Military feeler?

[rayjay]

With the current direction this country is heading and after seeing how the political elites have misused the volunteer military over the past few decades I am surprised that anyone would be interested in joining the military. Add to this the problems with the VA and the constant assault on veterans' benefits by the politicians and ?????????

Why ?

 

[Minesweeper3433]

Knowing that you have a law enforcement degree and EMT certification you my very well be able to come into the military as an E-4 which would make it much easier on your family. Also ask recruiter about going in as an officer as you already have an in demand field related degree with law enforcement. Heck if you applied yourself you could go in as an E-4 and have E-5 in a year and a half easy and then there would be far less pressure on your family income level.

 

[riverwolf1]

I served with the Navy for 21 years, and was a recruiter for 3 years, first I would say the people that have indicated that the ASVAB test is extremely important are correct, this will determine what jobs you qualify for and any good recruiter should be able to guide you in that choice. If you have a good score you can get a school guaranteed prior to enlistment. This will occur while your at the MEPS processing station. I would tell you that in order to shorten your ship board duty if you select an aviation job and your attached to a Squadron you will more than likely have more time on shore. If your in a suadron you only go to sea for workups and the actual deployment itself, when the ship returns to port you get off and you go home every night except on nights when your scheduled for duty. out of 21 years in the navy my total at sea time was just over 53 months! My sea &shore rotation for my rate was 36 months sea duty and 54 months shore duty. If your in the Black shoe Navy Your going to spend lots of a career at sea.
To the person that responded about the pay, what he didn't add is that there are other things that you receive tax free dollars for. 1. If you have an apartment off base you get a housing allownace, plus some areas have an additional allowance due to high rent. 2. because you no longer eat at the chow hall you get paid for food. 3 if your in a hazardous job you can get hazardous duty pay, and when at sea you get sea duty pay. If your in a flight status( aircrew) you can get flight pay. The other item is that if you get training in a field like AE or AT or Airframe you will have a better chance at a civilian job when you get out. One other item I will mention, if you join the airforce, their job structure is quite different, My job was aircrew survival equipment, in the Navy I had to be able to do helmets, oxygen masks parachutes, flotation equipment, sewing, fitting g suits, in other words everything the pilots or crew needed! In the Air Force they only train their people that have the same job I did on 1 piece of equipment! they have one person that works on helmets and one that works on the oxygen etc. So in the Navy you will receive a better training regimine thanthe Air Force. Good Luck, on your choice.
PS: If your recruiter is a Black Shoe he's going to want to get you into a rating similar to his!
You want a guaranteed "A" School!

Gary Vanlier
USN Retired

 

[rayjay]

Here is another aspect to consider. In 2016 the mil will get a new CIC. Who do you think it will most likely be ?

Hillary Clinton. There is no one with more disdain for anything mil than the Clinton clan. Not even Obama.

 

[broncman]

The only regret I have in life is not going into the millitary when I was young. Nearly every male in my family has millitary service.

Kudos to you, but take care of your family relationships above all else.

 

[riverwolf1]

Rayjay,
I don't know how familiar you are with military service, but you sound like your a code pink person! While the president is the CIC and some of them don't like the military, they rarely make major changes that effect the troops. most, and I say most Generals and Admirals are old school guys and most changes are force level reductions, and policy's that can be delt with a higher levels in the chain of command. Like reductions in new weapons or airplanes, missles etc. Life for most soldiers and sailors is like going to a regular job everyday, the only time I can remember when morale was really low in the Navy was when the head of the Navy was Admiral Elmo Zumwalt who was infamous for his Z-Grahms. he degraded morale so bad that no one was re-enlisting because he removed the authority from non commissioned officers, and junior people could do what ever they wanted with no consequences. The military is and hopefully always will be the backbone of our country and to speak of them as being abused is summarily false. Now for those people that are being Stop Lossed, I feel sorry for and I would hope that the military will be held accountable via the law suit that some soldiers have filed!

