Enlisting and need assistance

Disclaimer: I got tired of reading what branch people enlisted into and what specialty they were placed into and skipped to the end. Six pages to get to "enjoy getting fucked by some of the most ignorant individuals you have ever met." Much of the advice here is a bit too specific, other than that which answers your question about the truck (tell insurance the truck is in storage and leave the truck with family whole will start & run the engine for 10 minutes each week).

Recruiters may or may not outright lie, but they aren't being paid to tell the whole truth. I took a look at your post and have a few questions / things to think about. Feel free to give zero shits about it. Learning to give zero shits when necessary will help should you follow this thru.

#1 If you are considering enlisting in the military and are soliciting help from a truck forum, that should be a warning sign. You should be looking for contacts that have recently went thru the first 6-24 months of what you are looking at and getting feedback directly (face to face, not forum bullshit) from them.

#2 It should be obvious that whatever MOS (or AFSC, or whatever they call the trained skill in whatever branch someone came from) being discussed in the comments is being portrayed as something you should look into. This is people being proud of what they have done, and there is nothing wrong with that, just don't take it as a suggested course of action.

#3 "I am interested in engineering, computers, mechanical jobs, and communications." Uniformed services do not do much "engineering" work. There are organizations with the word "Engineer" but actual engineering is typically done by defense contractors. As far as computer / network / info systems stuff, most is built to a standard developed by contractor teams and implemented thru checklists. Mechanical jobs - contractors build the plane / tank / ship and military (with support of contract tech reps) maintains the system according to technical publications and checklists. Most communications is now VOIP, which means it has some tech that connects it to the internet (see computer jobs). Cool thing tho, you can have a soldier on the ground in voice communication with an aircraft overhead and an analyst doing research on groups in the area.

#4 Why are you limiting this to 4-6 years active? What do you want out of this that you can't get from a shorter reserve / guard enlistment? Why would you want to bail after 6 years? That's almost a third of the way to a retirement check.

#5 If you can afford to make payments on a new / newer vehicle, you are doing quite well, and could probably afford to make tuition payments at a state college.

#6 Those six figure starting salary jobs you might be hearing about in IT / IT Security are few and far between. Anything above 65-85 is likely to require a four year degree on top of certifications. A lot of places will say "college or equivalent experience". The people making hiring decisions have no idea what "equivalent experience" is so they default to college. Most HR will figure that 8 years in a position is equivalent to 4 years college preparing for that position, but getting an answer out of HR is hard, so fuck that. You're going to need college, experience, and certifications / licenses where ever you go.

#7 No matter what a jobs report / stock index / whatever says, for most people in the U.S., there is some risk of a position going away as part of downsizing. Amazon has either taken a bite out of nearly every money making industry, or is preparing to in order of the amount of money to be made. Don't leave the military to "find" a job. Leave active duty (find out what Palace Chase / Palace Front is) after you've got a documented job offer.

#8 My experience with the military was that it is made up mostly of people who could not make it elsewhere. That statement means a lot of different things. So, if you are too nervous to make it thru a job interview at 18, the military might be for you. If you do really good work and are willing to work long hours, weekends, and holidays, but have some bad habits like alcoholism, racism, sexism, or you like to hide black market machine guns under your mattress, the military might be for you. No shit there. We had a nut job who had a real AK47 under his mattress and instead of going thru the investigation, our First Sergeant just made the thing disappear. Also, if you feel you might become a corrupt leader, the military might be for you - same First Sergeant busted a young lady for drinking under age after her boyfriend dumped her. He recommended loss of two pay grades, two months pay, additional duties, and restriction to base. The commander OK'd this, and a week later First Sergeant Dickface asked her out on a date. I ran into similar issues a few months later and nothing happened. Commander thought I was trying to get out of a deployment and told the shirt "you'll do nothing that will change his deployment status." I got a letter of reprimand.

#9 You might hear the term "barracks lawyer". This went out of use in the 70's but is still referenced in government publications. It is basically a bullshit artist. Not really a con or scam artist, because he's not going to gain anything monetarily, but there are a ton of serial bullshit artists in the military, civil service system, and defense industry (contractors). Learn to spot bullshit or stay away.

#10 Somebody said "don't be a kissass" While I agree for the most part, you'll need to develop a way to combat the kissass. This might involve kissing ass. Not trying to be too specific, but this might involve emptying the hopper of a paintball rifle onto their car while somebody holds the steering wheel and you loop around the parking lot.

