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Mustang posted:If you have 60 days of leave and want to take 60 days of ETS leave, can your BDE Commander deny it and force you to sell off your accrued leave? Yes. It's often seen as a dick move, but yes. Two months of ETS leave means that HRC counts the billet as filled and will not seek a replacement until the end of the leave period. Sometimes that means they START to fill billets via personnel requisitions only starting when the person falls off the books. So if a bunch of people around the same time are doing 2 months of leave, it can leave a commander with unfilled shortages for months. I haven't seen it get so bad that a unit forced all leave sold off, with the exception of some chapters and UCMJ issue folks. But I have seen a BDE commander deem that 2-4 weeks was the ETS max without extenuating circumstances, only allowing 60+ days for people retiring, because they'd already given 20 years to the military or were medically retiring. This was when the unit was manned at something like 50-60% on critical MOS's, and HRC was refusing to fill even those shortages until ETS leave personnel fell off the books. Several times I've seen 30 days used as the general rule with 60 being for special cases and outright denial only being for people leaving on very bad terms.
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Nov 7, 2018 15:48
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Mustang posted:If you have 60 days of leave and want to take 60 days of ETS leave, can your BDE Commander deny it and force you to sell off your accrued leave? I know this was almost a month ago, but dude we were in the same brigade. I tried that and it got shot down almost immediately, and at every level I asked. If they aren't going to let some broken Joe who has a pretty damned good reason to take 60 days go, then they certainly won't let a perfectly good officer. I ended up having to sell back 60 days and then eat another 17 because convalescent leave is just as good as ETS leave in their eyes. Except for the whole "getting more money" and "not being there" parts.
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Nov 27, 2018 22:05
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The Unholy Ghost posted:What looks better for graduate school: spending time as an officer in the Army, or enlisting in the Air Force? So let me get this straight. You want to join the military for grad school resume. But don’t want to spend any time in sub-air force quality lodging... Please don’t join the military.
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Dec 17, 2018 14:08
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ActusRhesus posted:So let me get this straight. You want to join the military for grad school resume. But don’t want to spend any time in sub-air force quality lodging... Please post more, we miss you  Also get on Discord
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Dec 17, 2018 18:27
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EBB posted:Please post more, we miss you
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Dec 17, 2018 19:27
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Awwwww. I’m surprised anyone even remembers me. Discord link?
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Dec 17, 2018 19:32
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ActusRhesus posted:Awwwww. Ain’t you the smart JAG?
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Dec 17, 2018 19:37
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LingcodKilla posted:Ain’t you the smart JAG? Former JAG. But I joined the JAG Corps... so smart is under review.
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Dec 17, 2018 19:45
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ActusRhesus posted:Former JAG. That’s exactly what a smarty pants JAG would say.
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Dec 17, 2018 19:47
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LingcodKilla posted:That’s exactly what a smarty pants JAG would say. Legit.
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Dec 17, 2018 19:48
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Hey, everyone! I’m considering joining the Coast Guard, as it satisfies the two pulls of my heart (always wanted to be either a cop or a Naval Officer), and I found out that the Coast Guard does a lot of the best of both. The only problem I have with joining (except maybe my odds of getting in) is that the wife doesn’t want me to be away for upwards of six months. I keep hearing conflicting information about the nature of USCG deployments in so far as some times cutters will be out for ~two weeks at a time, and the longest a cutter can be out to sea are three months (logistically). I’ve also heard that overseas deployments can last up to six months at a time. I’m not an idiot, I know that the deployment styles and lengths depend on the unit, mission, and vessel involved, but any information breaking down how deployments work would be appreciated. I’m 89% sure I want the “Coastie” life, but the more information I can get the better. I’m only posting this here and not the Coast Guard thread because that appears to be archived right now.
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Mar 9, 2019 16:51
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I mean ostensibly you have a college degree since you're trying to be an officer which means you have options (other than the military). Most people are going to tell you not to join, but if you are going to join the USCG is probably one of the best options. Have you considered the Coast Guard reserve?
