Thinking about serving in the military. Any tips or things I should know?

and he wonders why?

 

Ah. I can see how that would trigger a DI.

Of course, now I HAVE to lookup Russian midget porn on PH tonight.

 

About the "what civilian career do you want?"
answer to the "which branch should I enlist in" decision:

I once saw the four DoD branches characterized
into two differently named groups.

I think the Navy and Air Force were dubbed something like "the technical services",
and the Army and Marines were something else (say, "the field services").

Can anyone tell me what the actual labels were?

(Yes, I know there's lots of electronics, etc. used by today's Army/USMC.
But a nuclear submarine or stealth bomber is just a tetch more complex than a Humvee).

You just made me think of a question.

(Ignoring "up or out" promotion constraints),
have services ever allowed borderline cases to "soldier on",
but declined to offer re-enlistment at the end of their hitch?

Typo or AI? Dept.​

Either you've been accidentally using goggle.com,
or Google really has your number
and they're just yielding the results
that reflect your true interests.

 

In that case, supervel can rot in hell.

 

Bar to re enlistments are always options for discipline prone soldiers. In order to re enlistments after a bar has been placed the soldier needs a waiver signed by a commander willing to accept the soldier into their unit. This is national guard reg......active duty may be different. As a commander I received multiple requests over the years to sign waivers to accept a soldier after a bar was placed in their file. I never signed a single one.

Also.....if a soldier is dismissed from his or her contract for anything other than honorable discharge a waiver would need to be signed allwong that soldier to enlist again. I had a couple of those slide accross my desk too. I refused to sign all of them. One was a soldier that received 3 article 15s during basic training and was kicked out not completing basic. 2 of the charges were for falsifying a pt test (soldier tried to change the score with a pencil) and the 3rd was for disrespecting an NCO. Cussed at his drill instructor. The plead by the recruiter was that the soldier was 18 when he enlisted and was too immature to handle basic training. .....and was now 20 and was more mature. Yeah......no. let him be someone else's problem. Not signing. I know most soldiers go an entire career without a single article 15......this asshat had 3 in the course of 5 weeks! f*** that.

 

Is it any diffr

Our BN CSM, later regimental CSM, once told me you are just a punk if you dont have an art 15. He had 3 too. Great man good soldier. Alas I only got 1 for a bar fight.

 

3 in 5 weeks? At basic?

 

No that's just a retard. We had a chronic bed wetter. A horrid slob. Finally after a blanket party he washed out.

 

It's non-judicial for a reason... but 3 over a career, or even an enlistment is a lot different than someone who can't even hack basic training. Also a bar fight is more forgivable than issues with honor and integrity, forging docs, etc.

 

Completely agree.

I had a first sergeant when I was a young private that told me he was such a good NCO he made sergeant twice. Lol

For what it's worth....the waivers I got that I didn't sign were mostly ones that tested positive for drugs. Ain't nobody got time for that shit. Self referrals are a different story and those soldiers have a path to recover and stay in. The ones that wait till they piss hot.....or get caught cheating the piss test......f*** em.

 

I almost (Colonel recommended it)got an Article 15 for not saluting the Battalion XO during an 'alert' where we are woken up at 0200 and have to be loaded up and ready to ride to war in 90 minutes. I had 2 duffel bags,one in front of me and one on my back. Along with a backpack,LBE and a M60 laying across my front duffle bag and wearing a helmet. I couldn't even see the guy standing at the corner of a building wearing a subdued eagle,much less salute him. I learned where he was later,I honestly didnt even see him. I was a brand new private and didnt know I was supposed to be looking out for pulsating vagina men to salute. The Article 15 was suppressed by the company CO and1SG,just did a couple days of extra duty.

 

I hated officers like that.

My time as an officer I would either avoid the "busy areas" or if I had to walk through a place with a ton of busy soldiers I'd walk through quickly saying "carry on" over and over so I wouldn't disrupt them.....

