Thinking of Joining the Military? V2 - General

[QUOTE=UncleJimmema;36178686](as you already know) we actually pay for everything we get when it comes to uniforms, military clothing (with certain exceptions) food, living expenses, etc. It's just it's all taken out before we see it. With base pay I make somewhere around $21,000. Including everything else it's more around $32,000.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=UncleJimmema;36178686]$32,000[/quote] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0hjSaYCRnA&feature=related[/media]

So me, three other privates, and two cadre ( one is Sgt. and the other Cpl.) headed out to eat at Arby's for chow. Sergeant: "Hey Private, did you know that Asian women that shave their pubes are considered whores?" Me: "Really now?" Sergeant: "Yeah, it's their culture man, you didn't know that? You should ask your mother." We all just broke up laughing.

[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;36178709]My new unit offered me a mission to S. Korea over the summer. Less than a few minutes into my unit I get a chance to go overseas for a few weeks. Sweet.[/QUOTE] That sucks dude. Don't go. My friends from AIT went there and are hating life right now. On the other hand, other overseas assignments like Hawaii and Germany can actually be pretty awesome.

[QUOTE=DamagePoint;36191801]That sucks dude. Don't go. My friends from AIT went there and are hating life right now. On the other hand, other overseas assignments like Hawaii and Germany can actually be pretty awesome.[/QUOTE] I wish I could go to Germany. They took my MOS out of there recently due to the deactivation of V Corps soon.

[QUOTE=DamagePoint;36191801]That sucks dude. Don't go. My friends from AIT went there and are hating life right now. On the other hand, other overseas assignments like Hawaii and Germany can actually be pretty awesome.[/QUOTE] What makes it suck exactly? I'm only there for around two weeks. One of my sergeants also complained about Korea, but I don't know why they said it sucked.

[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;36202821]What makes it suck exactly? I'm only there for around two weeks. One of my sergeants also complained about Korea, but I don't know why they said it sucked.[/QUOTE] Anyone who I have asked about Korea says it is the hidden gem of the Army. They loved it there. I have not heard anyone saying that they did not enjoy Korea.

[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;36202821]What makes it suck exactly? I'm only there for around two weeks. One of my sergeants also complained about Korea, but I don't know why they said it sucked.[/QUOTE] If you're only there for two weeks then it might actually be somewhat enjoyable. People I know that have been stationed there hated it because the conditions were substandard compared to the rest of the Army, having to go out to the field every other week, curfews, guard duty, random bullshit that they have to deal with being so close to the DMZ like nbc drills and whatnotot, and just a general overall negative attitude from people that either don't want to be there or are away from their families. Also a lot of people have also been told that when they get back to the States they get to choose their next duty station, which usually doesn't happen. The further away your are from the DMZ and 2ID land I hear it's not so bad. In fact I know a few people that actually have gone out and seen the country a bit and actually have enjoyed it, and have even gone out of their way to interact with local population a bit. So it's not all bad, but I haven't heard anyone say that they wanted to go back there.

I'll be 17 in 6 days, wanting to join the US Navy straight out of high school mainly to get out of my state and travel. Anyone in the navy? What's it like? And is it worth enlisting to?

[QUOTE=Hardpoint Nomad;36204106]I'll be 17 in 6 days, wanting to join the US Navy straight out of high school mainly to get out of my state and travel. Anyone in the navy? What's it like? And is it worth enlisting to?[/QUOTE] I am in the Army, but I can say that many people find the Navy to be a fine career field. It has the most technical jobs available, barring the Air Force, and if you love being on ships, then it is the service for you. Their ranks are a little weird, as they have ratings, and the Navy can prepare you for a lucrative civilian career depending on the job you get. I do not know much about actually being in the Navy, however. InvaderNouga would be a much better person to answer than myself.

[QUOTE=DamagePoint;36203637]If you're only there for two weeks then it might actually be somewhat enjoyable. People I know that have been stationed there hated it because the conditions were substandard compared to the rest of the Army, having to go out to the field every other week, curfews, guard duty, random bullshit that they have to deal with being so close to the DMZ like nbc drills and whatnotot, and just a general overall negative attitude from people that either don't want to be there or are away from their families. Also a lot of people have also been told that when they get back to the States they get to choose their next duty station, which usually doesn't happen. The further away your are from the DMZ and 2ID land I hear it's not so bad. In fact I know a few people that actually have gone out and seen the country a bit and actually have enjoyed it, and have even gone out of their way to interact with local population a bit. So it's not all bad, but I haven't heard anyone say that they wanted to go back there.[/QUOTE] Sounds like he didn't know what he was signing up for. Active Duty guys I had in Basic got even more homesick when they get duty stations that aren't close to their home.

