Need advice about enlisting(Army)

[Ebeeson0502]

To start off I'm 25, going on 26 in May. I have a decent paying job, but definitely not something I wish to turn into a career. I went to college when I was 19 and I guess you can say I just wasn't ready and pretty much blew it off and haven't been back since.

I tried joining the army a little over 2 years ago. I made an 88 on my ASVAB and went through all the MEPS stuff. Since I had a GED I had to take what I believe was called a TAPAS test and according to them my answers were inconsistent and had I been older and had a family to support Id be more likely to stay in the army. So I was declined.

Fast forward to to present, I received a call from my recruiter whom I dealt with last time and he said they were doing away with the stuff that held me back last time on March 3rd and he wants me to come in and look at jobs this Friday.



I have not forgotten and am so conflicted all the time between just staying here and pursuing a better education or joining the Army, getting a life experience and possibly a career. I feel as if I don't I will regret it later in life.


I'm very confused at this point by the things I've heard about all these budget cuts, and cutting down the military and people basically getting screwed. I know a lot of the stuff on the news and the press is a bunch of bullshit.


I know that nobody can make the decision but me, but I'd love some feedback from you guys who are actually in the service for advice.


Much respect to all of you and thanks for your service!

 

[ImThatGuy]

That sounds like a typical recruiter, sometimes they have a habit of bullshiting you when another prospect steps into his office aside from you. I would find a job that will benefit you when you get out. 15T Blackhawk mechanic is a money maker, for offshore companies. Others will hopefully chime in and give some great advice!

 

[dcpatters]

Your test scores will determine what specialties you're eligible for. For example, if your electronics score is below the minimum threshold, you can cannot pursue an Avionics MOS. Moreover, if you fail or "rock" out of your selected MOS school the military can place you at their choosing, read infantry. I served in the Marine Corps and got to know a number of former recruiters. They all shared the same sentiment, and that was they would lie through their teeth to get men and women to enlist.

By all means, if you have all the qualifications and know of an MOS that will later lend to a career in the civilian world, then go for it. There is nothing wrong either with pursuing school as a PFC private ****ing civilian and making a career out of it too.

Good luck and DO NOT enlist without a plan.

 

[asd_srt]

Like above if you come in then Get a job that will benefit you if you get out. I also have a ged could of gotten almost any job i wanted but I was 21 and combat arms seemed so cool my recruiter even tried to talk me out of it and to get a job that would benefit me on the outside but I didn't listen lol. Now with the draw down my mos went from very needed to not needed at all so now my only choice was to reclass get out or just sign up for two more years.

 

[ssj4sadie]

My advice is to steer clear of the military. The budget cuts are making the Air Force go full retard and I would assume that the Army has found a new level of retard, being it has always been full retard...

 

[jbs$]

It seems to me that the real question that you should be asking yourself is this, are you doing anything positive or long term beneficial with your life, as it is? If not, why not, and will a period in the Army help you in finding a useful purpose.

 

[medicdroid]

Do it, we need a few good men.

 

[asd_srt]

My advice is to steer clear of the military. The budget cuts are making the Air Force go full retard and I would assume that the Army has found a new level of retard, being it has always been full retard...

this is very true! All the good leadership is getting out the army is getting stuck with the people who don't do anything bad enough to get kicked out but don't try to do anything good just slide by.

 

[04SloSnake]

Yeah, it seems like the plan is to make the military so miserable to be in that people just get out. Easy way to lower the numbers. My next re-enlistment decision will definitely be a tough one.

 

[97desertCobra]

My advice is to steer clear of the military. The budget cuts are making the Air Force go full retard and I would assume that the Army has found a new level of retard, being it has always been full retard...

The latest level of retard with the Army isn't even it's final form. With the camouflage fiasco and the Army backing out of a service wide adoption of multicam. We are about to witness the same shit from 2004 when they ditched desert over brush for UCP. Now they are ditching multicam for digital transitional pattern (DTP) or UCP 2.0 as I like to call it. The level of incompetence is almost incomprehensible

 

[svtfocus2cobra]

If I was to join again or stay in I would try my hardest to go over to some SOCOM unit, preferably SF. It's a shit show in the fleet it seems, but all the special operations groups are on their own program. Being older just like I was when I joined I do not appreciate being treated like a child because I just so happen to work with 19 and 20 year olds. It comes with the territory but it still gets annoying. Find somewhere that values responsible and competent individuals.

 

[el jefe 302]

My advice is to steer clear of the military. The budget cuts are making the Air Force go full retard and I would assume that the Army has found a new level of retard, being it has always been full retard...

THIS!!! I'm retired Army.

Steer clear right now. The only way to make a career out of it right now is to go officer. Or go into special operations, however that path is not guaranteed. IMO...

 

[ssj4sadie]

It's very telling when the Army guys in here are agreeing with me as opposed to saying **** you chair force.

 

[el jefe 302]

Let me try to put this into perspective.

You're almost 26, you will be mainly among 18-20 year olds.

When you get to your first unit you will be a 26 year old private, and treated as such...

Good leadership (and the smart ones) are retiring or not re-upping.

Until you become a NCO (3-5 years depending on MOS and points) you will be cleaning toilets, sweeping parking lots, mowing grass, picking up trash... etc.

For a career you should think about these options.

Enlist and go green to gold. The army pays you to go to school and become a officer

Enlist as a 18x SF recruit (if they still have that program) but you already better be in shape I.E. can run 8 miles and ruck run with 60lbs for 12 miles etc. Join professional soldiers.com and ask away if you're going this route.

Choose a MOS that has warrant officers and when you become a specialist try to pursue warrant officer school.

go back to college and then come in as a officer.