 

Gotta love 'no hat - no salute' areas!

 

There was the Chief Warrant Officer from a Logistics Company that used to constantly berate my guys for not saluting him in the dark when we were in Bosnia. Finally I had enough of the little prick and told him to stop f***ing w/my guys. He went ballistic and went to my 1st SGT and wanted me to either apologize or be given an Article 15. I explained to my 1SG the deal and he said he understood but the little Prick was making a big scene. I told my 1SG that I wouldn't apologize so he wrote me a counseling statement and told me to stay away from the little prick. Whenever I saw the Chief I would do an about face and walk the other way. When we were demobbing my 1SG ripped it up and handed me the statement. Little Man syndrome.

 

A fellow I know left the Air Force after reaching the rank of Captain. He joked that the Air Force should change their recruiting tag line to: “Air Force — the alternative to military service”.

 

Warrant officers.....

Officers.....with all of the pay and none of the responsibility

 

Crazy question......just shows I'm paying attention.....a battalion XO would be wearing an oak leaf cluster (major) not an eagle no?

 

A little salty huh? How angry does it make you that W3s-W5s are field grade officers?

 

Never made me angry. However......I knew many cw3 and cw4 serving in company level positions (warrants are allowed to serve over grade.....officers are not) that were hiding out their last decade.....and never even seen a bn or bde headquarters let alone worked in one.....and used to giggle at em. Field grad my ass!!!!

 

Chesty Puller once said, "take me to the brig so I can see the real Marines."

 

Had a great female lt. An administrative wizard couldn't shoot for shit I made sure there were experts on both sides of her.

 

“Adolphhhhh, dinners ready honey. It’s time to get out of the tub!”

 

It's time soon gents, nut up or shut up. World War 3. The voiceless vs the Alt Left Media Machine.

Ya sorry OP, but after reading this literally insane sounding diatribe you have more serious things to work on.

But hey, if you do enlist make sure to ask them to station you somewhere with a bell tower, they’ll know what you mean and make sure you get squared away.

 

I went in the Navy a few months after graduating from HS in '74. I landed in boot camp in in February in the middle of a horrendous snow storm at Great Lakes, Illinois. Boot camp was a sea change for me. I was a loner (I still am to some extent) but it taught me to be reliable and also rely on others. My dad said I left for boot camp a green country boy and returned home a solid confidant young man...then I went through flight crew training. That made boot camp look like a ymca camp. I got out in 1981 as an E6. Best experience of my life.

 

Read his other NES post at the link below.
To steal Mike's post, this has turned in to a:

 

Good thread anyway. Any prospective enlistee needs some of this advice.

 

You and Bridget have a date?

 

You obviously disrespected him... in some armies you could get shot!

So, technically you
owe your life fo UCMJ

 

I think there is always a grey line between dealing with an a**h*** in charge and pushing back

Some officers like to push for extra power and glory. To them the enlisted are just resources. I got into face to face with a fresh butter bar PL who wanted to wake my guys up at one to finish a construction project that was falling behind. This was after 12 hours working in Cali desert. I was definitely an arrogant prick, but so was he, I told him to his face that it was not a legal order, and while I will go with him, it will require a CO to wake up and issue the order. And the CO cared more about the peeps and is getting a BC position in Washington state this spring

Then again, I was definitely a prick in basic. I was 21 when went I , and one of my DS’s was a second generation Hungarian. He though Russian Hungarian - kindred spirit. I got smoked regardless, but when he was in a good mood, i would remind him of 1956 and soviet tanks in Budapest

I know this might be a bit sore subject for some, but at that time that all we had to push back with.

Oh yeah, and first day I asked when we are going to learn how to goose step....

 

You are right come to think of it,but pretty sure he was a Lt Colonel..This was a really small post in Northern Germany and it was just one division. The commander of the post was a one star,and his XO must gave been a full bird Colonel.

Colonel Fry was his name.