I Need Military Advice..... No GM Shit In Here.

[recxjake]

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[Iowanian]

My brother signed Active Army for 3 years, but its an 8 year contract with 5 years inactive duty.

If you're not sure what you're signing...stop looking at the bonus check(which you won't get in 1 lump sum) and read your contract. Be sure on the MOS you sign up for, because if its "X" you'll be doing whatever they want you to do.

[pr_capone]

Originally Posted by recxjake

why not one sum! I wanted some bar money before I shipped out for the summer!

You get some money after basic training.

IIRC it is

20% after basic 20% at end of contract, the other 60 is spread out over the term of your contract.

[|Zach|]

I don't think you are quite thinking this through.

[bushmaster]

Originally Posted by frazod

The Air Force generally treats its people the best. When I was in the Navy and my best friend was enlisted in the Air Force, for a couple of months he was stationed at the AFB in Hampton, VA while I was on my ship in Norfolk. I took him on a tour of the ship, and he was horrified by the living conditions (wall-to-wall three-high bunk beds). As a low ranking enlisted man, he shared a large room with one roommate; a berthing compartment the same size as his room would house 30 sailors on a ship. Hell, their enlisted quarters were better than the staterooms our commissioned officers had.

The bad thing about the Air Force (compared to the Navy) is that you'll generally be stationed in one place, and that's it. If that one place really sucks (Minot, North Dakota, Greenland, etc.) then you're just screwed. In the Navy, though, if you're on a ship, the ship will go all over the world, and you will travel to interesting places.

on the other hand, that place might not suck. in my 15 years in the af, i was stationed at albuquerque, madrid spain, colorado springs, san diego, and bitburg germany. went tdy to some not really desireable places, saudi arabia nd the lik, but that was temporary.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by pr_capone

You get some money after basic training.

IIRC it is

20% after basic 20% at end of contract, the other 40 is spread out over the term of your contract.

Nice math skills, Army boy.

[pr_capone]

Originally Posted by frazod

Nice math skills, Army boy.

Typo.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by frazod

The Air Force generally treats its people the best. When I was in the Navy and my best friend was enlisted in the Air Force, for a couple of months he was stationed at the AFB in Hampton, VA while I was on my ship in Norfolk. I took him on a tour of the ship, and he was horrified by the living conditions (wall-to-wall three-high bunk beds). As a low ranking enlisted man, he shared a large room with one roommate; a berthing compartment the same size as his room would house 30 sailors on a ship. Hell, their enlisted quarters were better than the staterooms our commissioned officers had.

The bad thing about the Air Force (compared to the Navy) is that you'll generally be stationed in one place, and that's it. If that one place really sucks (Minot, North Dakota, Greenland, etc.) then you're just screwed. In the Navy, though, if you're on a ship, the ship will go all over the world, and you will travel to interesting places.

Former Air Forcer here. I would agree with everything frazod says except the not getting to move part. In four years, including basic and tech school, I went from Texas to Illinois to Okinawa to Witchita.

I have had close friends serve in all branches of the military, and the Air Force treats their people better by far. I was an E-2 straight out of tech school in Okinawa, and had my own room with my own fridge. There were marine sergeants living four to a room over there.

I guess it comes down to this - what are you willing to want to give your country? Any of the branches you go into will give you lifelong memories and friends. It just all depends on what your definition of serving your country is.

[pr_capone]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Former Air Forcer here. I would agree with everything frazod says except the not getting to move part. In four years, including basic and tech school, I went from Texas to Illinois to Okinawa to Witchita.

I have had close friends serve in all branches of the military, and the Air Force treats their people better by far. I was an E-2 straight out of tech school in Okinawa, and had my own room with my own fridge. There were marine sergeants living four to a room over there.

I guess it comes down to this - what are you willing to want to give your country? Any of the branches you go into will give you lifelong memories and friends. It just all depends on what your definition of serving your country is.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by bushmaster

on the other hand, that place might not suck. in my 15 years in the af, i was stationed at albuquerque, madrid spain, colorado springs, san diego, and bitburg germany. went tdy to some not really desireable places, saudi arabia nd the lik, but that was temporary.

Good point. My best friend ended up stationed in Germany for most of his enlistment and traveled all over Europe. He loved it, and is still in - just made major.

OTOH, my uncle's 4 year hitch was spent in Okinawa and some shithole on the plains of Montana. To this day he can't talk about the service without ranting and raving about how much he hated it, and he got out before I was born.

[bushmaster]

Originally Posted by frazod

Good point. My best friend ended up stationed in Germany for most of his enlistment and traveled all over Europe. He loved it, and is still in - just made major.

OTOH, my uncle's 4 year hitch was spent in Okinawa and some shithole on the plains of Montana. To this day he can't talk about the service without ranting and raving about how much he hated it, and he got out before I was born.

i know some ranters and ravers myself. i was fortunate.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by bushmaster

i know some ranters and ravers myself. i was fortunate.

