Serious inquiry about the army....

[cashman]

I have a younger brother, about 22, who wants to join the army, enlist for 3 years, so he can pay for school, get his bachelors and masters, get a house, car, and possibly get some mechanics/electrical experience while serving.

Now, I've done some research for him concerning military myths, the war in iraq, etc. He's afraid of going right now, because he doesn't want to fight in the war....his recruiter claims he won't fight in the war if he doesn't go into infantry. Some of the myths I read, even mention some recruits don't even get the promised money for college.

Any one with insight on how it really is? Racism? Paycheck myths? College fund myths? Enlistment bonus and time myths? Anything his recruiter could possibly be lying to him about?


Thanks You guys!
:thumbsup2:

 

[fivestarjake]

i served with airborne infantry as a medic in alaska for 4 yrs. when i got out the money is there for school. you just have to fill out some paperwork while enrolling. you have 10 yrs before the g.i. bill expires. as for war who knows. thats what recruiters do...recruit. so if he has a non infantry related job he might not go but when it comes down to it EVERYONE is a soldier first. it depends on what unit he goes to after training. i was always paid but i know people who had to wait almost 6months when they transferred to their regular station. hey its the army and everything is based on paperwork. racism is everywhere but more on a joking level in the army. at least that was my experience.

 

[Rawpimple]

 

[kingbill]

He's better off getting a job with Haliburton or look to move to northern Alberta in Canada to work in the oil fields, they pay a tonne of cash. Get him to google Oil jobs alberta, lots will come up and they pay big money for labour, Less risk of getting shot.

 

[beating.vegas]

I have a younger brother, about 22, who wants to join the army, enlist for 3 years, so he can pay for school, get his bachelors and masters, get a house, car, and possibly get some mechanics/electrical experience while serving.

Now, I've done some research for him concerning military myths, the war in iraq, etc. He's afraid of going right now, because he doesn't want to fight in the war....his recruiter claims he won't fight in the war if he doesn't go into infantry. Some of the myths I read, even mention some recruits don't even get the promised money for college.

Any one with insight on how it really is? Racism? Paycheck myths? College fund myths? Enlistment bonus and time myths? Anything his recruiter could possibly be lying to him about?


Thanks You guys!
:thumbsup2:

GO TO SCHOOL FIRST.

JOIN THE ROTC.

GET A DEGREE.

GO INTO THE SERVICE AS AN OFFICER.

OTHERWISE, YOUR BROTHER WILL BE INFANTRY FOR SURE, AND YOU MAY SERIOUSLY NEVER SEE HIM AGAIN.

WHAT WERE THE CHOICES AGAIN...?

 

[beating.vegas]

Did I Mention

3 Of 3 Friends In The Service...

All Got Lied To By The Recruiter. If They Wont Put It In Writing, They Are Full Of Shit. And Even Then I Wouldn't Trust Them.

Not A Bad Deal Though, Out In 20 Years, And Benefits Etc.

 

[hellah10]

tell him to stay the fuck out

I enlisted and joined an Airborne Unit... I never recieved a $3000 bonus I was promised and never got the GI Bill I was promised. Now maybe... just maybe its because Im muslim... I dunno. For those who dont think there is no rascim in the army is living on a different planet. There is always tension between all races... white, blacks, asian, mexicans, arabs...

The army these days is extremely diverse ever since Bush said that anybody joining the Army gets automatic citizenship. So he'll see alot of illegals in there

That recruiter is full of shit. He will get sent to Iraq and he will serve - no if, ands, or buts about it. No matter what his MOS is... his secondary MOS will be and always will be 11 Bravo (Infantry). I mean seriously think about it.. they are calling up the IRR! If the IRR is dried out... next step is the draft.

So here's whats gonna happen... I'll make it easy for your brother

1) sign papers
2) go to MEPS and get checked out and processed
3) pick an MOS
4) go back to the MEPS and be ready to get sent to Basic Training
5) in basic training. he either goes to Ft Sill (Oklahoma), Benning (Georgia), Knox (Kentucky), Jackson (South Carolina), or Leonard Wood (Missouri)
6) completes a 10 week basic training
7) goes to AIT (advance individual training)
8) finishes AIT... gets assign to a unit.

