So, I was just in Albany to do MEPS for the Navy. After taking the ASVAB (Got a 90) and completing the physical (Perfect Health) I was hoping they would tell me that they had an open CB slot. Not so lucky. My recruiter encouraged me to just sign the contract and go DEP for 12 months, and he would see what he could do during that time. I decided I'd rather wait until the contract said CB. Now, I'm looking at the Air Force's RED HORSE units, and it seems to be the next best thing to being a CB. Since the only response I'm getting from recruiters from either branch is "I don't know", I was wondering if anyone on these boards had an idea of how difficult it is to get a slot for either. I know this is a better question for the recruiters to answer, but they always wind up dancing around it and talking about being 'open-minded' and using the words 'I don't know' constantly.
In the Army you can get a guaranteed contract. I'm pretty sure you can't in the Air Force. Your ship date if you did get in the Air Force would be something like a year out too. They are in the midst of a drawdown, and so is the Navy. The Army is taking combat engineers; in fact I just graduated with a few dozen in my BCT Company. Look into it. A few guys who went reserve got big bonuses too, around 20k.
Yesterday I had my first Muay Thai fight, the guy I was fighting came at me with a ferocity that I had never gotten from people in my gym. After parrying some of his straight jabs, and leg kicking him pretty good a few times he was still coming strong. He got me cornered and caught me with a left hook to the neck and sent me to the mat, ref called it because I looked "glassy eyed". Why did I post this in god bless the military and not in the rant section? Found out that the guy just came off a 7 year tour with the marines. They must teach you how to do some pretty good brawlin' there. Props to all you guys/girls who are in the armed services.
13 weeks at MCRD Parris Island starts tomorrow. I'd like to thank everyone on this board for all the advice and support they've given me over this past year, I really appreciate it.
Good luck Devil. Keep your head up and listen to your DI's, don't ever backtalk them or prepare to be destroyed. It's a tough few months but well worth it when they hand you your EGA. And most of all, have fun.
Any Army recruiters out there or anybody with any knowledge of former soldiers who left the service and want to come back in? Just wondering how much time I have before I lose rank or have to go back to basic. Thanks.
Happy birthday Army. I celebrated by flying the shit out of one of your multimillion dollar flying machines. Ate lunch at a fly in diner and then did a two ship low fly by for all the folks. Still looking good at 235.
I was in an Army Combat Engineer (Sapper) battalion for 4 years, didn't deploy with them though, and will be transferring to another when I move later this summer. I you gain interest in this route I can answer it. FYI in the Army and Marines, I don't know about Navy/AF (it is worth looking into), 90% of modern CE deployments are route clearance which is basically going really slow looking for IEDs.
I'm currently in the Guard, but I'm pretty sure active duty is the same, they stopped making prior service Army/MC repeat basic a few years ago, now you have to attend a two or three week course, I think its called Warrior Transition Course (but they change the names all the fucking time). I think the time is 2-3 years and you will usually have to repeat AIT if you have been out 3-5 years based on the MOS, but you won't get fucked with as bad there is literally a reg that says you can not treat IET and prior service the same. The guys I know that attended WTC and repeated AIT said they were nothing but drunk fests and all the Drills cared about was that they stayed away from (i.e. didn't drink w/ or fuck) the IETs
All services have guaranteed contracts, I would not suggest signing any contract unless it is guaranteed. Your wait to ship will depend on what skills that particular service needs at that time as well as the length of that training program. You are correct, AF Red Horse is similar to Sea Bees, however its a type of unit, not a specific career field. Upon completion of your technical training, you could end up working in a standard CE squadron at any AF base maintaining the base infrastructure. You will have input into where you go, but bottom line, it'll come down to where the AF needs you most.
Took my Emergency Procedures exam today and missed two questions resulting in a 95%. Currently I'm done with 3 of 5 Cockpit Procedure Trainers which have covered about 70% of the EP's I'll need to know while flying. Kinda fucking sucks because we have 6 day ops this week, so I'll be in tomorrow at 930 again to do yet another CPT...good thing the Civilians have had enough of this 6 day work week and are up in arms about it, I don't blame them: 6 days a week, 12 hours per day is kind of a lot of shit to do. On another note, I check into my training squadron next Wednesday and I'll hopefully have my first Familiarization Flight (Fam 0) on Friday.
Meet General Amos, the very first Marine Corps Aviator Commandant. Huge step in Marine Corps history seeing as every other Commandant has been an Infantry Officer. Semper Fi!!
As far as I know, the Army is the only service that has veterinarians...but even that is a bit of a misnomer. Enlisted "vets" mostly inspect food for contaminants but I do know there are actual licensed veterinary doctors in the Army too. They help care for military animals, and I've personally dealt with a couple that helped us with our dolphins. As for whether or not they have walk-in clinics you'd have to ask some of the boys in green on the board.
