US military members/veterans

[May90]

I can't speak for the USAF, but in the army you can pick whatever job you want, provided you score well enough on the asvab

That's pretty sweet, nice!

Yup you'd have a hard time recruiting if your name went in a bucket and they pulled your MOS based on a piece of random paper.

"Oh damn Private Johnson, you wanted to be airbourne? Sorry bro you pulled mess hall cook. Oh well can't win them all."

It is somewhat like this in some countries with armies based on conscripts: you can point out your preferences, but in the end they can assign you to anything they please. Makes sense that in professional armies, where people enlist voluntarily, they can decide what position they want.

[TITAN308]

That's pretty sweet, nice!


It is somewhat like this in some countries with armies based on conscripts: you can point out your preferences, but in the end they can assign you to anything they please. Makes sense that in professional armies, where people enlist voluntarily, they can decide what position they want.

Yup, basically when you are required to join, you go where you are needed if you don't show the recruits some specific skill regarding what you want. When we DID draft here in the USA, you didn't get to pick. Chances are if you were a doctor and got drafted you stayed in that similar field. Oh you were a farmer? Welcome to infantry you no good grunt.

[Theinquisition]

Yup you'd have a hard time recruiting if your name went in a bucket and they pulled your MOS based on a piece of random paper.

"Oh damn Private Johnson, you wanted to be airbourne? Sorry bro you pulled mess hall cook. Oh well can't win them all."

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Here is the funny part, he was just a Specialist Photographer. His job was to record videos and make videos for the military.

http://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jo...pecialist.html

He is now a field cameraman and video editor with the #1 news station in Atlanta. Guy is making bank for the type of work he does. (not including his retirement and benefits)

*tears up*
I was airborne qualified

[Adam Jensen]

I'm curious. Do you have any say in what kind of duty you get, or is it primarily based on your assessment by the military officials and decided by them alone?

Both?

They try to give you what you want, but they'll put you in what they need if they have to.

Longer answer: Your recruiter knows what jobs the military currently needs and guides you to your best fit job if you don't go in already wanting a job. If there's a spot available and you qualify on the ASVAB, you'll get it. If not, you get what they give you.

[alzoron]

I'm technically a veteran, but don't qualify for anything and don't consider myself one or believe I'm entitled to anything. Enlisted in the Air Force but was separated before tech school for medical related issues.

[Adam Jensen]

I'm technically a veteran, but don't qualify for anything and don't consider myself one or believe I'm entitled to anything. Enlisted in the Air Force but was separated before tech school for medical related issues.

Yeah, I think, and don't quote me on this, qualifying is 180+ days consecutive active duty time (which is why my deployment is a big deal to me as a reservist) and it doesn't count Basic/Tech.

[shadowmouse]

Six years, US Army, with early release for Christmas. Half of that was in the US, and half in the BRD. Honorable discharge and technically disabled.

[alzoron]

Yeah, I think, and don't quote me on this, qualifying is 180+ days consecutive active duty time (which is why my deployment is a big deal to me as a reservist) and it doesn't count Basic/Tech.

Yeah, anything less that 180+ hours and the only thing you qualify for is a military funeral. So if I die alone and unloved I can get buried for free in an unmarked grave.

[daerellin]

8 years as an Army Information Systems Specialist (read: computer/network nerd). 4.5 years of that deployed in Uzbekistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Even us disgusting Signal pukes get attached to Infantry units

[notreckful]

Yeah, I think, and don't quote me on this, qualifying is 180+ days consecutive active duty time (which is why my deployment is a big deal to me as a reservist) and it doesn't count Basic/Tech.

I know at least in 1998-2000 the requirement to actually get VA benefits was a full two years active service, but since there's been so many increases with other veterans benefits and the GI bill improved etc since then, I wouldn't be surprised if they shortened that requirement. But yeah, I believe that you're still considered a "Veteran" even if you have a single day of active service.

I joined the military when I was 18 because the area I am from became super-expensive when I was a young kid, my parents already had housing and all that figured out but by the time I got out of high school, without the option to stay home with parents, there was no actual options to me aside from enlisting or moving somewhere far away, the latter of which is a much more confusing and almost impossible-seeming task for an 18-year-old. The gap between what jobs paid and how much you needed to make to live was just so huge that there really was no other option open to me, not that I could see anyway. I hated it the whole time I was in but in retrospect, it was a good experience. And most people in the military are never in any direct combat kind of situations, for the people that think the fact they wouldn't want to ever kill someone precludes service.

It is bizarre how nobody seems to know about how OPEC works anymore, it used to be something that was taught to kids in middle school because it is literally the one thing that makes us the richest country on the planet, it's why we have the standard of living we have, it's why a dollar is worth a dollar and not half as much... and having a massive military capable of quickly responding to threats worldwide is what makes it possible.