You can bet your ASS he will be put into a unit that is slated for the next rotation. And that bullshit they give people about "oh you can pick where you wanna be stationed" is more bullshit. They put you where your needed whether you like it or not

Also he must remember that he is not signing up for 3 years... Its an 8 year obligation no matter what. So he will do 3 years of active duty and 5 years of inactive duty. Within those 5 years, he can get called up (like they are doing now)

Lemme tell you... getting a Western Union mailgram while life is going great is one good kick in the nuts

My advice to him - join the air force. he will actually learn something from the AF and come out to be a much more respectable grown man

 

[beating.vegas]

tell him to stay the fuck out

I enlisted and joined an Airborne Unit... I never recieved a $3000 bonus I was promised and never got the GI Bill I was promised. Now maybe... just maybe its because Im muslim... I dunno. For those who dont think there is no rascim in the army is living on a different planet. There is always tension between all races... white, blacks, asian, mexicans, arabs...

The army these days is extremely diverse ever since Bush said that anybody joining the Army gets automatic citizenship. So he'll see alot of illegals in there

That recruiter is full of shit. He will get sent to Iraq and he will serve - no if, ands, or buts about it. No matter what his MOS is... his secondary MOS will be and always will be 11 Bravo (Infantry). I mean seriously think about it.. they are calling up the IRR! If the IRR is dried out... next step is the draft.

So here's whats gonna happen... I'll make it easy for your brother

1) sign papers
2) go to MEPS and get checked out and processed
3) pick an MOS
4) go back to the MEPS and be ready to get sent to Basic Training
5) in basic training. he either goes to Ft Sill (Oklahoma), Benning (Georgia), Knox (Kentucky), Jackson (South Carolina), or Leonard Wood (Missouri)
6) completes a 10 week basic training
7) goes to AIT (advance individual training)
8) finishes AIT... gets assign to a unit.

You can bet your ASS he will be put into a unit that is slated for the next rotation. And that bullshit they give people about "oh you can pick where you wanna be stationed" is more bullshit. They put you where your needed whether you like it or not

Also he must remember that he is not signing up for 3 years... Its an 8 year obligation no matter what. So he will do 3 years of active duty and 5 years of inactive duty. Within those 5 years, he can get called up (like they are doing now)

Lemme tell you... getting a Western Union mailgram while life is going great is one good kick in the nuts

My advice to him - join the air force. he will actually learn something from the AF and come out to be a much more respectable grown man

THAT PRETTY MUCH SUMS IT UP>>>

IF I MIGHT ADD, JOIN THE NAVY. LEARN ABOUT NUC. TECH AND GET A JOB WITH THE POWER PLANTS AS AN OPERATOR WHEN IT IS OVER... MAKE 70,000 + THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.

 

[Dbronz1e]

If you had to choose one branch it would have to be the AF. Not saying one is better than the other but at this current time the way the world is. I'd say the safest bet is AF, Navy, Army, Marines in that order probably. And it is 8 years. Not the best time to be joining the military in hopes of bettering yourself financially. I think that is the biggest scam the military has got going right now. A lot of these kids are joining just to get the chance and not fully understanding that they are government property. You become sheep basically.

 

[JohnnyB]

That recruiter is full of shit. He will get sent to Iraq and he will serve - no if, ands, or buts about it. No matter what his MOS is... his secondary MOS will be and always will be 11 Bravo (Infantry). I mean seriously think about it.. they are calling up the IRR! If the IRR is dried out... next step is the draft.

So here's whats gonna happen... I'll make it easy for your brother

1) sign papers
2) go to MEPS and get checked out and processed
3) pick an MOS
4) go back to the MEPS and be ready to get sent to Basic Training
5) in basic training. he either goes to Ft Sill (Oklahoma), Benning (Georgia), Knox (Kentucky), Jackson (South Carolina), or Leonard Wood (Missouri)
6) completes a 10 week basic training
7) goes to AIT (advance individual training)
8) finishes AIT... gets assign to a unit.

