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Military Advice.
R.is.for.Reptar
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
With my junior year behind me, and only a few months from my 18th birthday, I'm only starting to experience the bombardment of military recruiters eager to convince me their branch is best for my future.
Some quick background info
I come from a military oriented family so joining the military really is my first option
I'm considering a career in the military is that a good idea or is that just a waste?
I'm leaning towards the Army Infantry because i wanna experience being deployed(i understand that sentence sounds stupid) but i cant see myself doing a desk job i only see myself being on the "front line"
Now my question to you penny arcade community is which branch is BEST for me?
If anyone has any military experience or stories they would like to share with me and give me your opinions about your experiences that would be great especially if anyone in the infantry has been deployed and how much u enjoyed or didn't enjoy it and why that would help a lot thanks
Some quick background info
I come from a military oriented family so joining the military really is my first option
I'm considering a career in the military is that a good idea or is that just a waste?
I'm leaning towards the Army Infantry because i wanna experience being deployed(i understand that sentence sounds stupid) but i cant see myself doing a desk job i only see myself being on the "front line"
Now my question to you penny arcade community is which branch is BEST for me?
If anyone has any military experience or stories they would like to share with me and give me your opinions about your experiences that would be great especially if anyone in the infantry has been deployed and how much u enjoyed or didn't enjoy it and why that would help a lot thanks
R.is.for.Reptar on
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Career is 40+ years
And the main question is...is infantry as bad as it sounds
There are several PAers here that can answer your questions, but please utilize other resources around the internet to get an overall answer.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
As long as you really want to join
No it's not, retirement window opens at 20
You need to be a lot more specific about what you mean by "bad"
Also being deployed in a combat arms MOS doesn't mean shit for what you're going to do
I was deployed artillery and sat in a fucking shack for a year
In general I would advise not to go combat arms; you get a lot of far more annoying bullshit than in combat support/non combat arms, it's practically useless as applicable skills for when you get out, and it doesn't guarantee you'll actually serve in the shit, as it were
Also, do you like your legs? Cause you better kiss them goodbye if you go combat arms (read: prepare to run everywhere and permanently fuck your feet to hell)
i've read a lot around the web i just wanted some first had knowledge and thank you for clarifying how long a careers is =D learn something new every day
not particularly their kinda stubby /sarcasm
Also, it was a little buried, but we actually have a dedicated military thread, which might be better for answering your questions.
The health benefits are pretty good, education benefits are great (for whenever the military gives you enough time to attend school), the pay is meh, and the food leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of people enter also because they feel it's their duty, and then some enter because it's literally the only or best option they have available.
But what do you want to do? Do you want to do only 20+ years and retire, never doing much with your military experience? Do you want to do 20+ years, retire and use the skills you acquired towards some profession and the military is a stepping stone for that? Do you want to do a standard contract, possibly deploy a few times, leave and use that towards some goal in life? I mean based on your 3 little notes for your background info I'd tell you to stay out of the military. You're getting more than you're asking for and not all of it is pretty.
If you want to use the military as a stepping stone to something greater, I'd say go Navy or Air Force. They have more professions that have immediate use right out of the military in comparison to the other branches. Do research on what you enjoy and want to do with your life both in the military and immediately afterwards and then decide if its something you want to do.
And Rent is right. Just because you're combat arms doesn't mean you'll deploy as that at all, especially not in the Army. Then again we're both Artillery and the Army has an overabundance of Artillery units because of the past wars so now we get partitioned to do just about everything, but the Army is always over strength on something, so even if you are infantry you could always be pushed into doing something else, possibly even desk work.
Someones suggested that to me in the past and i've meant to check it out but never got around to it maybe its about time i do.
and Evigilant i do feel it is my duty to serve the country. Also with my career i just talked to my recruiter and he said i could do 4 active years of infantry for the experience than switch my profession to maybe something more technical to give me the skills i would need for a future job after my 20+ years
The other part what your recruiter probably didn't mention. A typical 4 year contract is 4 years active, 4 years inactive ready reserve (8 being the magic number). You aren't in a unit, you don't show up on any roster (only the IRR roster), you don't go to any Army schools. You're essentially an emergency backup in case the Army needs it.
Once you complete your 4 years Active and enter the IRR, you could transfer from the IRR to the Reserve or back into the Active for the last 4 years. This is where you can request a job change. Because at the end of your 4 year contract, you can re-enlist and request a new MOS. So keep that in mind.
