army

my friend got screwed when joining, they entice you with all this crap then dont give you anything when you join,
i had this same debate a few years ago to join, but my friends talked me out of it, while the other friend joined
personally i am glad now that i didnt sign up, but if you do good luck to you

 

i have 4 people that i know well that are in the armed forces. 1 was discharged last year(honorably), 1 is going to be shipped to Kuwait i believe soon, 1 is a freshmen at west point, and the last one is in the navy, USS Kittyhawk, now he is stationed in San Diego. heres what 2 of them told me, non of them got any sort of bonus, non of them had outstanding debt so cant help you there. but the one thats getting shipped to Kuwait or something like that soon said that the army is pretty strapped right now, they might have incentives right now but probably wont be able to deliver immediatly

 

Are you talking about getting free caps and shirts?

 

My best friend is in the Army and I went through a long struggle to try and get in when he joined 3 years ago. I wish I was in the Army to this day... but it wasn't meant to be. Your "bonus" all depends on the MOS (job) that you choose... some jobs have higher bonuses because they are harder to fill. For example, many of the Military Intelligence positions have high bonuses because the ASVAB (Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery) requirements are so high, I scored a 99 which is the highest you can score (not bragging) but when you score above 80 or so you have your pick of any job. The average score for the ASVAB is in the 40s, and the minimum is 22 if I remember correctly. My recruiter was from Panama and had a green card when he joined in the early 90's, he spoke no english and "guessed" his way through the ASVAB and made a 27, so it isn't tough. If you graduated high school, even with horrible grades you'll get in. The recruiters have "practice tests" to give you an idea of how you'll score and what you can work on before taking the real thing. The ASVAB to me was about on par with the TAAS test I took back in high school, which is crap you should have learned in 7th grade that isn't too tough to remember.

There is generally always a standard bonus for 3-10k that can be boosted by many things, including but not limited to your ASVAB score, your MOS of choice, any college credit you may have and any "extra ranks" you can earn before you go in. Without a college degree you can gain one rank if you have 24 college hours to go in as an E2, gain another rank for recruiting a friend to go in as an E3 and complete all of the "boot camp" requirements (physical and things such as ranks, how to read a map, call signs, etc) before going into boot camp to go in as an E4, so you can easily go in as a PFC without even trying. Also, if you enlist make sure to do so in Texas, the state of Texas DOUBLES the ammount you get via GI Bill, so if they offer you $35,000 via the GI Bill for college, Texas will double that to $70,000... many people come from out of state to enlist here because of that extra cash.

My bonus when I signed up (I signed up, just never shipped, known as DEP'ing in) was $31,000 AFTER I got to my first duty station, but since I was MI I had Boot Camp, Airborne School and 16 months of schooling at the Fort Huachuca military academy in Arizona before ever making it to my duty station. A little note about which position you choose, simply because they say you qualify for a job doesn't mean you will get it. No recruiter knows what job that you will get before you go to MEPS (Medical Expenditure Panel Survey) and sit down and actually enlist. Before you sign the paper they will run a report of all the jobs that you qualify that are OPEN, and by open that means a training session is coming up in the near future that isn't already filled. If a recruiter tells you that "oh yeah you can get that job no problem" before you go to MEPS tell them not to lie to you. Other then straight up infantry all job placement is luck of the draw as to what classes are coming up at the time you sign up. It should also be noted that once they tell you which jobs you qualify for and the one you don't want isn't there you can WALK AWAY and come back when there is an opening, don't choose something for 3-8 years that you are going to regret! Another thing to mention about the size of the bonus, not all big bonuses go to the highest scoring positions. When I signed up the largest bonus was for a 5 year enlistment for a tire mechanic of all things, the bonus was like $39,000 or something crazy like that... the bonus is based on the need for which position you go in as.

Another option that is out there and is definately worth looking at is the "Green to Gold" program, which is a program where the Army will send you to college and pay all of your expenses (including room, board, and extra money) while you finish your degree and participate in an ROTC program. After you finish school you will go in as a 2nd Lieutenant and have the ability to choose your specialty based on your degree as well as you first duty station. The life of an officer is usually much better then that of an enlisted man, but getting into the Green to Gold is also a tougher entry program. You can also go in as an enlisted man and then "re-up" at a later day 2-3 years in and do the Green to Gold program if you don't currently have the grades/background to get into OCS right now. My buddy has done this, he was a Combat Engineer for 2 and a half years and then "re-up'd" for 4 years and is now finishing his degree at Campbell University in North Carolina. When he gets out he will be a 2nd Lieutenant at Fort Hood working in MIS... pretty cush job for a lot more pay then your average enlisted man, plus he'll have a degree, leadership experience and a top secret clearance when he leaves the Army as a Captain, which makes him a huge asset to the business world.