Or go back to college and avoid all the BS and politics of the military and get a nice job.

Personally I think your to old to join in the condition the military's in. Because more then likely you're going to have a 21-23 year old in charge of you. You just might find yourself muttering "I'm too old for this shit"

Too many rules while your deployed now.
Too many save asses/kiss asses

 

[SteveG@Lethal]

Just got out after 10 years in. Marines and Army. Scares me of what is happening now. It sucks to say that finding good men with honorable decisions is hard now a days.

 

[asd_srt]

Let me try to put this into perspective.

You're almost 26, you will be mainly among 18-20 year olds.

When you get to your first unit you will be a 26 year old private, and treated as such...

Good leadership (and the smart ones) are retiring or not re-upping.

Until you become a NCO (3-5 years depending on MOS and points) you will be cleaning toilets, sweeping parking lots, mowing grass, picking up trash... etc.

For a career you should think about these options.

Enlist and go green to gold. The army pays you to go to school and become a officer

Enlist as a 18x SF recruit (if they still have that program) but you already better be in shape I.E. can run 8 miles and ruck run with 60lbs for 12 miles etc. Join professional soldiers.com and ask away if you're going this route.

Choose a MOS that has warrant officers and when you become a specialist try to pursue warrant officer school.

go back to college and then come in as a officer.

Or go back to college and avoid all the BS and politics of the military and get a nice job.

Personally I think your to old to join in the condition the military's in. Because more then likely you're going to have a 21-23 year old in charge of you. You just might find yourself muttering "I'm too old for this shit"

Too many rules while your deployed now.
Too many save asses/kiss asses

This is very true and very well said. I thought awesome I'm 21 go combat arms. What did i use to do on a day to day pick up pine needles out of the grass with rest of my PLT or walk around picking up the smallest pieces of trash you can find. sweeping dirt out of other dirt. And I see it all the time people get promoted based off of how much they kiss ass now we have ncos who don't even know basic soldier skills (land nav, weapons, first aid) In my old plt i was a pfc (e3) 22 years old in charge of a truck 3 people under me one being 26 years old the other being 25 both pfc also (they came in with rank) They had a huge problem with me telling them what to do or just giving out the task that needed to be done. I've heard so many times I'm 2x years old I'm a man you I can be talked to or told what to do like that. So if you come in remember the military doesn't care how old you are in the end of the day you're a private not a man. Just some food for thought.

 

[JW03]

I wouldn't recommend the Army to anyone

 

[97desertCobra]

OP a lot of us are a bit jaded from our experiences in the military. I know I am pessimistic and seemingly bitter over certain things in my career. Namely getting screwed on a few things. I still recommend the military if you want to serve the country, gain leadership experience and maybe learn a skill that can help advance a civilian career. My best advice to you is to develop a 10 year plan before you join. That should include serving honorably (obviously), getting at least a BA and develop a financial plan for stability. You are older so you might not blow away all your money like the 18 year old guys do but its really important to save and prepare for when you transition back to civilian life. Other things that need consideration are possibly commissioning as an officer once you obtain the bachelors or perhaps even go warrant officer.

The military has its ups and downs. When things start to suck people tend to get out. Unfortunately that includes good leaders, which can leave terrible leaders as the only ones left standing. I hope more good leaders stick it out to keep the military on track and not run down by the idiots. You will have to put up with dumb shit like cleaning clean things over and over again. Walking around picking up cigarette butts. Endlessly performing preventative maintenance and checks on the vehicles in the motor pool and getting dicked with in general. But this stuff isn't unique to the military at the present time, it has been happening since forever. You kinda have to learn how to deal with the stupid aspects of the military and take advantage of the good things.

 

[five.slow]

My advice is to steer clear of the military. The budget cuts are making the Air Force go full retard and I would assume that the Army has found a new level of retard, being it has always been full retard...

shut up, if you are not in the army you dont know. Most in any branch that are not happy are cry babies and have piss poor work standards and just want a free pay check.

THIS!!! I'm retired Army.

Steer clear right now. The only way to make a career out of it right now is to go officer. Or go into special operations, however that path is not guaranteed. IMO...

yea thats bullshit too. you can do just fine in the normal area of the army right now. its all about not being a shit bag or just skating by doing the bare minimum anymore.


OP the army is great IF you can understand to think optimistic and understand this is not a profession that when you get mad at your boss you can tell him/her to eat shit. This is more like you want to kill your boss but just suck it up because it doesn't matter you are still getting paid.

To get in and stay in its VERY easy. be where you are told on time and in the correct uniform. then you need to make sure you put in 110% effort on everything and learn your place. some cant handle being told what to do or being a private. being a private sucks but its a right of passage thing. we all had shitty times as a private.

budget cuts really only effect shit heads and useless jobs. if you want to be a career soldier don't pick being a infantry or any combat arms for that matter. its a hit or miss dead end road when you get out. if you plan to do 2-4 years and just get experience of being a hard core soldier go combat arms. Im a mechanic and we all know that mechanics will ALWAYS be in demand just depends on what type and level you wanna be. I would look up all the jobs in army and find something and excites you and try to get that job.

right now we are at that point where we are putting people out to get down to the number the army wants BUT we are still putting plenty in to keep the number stable. Don't just take what they offer because they are going to offer the jobs that are severely understrength and act like they are the only job.

research research research

 

[TaraFirma]

I fly 60's in the Army. Love my job. Don't pick up trash, rake leaves, cut grass or any of that other shit I see enlisted folks doing all the time. I thank God every day I'm not enlisted anymore.
Army has changes ALOT in the last 16 years. I wouldn't suggest it right now.
Wait until the next War kicks off.