Military Personel: A few questions

[2canSAM]

Just a few simple questions. Without too many details I am 32yrs old, married with 1 child, work in IT and like what I do. I am considering joining for personal reasons. With my age I am looking at Navy or Army.

1. How is the on Base housing? I have read that alot of it is still old and outdated but since it has been handed over to private sectors, that is improving.

2. Can you really say you love what you do?

3. How often can you change jobs? I know you can cross-train but do you see any increase in pay if you do?

4. What are you biggest regrets about chosing military versus corporate life?

 

[ShockwaveVT]

Originally posted by: 2canSAM
Just a few simple questions. Without too many details I am 32yrs old, married with 1 child, work in IT and like what I do. I am considering joining for personal reasons. With my age I am looking at Navy or Army.

1. How is the on Base housing? I have read that alot of it is still old and outdated but since it has been handed over to private sectors, that is improving.

2. Can you really say you love what you do?

3. How often can you change jobs? I know you can cross-train but do you see any increase in pay if you do?

4. What are you biggest regrets about chosing military versus corporate life?

Not in a uniform but I do know some about the Army..

1) on base housing varies wildly from installation to installation. lots of new houses / apts being put up though. Overall i would say if you are married and have a kid you (and your family) would probably prefer living off base.

2) n/a for me, but I know a guy with an engineering degree who joined the Marines as an enlisted soldier. he wanted to be a sniper or something, wound up being standard issue grunt. as an officer you have limited choices, as enlisted you have almost no choices in what you do

3) See #2. As an officer you'd probably change jobs/units every 2-3 years, or just after you've mastered a particular job you'll be moved to something new. As an enlisted it varies more and depends more on being promoted to a higher rank

4) n/a for me, but common things I hear about are
a) having to move often and/or being away from family for extended periods
b) having little to no control over job choices, especially early on

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: 2canSAM
Just a few simple questions. Without too many details I am 32yrs old, married with 1 child, work in IT and like what I do. I am considering joining for personal reasons. With my age I am looking at Navy or Army.

1. How is the on Base housing? I have read that alot of it is still old and outdated but since it has been handed over to private sectors, that is improving.

2. Can you really say you love what you do?

3. How often can you change jobs? I know you can cross-train but do you see any increase in pay if you do?

4. What are you biggest regrets about chosing military versus corporate life?

USAF, 6yrs here.

1. Base housing varies widely, on the same installation. USAF housing is reported to be generally better compared to other branches. Where I'm stationed, we have a combination of old housing and new housing. A few of my friends live in old housing and its fairly nice compared to my apartment. I'd still rather live off base though.

2. Most of the time, yes, I love the job and most of the people. Trouble is, a few people in high positions can really make things suck.

3. In the AF, you have cross training windows of opportunity. For a 4 year enlistee, its right around your 3yr mark and right around the 5yr mark for a 6yr enlistee. However, things are changing and I see many people submitting retraining packages outside of the normal window, however, I believe you do need to have attained your 5 skill level in the first career field. Moral is, make sure you get a decent job from the get go. And if there are a lot of open slots for a specific AFSC, its usually because the job blows.

As far as money goes, you will always get paid for your respective pay grade, whether enlisted or officer. Changing career fields does provide some benefits to pay, such as you could be stationed in an area with a higher BAH or COLA if over seas. There's also family separation and hazardous duty pay, depending on where you are. Additionally, retraining means that you'll be testing PDG only when you test for E5/E6, provided its during the right cycle for your promotion. This means that you'll only have to worry about general AF stuff such as history and regulations and not the SKTs related to either your first or second career fields.

Lastly, with your age and family situation, neither the army or navy would be a good choice for you, unless you like being away from your family. The army has a shit load deployments to guess where, and nearly any job in the navy is also on the ship, so you could spend years at a time away from your family. In the AF, you'll likely be at your home station for at least a year, likely 2, before you PCS. Depending on your career field though, we are picking up more and more deployments in the AF.

Incidentally, something to look into. The AF just opened the AF Cyber Command out of Barksdale AFB, LA. Might be something to look into if you want to live in Louisiana.

 

[2canSAM]

Air Force would be my first choice but I am past the maximum age to enlist

 

[ProfJohn]

The Navy is not generally too bad for deployments.