#11 You might get to pick your skill / job / whatever. This game changes a lot. You can go in open, or pick certain things that your ASVAB & physical (and sometimes psychological) qualify you for. What you get has to do with what is open (or will be open) shortly after you are expected to complete BMT. Develop rabies or some shit in BMT, and your Cyber Intel Badass job might have to go to someone else, and you end up as a recreation services specialist making sure the exercise bikes work correctly. Same goes for assignment preferences. If you get a chance to say where you want to go, and even if you get orders there, it could change at the last minute. I knew a firefighter that got fucked because of a cocaine arrest when he was 14. Turns out, some highly classified shit has been known to catch fire, and they found this during a second background investigation.

#12 If you don't get what you want the first time, that's not the only chance you'll get. I wanted to be a turbine engine mechanic - seemed like this offered a lot of experience. I ended up as a fuel truck driver. When it came time to reenlist, I looked at other career fields and they said "you can be a cook or explosive ordnance disposal (bomb squad)." Thank you, I'll try my luck on the outside. Few years later I walked into a guard recruiters office and asked if he had any slots open in a specific skill. He said "no, but we have slots in this skill that is very similar, and you could easily cross train when something opens". I left my number, thanked him, and asked him to call when he had the skill I wanted open. He called back after lunch, and I enlisted in the guard in the skill I wanted inside of a few hours. Lesson learned: The slots were open, they just wanted to fill other slots first. Guard is very different in that it is all federally funded, but state operated. State government is weird because a lot of people are family and you probably aren't.

#13 If you do this, go overseas as much as you can.

#14 If you do this, take every college course, DANTES / CLEP test you can. DANTES / CLEP are tests that are free to you, and if you score a certain amount, it's credit for gen-ed college courses. Most regionally accredited colleges and universities have to take these if you have the credit before you apply.

#15 If you do this, find out if your branch of service offers an associates degree and get it done. Air Force does, I'm pretty sure the Army & Navy does.

#16 If you go 20 years and retire, then land a federal civil service job, you can buy into the retirement system as if you had worked the civil service job 20 years. It's hard to figure how much you'd have to pay, as it's based on the amount of social security contributions you paid during active duty. End result is - take your age now, and add 20. That's when you'd have an active duty retirement check. Find a civil service job and buy back 20 years retirement time - the earlier the better. Add 10 years, and you can retire from the civil service job with 30 years credit, plus a 20 year active duty retirement. You would have to wait until age 57 or 59 to collect the civil service retirement, but two retirements + social security at 60 or 62 is a lot.

#17 Military & Veterans discounts are just ways to separate you from your money.

#18 Student loans are ways to separate you from money you haven't made yet.

#19 Back to those six figure starting salaries - I got a few offers for these. One was in Monterey, CA, which would have been awesome, but the health care plans offered by that company would cost $18K. Housing would cost a shit ton and involve an hour commute. I had a friend who decided to try something in DC, with a high paying job and living out of a motorhome parked outside of the area. It lasted less than a year. One way contractors fuck people is by high starting salaries and shit after the contract is renewed. Usually salaries follow the contract price, but when a company can land a new contract, one of the key things is having employees that are ready to start as soon as the contract starts. A company will make insane offers to get people to move to the area, then when the contract is renewed, the company will cut salaries. Another game is that Company A will land a contract for 3-4 years, then loses it, and lays off employees. Company B gets the next contract and subcontracts to Company A. Company A offers the same employees 75% of their salary to stay on.

#20 Stay physically fit.

#21 Don't buy shit you don't need. Every armed forces exchange under the sun is trying to sell a bunch of military & veterans branded crap you don't need. Just another way to separate you from your money. Your unit will badger you every fucking minute about buying a t-shirt for this, or a hat for that. Backpacks with shit embroidered on them. Don't buy shit you don't need. New cars, big fucking stereos, that was the most annoying thing I remember from active duty - people are driving cars that cost more than they will make in four years, playing top 40 music thru a stereo worth more than they make in a year. Put that money in the bank. Spend it on #16.

#22 Sell the Tacoma. If you move overseas, you probably won't want to take it. If you take it, you probably won't want it afterwards (if it is damaged in shipping, or you find out that they drive on the other side of the street and require different marker lights, meaning mods to your truck). Stateside or overseas, you probably won't need it and can find something more affordable and still off road capable.

