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droey posted:I'll be graduating with a chemistry/philosophy degree in May. I asked earlier about being diagnosed with depression and being eligible to fly helos. The depression was really just a phase and nothing is really "wrong" with my mental health now. I just had a rough patch in my life. Despite this I've done well in school and it's been my dream to fly since I was a kid. I know that this isn't a guarantee to get in the sky or anything so I've been looking at other things I might enjoy. Okay, I'll bite. If you want to fly, go try for the warrant officer tract and fly around like a mother fuckin' chief, giving no fucks. I, personally, do not think this is too bad of an idea. You get a clearance, you get a cool job. You aren't picking up cigarette butts like enlisted scrubs. The money is better than being an E. You don't want to piss away your 4 years of schooling to be a medic. As a medic, you are probably going to be stuck in the TMC, filling out paperwork for dudes who banged a woman off ill repute and now need something stuck up his pee hole, or going to some shithole country worrying about whether you just got TB. Being proficient with a weapon don't really mean poo poo in the Army. Having any kind of skill isn't really necessary to function through most Army bullshit, except for being able to do some pushups, situps, and run for 2 miles in a reasonable amount of time twice a year. If you really, really, must enlist, go look at 35 series. You get yourself a snazzy clearance, maybe some language training, or IT certs, or something. Sign up for 3 years and get the gently caress out. But really, go try and fly a helo. Don't enlist.
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Oct 15, 2012 01:40
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Veins McGee posted:Counterpoint: Who loving cares what you do? Don't take any of this dudes advice, he reeks of kool-aid. Practically bathes in it.
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Oct 15, 2012 02:14
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droey posted:Combat medic seems to be something I would like to do. I've considered training as an EMT but I figure the Army would teach me a lot of useful skills that would look great on a resume for pharmacy/medical (or PA, nursing, etc) school down the road. I want to take a break from this academic cycle. I want to push myself to be a stronger person and learn valuable survival techniques. I know that I'll have to learn a lot as a medic, but the fact that it will be something I could implement in my job immediately just engrosses me. I'm reading a U.S. Army survival manual and a lot of parts about treating trauma are very interesting to me. I'm a good shot with a rifle,understand their cleaning/assembly, and can put rounds in a 4 inch circle from pretty far away. I don't want to kill anyone if I had to be deployed. However, the safety of my buddies and I would supersede any reservations I had. First: If you want to be a PA or Doc, go to school to be a PA or a Doc. Don't do something because it looks good on a resume for the future. Don't join ANY BRANCH so you can do something later on. Do it because that is what you want to do, or go to school for that other thing. My experience with regular Army medics is very limited, but they do VERY basic things. The worst I've seen involved checking in people for sick call. They take vital signs, fill out paperwork, and stand around until 5 so you can go home. A lot of guys do get better training, but it all depends on who they work for. I know of one who has been assigned all over the world (to task forces) to work in trauma centers as part of forward support teams and surgical teams. My impression is, as a regular medic, this is rare. Your training is EMT level, you are always under the oversight of a Doc, PA or Nurse Practitioner. You are pretty much limited to apply tourniquet, put in IV, and run away. There are other higher level medics out there, and if you have a genuine interest in trauma, they do really cool stuff. Your special operations medics (SF, SEAL, Ranger, 160th Flight Medics) go to an amazing school and have better opportunities to practice at a higher level. Some independently. Its still pretty much stabilize and hand off to a Doctor, but over a longer time scale and worse injuries. The important part is that these medics exist so teams can do high risk activities, which you participate in. If you're not up to be a shooter (PJ/Ranger/SEAL/Marine Recon or SF dude) FIRST, this is not for you. edit: There are medical programs out there that will take you with a degree and send you to med school, and you'll come out as a doctor with a job. I don't know any details about them. iceslice fucked around with this message at 03:39 on Oct 15, 2012 |
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Oct 15, 2012 03:35
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Just outta curiosity, I know GiP tries to dissuade those with degrees from enlisting. But what about the guy who has a degree in Dutch Literature, with a 2.5 GPA from U of Phoenix? This guy isn't going to get a commission.