Typically (unless it has changed) you go back and forth between shore duty and sea duty. Three years a piece.
During shore duty you are almost always at home.
During sea duty you spend 6 months at sea and then a year at home (at least I think it is like that.)

The problem with your age is that you might have a hard time changing your life style to that of someone in the military. Especially if you like your freedom.

Generally if you ask someone in the military if they like it and they will tell you it's a job. As in it is really no different than any other job out there. Outside of the being sent on deployment part

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: 2canSAM
Just a few simple questions. Without too many details I am 32yrs old, married with 1 child, work in IT and like what I do. I am considering joining for personal reasons. With my age I am looking at Navy or Army.

1. How is the on Base housing? I have read that alot of it is still old and outdated but since it has been handed over to private sectors, that is improving.

A depends on the base, some are Vietenam old but some are brand new.

2. Can you really say you love what you do?

A at first i did, what 18 year old doent like carrying around a automatic weapon???

3. How often can you change jobs? I know you can cross-train but do you see any increase in pay if you do?

A: I never did, the cop career field in the air force is nearly impossible to cross train OUT of.

4. What are you biggest regrets about chosing military versus corporate life?

A none, for me it was the right decision. I was not ready for college at 18 and i wanted to serve my country and see other parts of the world, I wanted a adventure and i got one.

<<< 1987- 1997 Air Force Security Forces grunt.

 

[bGIveNs33]

Originally posted by: 2canSAM
Just a few simple questions. Without too many details I am 32yrs old, married with 1 child, work in IT and like what I do. I am considering joining for personal reasons. With my age I am looking at Navy or Army.

1. How is the on Base housing? I have read that alot of it is still old and outdated but since it has been handed over to private sectors, that is improving.

2. Can you really say you love what you do?

3. How often can you change jobs? I know you can cross-train but do you see any increase in pay if you do?

4. What are you biggest regrets about chosing military versus corporate life?

1. Completely varies from base to base. Some very nice, and some... well, anyway.

2. I loved what I did but I've been a bit burnt out on it... gone way too much.

3. You usually can change jobs prior to a reenlistment. Increase in pay for rank and time in service. Certain jobs have incentive pay, like for instance, I recieve flight pay.

4. I'm not real cut out for the "shut up and color" routine. As much as the military would love to think they are on the cutting edge of progress, they aren't. I'm a big fan of telling someone to do something, not how to do it. I think as a whole, the smartest group in the military is the youngest(wheter it be officers or enlisted). And with this "no questions asked" diatribe, I think it inhibits more progress. I understand the reasoning behind it, but this isn't world war II anymore and we aren't holed up in bunkers(for the most part). If you aren't constantly looking for a faster, more efficient way to do things, well... you are wrong in my eyes. That is just the basics but I think you get the idea. Oh, and from my experience you can kick ass at your job, but if your uniform isn't starched, you could get passed up for a promotion. "Because we've always done it that way" is a favorite response of the higher ups.... nothing but a copout there. Now, on the flip side... the people you work with and meet are nothing short of amazing. You can be in school with someone for 3 months and be in his wedding 6 months later(that's what I did). You form a bond with people that civilians will never truly understand. I wouldn't trade the time I've done for anything, but I am ready to move on. I just never could buy into the whole culture. It was a job for me, not really a lifestyle.

 

[PrinceofWands]

I've been out over ten years now, but here's how I felt about it:

1. Primitive at anything below O4 rank, and seldom (if ever) available. Instead you'll usually receive BAQ and be told to go find your own damn place to live.

2. No, not really. I was proud to do it, and glad I did. If I had it to do over again I would. But ONLY because I believe I had a responsibility to serve my time as a citizen. I NEVER believed in it, STRONGLY objected to much of it, and generally disliked it.

3. That may have changed since I was in, but it was fairly simple to cross-rate. You just spend your free time studying for the new rate and take the appropriate tests. That doesn't change your job, it just means you're qualified to fill a different role when your next duty change occurs. Those changes are generally every 6 months to two years, depending on your rate. You don't receive any extra money for doing so in most jobs, but it can provide you points on your advancement exams. Some very few qualifications (diver for instance) can come with an increase in pay, but you'll pay for it by pulling more duties and training.

