As a cavet I'm a National Guard vet of 10yrs. I would say go for it, you are young, with nothing to tie you down and probably have some "crazy" in you. I would also highly suggest that, if you don't trying for anything SOC, you get a guaranteed duty station outside of the US. Get out your crazy by training your ass off, deploying, then blowing all your money on booze and loose women in a far off place. On a serious note I had to deploy during college and found that post-Iraq I did a ton better in college just because of the forced maturity, most of my friends who have done the same agree. You would also join a special subset of the population that the rest look up to and wish they could join. I honestly believe that deep down most men really wish they could have had the balls to serve. I don't look down on non-vets, but the number of times I have heard "I would have joined, but..." Plus the new GI Bill is pretty fucking good, even if you're at a private school google "Yellow Ribbon Scholarship Program"
You make it seem very appealing for my situation. And yeah, having some "crazy" fits me pretty well. I'm still very out of shape from an injury awhile back but I can work on that with a delayed contract. I'll head over to a recruiters office in the next couple of days and post what I hear.
I should also add. If you want to finish college in a timely manner avoid the Reserves/Guard. You will be deployed, sometimes on short notice, and the Army and your chain of command gives 2 shits about you being in school especially if you haven't deployed. It took me 12 semesters to graduate, I was pulled out 1/2 way through 2 and missed 5-10 days of 5 others for training/state missions on top of the usual 1 weekend a month, two weeks a year and the bullshit of being a platoon sergeant. As an example I started school at 19 graduated at 26 and was at Mob Site for tour #2 five weeks later. This was NOT an outlier, of my battalion about a dozen in my battalion were in the same situation (as in multiple tours barely graduated or had 1-3 semesters left).
Signed my Navy contract in Albany yesterday, I'm going to be a CM in the Seabees. Shipping date is August 2nd next year, but if someone drops their slot there's a chance I could take their place. I want to thank everyone who helped by giving me information, it helped a lot, and I appreciate it.
Ok quick question for everyone here. I have a little brother that is in the Marine Corp. I didn't get him anything when he graduated from OCS or TBS, and was thinking of buying him a quality pistol. I am under the impression that personal sidearms is a no go when deployed, but some people have told me that many people carry off the books personal sidearms. Any experience? Thanks
Ladies, gentlemen, and Justin Beaver fans alike...I, after 2.5 months of work, have finally solo'd the mighty T-34c!!
Great idea. Joe loves guns, you might even be able to get it personalized pretty cheap. There is very little chance of him carrying it in the Box as personal firearms are a big no-go and if he lives on base he will theoretically have to store it in the Arms Room. If you see examples of non issued weapons they are probably early Iraq/Afgan before the garrison BS started or SOF.
I'm currently going through the process of joining the Navy, trying to get in as a Nuke and have read through the thread but would still appreciate some advice from everyone. I passed my medical waiver by divine intervention but am currently faced with the age restriction. I will be turning 25 at the end of the month and as I have been told by my recruiter (grain of sand) it is almost impossible to get an age waiver. He told me a guy with a 99 on the ASVAB he was unable to get a contract and apparently waivers take forever. If anyone could offer some advice or maybe an alternative to the nuke program I would really appreciate it.
Recruiters are always hard up for nukes, so if its possible he'll make it happen. But Navcruitcom takes forfuckinever for everything. So yeah, be prepared to wait. But then again, in this economy it takes forever to get a seat in class for most any rating. So either way...stand by. I was never a nuke, so take this with a large grain of salt, but I can tell you this... Every single nuke I've known has hated it. Be prepared to stand entire watches doing nothing but staring at pressure gauges and what not. Imagine doing that shit for the 6 years they'll lasso you for. you'll be set once you separate, though. As for other fields, it all depends on your interests and desires. What was your asvab? But if you qualify for nuke you should have your choice of rates, more or less. I'm a spook, and spent time as an airdale as well. Should you have questions on those (or anything navy, really), pm me.
Just did my first tie-cutting. Everyone who solo'd the aircraft in the past few weeks, which was like 8 people, participated. We had to get up in front of everyone and tell a story about our instructor that was supposed to be funny or else we got fined and had to pay some money. Obviously my story was the best and everyone else's pretty much sucked...but that's cuz I kinda talked about my instructors daughter who is a freshman at the same college I went to. Anywho, there were some laughs, ties cut, and beer drank, and ended up being a pretty good time. Also, I just finished precision Aerobatics. The Blue Angel shit!! Awesome loops, barrel rolls, and combinations of both were some of the greatest flight's I've had. I move on to formation flying with another guy, so we'll be flying about 10 ft apart the whole time...kinda of scary as shit. After 5 flights of that, I get thrown into a classroom to learn about weather and more advanced instrument flying for a month. Then my cross country flights and I'm done and move on to Jet or Helo school!!!
Gah, the fucking Blue Angels. They're always strafing my barracks, for some reason. Back when I was in another barracks, they strafed that one too. And then I moved here, and they decided to switch to this one. For the board: I'm currently stuck in sunny humid Pensacola, learning intermediate-level avionics. For anyone who wants to join the Corps, if you aren't one of the KILL KILL KILL 'EM ALL types who would never be happy with anything but infantry, avionics is freaking awesome. So is air traffic control, but my recruiter couldn't get that for me. I'm still bitter about that.