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Oct 15, 2012 03:43
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Oxford Comma posted:Just outta curiosity, I know GiP tries to dissuade those with degrees from enlisting. But what about the guy who has a degree in Dutch Literature, with a 2.5 GPA from U of Phoenix? This guy isn't going to get a commission. People are going to do what they want, regardless of the voices screaming at them on the internet. There is really nothing wrong with enlisting with a degree if you know what you're getting into, and want to do it anyway, but people who post in this thread have no clue. Most of us are simply trying to inform people that they have the opportunity to do better, even if they won't.
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Oct 15, 2012 03:47
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Oxford Comma posted:Just outta curiosity, I know GiP tries to dissuade those with degrees from enlisting. But what about the guy who has a degree in Dutch Literature, with a 2.5 GPA from U of Phoenix? This guy isn't going to get a commission. Anyone with a degree from U of Phoenix doesn't have a degree.
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Oct 15, 2012 03:47
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DaNerd posted:For what it is worth I shipped to boot underweight. The doctor had already left when they realized so they called him and he gave me a waiver over the phone, or something. I was about 5 pounds underweight. Bent my knees a little so they'd round down to the next inch. In retrospect, honesty would have been the best policy.
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Oct 15, 2012 03:52
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Oxford Comma posted:Just outta curiosity, I know GiP tries to dissuade those with degrees from enlisting. But what about the guy who has a degree in Dutch Literature, with a 2.5 GPA from U of Phoenix? This guy isn't going to get a commission. If your options have been whittled down to "Enlist, or don't enlist" because commissioning is never going to be an option, guess what the best choice is? NOT ENLISTING. Source: Last decade of my life. Seriously if you can make it through life and get an ok job and have a reasonable standard of living without joining the military-- do it. If you can't, you are a perfect candidate to enlist-- join today, because poo poo looks bleak elsewhere and at least this way you'll ALWAYS get 3 hots and cot. At best you'll get a sweet place off base and be eating papa johns getting fat but not doing PT because you're waivered and waiting to get out so you can smoke pot and go back to college not just for free but actually get PAID. This is 100% real talk.
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Oct 15, 2012 05:15
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droey posted:I'll be graduating with a chemistry/philosophy degree in May. I asked earlier about being diagnosed with depression and being eligible to fly helos. The depression was really just a phase and nothing is really "wrong" with my mental health now. I just had a rough patch in my life. Despite this I've done well in school and it's been my dream to fly since I was a kid. I know that this isn't a guarantee to get in the sky or anything so I've been looking at other things I might enjoy. My experience on this is kind of backwards, but still pretty relevant. I was an EMT-B before I enlisted as a 35T. The stuff you learn as a medic in the Army is about on par with EMT-B, with a very different focus. Guy-on-the-street EMT has much, much more training and experience with medical calls than trauma calls because that's simply what 90% of your calls are in the civilian world. The military centers it's training much more heavily on trauma for obvious reasons even though they do use the same Orange Book as EMT-B civilian training does. There is a pretty hefty amount of cross-over but as far as I'm aware nobody will give you an EMT certification for having been a medic in the military, though at the level of EMT-B it's not hard to test and get certified on your own in the first place. I paid 200 bucks and took a three month class to get Pennsylvania state EMT-B certified on my own before I joined. Do not join the military just for this job on the outside as it's not remotely worth the investment of years of your life. Further, EMT-B as a job pays you precisely zero point diddly gently caress-all. We're talking stones-throw away from minimum wage. I am not in the least exaggerating when I say I made more money at McDonalds when I moved up to management then I did on the ambulance and I got shot at more often riding in that rig then I did ever in the military. (because I was an intel weenie) Don't get me wrong EMS can be a fantastically rewarding career and one I've gone back to do volunteer now that I'm out just because I love it but the pay is poo poo, poo poo and poo poo with a side order of poo poo. If you're going to join the military for something medical make it something worth that kind of investment because EMT-B is not worth years of your life for training. Before I decided to indulge my inner geek and play with cisco routing, linux databasing, active directory and poo poo like that (with a clearance, WOOO!) as a 35T I looked into medical and there's far more lucrative stuff you can get into than medic. Radiological techs can make major, major bank on the outside (70 bucks an hour type bank) and that is one MOS that will straight up transfer to a civilian career. Also, the phrase 'don't loving enlist with a degree' isn't thrown around here so often for funsies. If you've got a chance at it go be a nobleman and shoot for being a physician or something with letters behind your name. If you enlist with a degree I want you to think about this thread every time you're picking up cigarette butts at 5 in the morning because your 'AO' is going to be inspected by someone who didn't enlist with a degree.