 

[22BRGUY]

Rayjay,
I don't know how familiar you are with military service, but you sound like your a code pink person! While the president is the CIC and some of them don't like the military, they rarely make major changes that effect the troops. most, and I say most Generals and Admirals are old school guys and most changes are force level reductions, and policy's that can be delt with a higher levels in the chain of command. Like reductions in new weapons or airplanes, missles etc. Life for most soldiers and sailors is like going to a regular job everyday, the only time I can remember when morale was really low in the Navy was when the head of the Navy was Admiral Elmo Zumwalt who was infamous for his Z-Grahms. he degraded morale so bad that no one was re-enlisting because he removed the authority from non commissioned officers, and junior people could do what ever they wanted with no consequences. The military is and hopefully always will be the backbone of our country and to speak of them as being abused is summarily false. Now for those people that are being Stop Lossed, I feel sorry for and I would hope that the military will be held accountable via the law suit that some soldiers have filed!

From all of what I've read recently, MANY and I mean many if the generals and admirals and the real higher ups in the military are being discharged for some very questionable reasons. You might want to check into what this all means to life in the military before committing but I admire greatly your values of family and country.
God Bless and Best Wishes

 

[KMart]

22BRGUY
You are absolutely correct about the disciplinary actions being taken on Generals and Admirals. Also there has been a directive from the CMC to send the enlisted guys back in time for barracks life with NCO's and Staff NCO's serving watch over them at night.
Any more if you drink alcohol, if you are checked and you blow over a .02 (yes that low) you are setting yourself up for NJP and a drying out session.

 

[Josh11]

Alright, another question for you guys. How does the Navy rank up compaired to the Army? I dont think i can get inot the airforce . They said i have too many dependents. So that limits me to Army and Navy.

 

[BigDMT]

Alright, another question for you guys. How does the Navy rank up compaired to the Army? I dont think i can get inot the airforce . They said i have too many dependents. So that limits me to Army and Navy.

Navy - launch attacks from afar, unless in spec ops.
Army - possibly catch bullets in the chest or an IED while on countless patrols

Navy - Good chance (depending on ASVAB) to learn a very valuable technical trade to help you succeed financially when you get out
Army - might learn a good trade, but most likely just end up shooting small arms and throwing hand grenades.

Army/Navy - equally good benefits when you get out. But both a bad choice if you already have a family.

 

[butchlambert]

I would kinda hesitate that you join with a family. I'm from a military family and thought it was a great experience! My youngest Son was AF and went to work at Northrup after retirement and my Daughter in Law works for Raytheon after the AF. She was a linguist. Can you imagine a coon ass speaking Farsi? They were AF enlisted and had not much money until retirement. His first marriage didn't make it and I don't know if his deployments or numerous TDY assignments caused or contributed to it.
If I were young,God forbid, I would follow Michael Kavanaugh's plan. Most of you should remember Kavanaugh as the best custom stock painter anywhere. He let the Navy pay for his BS degree and then they wanted him to get his Masters. Kav has been in about 5 years now and is a Navy Lieutenant. He is an entomologist . He is single. Yes, he was deployed to Afghanistan and believe it or not enjoyed it. He still has a little of his Billy Badazz.

 

[GSPV]

Divorce and child support are very expensive and not so good for the kids.

 

[BaconFat]

I think your number one consideration is, can you afford to join the military? The military pay structure is designed with the thought that you start out single, live in the barracks and eat in the chow/mess hall. Housing and food are the two most expensive costs of anybody's life and that stays the same throughout your life. So with those first two items covered you can get by on a fairly low salary being single. After the first four years or so you should have received three or four promotions with the increase in pay and you could start thinking about getting married. After about six years, you're married and have received another promotion and you're thinking about starting a family. Once you get married you get dependent pay, which isn't a lot but it helps and as you add children you get another little increase in this pay. At this point you may be eligible for base housing. That may or may not be a good thing. It appears that the government has been upgrading base housing around the country but I can tell you some of the old places are not that great.

So here we are, six years into a military career, finally receiving a salary that you can survive on. Now with you already married and with children does your wife work and can her salary make up for your short fall in income for five or so years? Does your wife have the kind of skills that will enable her to find another job easily if you have to move? Can you save enough to cover the lost income when she's between jobs? Can you financially afford to join the military? Will you be able to afford to live where you want or will you have to find a place not up to your standards?

I put up this scenario because that's what I went through 35 years ago. Unfortunately for me my marriage didn't survive. The housing situation and lack of money was more than what my ex was willing to accept. We were both young and my ex didn't have any real job skills so she was stuck with low pay service industry type jobs. Another problem was moving to a place where you didn't have your friends and family for support. We could always call, but the personal, face to face support was missing.

