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Thinking of joining the army

F

futurerider103

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Aug 22, 2011
482
1
39
Springfield Mo
I guess I'm not the typical person to become recruit because I'm 30yrs old, I have a family, I have gone to college already and have an established career but for the longest time I've thought joining the military but never really gave it serious thought.
Right now I feel like I just got a lot on my shoulders because we are trying to buy a house and with my student loans and the little debt(no repossessions or forecloses) all the people who will talk to us about a loan the rates just arent feasible so I was thinking of joining the army and if all is good we'll use a VA loan to help.
I tend to be a prideful person and I just feel like I'm lacking. I mean I know having a family and been with my girl for 14yrs is pretty good and being the first in my family to go to college and graduate is good but when I wall into my parents house first thing you see is a wall filled of pictures of great grandpa's, grandpa's, uncles, brother (was a Marine in Desert Storm and National Guard in Iraqi Freedom), cousins, friends and even brothers in law and I'm not there.
I have already talked to a recruiter over the phone and have an appointment to talk more on Monday at his office. I don't think I would want to be a mechanic in the military which is what I am now. I seen on goarmy.com that Infantry 11x is like possible stepping stone for Rangers or Snipers and I honestly think that would be the route I would try.
I just feel like I'm lacking.
Just wanted to dump my thoughts on someone and get some opinions and thoughts.
 
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I would say that joining because your relatives served is a bad idea. To get a home loan is not much better.

If your going to join do it because you want to serve.
 
give it hell. you can always go back to turning wrenches when you're done. its aint an easy thing on the family and such but i assume you know that. the military as a hole is not for everyone either. your window of opportunity is growning tight with your age so keep that in mind.
 
Problem as I see it, right now they are cutting back on the Army now, some cut loose shortly after Basic.

Not like when I joined, then you joined or got drafted.

Good Luck.
 
Maggot said:
I would say that joining because your relatives served is a bad idea. To get a home loan is not much better.

If your going to join do it because you want to serve.
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I definitely would be joining because I want to and not because u think I have to. The VA loan would just be a peek and something to look forward to.
Killswitch Engage said:
give it hell. you can always go back to turning wrenches when you're done. its aint an easy thing on the family and such but i assume you know that. the military as a hole is not for everyone either. your window of opportunity is growning tight with your age so keep that in mind.
Click to expand...

The going back to a mechanic thing is what I would plan on doing and u just hope my window to do what I would want hasn't closed yet because my age.
 
Well I'm happy to see that you'd be considering a combat arms MOS, but joining the peace-time military after 13yrs of war is a bad move. Not that most of the military ever got OUT of peace-time mode with all the stupid shit they came up with, but if you want to be a grunt then you WANT deployments and shooting wars. Being a grunt in garrison during peacetime coupled with the inevitable blood-letting in the immediate future is going to be a special kind of suck. Quite frankly, you should be on the first RIF list because you don't have the deployment time of the other guys in your MOS.

If you go in as an officer you're then the boot 2Lt with zero combat time, basically placing you at the bottom of every list. But hey, claim PTSD and get a check for life and take up some valuable resources at the VA that quadruple amputees don't really need anyway. That benefit check will help you pay your VA home loan.
 
I'm about the same age you are - been with my wife a long time and we just had our first kid a few months ago. I gave the Army some serious thought for a number of years. My best friend joined about 10 years ago and between the deployments and the hours he works when he isn't deployed I just can't see how I could make a family work with so little time at home. This isn't even considering the frequent moves. There are a lot of great people in the military who can manage it, I just didn't think it was right for us.

As a teacher in Northern Virginia I also get to see a lot of military families. Quantico, Belvoir, the Pentagon, and so on are all in close proximity. Most of the kids from these families do pretty well - they tend to be organized, respectful, and motivated to do well in school. There are also ones that can't cope effectively with the frequent moves or having one of their parents gone for 6+ months at a time - especially when combined with the stress of wondering if they will come home at all.

The decisions are a lot easier when you're young and only have yourself to worry about. As a family man those decisions get a lot harder.
 
Not that my opinion counts for much; however, from what you listed on the start of this thread, I would not be joining the military. So what if the wall is full of pictures of military members and you're not on it. Start your own wall on the other side and put your grad pic up there and be proud that you are the first in your family to complete college. College was not a driving force when I grew up and when I finshed my first degree and told my mom her response was "would you like mashed potatoes with your fried chicken tonight". In other words, no big deal, who needs college. Now I'm finishing up my Ph.D. any my folks still think I am wasting my time. Don't live through other peoples achievements, make your own way and do what you think is best for you and your family.