4. None. Corporations are the ONLY things I hate more than governments. I would NEVER voluntarily work in a corporate environment (unless it happened to be one of the ultra-rare cream of the crop, for the good of mankind kinda things). I don't regret serving at all, I just regret that it sucked so much.

 

[2canSAM]

Thanks for all the great answers. I have just reached a point of burnout in IT, but am not qualified to do anything else due to lack of education. I am only a high school graduate. I have been planning to attend college for a while though and figured it would be best to do it all at once, let the Military train and educate me, and utilize the G.I. Bill. I am also looking for a little adventure in life. I currently have a brother serving in the Navy and he loves it but he also admits that he did not have any other options as we was not college material. I am also very drawn to the retirement setup they have. 1/2 my highest 3 years average after 20yrs, while not alot money is still more than most corps give out although I guess with 401k matching it could turn out the corporation actually pays more. I also am drawn to developing some of the personal skills I see in most soldiers, discipline, attention to details, planning, things like that.

 

[shortylickens]

1. Varies widely from base to base.
Overall I'd say Air Force officers have the best, assuming its Stateside.

2. Didnt like being a deck seaman for 3 years. Being an Electronics Technician wasnt bad at all (shore duty when I did that). Towards the end I really wasnt happy with my life/career. Did 9 years and got an honorable.

3. In the Navy we call enlisted MOS's "Ratings". With the way the administration has been running the military lately its almost impossible to change ratings, even if the one you are in has horrible advancement. The standard rule is you have to be in your current rating for at least two years and be eligble for the school to the rating you wanna get. But in reality you will get turned down if you apply. Thats one reason I didnt stay in. ET advancement was bad but nobody could get out of it.

4. Having been in the corporate world for about two years now, I actually think I prefered the Navy. Dont wanna make a long speech but we are FAR MORE professional than about 99% of civilians in the so-called "professional work force".
Thats not bragging, I'm not proud, its just the way it is.
Lot of bullshit to the military lifestyle, but it works better and makes more sense than the civilian lifestyle. Civilians are just so used to nonsense and insanity they cant even tell the difference.

 

[DJFuji]

If you want to join for the bennies, go with the USAF.

If you want to join for the bennies but don't want a civilian job with a military uniform, join the Army.

If you want to join for the opportunity to become a badass, go with the Marines.

If you want to join for the buttsex, go with the Navy.

Haha kidding. Navy is great for travel.

 

[Bacstar]

I was in the Navy for 6 years: 87-93. Did submarine duty as a nuke and was on a sub-tender as A-gang, lost my nuke rating by choice in case anyone is wondering. Also I did two deployments, one to the mediteranean on the sub and one to the Persian Gulf for Desert Storm on the tender.

If you decide to join the Navy...whatever you do, do not volunteer for submarine duty on a fast attack. It's interesting for the first 6 months, and then it's just a routine of sleep, eat, fix and paint, rinse and repeat. Now that the cold war is over, I'm not sure if fast-attack subs go underway as often as we did. I think my first year, I was at sea for 10 months out of the year where we come in resupply, some R&R, and then go out again which did include a 5-month deployment.

I think your first duty station which i think is usually a 3 year assignment (Been awhile so I may be wrong) once you finish all your training will be a ship so be prepared to be away from family. Being away months at a time will definitely put a strain on your relationship. I've seen a lot of divorces with friends during those 6 years. The base I was at in Norfolk, VA, I think, gave married couples a housing allowance to find a place off-base.

Now...boomer subs (ballistic Missile subs) have two crews that rotate every 3-months which gives you a great opportunity to train and even take some classes.

When I look back, I hated sub-duty, and I couldn't wait to get out. However, as soon as I got transferred to a surface ship, military life wasn't so bad. I was even considering re-enlisting, however, certain opportunities became available back at home. I did have great friends, lots of fun visiting foreign ports, and have some great stories to tell, and I do kind of miss it. I'd definitely do it again, but I was single then and if I had a family, I would think long and hard because this will be a big change for everyone.

 

[Sinsear]

2 words: Air Force.

8+ years in the Army here. Take my word for it. Air Force.