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Oct 15, 2012 05:40
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I have a degree and a 6 year contract. You just have to make sure you get one of the good jobs in the right branch, which is not most jobs. It should go like this: code:Sir Lucius fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Oct 15, 2012 |
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Oct 15, 2012 16:53
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I hear 88M compliments a Logistics degree wonderfully.
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Oct 15, 2012 18:52
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Actual advice, all of these jobs will basically be the same field, so take your pick on whatever branch. I'm pulling these job descriptions from about because I love the wording used to describe them. You will get education that can actually be used on the outside, and getting paid a bunch for it. 1N4X1 - Air Froce quote:Analyzes, disseminates, and exploits intelligence derived from target network communications. 35Q - Army quote:A Cryptologic Network Warfare Specialist performs initial cryptologic digital analysis to establish target identification and operational patterns; identifies, reports, and maintains Intelligence information in support of Commander’s Intelligence Requirements; uses technical references to analyze information. CTN - Navy quote:The Cryptologic Technician - Networks branch offers a career in computer Networks. CTN's perform a variety of duties associated with computer network operations across global networks. Advanced training in computer network operations, using state-of-the-art technology is readily available. Within a short period, today’s CTN quickly develops highly marketable computer network skills. A combination of technical and analytical computer network skills provides the situational awareness required to plan and execute informational operations (IO) actions/counter-actions. I can only speak for CTN, but if you do land the job it's pretty much like not even being in the Navy. You won't ever see a ship, you have about 5 places you can be stationed and they're all in the US.
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Oct 15, 2012 19:46
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Sir Lucius posted:I can only speak for CTN, but if you do land the job it's pretty much like not even being in the Navy. You won't ever see a ship, you have about 5 places you can be stationed and they're all in the US. CTN is nothing like 1N4 which in turn is also nothing like the army 35Q. There are some assignment possibilities in 35Q / 1N4 that are somewhat comparable to the CTN folks, but honestly the jobs are fairly different-- similar but different enough to matter.
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Oct 16, 2012 00:41
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Yeah, I just mentioned the other two because they can end up in the exact same training pipeline.
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Oct 16, 2012 01:03
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Sir Lucius posted:I can only speak for CTN, but if you do land the job it's pretty much like not even being in the Navy. You won't ever see a ship, you have about 5 places you can be stationed and they're all in the US. That's if you can survive the school. I had a CTN in my ATT class whose entire class failed as a unit and she (and presumably everyone else in that class) had to pick new rates.
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Oct 16, 2012 04:43
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The tests can be hard and a lot of memorization, but there's nothing unfair about it. The people who did well studied their asses off, and most of the material is stuff you can take with you. Also the school is joint, so in this case I can speak for the other branches. Though I'm not sure the exact progression path, for not-Navy I don't think the training is right out of A-school.
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Oct 16, 2012 05:11
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So I'm shipping out to Lackland for Cryptologic Lingusist on 05032013... Anyone have any experience with this? What's the worst thing about it, the best thing, etc? How's Monterey? (Or do I even get to see any of it?)
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Oct 17, 2012 04:26
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Don't flunk out of DLI. I've no idea what it's like for AF linguists otherwise but the Army linguists I work with have a great job.
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Oct 17, 2012 05:27
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Friar Zucchini posted:So I'm shipping out to Lackland for Cryptologic Lingusist on 05032013... Anyone have any experience with this? What's the worst thing about it, the best thing, etc? How's Monterey? (Or do I even get to see any of it?) Start with not writing dates like that. You'll probably fail out of DLI and wind up as a cop, CE, or if you're lucky a different intel job.
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Oct 17, 2012 08:49
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Yeah man, the official GIP DTG is as follows; YYYYMMDD
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Oct 18, 2012 15:34
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Is Adderall, that is legally prescribed and used, still a total bar from joining, like asthma?
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Oct 19, 2012 22:03
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gfanikf posted:Is Adderall, that is legally prescribed and used, still a total bar from joining, like asthma?
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Oct 19, 2012 22:33
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Heres a question, I've heard mixed statements from people I've asked before. I've got flat feet, I was born with them and I have no arch whatsoever and I have to wear orthopedic inserts just to tolerate standing/walking for a few hours. Some people have told me that this is disqualifies you from any of the armed forces. Could someone clarify this for me?