Just finished my first block of 4 flights in the T-34c Turbo Mentor. I flew about 8 hours total in mostly sunny and clear weather with some cloud dodging doing a variety of different maneuvers. These include power off stalls, level speed changes, aproach turn stalls, and outlying field landings (got about 18 total landings in). There is A LOT to do while I am flying such as actually operating the controls to stay in the air, trimming for level flight (which is a huge part), performing maneuvers, talking on the radio, and explaining what I'm doing to my backseat instructor. Lots of friction when trying to transition into the different maneuvers, as each has it's own specific starting configuration, steps involved, and ending configuration. Landing is not as difficult as it would seem, just have to get into what we call "the groove", which is about 10 seconds before we land we have a mental picture of the landing area in front of us and have to make it as perfect as possible. I'm supposed to be getting instrument training now, which is just flying with nothing but looking at the instruments, but they kinda fucked me over and threw me into a different block of flights which involve much more advanced stuff like spins, skidded turn stalls, Emergency landing patterns, and basic aerobatics. It really sucks because I'm not prepared at all for briefing the flight tomorrow morning as I was expecting the instrument stuff. Just gotta roll with the punches. If anyone wants more detailed info, just shoot me a PM.
I leave for Air Force BMT in about 2 months. I just quit smoking, and I've started a new workout regimen as well as changing my diet so I can actually get in decent shape before I go. My job is going to be Aerospace Propulsion 2A6X1 Any tips I should know of that will help me get through Basic or things I should between now and when I leave that will help me get prepared for when I leave?
RUN! Run as much as you can before you leave for basic, that helped me out. Other than that when you actually get there my best advice is keep your head down and do what your told. When I went through 3 years ago it was only 6 1/2 weeks but they have increased it 2 weeks since, but I am sure you already knew that. When it comes to jobs though I was the alternate guidon bearer it was a cake walk all I really had to do was make sure the actual guidon bearer was on point and I was left alone. Shaving was a big issue for me at first since mine grew out pretty thick, not peach fuzz like a lot of the other guys. I would say if they cant search your personal locker get a mach 3 or something like it other wise you will cut the shit out of yourself when they are rushing you to shave. I should let you know I was told by my T.I. to buy those single blade razors because you can trash them after one use and always have clean ones, the only problem with those are is I cut the shit out of my face because of how fast I had to shave. Theres more I could tell you but for now these are just the few things that really helped me out.
Just to second that, RUN! Try not to stand out at all in your flight...listen to everything your T. I. says, because if you start jacking up, he will single you out and make you an example for everyone else. Study all your memory work/class notes as well.
Update: Doing instrument training now, and I got to sit in the back seat and be a navigator for my flights today. Went to a working area that was half the size it should be because of clouds and an Air Force base to the west. All of my procedures got cut short because of the size of the area. Oh, my oxygen mask wasn't working, so we couldn't climb above 10,000 ft as per Naval standards. Anywho, we land from our first flight, go eat and come back to the airport and prep for the takeoff. Starter doesn't work. Awesome. We're stuck in the middle of fucking nowhere, and our plane is broken. Luckily after about 3 hours, we somehow get it to start, so we come straight home skipping the procedures because it's just a bad situation.
I have a very general question that will probably have me looking like a fuckwit to you guys with experience, but I assume I'll get better advice here than from a recruiter: Would I be retarded to join the army before starting my sophmore year of college? I'm tired of how shallow of an experience it has been thus far, want to see the world, want structure and would like for my pricey as balls schooling to be partially paid for. Any advice I get (even if it's ragging on me) is very very very much appreciated.
Most people don't know what they want to do at our age (if I was in college I would at this point be entering junior year) so signing up for a job for the next 2 or more years of your life is a pretty big deal. Look into other options as well as the military. The biggest mistake I made after high school was looking into nothing else aside from college. When I was growing up it was ingrained in me that I would be going to college no matter what and that's what I did for 2 semesters full semesters and part of a third one before I withdrew. I hated class in high school and I really didn't enjoy the being in class part of college so much either so I did terrible. I'll paraphrase some of the advice my close friends that are in the military (I'm in Air Force DEP) have given to me. No matter how much you look into joining the service, there is always going to be things that you didn't know that you will wish you had known before joining. Some people get what they want with their first job, other have to cross train into other jobs or other branches, and some people are better off just not looking back after they get off of active service. No matter how thoroughly you take advantage of all the benefits presented to you by being in the military Uncle Sam is going to get several times more out of you than you get from him. Be prepared to be sent anywhere in the world where you are needed. The thing they told me that both emphasized as being very important was that if you feel a genuine desire to serve your country through military service you are already off to a good start. People who want to serve make better service members and are generally happier than the people who are doing it purely for the benefits.