Wanting to join the ARMY

I have been thinking about it for awhile now but i need to get out of my town lol.I will never go to school living around in my small county stuck at small jobs.i want a career.

I want to know the pros vs cons and what its like being in the military.any info will be great

 

its not for everyone. ive been in for almost 5 years and i enjoy every minute of it. do you know what you want to do in the army yet. joining just because you want to get out of your town isnt the best reason but it could be the best decision of your life. good luck man.

 

do it. if you have the desire to join and decide not to, you will regret it later on in life. pick the jobs you want to do and only enlist if you have one of those job 100% locked in, clearly written out in your contract. dont buy into the recruiter BS... which basically means do the work yourself and take everything they tell you with a big ass grain of salt.

like said, it is not for everybody... far from it, but it is one of the best things a person can do in life. once i finish up college, i'm heading back.

 

Thank you for considering it!

 

No i have never tried weed lol nor do i smoke.Yea my grandad just retired he was a warrant officer he has told me some things of army life.
I really want to do it! Im gooing to talk with a recruiter tomorrow morning.
i heard meps was a pain in the ass.

 

Just stay away from combat arms.

Its not like you can wait or something, but right now is kind of a sucky time. Government oversized HUGE in 2001-2003.. realizing it now and cutting back. Makes for less opportunity. But if you knew you just wanted to go combat arms for 2 years and not sign to a new contract (assuming you're talking enlisted) ... doesn't matter how good it is. Be gone before you know it. Pay is a hell of a lot better than it was back in the day.


You're at that critical age.. you may be able to adapt to doing things the hardest way possible for no good reason.. or you may be shaking your head the whole time. I joined when I was 23 or something. From day one I felt I could do it better. Eventually made rank, got to where I made decisions.. always someone telling me to do it more expensive and do worse at it. No efficiency ever. Got to me.

I'll go on forever if I don't stop now.

Not bad, as long as you never think about what you're doing or the fact tax payers are paying for it, or.. frankly to what end... Enjoy the day, not the year.

 

... ^^^ ... what he said ... ... IMO, they are being more selective now with more downsizing to come, especially in some MOSs.
.

 

ok i will not join combat arms!!!
I was browsing over the jobs they have, and im really interested in working on heli's or something of that nature

 

As a veteran, my question to you is why the Army? What MAKES you say the Army?

I ask this because I wanted to join the Marines, become a bad ass, then it became the army, and I ended up in the Air Force. People that hear Air Force automatically think pencil pusher, but those that know what I did, would never call me a pencil pusher. I will never take joining the air force back. I would do it exactly as I did ALL over again if I had the chance.

 

Well i was going Air force that has been my first choice.It just takes so long to ship out to go to basic with the air force

 

There's a reason there is a waiting line. You need to figure out what you want your career to be. Dont just join the military to join the military. That's what I did and I got lucky to get into a good career field, but it screwed me in the end.

 

If you can get a guaranteed contract for aviation, the Army can be great. I spent 17 years turning wrench's for the Air Force and then switched over to a 15T aircraft mechanic for the Army. I've loved them both, but in the Army I am a flying crew chief; which means I not only fix it but I also get to fly on it. Can't beat that. I work on Blackhawk helicopters and after 21 years I still enjoy it.

 

Gotta look at it 2 ways.
1. what career do I want in the military
2. what career do I want after the military

#1 can get you to #2. GI Bill can get you to #2. But you'll hate life if #1 aint want you wanna be doing.

I was gung-ho Army myself. Talking about 20yr retirement, etc, etc, etc. But the deployments, divorces, and other things stack up after a little bit. Finally had to call it quits and go civilian for a little bit, get my feet back under me. Now joined up with the US Public Health Service Comissioned Corps (gonna have to look it up but basically all the benefits of DoD without being DoD). Aint a day goes by that I don't miss being in the green!

 

I have family members in every branch. Dad (USMC), Brother (D/SGM,USA), Brother IL (AF) and I did the Navy. If your looking for something that will help you out after the service then go Navy or AF. The Navy now are using Cilvilians as instructors that will certify you for the cilvilian world i.e. Gas turbine mech, Gas turbine elect, Outboard motor tech, Diesel engine mech, HVAC tech, Electrician, all Aviation and Nucular science. Good Luck!!

 

i work on apache's right now. love the job for the most part. h ate the pilots. ive been in for over 7 years and am a E-6. makemore money than i spend.

 

Thanks for all of the info guys...

 

Just do something that you can use when you get out. I wanted to be a bad ass. Not too many jobs out there where you can shoot someone a mile away or use piano wire. Wouldnt trade it for anything. For me it was the teamwork and brotherhood. Enjoy and good luck!

 

Not to be a downer, as I wish you the best of luck in whatever your ventures may be, but I had a friend who had a full ride scholarship to a good university. He refused it because he wanted to join the army. When he got to the recruiting station the recruiter told him that they were no longer accepting people due to the large amount of soldiers they already had.

I hope you get in if you decide to go, but I guess the moral of the story is dont drop everything and have a fall back. Best of luck.

 

I thought you got to fucked up to go back in?

 

not completely true. some of the best jobs in the civilian world that pay the best are with some of these contracting companys. doing your time in the infantry or in special forces can bring you 15 grand per month non deployable in the civilian world. or if you want to deploy for some of these company's you can make up to 30K per month. so dont let anyone tell you going infantry or SF is bad because theres no jobs when you get out because its completely untrue. oh yeah and if you get a TS clearance while your in. jobs will find you to work for them. for big big money. its easyier for them to train you to do a job then it is to give someone a TS clearance