thoughts on joining the ARMY

[bogie]

Guys, remember that MOST of the Army is not an adventure... They tell half the 11bangbang fellows that they're going to get to apply for jump school, etc., etc... Yeah, and when these recruiters retire, they're going to be selling used cars, and screaming about how all credit applications will be considered. Doesn't mean that you have a chance in hell of going to jump school, much less passing. And you sure ain't gonna be special forces or a ranger without passing a BUNCH of hurdles.

Sign up for a specific job. Something other than defusing crap, okay? There's a big bonus for that one, but they only give half of it to you before you start, and a lot of folks don't collect the other half...

 

[plexreticle]

I'm sure this will seen as flame bait but this is my opinion based on over 20 years spent in the military working with all of the uniform services:

-If you want to go combat arms join the Marines.
-If you want to stay out of the s*** and learn a trade join the AirForce or Navy.
-If you want idiots in charge of your life join the Army.

 

[KABA]

If your're joining the military as a career move; or for what you can gain from the experience; then you're joinng for the wrong reasons.

Joining the military should be something you do because you want to serve some purpose higher than your own needs and desires. It is all about self-sacrifice.

The best of luck to you and whatever decesion you make.

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

I joined the Army in '81 and left a little cotton farming town south of Athens Georgia. I went back to that cotton farming town 15 years later, (still in the Army) and this is what I discovered.
People remained the same.
Some got college degrees only to go back doing just what they were doing.
Very few recognized me.
I got the impression that the little town changed. It didn't, I did and for the better. The influence you receive while in the military will astound you if you are in it for a number of years. If you go back to your hometown roots you will see why.
They never change and there is nothing wrong with it. The changes that happen to you are enormous. You people skills are immeasureable. Your responsibility level is very,very high. The skills you learn (it's up to you to learn them) makes you marketable.
Attitude gets you places. if you develop a bad attitude in the military you are in for a rough ride. If you have a good attitude then the military is alot easier.
I learned to speak German and I doubt that anyone in my hometown can do that.

 

[carlrodd]

Let's not conflate concepts and issues. -lewis wetzel

lewis, clearly you have serious problems with the federal government.....i don't blame you. but your inability to separate service to it, which in many ways translates into direct service toward the american public, and pvt whoever being somehow complicit with our 'leaders' and their often questionable agendas does a tremendous disservice to veterans. there are innumerable reasons to find oneself at odds with where our government is going, but without a military you would have no country to complain about. the military is a body that in many ways exists outside of the whims of any contemporary group of politicians...it always has. in many ways it is unchanging, and there is a great deal that is good in it and about it. you may not appreciate the role it is playing currently, but its mere existence ensures, and has always ensured your continued ability to pursue life in just about whatever way you see fit.

the purpose of the military, in a nutshell........"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. " -george orwell

if there was no such thing as the war in iraq, or our involvement in any conflict for that matter, we'd still need willing people to fill our military, and it's a worthy sacrifice.

 

[possum]

i want to do my 9 weeks of basic then enroll for airborne training

make sure you get this in your contract, or you might have a tuff time getting it later.

i think you should go infantry, i personally there is no other job in the army for well bodied, and men in good health than the infantry, i personally couldn't and wouldn't be happy with my service if i was anything else than a door kicking, ruck humping grunt but that is just me.

maybe serve some time overseas doing whatever, and coming back and trying out for the special forces.

there is no maybe about it if you get in i am sure that you will find yourself in the sandbox at least once or 2 times before your enlistment is up.

sf is great and it is great to have goals but see what you think of the army first and what it has to offer and then make that decision to go to sfas then. that is my advise there is however a way to go sf right off the strret and you will never see a regular army unit if you make it all the way through. but i highly detest folks that do this and i think that you should spend time in the regualr army first.

 

[RKBABob]

Plexreticle wrote:
-If you want to go combat arms join the Marines.
-If you want to stay out of the s*** and learn a trade join the AirForce or Navy.
-If you want idiots in charge of your life join the Army.

Oh, I hear this at every holiday gathering...

My Navy relative learned construction and carpentry skills...
My "Chair Force" relatives became EMT's and "hospitality specialists"...
My Army relatives learned to say "Yes, Sir!"
My Marine relatives learned how to kill people.

I didn't join the military at all... so I learned nothing!