[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;36204432]Sounds like he didn't know what he was signing up for. Active Duty guys I had in Basic got even more homesick when they get duty stations that aren't close to their home.[/QUOTE] It's mostly the bullshit that you have to deal with and the negative attitude that's the problem over there, but yeah, it kind of sucks being so far away from home and the culture there is so different. It's not like being in Texas where at least when you go off base you're still in America. Though there's this one person from my AIT who's a 40 year old Chinese bachelor and he's having the time of his life over there :v: I guess it all comes down to what you make of it.

[QUOTE=Hardpoint Nomad;36204106]I'll be 17 in 6 days, wanting to join the US Navy straight out of high school mainly to get out of my state and travel. Anyone in the navy? What's it like? And is it worth enlisting to?[/QUOTE] Well it depends on what rating you go to in the Navy. There's quite a number of ratings that will end up with you not being on a ship, and there's quite a few that WILL have you end up being on a ship. Regardless of which branch you join you'll still get your GI bill, but the Navy and Marine Corps have something called tuition assistance too. Which is stacked on top of your GI bill, I'll explain more later if you're interested. I can't comment on if it's worth enlisting into or not, since any branch is worth enlisting in. I do like the Navy though. I work at a Hospital, but I could tell you a little bit about shipboard life if you're interested in that. I'm pretty sure there's a couple Sailors on this forum who have been on ships. Although they might be underway/don't have any interest in this thread. Regardless, feel free to ask any questions you'd like.

[QUOTE=Hardpoint Nomad;36204106]I'll be 17 in 6 days, wanting to join the US Navy straight out of high school mainly to get out of my state and travel. Anyone in the navy? What's it like? And is it worth enlisting to?[/QUOTE] InvaderNouga would be the expert here, but since I'm a Marine and he's not here right now what the heck. Life in the navy is pretty much the same across the board with the other branches when you first start. You get to go to boot, then your A-school, then depending on your rate your sea school, then you get assigned your first unit. You're going to be at the bottom of the totem pole for quite a while until you can prove yourself among the rest of your unit. That stuff is pretty universal to all the branches. How your life really goes is dependant on a lot of things. Your rate, your command, your PO's and CPO's. They all can affect how shit goes. Life for a yeoman is vastly different than life for an Airman or Corpsman. Then you take into account the command. My old command wouldn't so much let me leave the base after midnight let alone stay out all weekend, now that my command has changed over it's like a 9 to 5 job. When I first started my cpls and sgts treated me like any other boot, doing dumass shit and playing fuck fuck games. Now, while not equal to, I am treated as if I were a cpl. Of course I've spent my career entirely on land, things on ship are even more different and difficult. Just because you're in the navy doesn't mean you'll end up on a boat. While chances are you will be on one at some point or another, some rates such as corpsman can end up in hospitals and clinics on shore for long periods of time. Of course other rates can be out at see for multiple tours in the same amount of time. There's a lot of things that can shape what your life and experience will be in the navy, and we can only share with you our small chunk of the vastly varying lifestyles of military personnel. [b]Edit[/b] Dammit he came out of no where!

[QUOTE=InvaderNouga;36204737]Well it depends on what rating you go to in the Navy. There's quite a number of ratings that will end up with you not being on a ship, and there's quite a few that WILL have you end up being on a ship. Regardless of which branch you join you'll still get your GI bill, but the Navy and Marine Corps have something called tuition assistance too. Which is stacked on top of your GI bill, I'll explain more later if you're interested. I can't comment on if it's worth enlisting into or not, since any branch is worth enlisting in. I do like the Navy though. I work at a Hospital, but I could tell you a little bit about shipboard life if you're interested in that. I'm pretty sure there's a couple Sailors on this forum who have been on ships. Although they might be underway/don't have any interest in this thread. Regardless, feel free to ask any questions you'd like.[/QUOTE] I've had 3 years of NJROTC and my SNSI and NSI say my payscale will be upped a bit since I've had prerequisite training. I don't know if that has any impact on my rating though.

[QUOTE=Hardpoint Nomad;36204828]I've had 3 years of NJROTC and my SNSI and NSI say my payscale will be upped a bit since I've had prerequisite training. I don't know if that has any impact on my rating though.[/QUOTE] You'll probably get a bump from E-1 to E-2/3. It'll semi impact your rating since you'll be ahead of the game going for PO3.

[QUOTE=Hardpoint Nomad;36204828]I've had 3 years of NJROTC and my SNSI and NSI say my payscale will be upped a bit since I've had prerequisite training. I don't know if that has any impact on my rating though.[/QUOTE] It won't have any impact on what rating you get. But it will be very helpful to you because 6 month' s after graduating Boot Camp you'll already be eligible to become an NCO(Non-Commissioned Officer) in your Rate(If you come in as an E3). That's a pretty good incentive to join the Navy if you ask me.

