Brother wants to enlist Army after HS

[goodlife30]

Nothing like the good old days. The ARNG was offering 50K of student loan relief recently.

Mike

The bonuses are still there. I know the education manager for the MA Guard very well. Got questions let me know. And no I am not a recruiter. If you work in programming the big fattie bonuses are coming

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I probably should have enlisted. There was a period of four years that are pretty much just wasted time dealing with bad relationships and no motivation to finish my degree until two years ago.
At least if I had signed up I'd have something to show other than a long resume in retail.

You can still go in unless you are over 38. Do it. You are never too old

 

[garandman]

If he is only looking to do 4 years and then become a cop I suggest joint the Air Force as security forces. In the air force you get treated much better than any other branch, easier boot camp, better bases, safer, and ALL of the same benefits. Security Forces in the air force is basically military police.

There were 7 AF Security guys in my Ranger School Class. The last one flunked out on day 3: the others didn't even last that long.

A friend of mine was an Airborne MP. Pretty high-speed, low-drag guy. Not sure what the minimum enlistment period is, though.

 

[crazymjb]

Having known a lot of grunts reclassed to garrison-side MP, though I turned it down myself, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. When we got back from our deployment early as part of the draw down they gave us the option of going to MP school and working as an MP for an additional 6 months, a lot of guys did it. Most of them were miserable.

As far as the age thing... you can get in to the all branches, but especially the Army, pretty late in life. Most of my platoon in the USMC was guys who joined at 18-19, but a good friend of mine joined at 31 with a waiver. The USMC is not a fun place to be as a 31 year old private, it's a very young service. The army seems to have some more age diversity.

Mike

 

[Andy in NH]

If he is only looking to do 4 years and then become a cop I suggest joint the Air Force as security forces. In the air force you get treated much better than any other branch, easier boot camp, better bases, safer, and ALL of the same benefits. Security Forces in the air force is basically military police.

As others have said, get any promises in writing, especially what his job will be.

Seriously, Air Force...... And this is coming from a Marine... If his plan is to just do 4 for the benefits.... AIR FORCE. If he wants a full career, he should pick the branch he has the most desire to be in.

You and he should ask some career cops what they think about prior service MPs becoming non-military street cops.

 

[Knob Creek]

Think about the Navy or Air Force. With them you have a better chance of 3 Hots and a Cot.

 

[crazymjb]

I'd say it depends more on MOS than branch... That said, fewer field-based MOS's in the AF and Navy.

Mike

 

[jhagberg88]

11X with an option 40 contract, get your ass through RASP1 and enjoy 4 years of the best training and gear out there.

 

[goodlife30]

Best training helo pilot.

 

[dustoff22]

Best training helo pilot.

True........ if you can qualify.

 

[crazymjb]

Hows this going?

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[DarthRevan]

Hows this going?

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Had to talk him into taking them up on paying for college, being the stubborn person he is he didn't want to deal with "useless classes" any more. He doesn't quite understand that the piece of paper you get for four years of brainwashing opens more doors to jobs later on than not having it.
Hes done the practice asvab and scored a 48, so he'll need to cover more material to up his score.
We will need to take some of you up on talking to him, to those of you who offered your time.

 

[mibro]

And yet, by the time I joined up, I knew more or less precisely what to expect and I wasn't too surprised by anything about my service. Except how boring the Army can make jumping out of planes.

I did some of my static line jumping like this. This was actually fun and the silence made it a surreal experience.

 

[mark056]

Had to talk him into taking them up on paying for college, being the stubborn person he is he didn't want to deal with "useless classes" any more. He doesn't quite understand that the piece of paper you get for four years of brainwashing opens more doors to jobs later on than not having it.
Hes done the practice asvab and scored a 48, so he'll need to cover more material to up his score.
We will need to take some of you up on talking to him, to those of you who offered your time.

Frankly at this juncture an ASVAB score of 48 doesn't sound like he's college material at this point. We like to say that the Army goes for the lowest common denominator but in truth to get ahead in the Army you have to be smart, capable of multi-tasking, and have a sufficient knowledge base to complete various unrelated tasks. And as an aside some of the smartest guys I've ever met were in the infantry.