#23 There is a ton of annual training required because of the stupid shit people in the military do. Suicide awareness, sexual assault prevention, financial responsibility, wearing protective equipment like gloves & earplugs. This is in the most insulting format possible, known as computer based training. When this shit fails to work, commanders do stuff like no-notice formations to watch a training video.

#24 Wear your personal protective equipment. If there's ever any record of you being caught without it, it could mess up disability compensation years down the road. Also, hearing problems & ringing ears (likely caused before my career) are no fun.

#25 If you legitimately don't feel right, bring it up. I had knee issues in my 20's and the doctor said to get more exercise and take Tylenol or something. 20 or so years later, that turned out to be arthritis that showed up a few years after a deployment. See item #24.

#26 Keep accurate records. All your records. See item #25. Also take notes, take pictures (of everything you legitimately can without involving sensitive info) and keep names of people you work with. 20 or so years later, you're going to need more than a nickname and a picture of them in a shirt bearing a nametape like "Smith".

#27 You still want to do this? Is somebody pregnant, or are you trying to escape something? That shit will catch up with you.

#28 What does your history look like? Got any traffic tickets or criminal offenses? Everybody in uniform has some degree of security clearance; most are secret or confidential and that involves a background check limited to criminal records at the federal, state, city, and county / neighboring county level. This can be done in less time than it takes to do the web-based paperwork (eQIP sucks) requesting this. They may talk to your immediate family, neighbors, or employer if you've had a job in the last 7 years. Most new recruits are just out of high school so that gets skipped a lot. I've had some background checks where they talked to 2 coworkers, 2 supervisors (unless I only had one for the last 7 years, which is unusual), 2 neighboring households, 2 family members outside my household, and my wife. On top of the criminal records check. If there is anything negative somebody could say about you, you're probably going to want to declare that first. The goal of these checks is to determine if you are subject to blackmail that could lead to you releasing classified information. They will find the skeletons. One time I had a job interview at a defense contractor, and at the same time there was an investigator asking about someone. Apparently a former employee was suspected of leaking info; so they went back to ask about this person, and the references that spoke non-negatively about this person.

#29 Out of curiosity, what is your perception of military life? If you're still reading this, you're pretty serious about it. What do you think it's going to be like 6 months in? What research is this picture based on?

 

I strongly recommend you commission rather than enlist, I am an E6 now and wish I had. I cannot stress this enough, its the difference between enjoying the party and being the help. On the outside it looks like it's just a patch that separates the Os from the enlisted, but its a completely different standard of living. 2 more years sounds like a long time, but it can fly by if you stick it out. Being lower enlisted means you're going to be doing a lot of bullshit jobs, with or without a fancy clearance.

I had this same talk given to me when I signed up but I also did not want to wait the 2 years for it to happen. I am an idiot. Don't be like me.

Either way think about what you want out of it. Getting the clearance and proper training can set you for life, especially if you add a degree on top of that.

Don't let them talk you into joining the reserves, commit yourself fully and grab that experience by the horns. It has completely changed my life for the better.

 

This is quite possibly the most spot on post ever.

 

I am a Software Engineer and have a degree from University of Houston. I have worked for companies like IBM, HP and CEVA Logistics. IBM was the best job I have ever had. I have also taught myself to write iPhone Apps and created 26 apps on my personal time. The degree and experience made it easy to learn iPhone apps.

The thing about a Software Engineer, you can work remote from anywhere in the world, which I did for IBM. New Zealand was the coolest place IBM sent me. I wish I could live there. You can also work from a bass boat or deer blind..... LOL. But true.

 

That is one of the actual reasons why I joined the Coast Guard over the other services 15 years ago.

 

I loved my rating in the CG (BM), but it translated to absolutely nothing I wanted to do post service. Didn't want to be a cop, a firefighter, a tugboat captain, none of that. In fact, I really can't stand the ocean anymore.

 

Right, i was a little slow to get it. Thank you for your service.

 

This man is absolutely correct!

I am an Air Force Veteran (98-04) and was a 2W2X1 (Ill let you google it). It was a very technical career and learned a lot while i was in. I had a similar ASVAB score to you, and the Army, Navy, and Marines were beating my door down for me to join. The Air Force Never talked to me. I had to go to the Recruiter and sign up that way. The quality of life in the Air Force was awesome. The dorm rooms when you are junior Enlisted (E-1-E-3) are just like apartments. One person in a room. You share a kitchen with one other person (At least the base I was at). When i made E-4, i was allowed to move off base. My superiors were very accommodating and encouraged Higher education. They worked with my school schedule and when I got ouf after 6 years I had 2 associates degrees (CCAF) and a Bachelors Degree. Im now a Senior Engineer working for an Aerospace company. My Technical training in the Air Force DIRECTLY helped me in this career i work in. Choose wisely your career, it will get you places in your future career.