I saw some JROTC uniforms. They look like Russians.

[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;36205860]I saw some JROTC uniforms. They look like Russians.[/QUOTE] My company just wears the Khaki shirt and black pants, doesn't really look Russian.

I was in the Navy when they still wore the light blue shirt and dark blue pants and that stupid ass baseball cap(do they still wear it?). But I was a greenside Corpsman so I didn't wear that much and I've never been on a ship. I left right before the switch to it's current uniforms. Then I joined the Army as a tank crewman. Although My company ended up just being glorified infantry once we got to Iraq. The only time we used tanks was for BPs(Blocking Positions). As for Korea I've never been there myself but I know many people who have. I've heard from all of them "It is what you make of it" but for the most part they say it really sucks :P. If you're not into drinking, hookers, and partying then you probably won't like it too much. Also if you are there for only 2 weeks I doubt you're going there for super happy fun time anyways.

Way back when I enlisted, saw a tiny little scrawny kid at MEPS swearing in as a Marine. He was fucking tiny, too. Same day I saw this tank of a black man going through the physical, thought for sure he was going to be a Marine but turned out he was enlisting as Navy.

[QUOTE=Hardpoint Nomad;36208512]My company just wears the Khaki shirt and black pants, doesn't really look Russian.[/QUOTE] I'm talking about the stupid medals and rockers that they pin to their uniform. Fuck, 4-5 rows of ribbons at age 15?

[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;36210878]I'm talking about the stupid medals and rockers that they pin to their uniform. Fuck, 4-5 rows of ribbons at age 15?[/QUOTE] Some of the cadets actually try and shit, I mean I have 3 ribbons on my uniform; community service, AMI 10 score, and one year. Other cadets whom are actually going into the military like the ROTC program and want to do their best. But hey, to each their own.

[QUOTE=-Rusty-;36208910]I was in the Navy when they still wore the light blue shirt and dark blue pants and that stupid ass baseball cap(do they still wear it?). But I was a greenside Corpsman so I didn't wear that much and I've never been on a ship. I left right before the switch to it's current uniforms. Then I joined the Army as a tank crewman. Although My company ended up just being glorified infantry once we got to Iraq. The only time we used tanks was for BPs(Blocking Positions). As for Korea I've never been there myself but I know many people who have. I've heard from all of them "It is what you make of it" but for the most part they say it really sucks :P. If you're not into drinking, hookers, and partying then you probably won't like it too much. Also if you are there for only 2 weeks I doubt you're going there for super happy fun time anyways.[/QUOTE] rah devil doc, anyways. we don't wear those anymore. we wear the blue camoflauge that they wear in battleship. also, they got rid of the johnny cash's and we wear the naval service uniform now, which is basically a chief/officers service uniform but with black pants and a black garrisson cap (the jrotc kids wear 'em too).

Hey, I can't join the military because of my metabolic disorder, which apparently makes it too dangerous to have me do the intensive physical strains that are required in the military. Is there any other way that I can help? My parents have sent my medical record to just about every recruiter that I've ever talked to.

[QUOTE=Lord_Ragnarok;36216156]Hey, I can't join the military because of my metabolic disorder, which apparently makes it too dangerous to have me do the intensive physical strains that are required in the military. Is there any other way that I can help? My parents have sent my medical record to just about every recruiter that I've ever talked to.[/QUOTE] DOD contractor. No, not like Blackwater. Like the guys who work the front gate, or any other civilian job on bases really.

They're starting to get rid of those guys.

Any Marines here who have worked artillery?

Going to have an interview with the ROTC Battalion Commander. My recruiter told me that I was the only soon-to-be-cadets that went through Basic Training, and I'm the only cadet that is an infantryman. I can't believe I'm going to land into a group of fresh-out-of-highschool students that will have little to no military bearings and have never faced stress on a day-to-day basis. I'm wearing my blue cord like a proud motherfucker.

[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;36217861]Going to have an interview with the ROTC Battalion Commander. My recruiter told me that I was the only soon-to-be-cadets that went through Basic Training, and I'm the only cadet that is an infantryman. I can't believe I'm going to land into a group of fresh-out-of-highschool students that will have little to no military bearings and have never faced stress on a day-to-day basis. I'm wearing my blue cord like a proud motherfucker.[/QUOTE] How do you think I feel. I get to deal with the kids just out of boot/mct who were just out of highschool and either have so much "bearing" that they end everything with Aye and a rank or They're complete shit bags who didn't take a damn thing from bootcamp. Every week a new group comes in, and every week I want to ram their skulls through a wall.

@Caboose: So you've got a slight advantage over them... that's great I guess and maybe you can teach them something but you're still a boot.