 

[Picton]

Frankly at this juncture an ASVAB score of 48 doesn't sound like he's college material at this point. We like to say that the Army goes for the lowest common denominator but in truth to get ahead in the Army you have to be smart, capable of multi-tasking, and have a sufficient knowledge base to complete various unrelated tasks. And as an aside some of the smartest guys I've ever met were in the infantry.

Agreed. Modern infantrymen have a great many things they need to keep track of all the time; they're constantly multitasking. Especially the mechanized kind.

When I was in, the low-ASVAB guys were the truck drivers.

 

[Andy in NH]

Except how boring the Army can make jumping out of planes.

When I went to jump school the Black Hats were absolutely the most professional and knowledgeable instructors I had ever experienced.
They remained the best I had seen for the remainder of my career.

That being said, the "Basic Airborne Course" was an exercise in standing around for long periods waiting for the next evolution to begin - the essence of; "hurry up and wait".

 

[Picton]

When I went to jump school the Black Hats were absolutely the most professional and knowledgeable instructors I had ever experienced.
They remained the best I had seen for the remainder of my career.

That being said, the "Basic Airborne Course" was an exercise in standing around for long periods waiting for the next evolution to begin - the essence of; "hurry up and wait".

All true, but I wasn't talking about jump school. That was okay, and the jumps themselves were still pretty novel. It's once you get to Bragg that airborne operations stop being exciting; somewhere around jump #8 or so, they get really boring. Or maybe that's just me.

Bar none, the least professional jumpmasters I ever dealt with were the RIs at Ranger School. They'd clearly been through the JM course, but they just as clearly didn't think the admin side of airborne ops were all that important. Especially having come down there from Division; the difference was night and day.

 

[Andy in NH]

All true, but I wasn't talking about jump school. That was okay, and the jumps themselves were still pretty novel. It's once you get to Bragg that airborne operations stop being exciting; somewhere around jump #8 or so, they get really boring. Or maybe that's just me.

My jumps after school consisted of small sticks (4-8 pax) into small DZs (small compared to Fryer) from helicopters; UH-1, CH-46, CH-47 and CH-53, so the pilots could get a little more "creative" on the way in which kept it interesting. Add to that that I was usually a "strap hanger" and normally got the junior JM who had yet to develop a sound technique for spotting made for some interesting descents!

 

[DarthRevan]

Frankly at this juncture an ASVAB score of 48 doesn't sound like he's college material at this point. We like to say that the Army goes for the lowest common denominator but in truth to get ahead in the Army you have to be smart, capable of multi-tasking, and have a sufficient knowledge base to complete various unrelated tasks. And as an aside some of the smartest guys I've ever met were in the infantry.

Fwiw, I just found out today that he took another test with a group of guys and he scored a 58. I never thought I was all that bright in high school but I ended up an BSEE with a 3.11 GPA.
I have faith that with time and continuing to be serious about his life choice (aka more study time) he can easily bring the score up. I sure as hell didn't study for anything as a junior in high school.

 

[mark056]

Fwiw, I just found out today that he took another test with a group of guys and he scored a 58. I never thought I was all that bright in high school but I ended up an BSEE with a 3.11 GPA.
I have faith that with time and continuing to be serious about his life choice (aka more study time) he can easily bring the score up. I sure as hell didn't study for anything as a junior in high school.

You got motivated. The ASVAB is more aptitude related and general knowledge. He improved his score but he and only he can improve it thru his own efforts. Nobody said that he wasn't smart.

Bottom line is he is probably a hardhead and the School of Hard Knocks will be his true alma mater. Maybe I used to know somebody like him very well

Bottom line: he's gonna do what he is gonna do but that has to come

It took you a while, he's your brother so why would he be much different ?. I understand you want him to avoid your mistakes but many of us don't learn from the mistakes of others.

The best thing is that you are there for him.

BTW I tried to give my brother advice. After he flunked out of college. Told him he should enlist but he didn't want people ordering him around and telling him what to wear. He's had a failed business, a foreclosed home and a series of rather low paying jobs. He has an IQ of 146. Today at 58 he is single and lives our mother (she's 93). Draw your own conclusions there.

His IQ is much higher than mine but somewhere like yourself, I wised up just like you. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink !

 

[crazymjb]

Agreed. Modern infantrymen have a great many things they need to keep track of all the time; they're constantly multitasking. Especially the mechanized kind.

When I was in, the low-ASVAB guys were the truck drivers.

