The Military

[Netrogor]

Okay, I'm posting this here under serious discussion, since I hope it to be, and remain serious.

My career goal involves the Military, albeit I'm unclear on which branch I want to go in, since each has its own perk.

The Navy has some nice educational opportunities for me to exploit, the Reserve-Army has nice perks for learning basic language skills in Middle-Eastern & one other foreign language (other than English), and the Air Force is the fast-track for gaining rank as an officer in the Military.

Based off my grades & how I never try to excel but do, I believe I could get a much better, safer, and higher paying career or job in life, going off to college & totally ignoring military service; but I feel the Military to be my calling in life.

So, basically, I'm asking for advice from those of you capable of responding to this seriously. There's a year for me to go, yet, to turn eighteen, and I'll probably be in High School till I'm nineteen (due to a transfer I've done from my hometown high school to one eighty miles away)... so I'm looking over the information for this now.

A bit of randomness, I found it amusing when, a few days ago, US Navy & Army pamphlets were sent to me in the mail: amusing, because the Military doesn't need to send that information to me. I've been speaking with friends of the family who served in the Army & Air Force, and seeking this information of my own accord.

Anyways, if any of you know something helpful that you can say here, do so. My ambitions are to join a Military branch & raise in rank, I have no intention to remain a grunt in the front line; so learning some tips to assure my ability to go up the chain-of-command would be welcome.

EDIT:
Oh, and some links to the US websites for those looking to skim information on them real fast, if they're interested in simply seeing how it works...

http://www.army.mil/
http://www.navy.mil/
http://www.af.mil/

 

[Blasto121]

Well I do know that if you join the navy and want to see japan chances are you can get yourself situated there without to much hassle.

Also if your interested in being a marine without actually being one, becoming a Navy combat medic can get you placed in a marine platoon for combat.

As for air force, from what I have heard everything about it is fairly easy. Though I also know that a lot of it is desk work. Thats of course you decided to become a mechanic then its just hard labor.

so between navy and air force

Navy -> see more of the world and learn stuff
Air Force -> sit behind a desk and learn stuff

this is of course highly generalized but its still the basic concept.

given a choice for me it would be navy.

 

[Sabre]

If you've also got musical talent, you could join their bands and travel all over the fucking place.

 

[HomestarR]

I am enlisted in the USAF, best move I have ever made. Free training, free college, free living, and that really just opens so many doors for you. It does have a reputation of being "The Chairforce", but that is more and more less true nowadays. Sure, about 15 - 20 years ago most of it was desk work, but now we deploy a lot more, and are taking up duties that were exclusive to the Army and Marines. Air Force has the 2nd highest physical fitness scores to maintain, right behind the Marines. Army has the third, followed by Navy, then Coast Guard. So we aren't the stereotypical pseudo-military branch that we used to be. Thing is with the Air Force is that EVERYONE wants to get in (such as transferring from other branches) and it is pretty hard to enlist. Army, and Marines will sign on just about anyone, but your ASVAB scores have to be good, and you have to have a nearly clean record to get in the USAF.

You are right though, each branch does have its own perks. Army tends to have high sign on bonuses, whereas Air Force doesn't have any in most cases for example. My older brother was enlisted in the Army and every day he complained how the Air Force and Navy has such a better standard of living, and he wished he had enlisted in them instead. I am stationed on a joint post, so I see that every day. You can tell what branch owns what section of the post. You really can't go wrong with either Air Force or Navy, but I do recommend against Army and Marines. There is a reason they have to bribe someone with $5000 + to enlist with them. Navy ranks do confuse the hell out of me though.

 

[CrazyMonkeyDude]

given a choice for me it would be navy.

Oh really? *suggestive eyebrow waggle*

My dad was in the navy until he was 35. He was a nuclear sub electrician. He almost lives off of retirement, but as he's working as a higher-up now in his buddy's business, he has the money to supplement his geekyness. He has/has had every system that has come out since the super nintendo, save for the PS3, which he's just waiting for the price to drop for.

 

[HomestarR]

Air Force has the 2nd highest physical fitness scores to maintain, right behind the Marines. Army has the third, followed by Navy, then Coast Guard. So we aren't the stereotypical pseudo-military branch that we used to be.

What about the SEALs?

To Netrogor:
If you are looking to rise in rank fast, become an officer first. Because you won't really rise into high ranks in any branch of the military unless you want to be in it for 30+ years.

You can reach grade E-9 in about 20 years.

Seals are special, much like Air Force PJ's or any other "special forces" I am talking about the normal majority.

 

[Blasto121]

Oh really? *suggestive eyebrow waggle*

:roll:
I would join the navy because my ultimate goal in life is to live in japan. The navy would allow me to live there for the 5 years needed for citizen ship.



