Kssweeper28 2 the Army!
- Thread starter kssweeper28
- Start date
JustAnotherVictim said:
The surgeon general just released a new statement. "Death is the leading cause of loss of life. Next to Smoking, and PIITB of crazy bitches."
The only person who can and should make a decission on the matter is YOU. Maybe your family can give thier two cents...but definitely don't leave it up to jackasses like me to help you decide. The military can be a great thing for some people. It was fun while it lasted...almost like Boy Scouts w/ guns and explosives (And Chemical Weapons... 54B ...CDTF). Good luck with whatever you choose.
If you enlist, I wish you luck. I'd encourage you to examine all branches and pick the one that best fits you. I would also strongly advise you to take anything your recruiter says with a grain of salt... Treat them like you would a used car salesman -- most of what comes out of their mouths is bullshit
I was very close to enlisting after 9/11, but two close cousins of mine had recently been denied their discharge (even before 911). They had signed up for a certain-length of duty (4 years I believe), but were told that there was a policy of "stop loss" preventing them from leaving the service until they had a replacement (both were in the Army). One of them ended up being stuck for another 2 years. No sign-on bonus, no incentives, just "stick it out" at their current rate of pay. Didn't seem very just to me...
Basically the military will own you, and it has quantified the value of a soldiers life (verses, say, equipment). One of my father's duties in Vietnam, for example, was to drive a jeep on the dirt airstrip each morning. If the runway had been sabotaged with explosives overnight, it was better to loose a jeep and soldier rather than a cargo plane (and having mine sweepers go out each morning would take up too much time)...
On the other hand, there are tons of benefits too. My father's education was basically free once he got out, and he never would have been able to buy his first house right out of college without the military's help. The high-paid job he landed at a military contractor (within months of graudation) was only possible because he already had had security clearance.
So, do your research and I wish you the best.
I was very close to enlisting after 9/11, but two close cousins of mine had recently been denied their discharge (even before 911). They had signed up for a certain-length of duty (4 years I believe), but were told that there was a policy of "stop loss" preventing them from leaving the service until they had a replacement (both were in the Army). One of them ended up being stuck for another 2 years. No sign-on bonus, no incentives, just "stick it out" at their current rate of pay. Didn't seem very just to me...
Basically the military will own you, and it has quantified the value of a soldiers life (verses, say, equipment). One of my father's duties in Vietnam, for example, was to drive a jeep on the dirt airstrip each morning. If the runway had been sabotaged with explosives overnight, it was better to loose a jeep and soldier rather than a cargo plane (and having mine sweepers go out each morning would take up too much time)...
On the other hand, there are tons of benefits too. My father's education was basically free once he got out, and he never would have been able to buy his first house right out of college without the military's help. The high-paid job he landed at a military contractor (within months of graudation) was only possible because he already had had security clearance.
So, do your research and I wish you the best.
In 5 days, I separate from the Air Force after over 9 years of service. Many people, at that point, are ready to keep going because you are "almost halfway to retirement". I might kick myself in a few years, but I feel like I am doing the right thing. I just can't take the BS anymore. I like my job - the actual hands-on maintenance - but the politics, the insane rules and being punished for other stupid people's mistakes got old very quickly.
I don't want to steer you away - it just sounds like your recruiter is playing on your youth and enthusiasm a bit much. Saying that a humvee is near indestructable is luring you with a false sense of security, and that you get to run around shooting a gun is giving you a false sense of excitement.
IEDs are "improvised explosive devices" - basically, items put together to blow you up. It doesn't take much to make a bomb or booby-trap. In the middle-east, it's common and cheap. They are ingenious and can be inaccurate, but that does not mean that they do not work. They use things like simple timers and melting blocks of ice as fuses for detonation, and they don't care what gets the job done. They also do not follow any real rules in combat, so the enemy doesn't care if they are using certain chem/bio agents or hunting ammunition, or even glass in their explosives.
By the way, just because there are posts in 20 different countries does not mean you will visit them all. It doesn't even mean you will get to enjoy them, or see any of them. I've stopped overnight in some hellholes, and I've stayed for months in a few of them. Then again, I've stayed in a couple of nice places - for a night or two. Sometimes you are unlucky and have to sleep in an aircraft hangar or outside at one of those places that are considered "nice" [had to do that on base in Hawaii once].
Another thing to consider is, while you are in, those education benefits don't mean quite so much if you don't have the time to go to school. Let's put it this way: depending on what your squadron/battalion/etc is like, you will probably have to plan your schooling around deployment rotations, and be prepared to re-do a class when they decide that you WILL be going even though you are in the middle of a class. At least do the smart thing and put that money into the Montgomery GI Bill when they give you the opportunity to initially sign up for it - that way, if you didn't have time for schooling and are fed up after your enlistment is up, you will have that as one of your separation benefits.
It's a hard decision to enlist, and the lifestyle is not for everybody. I really hope that whatever decision you make, that you stay safe and enjoy the path as you walk it.
Beware the recruiter - he'll tell you what you want to hear. He has a job to do, and he's probably been doing it for awhile. Most of them do it well. We'll call it "smiling while stretching the truth", and he has one goal.
I don't want to steer you away - it just sounds like your recruiter is playing on your youth and enthusiasm a bit much. Saying that a humvee is near indestructable is luring you with a false sense of security, and that you get to run around shooting a gun is giving you a false sense of excitement.
IEDs are "improvised explosive devices" - basically, items put together to blow you up. It doesn't take much to make a bomb or booby-trap. In the middle-east, it's common and cheap. They are ingenious and can be inaccurate, but that does not mean that they do not work. They use things like simple timers and melting blocks of ice as fuses for detonation, and they don't care what gets the job done. They also do not follow any real rules in combat, so the enemy doesn't care if they are using certain chem/bio agents or hunting ammunition, or even glass in their explosives.
By the way, just because there are posts in 20 different countries does not mean you will visit them all. It doesn't even mean you will get to enjoy them, or see any of them. I've stopped overnight in some hellholes, and I've stayed for months in a few of them. Then again, I've stayed in a couple of nice places - for a night or two. Sometimes you are unlucky and have to sleep in an aircraft hangar or outside at one of those places that are considered "nice" [had to do that on base in Hawaii once].
Another thing to consider is, while you are in, those education benefits don't mean quite so much if you don't have the time to go to school. Let's put it this way: depending on what your squadron/battalion/etc is like, you will probably have to plan your schooling around deployment rotations, and be prepared to re-do a class when they decide that you WILL be going even though you are in the middle of a class. At least do the smart thing and put that money into the Montgomery GI Bill when they give you the opportunity to initially sign up for it - that way, if you didn't have time for schooling and are fed up after your enlistment is up, you will have that as one of your separation benefits.
It's a hard decision to enlist, and the lifestyle is not for everybody. I really hope that whatever decision you make, that you stay safe and enjoy the path as you walk it.
Beware the recruiter - he'll tell you what you want to hear. He has a job to do, and he's probably been doing it for awhile. Most of them do it well. We'll call it "smiling while stretching the truth", and he has one goal.
believe everything a recruiter tells you and volunteer for everything in basic training. have fun. don't worry, that 12 months in Iraq goes by really fast... a friend from my old AF unit was killed on 14Oct... i am sooooo glad to be done with that shit.
CTsupra
Supramania Contributor
On a related note: ABC news just busted more recruiters lying: http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_...g/20061103145309990002?ncid=NWS00010000000001