Any veterans/people with military experience out there?

[Crimsontide27]

The biggest advice I can give you is to listen to everyones experiences and realize that yours will most likely be different.

There is a million different experiences that you can have based off of....branch you choose, MOS you choose, duty station, chain of command at your company level etc..

Everyones experiences are different. Ive been in Iraq and watched soldiers re-enlist for a 20k tax free bonus and recruiters not fill out the proper paperwork and the soldier gets nothing. Ive seen rules and regulations change at congresses discretion when it comes to deployments. Ive seen some people get their entire education paid for while on a military base, yet the same rank solider one company down isnt allowed to go to school because the 1SG doesnt deem it " in his best interests"

I dont regret the military one bit at the end of the day, but I wish I would have gone in with more realistic expectations than what I did.

Looking back on it, besides the seperation from wife and son during back...to back...to back hardship tours ( which is supposed to be against regulations in the first place ) the hardest thing I dealt with was the lack of being able to control my own career.

Want Airborne school? Re-enlist for it
Want Air Assualt school ? Re - enlist for it
Want to go to college? Re enlist for it
Want to go to Flight school? Only if chain of command wants you to go
Want to do anything to better yourself? Re-enlist for it.

My experience in the military was always dictated by immediate chain of command. Most were older and bitter and did not want anyone to do anything better than they had accomplished. Their logic of thinking was 'why help someone, when no one helped me" type of attitude.

But as I said earlier, their are so many variables in the equation that its hard to hear about what its like and go in with that same expectation. Everyones tour is different.

[ANDROMADA 1]

Nobody mentioned the best part of joining the military...You get to shoot things and blow Ish up!! M16, 50 cal, claymore , grenades, m60. Ahhh the good ole days. At any rate it is an honor to serve your country. I did it and have a long line of family members that have as well, Army and Marines. Just make sure it is something that you are 1,000% ready to do and commited. If you are the least bit hesitant then don't do it. Its Not for everyone. You are literally putting your life on the line for the greater good. So think about it.

bTW when they say you do more before 10 am than most people do all day, they mean it.

good luck

[Crimsontide27]

Quote: Originally Posted by ANDROMADA 1

Nobody mentioned the best part of joining the military...You get to shoot things and blow Ish up!! M16, 50 cal, claymore , grenades, m60. Ahhh the good ole days. At any rate it is an honor to serve your country. I did it and have a long line of family members that have as well, Army and Marines. Just make sure it is something that you are 1,000% ready to do and commited. If you are the least bit hesitant then don't do it. Its Not for everyone. You are literally putting your life on the line for the greater good. So think about it. bTW when they say you do more before 10 am than most people do all day, they mean it. good luck

Proves my point to every experience is different

I was an 11 series ( infantry ) and tossed a grand total of 1 live grenade, played with a toy claymore ( I see the light, I see the light...I see the light.../click ) , there is no M60 anymore , you use a 240B...and all you do is learn to assemble, disassemble, and clean the darn thing...

50cal is nothing more than teaching how to remove the barrel and do head space and timing on it...M16..outside of basic you fire it maybe 2x a year when you go to zero it and go to the 40 target range that everyone uses etc...

I saw combat time in Iraq and people got field grade article 15s if they so much as removed the 100mph tape from around the magazine, much less return fire on an enemy that was trying to kill you.

So see...already, experiences are very different.

[braves40]

I am currently on my 5th year of a 6 year contract with the Air Force. My AFSC is 3e3x1 or structural engineer. Basically what that entails is when were at home station we do base maintenance (patching drywall, fixing doors, real easy stuff) but when were deployed we are usually attached to the Army or Marine units and go out with them.

I have been deployed 3 times in my 5 years with two to Iraq and one to Afghanistan. My first two deployments I was attached to the 10mtn division and was tasked with setting up their ECPs (or Entry Control Points) or setting up a BARE base, meaning putting up c-wire, tents all the good stuff while usually getting shot at. Ive been on convoys, been shot at, mortared and have returned fire at the enemy. So when someone tells you that the Air Force is the easiest of branches remember that. Of course if you arent going the CE (civil engineer) route or cop route you probably will only deploy to the cupcake locations and love the Air Force.