Oh almost forgot about the coast guard, I know a few people who are apart of the coast guard and they just love it. Its very hard to join the coast guard, but its a great place to be a slacker, well to a certain extent that is.

 

[Netrogor]

If I had to pick & choose where I wanted to be stationed, I'd choose Thailand. Almost nothing bad happens there, they have plenty of hookers (and profiling will help avoid transvestites), and they sport 1000 megabit home connections at low prices.

EDIT:
Oh, and... 8)

EDIT2:
And the Navy bribes several times more than the Army. Navy has a $16,000-$18,000 signing on bonus.

I need to teach my self Turkish, Spanish (better than I already know), and go through OCS; they give $5000, $6000, and $10000 bonuses for knowing such basic skills & having gone through OCS for each year... at least, in the Navy, they do.

 

[Thothie]

The money for the current wars is coming out of the current military's retirement benefits. So unless you think Hillery is going to get elected and setup universal health care, or you have a seriously huge nest-egg sitting around somewhere, I'd avoid the military like the plague right now.

But if you must go, Navy is usually the best way to go about it. Less trauma, more travel.

PS. Don't learn Turkish or any other mid-eastern language. Learn Thai.

 

[Netrogor]

Hehe, well, I have an inheritance I'll be leaving to gain interest in, and I am going to exploit (since I've decided on Navy, as they have the most available to be exploited by me) the $70,000 some they'll put towards my college... and get myself a degree. I've looked at their different parts, sub-groups of the Navy, and hope to go into the Medical Corps, perhaps a simple Physician or something.

Of course, after having served once (from one-to-six years in length for one service), I'll do OCS (Officer Candidate School), if it is necessary to gain rank; my ambitions are to be in the Military (sub-branch Navy start-off, enticing perks, higher chance to stay alive so I might post whore the forums here ten years from now) and gain rank.

A close friend of my family served as a Sergeant or something in a Mortar Regiment. His collar bone still looks fucked up since he got shot a couple of times ten or so years ago. He's a huge gamer, plays video games all the time these days.

EDIT:
Oh, and I suppose I will learn a few foreign languages... don't know how long it'd take me to learn three of them, but I hope to learn to speak Dutch (aka German for those of matching intelligence to pirate*sorry: couldn't resist but bash you man!*), Spanish (despite perfect grades in Spanish classes, I only worked for good grades, not to actually remember it, so I need to re-teach myself that), and I suppose some Asian language... like Japanese, Chinese, or Thai: hopefully I'll choose a dialect that doesn't usually apply to their lower class citizens.

 

[HomestarR]

I would like you to know you are making a good choice going into the Navy. I am on a Joint Branch post, just as much Navy here as anything, and they seem to have a really nice deal going for them. It is about par with the Air Force as far as benefits go. You will have to explain the logic behind Navy rankings to me after you get in. All my Navy buddies here don't know how to explain it to me.

 

[Netrogor]

Haha, I'll try. Remember though, I am at the point where I'm just planning & preparing myself. I've still got to finish High School (slightly delayed by my transferring to a new one), then I'm off to join the Navy (makes me think of The Simpsons episode with the Navy boy-band brainwashing America).

 

[Sabre]

Hehe, well, I have an inheritance I'll be leaving to gain interest in, and I am going to exploit (since I've decided on Navy, as they have the most available to be exploited by me) the $70,000 some they'll put towards my college... and get myself a degree. I've looked at their different parts, sub-groups of the Navy, and hope to go into the Medical Corps, perhaps a simple Physician or something.

Of course, after having served once (from one-to-six years in length for one service), I'll do OCS (Officer Candidate School), if it is necessary to gain rank; my ambitions are to be in the Military (sub-branch Navy start-off, enticing perks, higher chance to stay alive so I might post whore the forums here ten years from now) and gain rank.

A close friend of my family served as a Sergeant or something in a Mortar Regiment. His collar bone still looks **** up since he got shot a couple of times ten or so years ago. He's a huge gamer, plays video games all the time these days.

EDIT:
Oh, and I suppose I will learn a few foreign languages... don't know how long it'd take me to learn three of them, but I hope to learn to speak Dutch (aka German for those of matching intelligence to pirate*sorry: couldn't resist but bash you man!*), Spanish (despite perfect grades in Spanish classes, I only worked for good grades, not to actually remember it, so I need to re-teach myself that), and I suppose some Asian language... like Japanese, Chinese, or Thai: hopefully I'll choose a dialect that doesn't usually apply to their lower class citizens.

Heh, Dutch != German, J-M would agree...But if you were to learn Chinese, learn the Mandarin dialect, which I do believe is the big one.