Anyone joining the Army any time soon or thinking about it?

[TallBill]

I could use a promotion by recruiting someone Feel free to ask me some questions. All of my friends are to high class for the army. Oh well.

 

[sniperbob]

What are you going to do in the army? Didya make them give you nice enlist incentives?

 

[Kadarin]

Too late.. I've already joined, and ship out on May 13th (as an E-3, thanks to my existing college education). So what's your MOS? I'm going to be a 31F (Network Switching Systems Operator/Maintainer)..

 

[TallBill]

well for now im joining the army reserves (during college). My job is 95b - Military Police. At first I thought it would be cool to just get police training, and do my one weekend a month thing. Now im halfway tempted to just go active. If i did, i'd probably move over to something technical, unless I really enjoy the MP job. I think tactics, dealing with people, learning to fight, etc will be a crapload of fun. Im very very excited for my ship date on june 17th.

 

[Zugzwang152]

about 75% sure I'm going to join Army ROTC at the local college...nothing like green O-1's for the enlisted ranks to piss on

 

[Kadarin]

Very cool I almost decided to go 33W (Military Intelligence Systems Maintainer/Integrator), but in spite of the total $17K enlistment bonus (I get $6K now), I decided I didn't want to be a glorified tv repairman. And the 31F looks like a field job (networking the TOC, I believe); I might at some point even do Airborne, but we'll see.

 

[TallBill]

heh, well my bonus is tiny.. since i went the reserves rout (2 or 3k..) but i get an extra 100 a month kicker on my gi bill which is nice.

 

[Dragnov]

1) Whats the shortest amount of time that you are the Army's bitch possible?

2) What are the general must have requirements?

3) Whats the ethnic/racial breakup around?

4) What is the average life of a person joining the Army like?

I figure if I can't find a job or getting nowhere I would always join the Armed Services.

I'm sorry, but I don't feel comfortable being like 1/200 that is Asian or something.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: Gr1mL0cK
1) Whats the shortest amount of time that you are the Army's bitch possible?

2) What are the general must have requirements?

3) Whats the ethnic/racial breakup around?

4) What is the average life of a person joining the Army like?

1. You can enlist for 2 years for some MOS specialties.
2. You have to meet certain weight standards (you can't be a lardass), and you must pass a drug test. You cannot have any debilitating medical conditions, and your sight/hearing must be within acceptable limits. They give you a physical, and you have to take the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) test to see what jobs you qualify for.
3. At the MEPS facility, I saw folks of all ethnic and racial backgrounds applying.
4. I'll be able to answer that question in a few weeks.. I am hoping, however, that it's going to be a bit more active than my previous

 

[TallBill]

dangit, you beat me to it but yeah.. theres a crapload of benefits moneywise.. and a guaranteed job if you pass the requirements. It seems VERY diverse racially. At least at the MEPS facility I went to in Chicago.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: TallBill
dangit, you beat me to it but yeah.. theres a crapload of benefits moneywise.. and a guaranteed job if you pass the requirements. It seems VERY diverse racially. At least at the MEPS facility I went to in Chicago.

i should point out that while its technically a guaranteed job, you may well end up hating whatever MOS they assign to you. If you can't get a job elsewhere, it probably means your abilities are pretty limited, and as such you may end up doing something you hate. And once you sign the papers, there's no 2 weeks notice....

 

[TallBill]

but you do get a guaranteed job.. they can not change it on you. its your job to do the research to see if you think you'll like the job or not. And its gonna pay you, provide housing, and feed you. Seems like a good deal to me at least. Money isnt important when all the bases are covered. There is no month to month struggle.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: TallBill
but you do get a guaranteed job.. they can not change it on you. its your job to do the research to see if you think you'll like the job or not. And its gonna pay you, provide housing, and feed you. Seems like a good deal to me at least. Money isnt important when all the bases are covered. There is no month to month struggle.

that is true. but once you make your 20 years, what then? You cannot live on the retirement benefits, albeit even if its half-pay. You'll have to go out and find another job to survive...

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152

Originally posted by: TallBill
dangit, you beat me to it but yeah.. theres a crapload of benefits moneywise.. and a guaranteed job if you pass the requirements. It seems VERY diverse racially. At least at the MEPS facility I went to in Chicago.

i should point out that while its technically a guaranteed job, you may well end up hating whatever MOS they assign to you. If you can't get a job elsewhere, it probably means your abilities are pretty limited, and as such you may end up doing something you hate. And once you sign the papers, there's no 2 weeks notice....

They don't assign you an MOS, you choose one. You get to choose the MOS before you enlist (as opposed to the other armed services, where you enlist first, then choose your preferences). Check out the jobs availabe over at www.goarmy.com.