Ditto on my end. Did the infantry have some crayon eaters? You bet, but I thought we were among the smarter of the job fields. In the USMC, and I Imagine the army, grunt slots and other combat arms fill up first. Those who aren't motivated enough or clever enough to find a way in end up elsewhere.

My wife was Motor-t, I was a grunt. Maybe it's cause I'm biased, but lets just say I think I noticed a difference. Almost all my close friends I served with have 4 year degrees, many have or are working on graduate degrees. We had a handful of ivy leaguers come through my company, granted we were reservists.

And for the record I had an intel kid who just got back from a ruck march asking me how far I thought he went if they told him they were hiking X speed for Y time. So yea... thats intel.

But the ASVAB matters and everything about the military is about doing your best to excel. I took it as a Junior in HS and managed a 99. I met plenty of other "99s" in the infantry.

Mike

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[Andy in NH]

Ditto on my end. Did the infantry have some crayon eaters? You bet, but I thought we were among the smarter of the job fields. In the USMC, and I Imagine the army, grunt slots and other combat arms fill up first. Those who aren't motivated enough or clever enough to find a way in end up elsewhere.

Several buddies who I served with that were former recruiters made comments similar to yours.

They suspected that the higher scoring poolees wanted the challenge of the Infantry while those with the lower scores wanted a "high tech" job to make them "smart".

 

[goodlife30]

Folks usually stay in the infantry for a few years and then get broken and switch mos'es. Common theme, "i should have done this years ago". As I said before, get a skill from Uncle Sam.

 

[crazymjb]

I wouldn't trade my time in the infantry for anything in the world. That said, I am working on going back in, and not to the infantry.

As far as skills go, my leadership ability, ability to work under pressure, and organizational ability is stronger than it ever would have been without having served as a grunt. Plus I got to do cool stuff.

Mike

 

[Wildweasel]

If you have a chance to get usable training as part of the bargain then do it. (33S back in the day EW intercept repairer Longest school in the army at the time. I was still able to do cool stuff (tac Platoon aggressors etc) and later went guard and blew shit up (combat eng). I have been doing the computer repair thing since.

My son was combat eng got reclassified into MP for Iraq to guard the shiteaters at Abu, then picked up two more mos's before he got out. all in the nat guard. the only part he uses today? the truck driving heavy equipment part. He was qualified to do Helo maint and a number of other high tech Jobs but wanted the combat eng thing.

 

[cams]

If he has any desire to serve in the 75th Ranger Regiment let me know. I belong to a group of present and former members that have a mentor program for those young men seeking an Opt40 Contract and a spot at RASP (Ranger Assessment and Selection Program).

It is very educational and a no BS set up, so if he's not serious about it that will show easily enough and he will be back out on his own as far as recruitment and preparation. We do have a high success rate for our DEP's graduating RASP and succeeding in Regiment.

 

[crazymjb]

Your brother a Marine Corps infantryman yet?

Mike

 

[DarthRevan]

Your brother a Marine Corps infantryman yet?

Mike

He signed up Cavalry Scout, 19D I believe is the MOS? (Forgive my ignorance of number to letters.)
He's headed to Ft. Benning after graduation next summer.

 

[Picton]

Not bad! Good choice. I was a 13F (an artillery FO) once; we thought of cav scouts as spiritual brothers.

Good luck to him.

 

[GPP]

I wouldn't trade my time in the infantry for anything in the world. That said, I am working on going back in, and not to the infantry.

As far as skills go, my leadership ability, ability to work under pressure, and organizational ability is stronger than it ever would have been without having served as a grunt. Plus I got to do cool stuff.

Mike

I would, and so would my son. That being said, certain aspects of it were all fine and well, but the difference between the 25th and 8th Marines eleven series are night and day Mike.

 

[crazymjb]

Fleet vs reserves? Definitely glad I didnt have to live barracks life for 4 years. I also know plenty of fleet guys who never left the US and lived off base their entire enlistment. On the other hand plenty of guys in platoon got messed up overseas and we all got to live in a squadbay for 6 months in pendleton.

Undoubtedly living the bullshit 24/7 for 4 years is worse than doing it on weekends and summers and maybe a deployment or two. Plenty of people make a career out of both, however. Also, tons of variation unit to unit active and reserves, but no, you can't deny they dont "own" you as much as a reservist.

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