I did college for about 2 years and had a free ride on family money.

I dropped out to enlist in the Army.

I'm now retired after a little over 20 years of service and work in a field related to my Army career with a decent salary.

Here's the bottom line:

- if you join, any branch, reserve or active, you should plan on at least one deployment to a place where the people will not speak your language and you won't be able to tell if they love you or plan to kill you. some will suggest you can develop a plan to kill everyone you meet in order to mitigate this risk.

- if you join, any branch, reserve or active, the person at the processing station who writes your contract (not the recruiter who is your new best buddy) will be required to place you in a job, or convince you to take a job, that best meets the needs of the service you are joining. This means that even though you want to be intelligence, weather or a technical support guy, he or she will be required to sell you on things like infantry, military police, EOD, nuke (sub) etc (unless you are the rare guy who is super smart and squeaky clean, then you may get a language and intel so you can sit in a hot ass tent or truck in the desert listening to static)

- i did three years as a recruiter and told every male they should take infantry or armor and every female they should take medic. I only did that so they'd think through the worst-case before going to process. most of them got what they wanted, and oddly enough, that was infantry, armor or medic (i picked people who looked me in the eye, it worked, lol)

- if you join any branch, reserve or active, training will be tough and you will probably dislike your decision for at least a year. it's buyer's remorse and separation combined with the fact that some really dumb people will be in charge of you and your time. please note that first year or two will be the most fondly remembered time after about 5 years pass and it will provide most of your "when I was in" stories.

The US military is a direct reflection of US society, and it has all the problems that plague the country today. Funny thing is though, sometimes serving brings out the best in the most unlikely people and adversity cuts through all the BS you dislike quickly.

 

Im in my second year of AFROTC. They pay for school which is nice. to really take advantage of ROTC you have to surrender a lot of your free time. I know several people that are/were ME majors and in ROTC. From what I know, be prepared to have very little free time and little to no flexibility regarding classes and schedules.

Father was 32 years AF and brother was 4 years AF enlisted. Both benefited immensely from their time in. As previously noted, if you have/want a family I would recommend the Air Force.

 

A lot of good advice in this thread. One thing I would recommend is researching (if you go enlisted) what kind of reenlistment bonuses they offer for the particular job(s) they offer you. Of course just because they are offering a big bonus today doesn't mean they will 5 years down the road but obviously the jobs that require more training tend to offer better bonuses. I was a Submarine Electronics Technician in the Navy and was offered a $38,000 tax free bonus in 2001 for what really was a 3.5 year reenlistment (it was a four year contract but it was finalized 6 months before my first enlistment was up.) The remaining 3.5 years of my time in the Navy was spent on shore duty going to school on the Navy's dime and surfing eBay while at "work." But that was my reward for spending 4 years on a submarine crew which is the hardest work I have ever and probably will ever do. Between drills, training, and watches spending 16 plus hours a day 7 days a week while at sea was not uncommon and of course they don't pay you for overtime. It was sometimes just as bad while in port especially during intensive maintenance periods. Going in was one of the best decisions I ever made but so was getting out. It set me up nicely for the job I have now.

 

Try to join the Delta Force.

 

what about Air Guard?

 

+10 bonus on federal jobs too.

 

Main reason I want to join is auto industry is crap right now. I'm like one step away from getting my smog license but for some reason even that is slow at the moment. So I have this training for a trade that is shit right now

 

Dont by a pussy join the Marine Corps.

Seriously, think about it.

When you talk to the recruiter, just remember he/she is trying to sell you a "product", and your the consumer. You wouldnt pay for something if it wasnt exactly what you wanted. Talk to them with confidence and play hardball. They can give you want you want 85% of the time. Also talk to them at Wendys or something, they'll most likely pick up the tab with the gov. card

 

Well a govt travel card still has to be paid so if they are buying you lunch they are most likely paying for it out of pocket. They might get a small amount of cash to cover these types of costs but I do not think the govt is paying for your lunch in order to get you into the service

lol at people who join the marines because they think its tough and hardcore, I know some soft ass marines.....

 

3 years ago i was about to enlist in the army or marines but i landed a good paying job. i still day dream about enlisting but i'm finding it hard to leave my job.