As has already been noted, now is not the best time to be joining the military. If you do join, go officer and not enlisted if you can. You may only end up doing a few years so you might as well get as much pay as you can. Now on a more personal note, is the family really on board with what you may be planning. Sit down to dinner tonight with the wife and kid and then imagine getting up the next morning and leaving for 15 months and see how that would make you and your family feel. It's one thing to be brought up in a military family and that is all you know but it's another issue to take an established family unit and put them in the military. Deployments are tough on families and while I have come home to be greeted by wife and kids after some deployments, I also know what it's like to come home and have no one there because the family is no longer together. In the end, it's your life, your families lives and your choice but if I had to make a choice, I would continue to rent, work on student loans and plan on buying a house later. Hell, I deployed so much that I did not finally get around to buying my first house until I retired from the Navy.
 
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I am proud of my education and that is one way I know my family is strong enough to be apart because we couldn't afford to move us all down to Tn so I went alone for 13mnths and we are just fine. I have talked it over last night and it really didn't have much resistance or negative outlooks.
 
You have a college education, a career and a family. Joining the military at this stage of your life would be a three steps backward. I don't think you realize how blessed you are. I think a man can become bored and feel like is missing out on something, you are not. You need to reinvest emotionally with your family, your job and spiritually and fill what you think is a missing part of your life, with what you already have. Just my opinion. Best of luck to you.
 
I was Active Army between 1989 and 1993; I can tell you that anyone in their thirties was considered geriatric (your new nickname will be Grandpa). I met several enlisted members who had 4yr degrees that kicked themselves for not going OCS/Officer.

I think your best bet is to join the Reservists.
 
OK. So here's my opinion after 32 years with the Army, 29 of it active. Do what you want to do. One time at about the 8 year mark I thought about getting out and my wife (yes the one I've been married to for the last 40 years) asked the simple question, "If you got out would you miss it?" Obviously I would have and didn't get out. I think the question you need to ask yourself is, "If I never join will I regret it?" Conversely the harder question would be "If I join will I regret it?" Only one way to find the answer to that one. A 2 year enlistment would give you something less than 1% of the current population has experienced. It would also give you the GI Bill for Home Loans and other things. The bottom line is the military really is different for each person. Everyone has brought up good points. Logically no one would ever join, just like no one would ever run into a burning building or face an armed felon or take care of someone who's very ill. The decision to enlist or not is generally not logic based.
 
They are kicking long time senior ranks out right now trying to get to obizzleking's retarded make believe pre ww1 strength numbers, its not a good time to be jumpin onboard already behind the power curve, not saying you cant be successful im just sayin take a long hard look at it. If you.do decide to jump choose an mos that givea you a technical skill so you can use it for a high falutin job when you het out if you like it as opposed to beina mechanic. air traffic controller, xray tech come to mind. Also with those if your time is short like a 4 year and out you gained an expensive ojt and certification.
 
Join the reserves. You don't have to be an 11 series to go to sniper school but it will be harder in the reserves to get a slot and/or permission. Good luck but I wouldn't go active duty at your age.
 
If family is you and the wife, in might work out ok in the end, if you can put up with the tough times. If ya got kids then I would not do it. Join the service and you will not be there when the kids need their dad.
 
Couple things:
1. Your age @30. I went to parris island,schools, later the fleet with 3 guys that we over 30. Yes its possible, but your going to take a beating physically.
2. The wars about over. Army and marine corps are downsizing like a mofo. Great marines being ineligble for reinlist bc they cutting combat mos and 1800's.

4. Honestly the military is a young mans game. You said your established and with a family. I spent over 2 years of my 4 years in kuwait and Iraq. Missed my sons birth, while in the shit during fantom fury.
Great deal of time, sleepless nights, anxiety and thats not counting the loss of a you plt members/friends.
In my case I lost my barracks roomate and best friend, and 2 other plt members in one day.This destroyed me as I was there when it happen.
5. The military is not what you think it is. People think they can sign up and be force recon or scout snipers with a pen stroke . Or they thinks its all shooting guns. In reallity most of your time will be playin fuck fuck games, cock bobbing in school circles, or going to back to back Cax out at stumps.
 
^ live your life and enjoy you family. Raise your kids right. There are plenty of young men in america to fill your boots. Honor the fallen and support your veterans. Life is cheap, and even more so short. The world is an evil, man kill man world, we just have the luxery in america to drown that out.
Brent f
 
EasyGravy said:
Couple things:
1. Your age @30. I went to parris island,schools, later the fleet with 3 guys that we over 30. Yes its possible, but your going to take a beating physically.
2. The wars about over. Army and marine corps are downsizing like a mofo. Great marines being ineligble for reinlist bc they cutting combat mos and 1800's.