You can bet your ASS he will be put into a unit that is slated for the next rotation. And that bullshit they give people about "oh you can pick where you wanna be stationed" is more bullshit. They put you where your needed whether you like it or not

Also he must remember that he is not signing up for 3 years... Its an 8 year obligation no matter what. So he will do 3 years of active duty and 5 years of inactive duty. Within those 5 years, he can get called up (like they are doing now)

Pretty much. I have a good friend who joined the Army as a mechanic in February and was promised he wouldn't go to Iraq. He was supposed to to Germany for 2 years, then back to the US for a year then 5 years in the inactive reserves. 1 week after he got to Germany (about 2 weeks ago) he was told he's shipping out to Iraq in October.

 

[HinesWard86]

My brother is in the Army and my sister is in the Air Force and this is what I can tell you as well from talking to the Army ROTC program on campus.

-If Joe Schmo just walks into a recruiters office and signs up, he will not pick where he goes or what division he gets put into and he will probably be put into infantry. It works like a Fantasy draft, the heads of all these divisions get together fill out the slots they need by drafting the best candidates.

-Army ROTC will not pay for undergrad AND grad school. The ROTC guy I talked to said one or the other.....not both.

-If you go to college, sign up for ROTC and DO take a scholarship you then have to do at least 8 years duty and at least 4 years of active duty (most do 4 years active and 4 years reserve)

-The ones who went to West Point get first choice of what division they go in and where they are stationed followed by the ones who did ROTC in college and then those that did ROTC in high school. If you do ROTC in college and finish in the top 1/3 at Fort Lewis during Leadership School you basically pick whatever you want. My brother did 4 years ROTC in high school, took a year of community college, decided it wasnt for him and joined and got the exact division he wanted (Unmanned vehicles) and exact location (Hawaii). However, to get that he had to bust his ass at boot camp. He ended up getting two letters of recommendation and was the leader of all the new enlistees by the time he left (he runs a 4:50 mile and can bench 250 no problem, just absolutely ripped) so there is hope for your younger brother if he doesnt go the ROTC route

-During your reserve years you can be called up and sent to anywhere they need you at any given time

Hope this helped, IMO there are many better ways to pay for college but if he does join the Army make sure he goes ROTC so that he'll have some options

 

[newbie666]

Stop eyeballing me. You're not worthy
to look your superiors in the eye.



Use your peripheral vision.
Understand?



Yes, sir.



When I say "understand",
I want the group to say, "Yes, sir!"



- Understand?
- Yes, sir!



- Understand?
- Yes, sir!



I know why most of you are here.



I'm not stupid.



Before you get to sell what we teach
you over at United Airlines,



got to give the Navy six years
of your life, sweet pea.



Lots of things can happen in six
years. Another war could come up.



If you're too peaceful a person
to napalm an enemy village,



where there are women and children,
I'm going to find that out.



- Understand?
- Yes, sir!



- Understand?
- Yes, sir!

 

[RobFunk]

I wish there was a code to use old school Richard Gere with that uniform on in Mortal Kombat

 

[BlackBart]

Most info here correct, in my experience. It's been a number of years, but I spent 8 years as a naval officer. No doubt that the officer route is the way to go in any branch of the service. ROTC is a way to get most of an undergrad degree paid for and it is possible to get a good bit of a master's degree paid later on.

All military enlistments (or officer commissions) are for a minimum of 8 years. The differences are in the number of years of active vs. inactive service. As someone mentioned, many are being activated off the individual ready reserve right now. That would suck.

I've heard a hundred recruiter stories. Half of them are probably true. Recruiters are salespeople, operate under quotas, and have enormous pressure to fill their goals. I work in the corporate world now and manage a group of sales people. Some clients feel they've been mislead after a sale. I'm sure the same thing happens with recruiters.

The air force probably has the best quality of life, but the navy is a good place to enlist also. Shipboard life isn't great, but you can learn a good trade (nuclear power trained guys are in demand all over the corporate world) and I haven't heard too many guys on ship get killed by an IED.

In any case, be sure you know exactly what you're signing up for. Do your research and ask for a second opinion. Anybody--officer or enlisted--will be assigned duty based on the needs of the service. The needs of the service probably includes combat duty now.

 

[JacobimMugatu]

need money for college? fade beating.vegas.