many federal agencies also offer student loan reimbursement in exchange for years of service as a civilian. You have to look into which agencies do this, but I believe they will cut up to 8k$ of loans per year you work for them. I know for a fact that at this time the US Patent and Trademark office does not refund school loans. There are some DoD agencies that do.
 
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