 

figured everyone was throwing out their opinions so why not... dude leave the truck with someone you know and trust like others have said... insurance companies will let you put a storage policy on the truck with limited miles driven while you are in training...i've read through a couple pages and skipped the rest.. if you ASVAB score was that high dude seriously set your sights much higher than Infantry ( i was INF for 4 years then changed to Logistics when i figured out no way i wanted to stay in and no jobs outside the Army) if you want the full Army experience and enjoy it without all the bullshit go SF and move up as fast as possible don't get married ( trust me military is single mans dream) some guys meet their wives and live happily ever after ( something like 3% of them actually make it to 15 years without someone messing around) don't have kids and don't pile on debt if you don't need to... the Military will give you plenty of time off to enjoy life and free health care and bonds no one will ever understand stay away from Dependas ( ask some buddies to find out if you don't know)... best advice i never got was to ask about sign on bonuses had a buddy get 20k for a sign on with a ASVAB score of 80 i got told to sit down and shut up..that was back in '04 and got out in '12...whatever you decide man enjoy the shit out of it because i sure did

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

If you're set on Army then get the experience you cannot get from any civilian job.

The 18X (Special Forces Baby) pipeline has produced some of the best Green Berets I know. Had I know about it, I would have taken that route instead of the option 4 contract.

Day to day life in "Group" is better than regular army life, but it's still the Army. You get paid a little better, and the fact that you are already multilingual will work in your benefit.

The course is more of a suck fest. Nothing is that difficult. Just prove you can endure pain and suffering while being a good teammate.

If your desires align with doing cool guy shit, and being a Green Beret is something you want to aim for, then PM me. Same goes for anyone else with the same aspirations. I won't give you any fluff BS either.

 

END OF THREAD ; DECISION MADE

1. Leaving the truck with my grandpa and I'm going to pay for the normal insurance or look into the reduced insurance for active duty members meantioned somewhere in the thread.

2. I have decided on MOS 94F computer/detection systems repairer with the army. I am set on the army as they secure the job before going off to basic. I have a few fallback options that include mechanical fields in aviation. Enlisting process has already begun and my line scores exceed most MOS requirements. Going to MEPs at the end of this week.

I appreciate all of the advice from everyone. I was set on the marines at first but strayed away from it as I had wanted to continue my career after the military in information services / comp sci. Excited to serve.

 

OP sounds like you got a great plan, good luck man and just remember don't give up

 

Great plan for the future OP congrats.

 

Good luck. The army turned out to be a great decision for me 21 years ago (although I am writing this laying on a cot, in a tent that’s in a big desert and about to go shower in a communal shower). Choose the BRS if it’s still an option so you have money if you only do 6 years.

 

I think as of this year everyone is automatically put on BRS

 

???

I made far more than that in bootcamp. $1800 a month

.... Same for the navy.

#2. My life is less than great but my money and after job skills is a plus. I got a 6 figure job in under 2 weeks. NEC/MOS matters.

#19 Yup, I get those. Insurance is nothing and housing and commute is premium. Skilled jobs have more of a retention than unskilled.

#24 Whole heartedly agree. Im getting medically retired but working in an engineroom the hearing in my left hear has dropped significantly and I have tinitus as well as other things. But I got to work on projects no one ever will in the military or civilian sector.

 

Good. Most people don’t get to retirement nowadays because of the deployment cycle. If you’re like me you’ll both love it and hate it....but, I have a serious case of FOMO.

 

It's all good. How I see it we are all in it for the same thing. Yeah, I tried for the AF when I wanted to enlist, but they never came around where I lived in NE Pennsylvania. The AF does have the best enlisted clubs and mess halls also...

 

Great decision OP. If your line scores are in fact higher and they offer you anything in the 25 series MOS (25N, 25P, 25Q, 25S, 25B, 25U) seriously consider it. They should offer you a good sign on bonus. I just got a soldier that signed on for 4 years $20,000. I just noticed your from Jacksonville, FL. Small world but whats the name of your recruiter? We had a guy become DA select for recruiter and is recruiting somewhere in FL. Once again congrats hope MEP's works out in your favor.