Thinking of joining. Need some MOS help. - Page 4

Budke · 04-06-2011, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmbuGrl

Its good to know that using your time as a military welder (like a SeaBee) and building schools, housing, bridges etc AND defending your country while serving is a WASTE OF TIME.

x2.

Since I got this new pipefitting job joining up as been pushed back, but is still in my mind. Mostly because of the benefits. Guaranteed work, pay, plus all the health insurance and what not.

**turpehar** · 04-06-2011, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drix

I was thinking of UTI when I got out of the Corps

Why would you be thinking of a urinary track infection?

tanksoldier · 04-07-2011, 12:44 PM

My standard military disclaimer:

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Originally posted by tanksoldier:
All members of the US armed forces are combatants first and foremost. Whatever job you get or do, you very likely will find yourself somewhere that somebody might shoot at you. Even in the Hair Force.

The below was written mostly from an Army perspective, but it applies to all the branches equally.

Quote:

My standard reply on joining the military, originally written to a father who's son was considering joining up:

Don't use the money, benefits or training as reasons to enter the military, take a particular MOS or anything else. No service member of any rank gets paid enough to put up with what they put up with, especially these days, and we have more than enough "soldiers" who only joined up for the college money or whatever. There's a reason it's called "the service"... his wants and desires will NOT come first, or even third.

Officers have certain prerogatives it's true, but the responsibilities of rank far outweigh them.

Tell your son that IF he joins any branch of the military, he will someday be in a land far a way. He will be cold, wet and tired. There will be somebody shooting at him. He will not have eaten a hot meal in weeks, and anything at all in a day or two. He will be sitting in a hole in the ground, with frozen mud all over himself, trying to keep his hands warm enough to operate his weapon. If he's an officer he will be more hungry than his men, because he will have allowed them to eat first and then missed chow because of a planning meeting. He will be more tired than his men because he woke up early to go to a planning meeting, after staying up late because of a leaders' recon. Even Navy and Air Force types have their bad days.

He won't like most of the people he works for and with. He very likely will watch some of those people die, or it could be him. Not all leaders in the military are competent, not all service members are honorable warriors. Some are outright thieves and cowards. Tell him that the military isn't like the movies, it isn't John Wayne, it's a deadly serious business.

The fun stuff, the pay the benefits, the college money are all there. He will make good friends and see and do things few people have. He can consider himself better than 99% of the population who sit at home under his protection.

BUT above all he MUST realize that the military is the death trade, pure and simple. We kill people and break things... anything else is a distant second.

IF your son realizes all this and is willing to put it on the line, then we could use him. If not...

It applies equally to all branches, even the Coasties. When I left Ft Carson they were rotating Naval and Air Force personnel thru convoy defense training. Get your degree if you're that close to graduating, it will help whether you go enlisted or officer. Talk to an officer recruiter as well as an enlisted recruiter.

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I have been a Soldier my entire adult life. I have studied military history, military science and the operational art. The US Army was my life and I don't disparage it or it's members in any way. I also recognize that there is no point is sugar coating anything for anyone thinking of joining it's ranks.

IF someone joins the Army they will at some point be "led" by a "superior" less intelligent than they, who has no personal honor or courage and who believes that the stripes or bars on their collar make them a more worthy individual than those without. They will have to sit on a washing machine while doing their laundry so that one of their fellow Soldiers doesn't steal their underwear. They will learn what the terms "being thrown under the bus" and "blue falcon" mean firsthand. It WILL happen.

They will spend their time performing important tasks such as moving tentage from one room to another and back again, painting rocks, raking gravel, pulling weeds, buffing floors and mowing lawns.

It is also highly likely that they will often be hungry and cold, or hot and thirsty, absolutely exhausted and scared out of their minds. They almost certainly will see someone they know killed or injured... or be killed or injured themselves.

All of the above is based on personal experience gained in 16 years of Soldiering.

The good is there. The college money, the benefits, the camaraderie are all there. There are outstanding leaders at all levels, and far more good ones than bad. Soldiers will give each other their last pair of socks, their sisters' phone numbers and invite each other home for Christmas... but the bad is there too and prospective Soldiers need to be prepared for it.

Soldiers help put out fires, build schools and hospitals and provide security for average people who have never known peace in living memory. They rescue people from floods, fly hay into stranded cattle and build roads and bridges... but the reason the US Army exists is to kill people that the US government decides need to be dead and to blow up things the US government decides need to be blown up. THAT is what Soldiers are for.

Don't enlist, and certainly don't try for officer, unless you're ready to put it all on the line for your country and for the man on your right and the man on your left.

Even an airman, even an Air Force officer, has to be ready to fight and win, or lead others into combat and MAKE them fight and win, at the drop of a hat.

If you really want to serve, the branch should be pretty much immaterial. Most of the services have the same jobs, sometimes with different names. Talk to all the branch recruiters. If you really want to lead, apply to all the OCS/OTS programs... and keep applying. Sometimes you don't get in the first time.

If you're thinking: "I want to go AF so that I probably won't deploy somewhere bad and even if I do I'll probably be relatively safe" don't bother. I know for a fact the Army doesn't need you and I'd bet the AF doesn't either.

Join the military because you want to BE military, not because you want to be an "x". Almost every job the military has can be found in the civilian world. If you just want to be an "X" go figure out how to do it without entering the military. Once you decide that, yes, you're willing to accept the obligations, hardships and risks that come with serving THEN select either a job you think you'll enjoy doing the next 3-4-5 years, or the job you think you'll want after you leave the military... but the military part must come first.