Flying_Crab fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Mar 9, 2019 |
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Mar 9, 2019 17:00
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Paranoid Dude posted:Hey, everyone! I've got 13 years in, 5 of which were enlisted and the rest have been as an Officer. If you want to get underway (there's many other jobs that the Coast Guard does which do not entail serving afloat, but that appears to be what interests you), you could feasibly get underway anywhere between 1-2 weeks at a time and up to 6 months at a time. Whether you enlist or commission will play a part regarding what types of cutters you can be assigned to. As enlisted, depending on which rating you pick, you have the choice of being on almost any type of boat. I was on a Polar Icebreaker which did a 6 month patrol and I was on a medium endurance cutter which did 60-75 day patrols. With my rating (Boatswain's Mate), I had the option of also trying to go on smaller patrol boats which get underway for a week or two at a time. As you advance, depending on rating and availability of certain jobs needed on certain ships, you could have the option of staying on smaller vessels for the majority of your career or going on larger ones if you wish. Since you mentioned naval officer, I imagine you want to be on the bridge and navigating, so if this is true, you would have to go Boatswain's Mate, as that's the only enlisted rating where you can feasibly drive the ship. If you want engineering, you can be a Machinery Technician but you'll be down in the engine room. Regarding your desire to be a cop, BM and MK would serve this niche as well, as they typically do boardings (along with a special ME rating). As an Officer, you are a little more limited in what you can choose. For your first tour, you will likely go to a larger ship (210, 270, 378, or 420 foot cutters), which means deployments between 2-3+ months. Only the icebreakers do the 6-month patrols. After that tour if you want to stay afloat, you will generally have the option to try and get a command spot (XO or CO) of a smaller ship, 110+ feet). If you continue to serve afloat, as you go up in rank you will be put in charge of larger crews/ships as your time goes on. There's variations to all of this, but that's the gist of it. For law enforcement, you'll get the qualification to conduct boardings, but will generally only do it for your first tour and that will be it. There's specialized LE paths like MSST and MSRT, where you will be doing more of that, but really it's oversight at that point and you're letting the enlisted members do all the actual work and you're just keeping up on your quals and making sure they have what they need. MSST deploy quite a bit, usually for weeks/months at a time to different areas. For Officers, you typically go from operational tours to staff tours, so you might do a 2-year tour underway where you have to get underway every 2 months for 60 days with a 2-month in-port period, and then you'll go to a 3-4 year staff tour where you aren't getting underway at all and come home every night. There's some exceptions to this as well (Admiral's aide, where you're travelling on their schedule for 2 straight years, etc). For overseas tours like Bahrain, those last one year, and Officers typically try and get those immediately after their first tour on a larger ship out of the academy/OCS, as you are put in command of a smaller 87' or 110' boat. Not sure where the 6-month thing is coming from...the tours in Bahrain are for a year. I don't go afloat anymore-it was fun when I was single, but sucked when I was married and led to a divorce. Lots of guys cheat on their wives at port calls, but others make it work just fine. It's all what you make of it. nwin fucked around with this message at 19:27 on Mar 9, 2019 |
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Mar 9, 2019 19:25
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Hey, man. Huge thanks for the reply, I was doing some digging around the old Coast Guard threads and you’re exactly who I would have wanted a reply from. How do you choose an afloat or at shore assignment? I assume that your time in service is a large determining factor in how much sway your choice (read: suggestion) has on your assignment. Do you have any experience with Search and Rescue operations and the kinds of underway time that those craft might see? Do all craft sort of do what is needed at any given time to the best of their ability?
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Mar 10, 2019 02:58
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Paranoid Dude posted:Hey, man. Huge thanks for the reply, I was doing some digging around the old Coast Guard threads and you’re exactly who I would have wanted a reply from. Are you thinking of enlisting or going officer? I'll assume officer for now. Officers have different specialties: Afloat response, Afloat prevention, Ashore response, Ashore prevention, and Aviation are the main ones. https://www.uscga.edu/subspecialties/ Afloat response: This is what you're thinking-it's the white cutters that do law enforcement, migrant interdiction, search and rescue Afloat prevention: These are the black hulled cutters. They consist of buoy tenders and smaller tugs and they mainly are responsible for maintaining aids to navigation. They can do search and rescue if needed, in addition to law enforcement, but their main priority is servicing buoys-bringing them on deck, chipping all the crap off them, repainting them and replacing batteries. Ashore response: These guys oversee the search and rescue mission and are generally the ones maintaining the big picture back on land and giving orders to the different ships/aircrafts around on what searches need to be done. In addition they may go out and respond to oil spills. Ashore prevention: They inspect commercial ships for safety and security, in order to prevent mishaps from occurring. Once they occur, they also investigate why it happened and try to implement policies to prevent certain things from occurring again. Aviation: they fly. They conduct search and rescue, overflights, assist in law enforcement, etc. Some deploy with different afloat response cutters for periods of time. Anyways, you go to OCS and there's a list of available