I was pretty fortunate, too. I was stationed on a supply ship. The good thing about that is when you're deployed, you spend half the deployment in port restocking. The longest I was ever continuously out to sea was two weeks (definitely not the case if you get assigned to a combatant). Most of the places I visited were really cool (Rio de Janeiro, Bahamas, and various places in Spain, France and Italy), and I got to fulfill a childhood dream and see Rome. Later, when I was assigned to Great Lakes, it was little more than an 8 to 5 job, and I went home every night.

And I also got the job training from the Navy that I still utilize to this day.

Of course, the tradeoff was shit pay, brutal hours, asshole officers, oppressive loneliness and a failed marriage. But if I had it to do over again, I would.

[Simplex3]

Originally Posted by frazod

If you're determined to do this, I suggest you pick an extreme - enlist in the Navy or Air Force if you'd rather not get shot at, or if think you'd enjoy getting shot at, join the Marines so you'll be surrounded by a higher class of combatant. As low as recruiting standards are right now, I would absolutely advise against joining the Army.

I had an uncle who was Air Force for many years, worked on the A-10's. He advised me that if you don't want to be a pilot then don't join the Air Force or "you'll be scraping bird poop off a runway in Guam." That said, their physical requirements and danger to non-pilots are minimal. Add to that the fact that they generally have better barracks and it's a sweet deal.

My father was ~20 during the Vietnam war and got a draft notice from the Army. He immediately went to the nearest Marine recruiter and signed up for 4 years. Basically his theory was that he'd rather be on a base where everyone had qualified with a rifle. The Marines are the only branch were every person in it has qualified with their gun. Go figure. In short, if you want to get shot at and you aren't going to try and go Rangers or some specialized division, go Marines. At least everyone around you will be competent in war.

[trndobrd]

How many more years of college do you have left? I would suggest you also look at the ROTC programs at your school. I joined the National Guard, then joined Army ROTC and went on active duty when I graduated, and returned to the NG after three years.

A couple things to keep in mind:

1) Unlike any other branch of service, you can be called out for natural disasters in your community. Very gratifying to help and serve.

2) You can also be called to go other places, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc. Those places suck.

3) If you are an officer or senior NCO the "one weekend a month" thing is ancient history.

4) You get PX and commissary privledges and you can use the DOD resort system. I stayed at the Military hotel in Hawaii for my honeymoon for 1/3 the normal rate.

5) I had to delay getting married for over a year because I was deployed.

6) Basic and AIT suck. You will be a better person for it.

7) Don't do it for the money. Don't do it for some romantic notion or glory. War isn't glorious and doesn't pay all that well either.

8) Wearing a military uniform is one of the few cases were people are right to respect you for the clothes you wear. Wearing an American flag is cool.

9) Flying in a blacked out helicopter at night, then infiltrating the 'enemy' headquarters and 'killing' their scout platoon during the dead of night in training is a blast.

10) Having your helicopter shot at or having the engine quit while in flight is not fun at all.

11) Firing an M249 is awesome.

12) Carrying an M249 all day through the brush sucks.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by recxjake

Today I talked to an Iowa National Guard Recruiter to find out some info about what they are all about. Told me the basics, have a sit down meeting Friday.

There is a good chance that we will be going to war with Iran/Syria/North Korea in the 5 years, hell I wouldn't be surprised if some our "allies" turn against us, like Russia or China.

I don't want to get drafted, and I would like to help our country out during this time of war. One thing that pisses me off here at college is the fact that we are at war, and none of us act like we are affected. We get ****ing drunk 3 or 4 nights a week, buy new clothes, eat out, have nice new t.v.'s, cars, etc.... I am the only one of my friends that follows politics and world events.... I bet half my friends couldn't find Iraq on a map. I feel like I need to give something back to my country, just like my grandpa did.

Do any of you know much about the National Guard? The basics that I know is that they pay 20,000 bonus if I got into one of the top 10 areas of need, and also pay a lot of college expenses... luckily for me, I have no debt and I'm a junior. He told me I would go to basic training this summer, and then come back to school to finish up and go from there. Could they deploy me whenever they wanted? Do National Guard troops get shitty assignments like working in cafeteria's or do they acutally get to hit the dirt? If my ass is going all they way to Iraq, I wanna ****ing kill a terrorist.

Any help would be great, thanks, Jake

Wow...this post is filled with some legitimate and intelligent criticism of our society, alongside some of the dumbest shit I've ever read. It's almost like two sides of your brain are fighting for complete control of your gray matter...that or you have MPD.

[Misplaced_Chiefs_Fan]

There's little question the AF treats their enlisted the best . . .

However, of all the services, when I was in (84-99), the AF promoted the slowest of the four services. I made E-7 in the Army at 9 years and was up for E-8 when I got out. I had a friend in the AF with more time in service than me who was still an E-5.

Better lifestyle, worse pay.

I'd take the smaller living quarters for the extra pay at the end of the month, but that's me.