Has anyone else been watching Discovery Channel's Surviving The Cut? This is an awesome show, I found it online here.
After 13 weeks of hell I finally graduated from Parris Island. What I was wondering is if there's any Marines on this board that could help me out with a few uniform related questions. I lost close to 40 pounds down there, so right now my utility blouse and trousers, and service trousers are just huge on me. Are there any reliable sites online people recommend for buying them? I think my best bet is a tailor for the service uniforms, but I'm not sure whether or not I should wait until after MCT to get new utilities or not. Also any recommendations on a good pair of boots, boot socks, skivvies, and any general advice for a new Marine, any places to avoid, duty assignments to try to get etc. Thank you and Semper Fi.
PM sent, there are a bunch of Military guys on here, so we can be your unofficial book of knowledge. Good on you, and keep your head high, you have joined the ranks of the fiercest and most dedicated fighting force on the planet.
Just got done with my first night flight. It was pretty boring but kind of relaxing in that I didn't have to do much at all during, just keep the plane in the air. I have my second one tomorrow night, so hopefully it'll be more fun. On a separate note, my formation partner had to take emergency leave halfway through our flight schedule, so I'm kind of stalledin training for the time being until the schedulers figure something out. Probably end up flying with some random instructors until I finish this phase. And as of now, I have about 2 more months left till graduation and platform selection. This equates to maybe a week of classes, 20 ish sims, 12 ish flights, and a cross country. Sweet.
I'll say this in public just in case anyone else has the same problem. Hopefully you're still here. MCT will DESTROY your cammies. When you're out in the field, you don't do laundry, shower, or anything else (It's BWT for two weeks). Hell, half the time you aren't even showering or doing laundry at Geiger, because the washing machines are broken and there's about three showerheads for 100 people. When you get to your MOS school, look for what's called a "604" Form - you can turn in any of your uniform items, including service uniforms, that are either unserviceable or too big / small, and get free replacements. From what I've heard from my friends, you can also do this with your boots. If you can tolerate it, wear as few pairs of cammies as you can during MCT. Above all, keep one pair clean for when you get to MOS school. You don't want to get off the bus, change into cammies, and look like you've been in Iraq for the last six months. If you can't avoid it at all, wash the shit out of a pair so you don't smell like ass. Same thing with your boots. If you can, use the absolutely destroyed boots you have from boot camp. Don't wear the boots your DIs made you save for final drill; those will come in handy later on. As for general advice, learn how to lead. MCT leadership is nothing but a headache, (you're the instructors' bitch, just like boot camp) but later on, platoon sergeants and class leaders are setting themselves up for success. Not from the brownie points that the instructors give you, but just general skills in leading Marines. If you're a leader early on, you'll be considered leader material when you go off to wherever you go. Don't fuck with the UCMJ. Most of the time, your sergeants will just fuck you up themselves, (more duty, ass-chewing, etc) but if you do something really stupid that they can't deal with in-house, you're getting NJPed and put on restriction. Restriction is a month and a half of sitting in a room with no door and staring at the wall all day long. You don't want that. Other than that, it's not hard. You'll hear this hundreds of times from NCOs - "Show up on time, in the proper uniform of the day, and looking like you give a shit." Do those three things, and you're already ahead of 75% of the Marines around you. Finally, when you get off the taxi for MCT, don't say "Aye PFC" and "Aye lance corporal" to the guys helping you get where you need to go. They'll laugh at you. You only address someone by their rank when they're a corporal or higher. Yes, it sounds obvious when I put this on the Internet, but then again you just spent three months calling everyone Sir and Ma'am, including the PFC at Supply who hates his life. Good luck. I had a lot of fun at MCT.
I kind of feel like a choad for posting this here since I'm not a soldier, but I'm not quite sure where it would be most appropriate. I want to preface this by restating I am NOT in the military. I am a US Army Corps of Engineers civilian. I am deploying to Afghanistan for 12 months in a couple of weeks. I will be traveling by chopper (ground convoy travel is considered too dangerous for non-combatants unless absolutely necessary) from FOB to FOB doing contractual oversight on a bunch of USACE projects. My main home will be FOB Tombstone. Is anyone here familiar with it? I understand that it is a smaller, more isolated FOB - know of anything I should bring with me? You know, stuff that I might need immediately, that can't wait for me to get someone to send it? Maybe this is unfounded since I'll be a Fobby. I know it's not like I'll be stationed in one of these combat outposts that have real trouble getting the things they need and are under daily fire (I was told Tombstone generally just gets the odd rocket/mortar/small arms attack). I guess I'm just starting to feel a little anxiety and feeling like I was prepared would chill me the fuck out some. Probably all this Personnel Recovery and SERE 100 training getting my pussy ass worked up over nothing.
I have a meeting with the Coast Guard next Wednesday. I have a college degree, but if they accept me it will be for enlistment. I am supposed to bring all my important documents (birth certificate, driver's license, diplomas, etc) with me. I have a few questions for anybody who may be able to answer them: Will they try to get me to sign up right away? They told me that they don't hire reservists out of Atlanta. Will they try hard to get me to enlist without exploring other opportunities with them? How hard is it to pass boot camp, and what will happen if I don't? What is life like in the Coast Guard? I haven't been able to land a steady job, so I am wondering if it will be worth it. Thanks!