4. Honestly the military is a young mans game. You said your established and with a family. I spent over 2 years of my 4 years in kuwait and Iraq. Missed my sons birth, while in the shit during fantom fury.
Great deal of time, sleepless nights, anxiety and thats not counting the loss of a you plt members/friends.
In my case I lost my barracks roomate and best friend, and 2 other plt members in one day.This destroyed me as I was there when it happen.
5. The military is not what you think it is. People think they can sign up and be force recon or scout snipers with a pen stroke . Or they thinks its all shooting guns. In reallity most of your time will be playin fuck fuck games, cock bobbing in school circles, or going to back to back Cax out at stumps.
Click to expand...
oh how I miss range 400.
 
Retired USAF 0-5 here, (64-92). As others have said....not a great time to join the military, for any reason. This round of force reduction is going to be more brutal than the early nineties when we saw personnel cuts of nearly thirty percent. This time, in addition to force reductions, all benefits are under attack, even some of the most fundamental, like retirement programs, commissaries and medical care. The number of ex military people serving as elected officials has dwindled and the new blood in congress does not have the same perspective. Military budgets are prime targets for cost cutting....not a happy time to be in uniform.
 
No way you should be joining the military right now. Family commitments, too old, peacetime military, and you're college educated... each of those reasons is good enough not to join. All of those are a mandate to keep yourself out of the military. Raise your kids to be fit, smart, and law-abiding so that they are in a good spot to serve if they want to. Military life, especially as an enlisted dude, is not what you think it is. If you can get a commission, then that's a good start. Don't enlist at your age. It's a bad choice for you and your family.
 
Go join the National Guard as away to make a little extra cash or go into the US Air force. Coast Guard if you near the water.

Times are hard for a young family man today.

If you have a degree you should try to become an officer, they make more pay, but the shit comes from high as well as from below.

The trick is to make it to retirement without getting killed.
 
1. Join the Coast Guard Reserve as an officer candidate with a career field that you think you will enjoy
2. Go to USCG Officer Candidate School
3. Get commission as an Ensign
4. Do your minimum obligated service
5. Re-evaluate
 
futurerider103 said:
I honestly think it's self pride
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Let me help you with a formula: do your job to the absolute best of your ability + have unimpeachable integrity + treat others with respect + be a good father and husband = self pride.

You don't need the .mil for that.
 
Do this, go run 5 miles in under 40 min's

Three days later do the Army PT test.

If you can hang physically, the rest is easy head games, but the physical aspect of PT and doing the job will break you if you are not ready BEFORE you join.
 
I run every day with my son 3.2mi everyday in 26mins no problem so that won't be so bad. I know I'll have weight on me but I think I'd be able to take it
 
"Lacking self-pride"... perfect, that is exactly what Uncle Sam is looking for under Obama... I will personally come to your house and escort you directly to MEPs, hell, we will bypass all of that nonsense for someone of your obvious stature, intellect, abilities, and confidence... I will take you directly to Sand Hill, Fort Benning, GA... you are the next fucking GEN Patton... don't let these nay-sayers get you down... I will get you squared away, and don't let some young used car selling recruiter fill you with lies... fuck 11x, man, you are perfect for 18x... Rangers are Fags, and Sniper School is for pussies!! We are gonna get you fast-tracked to the real shit... you won't be lacking self-pride when I am done with you... It fills me with so much honor and patriotism to hear a story of a true American hero like yourself, willing to step up to the plate for your country, and for all of the right reasons, beautiful and amazing come to mind...

pm me for all of the details...
 
Seriously, is this the trash and lies that recruiters are pushing these days...

"I seen on goarmy.com that Infantry 11x is like possible stepping stone for Rangers or Snipers"

Not that he did not honestly see that, but that the army would push should blatant propaganda and lies. Good luck with any 11-series contract, but especially an open ended "Needs of the Army" one... which is what the "x" stands for...
 
Idk about 11 bang bang, but I just graduated 68w AIT. They absolutely threw contracts at us. Our company was awarded 12 airborne, 4 rasp, 2 civil affairs, 2 SOAR, and 2 whiskey 1 schools. Don't join just because you feel inadequate to the rest of your family. For fucks sale my brother just graduated A-BOLC, he finished so highly regarded from his ROTC he was given school slots for airborne, air assault, pathfinder, LRSLC, and ranger school. On top of that my brother's first unit will be the Rakasans. There ain't no way I can ever compete with that but I could care less! I am damn proud of him, enough said. Join because you want to, not because you have to.
 
There are much better ways of getting that nest egg than joining the military. Go do a year in north Dakota, you will be much better off financially.
 
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