Now with all that said, I have a nephew in the Army who was in a similar family situation as I was and he's done just fine. In fact he's flourished having increased his family with four children. Some how he's missed both wars even though he been in for about 10 years. He's moved about every three years from KY to HI to TX.

What ever you decide, I wish you well.

 

[butchlambert]

BaconFat,
Great post.

 

[mclarenross]

Look into the Air Force or Army reserves my friend. Im a current Active Duty Marine who is deployed with a bunch of Marine Reservists and they get the best of both worlds.

If you are dead set on Active Duty I highly encourage you to look at finishing your Bachelors and coming in as an Officer. A first year 2nd Lieutenant makes the same as an E-5 whos been in 6 years. And its still a really crappy paycheck. Even adding in BAH(housing allowance) and BAS(food allowance) your still making squat as an enlisted man.

Also, I cannot stress this enough and it hurts me to say this, DO NOT JOIN THE MARINES! In 2011 the Marine Corps started downsizing. We sat at 202,000 Active Marines and the goal by 2015 is to have reduced the Active force to 172,000. By 2017 they are looking to have only 150,000 Marines. Now what does that mean to us on the inside? Fewer slots for promotions, fewer spots for reenlistments, tighter restrictions on day to day life, harsher punishments for very minor offenses, and altogether a shitty life in garrison. The brass are literally kicking people out by the handful. The Corps is offering people early outs from their contracts just to cut the number so drastically and in such a short length of time. In my MOS, which is admittedly a very small and technical job field, there is only 7 slots for reenlistment in FY-2014(the fiscal year starts October 1, so 29 days ago) and as of now all 7 slots are filled. There is over 90 Marines in my MOS slated to EAS in FY-14 so that is pushing ~85 Marines to either make a lateral move to another MOS (very limited availability) or to become civilians again. This is hapening Marine Corps wide and it is leaving up with a very bare bones force.

I cant speak for the rest of the branches but this is the state of the Corps for the next few years. I highly advise you to finish your degree and get a real job my friend.

 

[Joe Maisto]

Coast Guard...

Chuck 8)

Plus 1 on the Coast Guard . Just got a new neighbor who is a cook. He'll be out at 38 with full pension, and never been to sea or on a ship. Married, 2 children. Doesn't get much better than that. All housing paid for, etc;
Air Force would be #2. Don't even think about the Marines. Been there...

But why would anyone want to join the military with a family? Pure insanity my friend. We had a saying when I was in the military....Never join the military if you leave a a girlfriend or a wife behind....

 

[butchlambert]

Article in the Dallas paper today about marines getting rid of troops with an unacceptable body fat index. It is actually discriminating to the muscular troops. They can be very well built and in terrific condition and fail. I completely understand physical fitness, but they need a different yardstick.

 

[masterblaster1]

I say this as a vet, wife a vet, sons all vets or in, go to the reserves, get a commission, think about it before you commit to full time active. I am old fashioned, if you go, and are physically fit, go as a trigger puller, if you are out of shape or lazy or lack intelligence, join as an admin or support. The services are not jobs they are an adventure that can sometimes suck. Chances are you will get divorced and lose your kids by enlisting with a family, not a sure thing but heavily weighted in that direction.

 

[normmatzen]

Every one may be right about the Air Force, but if you are careful/lucky with a trade, the Navy can be good as well.

I spent 4 years in the Navy aviation field. Most ratings (trade) in the aviation field do not serve long times aboard ship. In 4 years I spent 2 weeks on a carrier. Carrier qualification cruises for the attack squadron I was in. Fighter/attack and anti-sub squadrons do deploy every couple years aboard a carrier for 6 months. And, carrier air group squadrons counts as sea duty even if you only spend 6 months at sea per couple years.

I believe the technical schools the Navy has are far better than all the other services as the Navy personnel are trained to be self sufficient, that means fix the gear without outside help. The Air Force depends a lot for civilian techs for the difficult stuff. How do I know that, my brother was in the air force and I had friends trained by the air force.
But, the comment about go Officer is 100% correct! I loved the Navy and my duty ( I was inflight electronic maint. on a airborne early warning super Connie) but I got out because they would not give me a path to a commission. Enlisted men and their families are definitely second class citizens in the military!

 

[Josh11]

Is anyone on here an Air Force recruiter? I have some questions but the one here in my town runs two offices and is really hard to get a hold of.