 

[TallBill]

well if i was to go that route, i'd have a lot saved up over 20 years? its very easy to save when you make 30-40k a year, and dont have to pay a lot of your living costs.. and it doesnt mean you couldnt pursue a high paying job.. you could simply do the reserves and work as well? i dont see how money could be a problem at all.

 

[jteef]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33

Originally posted by: Gr1mL0cK
1) Whats the shortest amount of time that you are the Army's bitch possible?

2) What are the general must have requirements?

3) Whats the ethnic/racial breakup around?

4) What is the average life of a person joining the Army like?

1. You can enlist for 2 years for some MOS specialties.
2. You have to meet certain weight standards (you can't be a lardass), and you must pass a drug test. You cannot have any debilitating medical conditions, and your sight/hearing must be within acceptable limits. They give you a physical, and you have to take the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) test to see what jobs you qualify for.
3. At the MEPS facility, I saw folks of all ethnic and racial backgrounds applying.
4. I'll be able to answer that question in a few weeks.. I am hoping, however, that it's going to be a bit more active than my previous

I would just like to note that the 2 year thing is just your active duty commitment, you are still responsible for another 6 years in the reserves. (don't know how much of that you can do in the inactive reserves) see: here for more info.

You also can't have any past moral, mental, or other health issues. (drug/alcohol violations(even if you were a minor and the records were sealed/destroyed), excessive traffic violations, other crimes, If you've seen a shrink they will want to know all about it, childhood asthma, past injury, or other health problems (there are a ton of disqualifiers)) most everything is waiverable, but it is up to the Army if they want to grant you the waiver or not.

 

[Kadarin]

jteef: Those are good points, all of them. One of the guys I took the ASVAB with (he said he had his CCNA, and that he wanted to do some network job for the Marines) ended up having some pot-related thing on his school record, and he ended up getting disqualified for the network job. Before I left he told me that he ended up signing on to drive some kind of armored vehicle..

 

[TallBill]

jteef, nice link.. Im not extremely knowledgeable about active duty, as its not an option i'd pursue right now.

 

[Excelsior]

I think Im gonna go for either Air Force ROTC or OTS.

 

[Zebo]

Not with endless wars while Bush is in power, too fusken risky.

Try Airforce.

" or thinking about ti?" ti food is good.

 

[gentobu]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
jteef: Those are good points, all of them. One of the guys I took the ASVAB with (he said he had his CCNA, and that he wanted to do some network job for the Marines) ended up having some pot-related thing on his school record, and he ended up getting disqualified for the network job. Before I left he told me that he ended up signing on to drive some kind of armored vehicle..

Wow thats strange that he got disqualified for smoking pot. When I was interviewing for my security clearance, I told the FBI guy that I had smoked pot, drank(underage), and shoplifted and I still managed to get my clearance!:Q Actually what I was told was that they were really just checking to see how truthfull you would be during the interview, and unless you did some really serious stuff, it wouldnt affect your chances at a clearance.

 

[TallBill]

my interviews were pretty easy.. i dont do much bad stuff.. so telling the truth they believed me.

If i had something criminal on my record, things would have been different i guess.

 

[burnedout]

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152

Originally posted by: TallBill
but you do get a guaranteed job.. they can not change it on you. its your job to do the research to see if you think you'll like the job or not. And its gonna pay you, provide housing, and feed you. Seems like a good deal to me at least. Money isnt important when all the bases are covered. There is no month to month struggle.

that is true. but once you make your 20 years, what then? You cannot live on the retirement benefits, albeit even if its half-pay. You'll have to go out and find another job to survive...

After you make your 20 years, you do like me. First, you "retire" at age 38 or 39. Then find a decent, 40 hour-per-week job that is both active and interesting. Also, go back to college, part-time, for an advanced degree. Finally, depending upon branch of service, you thank the higher power above that you survived for all those years.

BTW, yes, I could theoretically live on the $1,245 (after tax) per month from the gov. Some of us saved and invested while we were in.

 

[DCFife]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
Very cool I almost decided to go 33W (Military Intelligence Systems Maintainer/Integrator), but in spite of the total $17K enlistment bonus (I get $6K now), I decided I didn't want to be a glorified tv repairman. And the 31F looks like a field job (networking the TOC, I believe); I might at some point even do Airborne, but we'll see.

31F is a better MOS than 33W, especially if you decide to get out after your initial enlistment. My wife and I were 31P's. She worked at a red switch (i.e. general's phones) facility at Fort Bragg with 31F's and she got offered a job 6 months before she got out making over $50k doing red switch at the Pentagon. A side benefit was a TS/SCI clearance which has helped both of us immensely in the job market.

D

 

[OrganizedChaos]

anyone have any thoughts or opinions about becoming a 12B (combat engineer)?