US ARMY
 

I'v started to talk to a Army Recruiter about Enlisting. So i'll be going to take the ASVAB in a few months so i'm good and ready to pass at a high score. Can you guys tell me some story's of BCT and MEPS? Just so i know what i'm getting my self into? I'v heard a ton of stories but would like to hear more. My uncle seems happy because he was in 11B and i might go for that.


Thanks
-Wes

I'll PM you later tonight about my experience and feelings of todays army.

Thanks V.



-Wes

It all depends on your Asvab on how your career in the military will go. If you score High you will qualify for the better jobs the military has to offer, if you score low you will get the crappy jobs. Just remember its your decision. Dont let the recruiter push you. He has numbers to fill each month and they will throw signing bonuses at you to try to get there numbers filled. Most of the bonuses are for crap jobs that when you get out you wont have anything of value for a outside job.

I was lucky. I scored a 69 on the asvab and that got me into the electronic engineering field in the Navy. I worked on Jets. My 1st year in the Navy was nothing but schools.I did 9 yrs in active and got out and got a great paying job as a engineer in with Abbott Labs based off of my military career. I have a GED and no college when I got my job. Now I am going for a engineering degree and the college took 28 credits from my military schools I had and used those credits as transfer credits which got rid of 8 classes.

There are people I know who signed up for infrantry to be a grunt. Thats all they wanted to do. In the navy I had buddies sign up to build bombs. They just want to blow **** up. Now that they are out of the military they are unemployed or working @ Burger King.

Bottom line be smart. The military looks at you as a number that is all. Once you sign that contract you help fill there quota. I would check with the Navy, and airforce as well to see what jobs they offer. You can go back to the army and say the Navy is offering me this can you match there offer or not? Dont feel dedicated to one branch.

Yea i'm going in with a GED and i just want to score high so i can have some better choices. Well the Recruiter was nice and i was upfront about how they play there games. So she kind of backed off with the BS. :kneeslap: I'm more wanting to be a gunner on a hmmwv or M1A1 Abrams.

Thanks
-Wes

I am not a military man but I have heard from many people that what's in red is the most important thing. Do not sign up for the "fun stuff you do in Call of Duty" because you will have to do something after you are out.

Call of duty haha i'v gotten a'lot of that too. But either look for something in the military that will help me in the job world or get out and go to college. Seems legit and thanks for all the help.


-Wes

Join the Air Force, get paid to do less.

In all seriousness, think of jobs that will directly translate into the civilian world. What are you going to do if realize you don't like the Army as a Machine Gunner in 4 years? There aren't any jobs you can slide into after that? At an interview, Immediate Action & Remedial Action drills aren't valuable skills. BTW those aren't even actual MOS's in the Military. Gunners can be anyone, I've been a gunner on a convoy and I'm just a camera man...

I've been in the Marines for almost 3 years now as a Combat Camera man, the Military isn't a place for free thinkers like myself, and I plan to get out at the end of my 5 year contract, but I can get out with an honorable discharge and my job will carry over directly into the civilian world. Thats the main reason I joined. I hope Ian can chime in as he just completed his first deployment as a Grunt, he can tell you the nitty gritty. I've been in Afghanistan for 9 months, but I live a pretty cushy day to day with intermittent trips outside the wire.

You dont even have to wait to get out to go to college.. You can go part time while you are in with tuition assistance. If you score high on the asvab then take a job that has the most training involved with it. Since those jobs are harder to get into the advancement in rank will be easier and the reinlistment bonuses will be higher if you want to stay. Same works with the ****** jobs because no one wants to stay in those fields so the Military will offer reinlistment bonus as well for those jobs just to try to get you to stay..

Meps for me was just a bunch of Doctors looking over me to make sure I was fit for duty and for when you raise your right hand to swear to defend the Constitution.

I dont know how the Army works it but in the Navy I had my full time job which was a Aviation Electronics Tech and we also had Collatoral Duties ( Part time Jobs). Mine on land was training and Tool Control in the workspace. I made sure that everyone in the Shop ( 60 Sailors) were all up to date with there training and that all the toolss in the Shop were in good working condition. When I was deployed I still did the same main job as a Electronics tech but my Part time job was a .50 Cal gunner and Damage Control locker. So we practiced with the .50 cal a couple times a week and during General QTRS I would go to either to my Gun Mount or a Damage Control locker depending on what my boss needed me at. My point is you want to be a Gunner but maybe in the Army you do that as a part time thing Like I did it in the Navy.

Basic Training I hear is a cake walk now compared to when I went through it in 1999. Now you get 8hrs of sleep a night. Back then we were lucky to get 4 hrs a night. The Hardest part of boot camp for me was the mental part. I had no problem running or doing pushups just the mental part of them trying to break you down by what ever means they could. The Drill instructors will find your weakness and try to exploit it. They will try the physical aspect @ 1st to determine who has some weakness there then for me it was the folding everything perfect and military bearing that I struggled with @ 1st.