I'm not trying to dissuade or discourage you from the military but bombard you with personal, first hand account and experience, as well what the process is like.
Whatever conception you have of real combat or deployments, or what war is like, go ahead and toss that out. I understand the desire to service and duty and all that, but here's the warning: Prepare to be changed. The first deployment is the one that changes you, any more after that just hammers the point in. There is nothing elegant about war or combat.
If you can handle that, there's definitely a lot to be gained in the military. What do you want to do in the infantry? Airborne? Ground pounder? Mortars? etc... It's best to decide on a specific course and then settle on that that way you're always working towards a goal.
Also, decide exactly on what you want to achieve in those first 4 years, that way you can get it in your contract and it'll be much easier for you to actually go to those schools. Like Airborne, if you don't have it in your contract and you enter a unit that doesn't do Airborne much, pretty much kiss that school good bye unless you're Audie Murphy. You can still try to get in the school, but it's so backlogged and always full that in the 9 years I've been in, I've seen 3 people from my 2 units I've been in go to the school.
Infantry, you'll probably go to Ft. Benning. They will run your ass into the ground. In a few years, prepare to feel the aches in your back, shoulders, hips and knees.
Read as much as possible on it as you can and then decide if it's worth it. I'd hate to see another person with high hopes enter only to see how the institution operates and feel so betrayed.
Lastly, if you do join, prepare to meet a high number of morons and assholes, mostly a combination of both.
see this is one of the many reasons i want to go infantry i keep hearing this illusion of what war is like and noone can describe as well as it is to experience it first hand and im a type of person that doesnt take peoples word on anything i always have to experience it myself.
airborne specifically i heared from a cousin whos done 4 tours in iraq and afghanistan that the schooling is actually kinda fun plus ive always wanted to go skydiving im kind of an adrenaline junkie
oh yes im ready for this part lol if you know fizban140 hes my brother and all he tells me is how retarded the people he works with are
again thank you for the advice this is exactly what i came here looking for
I heard germany is a really nice base though so that wouldnt be to bad.... right?
Sounds like the infantry is for you my friend.
I've heard it's fun if you're single (i.e. the bars and women are great).
We're supposed to be out of both Iraq and Afghanistan in 2011. Unless you request to be assigned to a unit that is deploying soon you may not see combat. I believe you can request a contract that guarantees that you'll be assigned to a unit about to deploy upon graduating from basic (I'm not sure if they still offer that though).
I spent 5 years in the infantry, so I can address any more specific infantry related questions you might have.
Airborne school isn't much like skydiving, it's a static line so your chute immediately deploys upon exiting the craft. In fact the only similarities are that you happen to be in the air with a parachute. The school most akin to skydiving would be High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) school, but unless your in the SOF you won't even be able to attend that school.
Also, depending on what unit you get stationed with, you'll probably do either Air Assault(Helicopter Repel) or Airborne(paratroopers) and sometimes both. Now, if you ever use that in combat is also completely up to the Army and whatever theater commander is in charge at the time. That's stuff completely out of your control.
Listen to what your brother tells you, not because he's your brother, but because he's in it now. That's insider knowledge, you should be picking his brain constantly to get an insight what typical Army life is like. If that's what you really want, there he is. That shit is worth it's weight in gold.
The whole point is, it's rather silly if you join solely to see combat on some misguided sense of duty. Sure, joining for duty is great and all that, but there are plenty of other ways to serve your country rather than in the military. Even if you see combat, the price you'll pay for joining is so immense that it's an incredibly bad decision.
Literally sit down and plan out the next 8 years of your life because that's what you'll have to give if you join. There is no rush, especially not out to go see combat.
Edit: Taranis and Fizbain are probably going to be a better source for you.
Extremely good website about joining.
From my view point, Evigilant has hit it dead on as well as many other PAers. Make sure you go into the recruiting office well informed and intent on what you plan on doing. I personally went in wanting to do Aviation, however, the recruiter screwed me and I ended up being in the Transportation Corp. However, I ended up shitting right back on the Army and went ROTC to get my Commission as well as a repick of what I want to do AS AN OFFICER.
Overall, for jobs that translate very well into the civilian world from any branch are definitely jobs such as Medical Corp, Signal Corp, & Aviation are a few that come to mind in the Army. Other than that, don't let the recruiter or friends butter you up on the "Airborne Ranger" rhetoric. Keep your head on your shoulders and do something that will translate well into the civilian world after you're done with military service. Whether it would be after your eight years in or 20+ years later.