Personally for me, Im glad I joined but I cant wait to get out, Youll learn as you go through the Air Force (or probably any branch) that its not what you know, its who you know and how good you are at brown nosing. Its basically just a bunch of hypocrisy. Now for the PT test being easy, the Air Force just implemented a new PT test this year. For men between the ages of 17-to 30 you have to do atleast 33 pushups, 42 situps, and run the mile in under 13:38 and your waist has to be under 39 in. Sounds easy right? If you got the minimum on every portion of the test youd fail (quite miserably really) So lets take my stats to see what youd have to do to pass. I did 64 pushups for the max points (10) I did 50 situps (8.5 I believe) my waist was 36in and my run time was 12:20. The score is added up and is out of a hundred. Sorry I dont remember any of the scores for run or waist but I ended up only scoring a 84%. So really, its not that easy of a test, I cant speak for any other branches though.

Whatever you choose, good luck man and remember the military is what you make of it. If you wanna hear more about my time in the Air Force (if you are thinking of a CE type job definately email me) you can pm and Ill go into a lot of detail about what you wanna know.

[jct32]

I'm a Navy Nuke. I consider it the best job in the military, obviously because I am proud of what I do. Comes with big bonuses, and ours aren't getting taken away. I'm about to re-enlist for 75,000, after I already got my initial bonus of 21,000 for enlisting.

However, from non-nukes there is a lot of hate towards us because of our bonuses and quickly moving up the ranks.

I think it's the coolest thing that I work on a Nuclear reactor. Plus, whenever I decide to get out I pretty much got the hookup. A majority of civilian nuclear plants will hire a nuke, just because of their Navy experience, no degree required. It's a pretty good fallback.

Like it's been said people are going to have different experiences. If you want to do something specific push for it, I know the Navy will allow you to enlist and have it promised in your contract (remember to always get it in your contract) to go to a certain school for whatever job you want. It's up to you to finish the school and get the job you want.

[oneamongthefence]

It also depends on the job. My big mistake was letting the recruiter convince me that I had a job I wanted turns out I did not. Really pay attention to tho guys as to what they say and how they say it.

Also, you have to be ready to sacrifice a lot. You're on call 24 hrs a day. They can call you in and there's nothing you can do about it. Even if you're off.

There is a lot of brown nosing and its just sad.

There are a lot of policies and instructions that are rediculous.

[Buckeyes_Doc]

Quote: Originally Posted by Crimsontide27

Proves my point to every experience is different I was an 11 series ( infantry ) and tossed a grand total of 1 live grenade, played with a toy claymore ( I see the light, I see the light...I see the light.../click ) , there is no M60 anymore , you use a 240B...and all you do is learn to assemble, disassemble, and clean the darn thing... 50cal is nothing more than teaching how to remove the barrel and do head space and timing on it...M16..outside of basic you fire it maybe 2x a year when you go to zero it and go to the 40 target range that everyone uses etc... I saw combat time in Iraq and people got field grade article 15s if they so much as removed the 100mph tape from around the magazine, much less return fire on an enemy that was trying to kill you. So see...already, experiences are very different.

This is a very good point. Everyone's experience is different. I've been in 4 years and other people who have the same job as me, same rank, been in the same time, some people I went to training with, have completely different experiences then myself.

Even boot camp is different. My home command is in Great Lakes so I've talked to a lot of recruits and what they tell me about boot camp is completely different then my experience.

Every command, department, duty station, is different. The biggest impact on your military career will be you......and your chain of command. If you have a bad chain of command it can be hell, and if you have a good chain of command it makes your life a lot easier. One of the things I do not like is how much other people have an impact what your career.

[Buckeyes_Doc]

Quote: Originally Posted by Thisismytemporaryusername

It also depends on the job. My big mistake was letting the recruiter convince me that I had a job I wanted turns out I did not. Really pay attention to tho guys as to what they say and how they say it. Also, you have to be ready to sacrifice a lot. You're on call 24 hrs a day. They can call you in and there's nothing you can do about it. Even if you're off. There is a lot of brown nosing and its just sad. There are a lot of policies and instructions that are rediculous.

Yeah I was so naive when I joined, I just fed into whatever my recruiter told me. The job I wanted wasn't "available (which I think was BS) and I felt pressured to choose another job that day so within 5 minutes I choose my job that I knew nothing about.