To me, going into the armed forces is a great opportunity for those who are stuck in a rut, at a dead end or just looking for a change. You'll always have those guys that know from the time they are 5 that they are going to be soldiers, marines, airmen or seamen but most people in the Army realize a few years after they've gone nowhere that they should have done it years ago. Either route you take to the Army you'll leave with either a Degree and 4-8 years of experience that employers drool over or the experience and the money to go to just about any private college your heart desires. Anyway, sorry for the length of the post I just get excited when I hear people want to wear the uniform.

 

Without reading the other comments, here is what I have to say:

The army is entirely what you make of it. As far as any enlistment bonuses go, its a risk/reward thing: infantry (higher risk) will get a higher bonus than, say, broadcast journalism (lower risk). Bonuses are based entrely on what the army NEEDS. Thankfully for you, the army is huge and there are literally thousands of different opportunities available.

Do your research and you ought not be surprised. There is literally a TON of information available online.

Keep this in mind: you are NOT going to Disney Land. Its Basic f*cking Training, its a b****, and the object is to tear you down completely and build you back up into a soldier. If you can't take it, you need to be aware of this NOW. Drill Seargents are NOT nice people. That is their JOB. And you better get used to that idea.

I spent three years in military school and two years of college ROTC. Then I graduated and couldn't find work. I enlisted after 9/11 because 1) the U.S. Army was the only thing I ever wanted to do and 2) I was pissed off. At this point in my life, the military lifestyle was the only thing I was ever good at and I knew EXACTLY what I was getting myself into. I was sent home one month after I shipped off due to spinal arthritis and the complications associated with that. To this day, I have never been more sad and disappointed in my entire life than I was when they said "Sorry, kid. You're going home".

To wrap up, DO YOUR RESEARCH, and for Christ's sake, PLEASE know what you're getting into. I will never forget how many young kids (I was 26 at the time) with whom I had to have what amounted to counseling sessions regarding what Basic Training entailed. A lot of them had been flat-out lied to by their recruiters and they hadn't done their homework.

The moral of this story is DO YOUR F*CKING HOMEWORK, and your military life will be much easier.

Did I mention to do your homework???

 

Son, you're ****ing high.

 

Basic training is not all about being fit. It's literally an attempt to break you down so they can rebuild you into someone who is willing to do anything for the team, and go into enemy fire when ordered. My cousin, who was a bodybuilder and certified badass, washed out of the Marines - he just couldn't take giving up control like that.

Good luck. If you don't have any better options, it's definitely one way to change your life. Just don't believe everything the recruiters and advertisements tell you.

 

The running isn't tough at all if you are in any kind of shape at all, it is simply two miles in 16 minutes and 30 seconds... and you don't have to do that until the end of bootcamp. However, like I mentioned above if you have a chance at doing so you should definately try to gain an extra rank by doing all of your bootcamp requirements before shipping... the two weeks that rank takes you before you sign the dotted line could take up to a year and a half after you've shipped.

As mentioned by Lynus, the Army is all of what you make it. You are going to be surrounded by ignorant 18 year olds doing stupid stuff, don't get drawn into the sneaking of tabacco and alcohol on base and crap like that... the rewards simply aren't worth the consequences. From what I've been told, once you get out of boot camp the Army life is pretty much like any other job except you get together to do PT a few days a week... of all the people I've known that have been in the Army, which is quite a few none of them regret it... and to me that is the telling story.

As far as the documents for your sister, they probably sent copies to her mailing address and her duty station so I don't think you'd need to forward them on... although I'd shoot her an email just to be sure she doesn't need them, email is a great way to communicate with family members you'd rather not talk to.

 

((((t-shirt fan))))

 

I dropped out and joined a band instead
grew a moustache and a mullet
got a job at Chick-fil-A
citing "artistic differences"
the band broke up in May
and in June reformed without me
and they got a different name

 

that's exactly what I was thinking...

 

Just continue to play the official Government sanctioned "America's Army" FPS on PC until you get a general sense of what army life is like - it's pretty much the same except for there's no automatic re-spawn on most maps.

 

nice.

 

Everyone I know that went into the military ended up with a babe they met there. Based on my limited experience it seems to me the air force has the hottest chicks.

 

True, but they also have the highest concentration of "alternative lifestyle" airmen... The Army has easy chicks, I speak from experience... just remember to double back it and be done and gone before "ankle check". Also, don't fool around in basic, they'll rip you a new ******* for getting busy during bootcamp.

 

http://www.youtube.com/?v=UvUQJ88YRhI

 

Wait a minute, I don't think you can join the army. According to this post, chow, you are 55 years old.

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=2195083&postcount=19

 

lol...