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Oct 20, 2012 05:27
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xSousuke posted:Heres a question, I've heard mixed statements from people I've asked before. I've got flat feet, I was born with them and I have no arch whatsoever and I have to wear orthopedic inserts just to tolerate standing/walking for a few hours. Some people have told me that this is disqualifies you from any of the armed forces. I've got flat feet (maybe not quite as bad), and had no trouble getting a waiver from the Navy. As long as you can handle regular running and other activity with your orthotics and a decent pair of shoes it shouldn't be a big deal. It might be disqualifying for the Army or Marines since they're a lot more ruck-oriented, but I wouldn't want to ruck 20 miles on flat feet anyway.
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Oct 20, 2012 06:10
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Flat feet don't really matter anymore. I have severely flat feet, and the Army didn't even need to waive it. Just marked it down.
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Oct 21, 2012 04:41
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I needed a waiver for flat feet. (Army)
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Oct 21, 2012 05:56
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I have ridiculously flat feet. MEPS doc said, "You ain't got no arch. You still need an Airborne physical?" Never even notated it.
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Oct 21, 2012 06:45
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Oxygenpoisoning posted:You can go back for a second degree or a graduate degree through Army ROTC. AROTC is predominately looking for STEM degrees, so that may help your chances, if you meet all of the other prerequisites. Can you elaborate on this? I'm a college grad looking to become an intelligence officer and a graduate degree via ROTC seems like my best shot. I've been to the website but it's mostly for undergrads. What's the process/program for graduates? Could I win a scholarship?
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Oct 22, 2012 15:49
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Every ROTC battalion has a recruiting officer. Find the one responsible for the school you're looking (if that school does not host the local ROTC program, he's probably going to work at the one that does) to attend and give him a call.
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Oct 22, 2012 23:23
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Viola the Mad posted:Can you elaborate on this? I'm a college grad looking to become an intelligence officer and a graduate degree via ROTC seems like my best shot. I've been to the website but it's mostly for undergrads. What's the process/program for graduates? Could I win a scholarship? Army ROTC is divided into a two year "Basic Course" and a two year "Advanced Course." Grad students on a two-year program skip straight to the Advanced Course by getting Basic Course credit through either prior military experience or attending a 4-week "Leader's Training Course." The tricky thing about LTC is that each school has a limited number of slots available. As a grad student, you'll be coming off the street and competing against sophomores or juniors that have been hanging around the program for a semester or two and playing the game in hopes of earning one of the slots. Of course, if you interview well and/or the sophomore class in that particular program during that particular year is extremely small and/or lovely, the Professor of Military Science might give you an LTC slot pretty eagerly. This wouldn't necessarily net you a 2-year scholarship though, as that process is completely separate as far as I'm aware. Another option that I've seen unsuccessfully tried by a grad student is to audit the sophomore-level class before starting an actual degree program. His plan was to impress the cadre enough to earn a 2-year scholarship and LTC slot, and then complete the last 2 years of ROTC along with his grad degree. He gave up pretty quickly, although I'm not sure if that was because his plan was a bad one or if he was just too lazy to pass a PT test.
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Oct 22, 2012 23:26
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Thanks for the advice. Regarding the scholarship, I'm gonna worry about that later. Right now, the key is getting into ROTC itself. If that isn't going to happen, then I'm not going to grad school. I think I cut a pretty good profile, but there's two things that have me worried. I've had migraines since I was a little kid. They barely affect my day-to-day life, but this is because I take a preventative medicine that limits them to a nasty headache every couple of months. Also, I had a pretty rough freshman year and was diagnosed with mild depression. That was five years ago; I'm a very different person now. If necessary, I can get a statement from my doctor at the time stating that I am stable and functioning, etc. On the other hand, I got a 3.2 GPA in college, work out and run three to four times a week, have clearance, speak three languages from the Middle East (not fluent, though) and maintain a squeaky clean record. So what do you think? Honestly, I'm going full-steam ahead at this point, but I'd like to hear your advice/opinions.