Basically, most of the world's largest oil producers/exporters join this group called OPEC, and the general agreement is this- you only sell oil exports in U.S. Dollars (regardless of what your own currency is, or the currency of who you are selling it to) and in exchange, should anybody try to take by force or otherwise threaten your oil wells, the U.S. Military is obliged to protect them for you.

A lot of people criticize this, "No Blood For Oil" was a big anti-war slogan during the first Gulf War, and as a result it kind of fell out of style to ever publicly cite OPEC as the reason we were entering some conflict. I believe it was also taken out of the curriculum at most public schools, so now people just don't understand why we seem to be fighting all these "pointless" wars and why the high military spending we have is justified etc.

The massive and constant global demand for USD created by OPEC drives up the value of the dollar tremendously, it makes all of our military spending look like a drop in the bucket. Everybody who gets paid in U.S. Dollars benefits from it... without OPEC, those Dollars wouldn't be worth even half as much as they are, and without a massive military, OPEC wouldn't work. It's really basic stuff that every American should understand, I think it is a shame that it's not explained to people any more, and that so few understand it, considering it's not a difficult concept to grasp once it's explained.

[Gamdwelf]

Says the guy whining everyday about how he can't get a job and how depressed he is. Lol.

Anyway, I was a 15u, Chinook repairer. Served from 2003 til 2014.

Went to Iraq 3 times. I miss te circus, but I don't miss the clowns.


I'm sure we will have plenty of college age posters telling us about how dumb we are, or blah blah blah.

To them I say, enjoy your crushing student debt. Im finishing my undergrad this year in better financial shape then when I started.

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Indeed

I had job offers to fix military aircraft in afganistan and Qatar for upwards of 160k a year, but decided to do school instead.

Uh you on crack? I'm on track to retire by 45ish.

[Chetnik]

8 years as an Army Information Systems Specialist (read: computer/network nerd). 4.5 years of that deployed in Uzbekistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Even us disgusting Signal pukes get attached to Infantry units

Sorry to hear that bro. I was also signal and deployed with a signal company, and it was mostly good. Besides having to do airfield defense for a month, we just did our jobs everyday. We had a crazy long shift though: 12hrs per day, and one day off per week. That's a 72 hour work week, but night shift made that time go by so much easier and faster.

[Adam Jensen]

I know at least in 1998-2000 the requirement to actually get VA benefits was a full two years active service, but since there's been so many increases with other veterans benefits and the GI bill improved etc since then, I wouldn't be surprised if they shortened that requirement. But yeah, I believe that you're still considered a "Veteran" even if you have a single day of active service.

They must have changed it because they were pretty explicit during the VA brief that we were all returning with VA status.

And while you might be able to call yourself a "veteran" with only one day of service, most benefits require much more than that. Even the GI Bill is, I think, 90+ days of consecutive service, non-Basic/Tech school.

[Theinquisition]

Uh you on crack? I'm on track to retire by 45ish.

Sure you are kiddo.

If I had a nickel for every time you've whined about how ugly, depressed, and unemployed you are, I could buy a big mac

[TITAN308]

Sure you are kiddo.

If I had a nickel for every time you've whined about how ugly, depressed, and unemployed you are, I could buy a big mac

I wonder if posters honestly think after they write something, that it vanishes after some period of time? lol

[Deleted]

Uh you on crack? I'm on track to retire by 45ish.

Good for you, keep buying those lottery tickets and you will win for sure!

[bladeXcrasher]

9yrs 6mon 14 days in the Navy, Submarines. I never had to shoot anyone, but we did practice nuking various countries weekly.

[TITAN308]

9yrs 6mon 14 days in the Navy, Submarines. I never had to shoot anyone, but we did practice nuking various countries weekly.

I've been told subs have some of the absolute best food. True?

[bladeXcrasher]

I've been told subs have some of the absolute best food. True?

Yes, it is true. When you are stuck in what equates to a sewer pipe capped at both ends, food is about the only thing that you can use to keep moral hugh. Halfway nights we always had prime rib and crab legs. Fridays divisions would sign up and make pizza for the rest of the crew. Makes for a very tight community. I have 2 guys I served with that live in the Houston area and 3 more live in Dallas.

[TITAN308]

Yes, it is true. When you are stuck in what equates to a sewer pipe capped at both ends, food is about the only thing that you can use to keep moral hugh. Halfway nights we always had prime rib and crab legs. Fridays divisions would sign up and make pizza for the rest of the crew. Makes for a very tight community. I have 2 guys I served with that live in the Houston area and 3 more live in Dallas.

Crab legs...

/drool