Go into Basic Knowing your Chain of command, all your military ranking, knowing who to salute and who not to, and have your General Orders Memorized before you go. Everything is done uniform. Your laces on you shoe/boots are laced right over left, your Racks ( beds) sheets are folded @ a 45 degree angle, ECT.. Everything is done precise.

For me the only two that i would join is Marines or Army. If the USAF lets me fly a F-22 fine and if the Navy lets me be on a Sub then cool. But Marines or Army is the way i'd like to go.


Thanks
-Wes

re-read my edited post. You really need to find out what jobs are available, what you qualify and take it a little more seriously than "I want to shoot machine guns". Like I said I'm a Combat Camera man, I've been to my MOS School as a Videographer, I run my own shop doing two other MOS's on top of my own (Photography & Graphics) I've been to Basic Machine Gunners Course, Land Nav, and am going back to my MOS school for Intermediate Video and Digital Media classes.

If you score above a 80 on the asvab then you will be qualified for Nuke School and could be on a Sub if you want. Flying I believe the Airforce is just like the Navy, you have to be a officer to fly.

Great point there. Whenever they offer you a different school for a Different MOS ( navy calls it rate) jump all over it. Those schools are great on you Evaluations for promotions and everything you do in the Military Schooling/Trainging wise has College credits attached to it. I was offered so much in my 1st 4 years and I didnt take none of it. I thought I was gonna do 4 and get out but I made E5 and realized I could do another 5 yrs @ least and make E7. I made E6 right before I got out but if I would have jumped on those schoolings and training the Navy offered me @ the begining I would have been a E7 and probably still in the Navy.

If you have any questions about anything just ask us. I hope I am not boring you or just blabbing to much..

I'll text him, but I already know what he'll say.

That's just what i would like to do is be a gunner i'm sorry if i offended you in anyway. But i have to say a gunner would be my number one choice now thinking about it. Everyone here has great advice and i thank all of you.

What goals do you have for the army? It sounds like you just want to go shoot **** and blow **** up. Thats fine but you also have to ask yourself what goals do you have for your life after the army? Make the Army whatever you want it to be. If you are just happy with being a grunt then thats great.

I look back on my 9 yrs and saw a whole bunch of missed opertunities I could have taken advantage of. I used the Navy as a stepping stone to a good job afterwards but I could be making double in the real world if I would have taking some of the training the Navy offered me.

I do not simply want to blow **** up or shoot **** up i want to serve my country and because i would like to better myself at the same time. I would like to get out of the army knowing i helped the people of the US and helped myself out. I might end up at a crap job but i Accomplished a life Goal being in the military. So what i'v learned so far is a'lot of very helpful advice.

Another voice for getting some skills applicable for real life. The company I work for just hired 3 or 4 new guys, all ex military and all with service/repair/diagnostic skills. If you can get a set of technical skills, you make yourself pretty useful for civilian work.

Not implying this is your motivation towards joining but I overheard a man in the auto store last night talking about his son just finishing boot camp. Apparently he joined because he wants to kill people and be a sniper. If I wasn't wearing my work clothes I would have turned to him and told him what I thought.

Nope i don't want to go in and kill people you have to be pretty nuts to do that. I have my reasoning of joining i'm not one of those kind of people who just think of something to do when they get bored. I'v wanted to join for a few years now and i feel that if i don't join soon i will never join. I'm putting 100% into this and not getting understanding why everyone just thinks i'm going into kill people.


Thanks
-Wes

maybe because of this?


FWIW what I hear from all the guys in this thread is use the military as much as they use you. get any & all training they offer that in somehow relates to the outside world. That GED you have (I assume that means you quit school) won't take you very far.

Good luck and thank you for serving if you do indeed enlist in any of our fine armed forces.

Wes,

Based on the responses and how I read them, it's not so much that people think you are just going to go in and be a killer, it's moreso that people want you to look past your career in the armed forces and see what you want to do then. If your chosen path leaves you with no advantages after your service you will regret it (as stated and implied).

And no disrespect to anyone or anything but what's in red is not a great way of looking at things IMO. Do you really think that thought will make you happy in 20 years if you are still struggling in a dead-end low-paying job? Somehow I doubt it.

I sometimes wonder how well I would do on those tests, although I'm a bit past 40 and have no actual interest, even as an officer...

unless you plan on making the military your career I suguest making sure you score high enough to get experience in a field you want to be in afterwards

I'm on the get a pogey job and let it translate into a well paying career after you get out train, the Air Force would also be a great place to look into for technical jobs..and you earn a nice chunk of college credits too for tech school!

If I may ask, where does your uncle stand job wise after serving as an infantryman?