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Oct 23, 2012 14:46
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A 3.2 is about average for Cadets, but if it's STEM you'll look more attractive. There's a physical you have take called a DODMERB in order to become a contracted Cadet with ROTC. They're going to ask you about your mental and medical history. Telling them you have a history of depression is likely going to disqualify you. I don't know if you can get a waiver for depression. As far as the migraines go I don't know, I've never known anyone with that problem. I can tell that the Army is becoming very, very picky compared to the past decade. If you do some Google Fu on Army medical recruiting standards you can probably find the regulation that spells out recruiting and retention standards. But again, your best source of information for getting into the program going to be the battalion recruiting officer.
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Oct 23, 2012 20:49
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What's a good career path to go into in the Air Force? My recruiter keeps pushing SOWT and I have very little interest in that. Linguist has an obvious appeal due to the skills that you learn, but I've heard it is notoriously difficult. Any fields in particular that I should take a longer look at?
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Oct 24, 2012 04:57
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Intel Boom Operator Flight Engineer Sensor Operator Medical specialties (mostly for med chicks) SERE if you're into being outdoors for weeks at a time Command Post for a last option
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Oct 24, 2012 05:48
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Signaleer posted:A 3.2 is about average for Cadets, but if it's STEM you'll look more attractive. There's a physical you have take called a DODMERB in order to become a contracted Cadet with ROTC. They're going to ask you about your mental and medical history. Telling them you have a history of depression is likely going to disqualify you. I don't know if you can get a waiver for depression. As far as the migraines go I don't know, I've never known anyone with that problem. I can tell that the Army is becoming very, very picky compared to the past decade. If you do some Google Fu on Army medical recruiting standards you can probably find the regulation that spells out recruiting and retention standards. But again, your best source of information for getting into the program going to be the battalion recruiting officer. Sadly, I'm not STEM. It's why I wanted to become an intelligence officer in the Army. I'd like to specialize in HUMINT and work as an analyst. Thanks for your input about medical standards. It sucks to learn that one lovely year might ruin my chances, but I'd rather go in forewarned. I did use some of that Google Fu to find a couple of guides about military standards. Army Navy Just in case anyone else wants to know the standards. The Army one is from 2011, so it's probably a little out of date. Be warned, they're both PDFs.
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Oct 24, 2012 18:12
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Viola the Mad posted:Sadly, I'm not STEM. It's why I wanted to become an intelligence officer in the Army. I'd like to specialize in HUMINT and work as an analyst. As has been said before, officers in any field (intelligence included) do little actual hands-on work. Just as an officer in a maintenance unit doesn't usually put on coveralls and go work on a truck, you won't usually be conducting interviews or whatever as HUMINT. As an MI officer, your job will be managing analysts and packaging their product for consumption by your boss. More importantly, the branching process for Army officers is pretty convoluted, with significant chances of getting assigned to a branch literally at random based on the needs of the Army. If you have a burning desire to do any one specific thing within the military, being an officer probably isn't the way to go.
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Oct 24, 2012 18:56
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benem posted:If you have a burning desire to do any one specific thing within the military, being an officer probably isn't the way to go. If you don't want every single day of your life to be nothing more than an experiment in how many kinds of new bullshit you can be subjected to in every single aspect of your existence you should probably still go officer. ...just sayin'
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Oct 24, 2012 20:07
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benem posted:As has been said before, officers in any field (intelligence included) do little actual hands-on work. Just as an officer in a maintenance unit doesn't usually put on coveralls and go work on a truck, you won't usually be conducting interviews or whatever as HUMINT. As an MI officer, your job will be managing analysts and packaging their product for consumption by your boss. Yeah, that's what I want to do, analyze the intelligence brought in and put together products. I do understand and accept that I might not end up in military intelligence because it's the freaking military and going where the Army wants you is part of the package. By the way, why doesn't the Find a Recruiter site have a search agent for officer recruiters? Viola the Mad fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Oct 24, 2012 |
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Oct 24, 2012 21:20
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Maybe there hoping you'll get frustrated and enlist 11B.
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Oct 24, 2012 21:36
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Viola the Mad posted:Yeah, that's what I want to do, analyze the intelligence brought in and put together products. I do understand and accept that I might not end up in military intelligence because it's the freaking military and going where the Army wants you is part of the package. You pretty much described what enlisted 35F (Intelligence analyst) do. If you branch intel as an officer, you're going to mostly be a manager as most actual analysis is done by enlisted/WO at the brigade and below.
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Oct 24, 2012 23:13
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