jobs-you rank your top 10/15 or whatever based on what specialty you want. If you ever want the chance of going afloat, you have to go afloat your first tour, because you won't get the opportunity to try it later in your career. If you don't want to go afloat, you can try any of the other specialties I mentioned, and if it doesn't work out, you can try another one (except afloat) at the end of your first tour. You can basically change your career track once early on (at the end of your first tour) without any harm to your career. If it's the end of your third tour and you're trying to switch things up again, it's not going to work out too well for your career longevity because you will be seen as not being proficient enough for mid-grade officer positions. Your time in service doesn't have sway the way you think it does. If I went afloat my first tour, decided it wasn't for me and went ashore response, then for my next tours I need to keep choosing ashore response jobs otherwise read above regarding your career. Most real search and rescue is typically done the most by small boat stations and aviation. Small boat stations are all enlisted-there's a few of them which have officers as the CO's, but you won't be doing any of the missions-you'll just be responsible for them. Aviation is where the officers have the most hands-on experience regarding search and rescue because you have to be an officer to be a pilot. If you choose aviation, you can pretty much do search and rescue for your whole career if you choose. When I was on a 210' medium endurance cutter, we were underway for ~60 days at a time. We don't go out solely to conduct search and rescue. Our main missions were either law enforcement (through fisheries boardings or migrants/drugs) and on the off chance that there was some sailboat in distress within our area, we may get tasked with going out to look for them. Generally the bigger boats like that will be doing search patterns where you're literally cutting circles/squares in the ocean while an airplane is several thousand feet above you covering 100 times the amount of space in 1/10 the period of time it takes your boat. It's awesome if you actually find someone and can give assistance, but most of the time it's just not happening. Generally, it's an inverse relationship between size of ship and amount of SAR you do; the smaller ships patrol closer to land and more often, so they get tasked with more of the searches-there just aren't a ton of boats in the middle of the ocean that are calling distress, and if they do, then shits probably hit the fan and they are jumping in their life boats before your boat can get to them. And as I mentioned a bit earlier, all craft will do what they can if they are tasked. When I was on a polar icebreaker and we were leaving Antarctica, I think we might have had 4 guys qualified to do a boarding and we were diverted to sit between a sea shepherd/green peace boat that had rammed and a Japanese whaling ship.
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Mar 10, 2019 03:38
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Any questions about stations medium endurance cutters and patrol boats let me know. Also any MK or engineering questions. Search and rescue is a weird thing. Theres the oh gently caress someone is actively taking on a lot of water or has someone on board that is pretty hosed up wich goes under urgent SAR. And then there is the guys who hit something decent medical issue or plain ran out of gas. Each of which is handled completely differently based on where your at as well as the time of year. Urgent SAR generally gets a bird in the air and people pulled off the boat unless there is a floating asset nearby or within a reasonable response time. Often time both assets are tasked. Honestly the larger the boat the less of a gently caress is given about SAR cause that's someone elses job be it the help crew that's attached for personal injuries and rescue to the patrol boats for a bunch of the other poo poo. The big boys generally do boardings and law enforcement. The longest I was ever out was nine months with resupplies flown into Adak due to a bunch of other boats breaking down. Let me tell ya 9 months on a 213 ft boat is a long time. Fortunately with most of those hulls gone the likelihood of that happening is pretty small. Melthir fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Mar 10, 2019 |
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Mar 10, 2019 09:13
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Hey guys, have some questions about enlisting: I'm a DoD Civilian on Atsugi, JP for the CDC, currently 23 years old, but I want to go back to college - however I can't afford it and my credit is awful (I'm also currently being sued), and FAFSA would basically make it so I could only take a class or two per semester. I really want to teach English, and am considering some kind of career in the military in linguistics, so I could attend college and get some kind of practical field experience. I was thinking of going Navy, since they have more of a presence here in Japan, where I eventually want to end up staying for the rest of my life anyway. Last time I took the ASVAB I got a 97, and I don't have any firm medical issues that would require a waiver or anything, and I haven't done-diddly any droogs in at least a year. I just drink (a lot). Have been considering military for a very long time, plus I went to military school anyway to get my GED, and my father was enlisted Navy for 6 years and an officer for 10, so I'm super not-worried about transitioning into da martial lifestyle. But anyway I guess my three questions are: Which branch of service would be best for linguistics/foreign relations/translator? and How do I even go about enlisting while living in a foreign country? and also Should I even enlist with my poor credit? Or just try super hard to fix that garbage and get student loans? Any help would be appreciated.
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Apr 23, 2019 06:21
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Okay, just quick I'm pretty sure you can't sign up when you are not in the US. Unless someone's got another birds eye view then always go air force. You want Japan? You probably won't get it because gently caress you that's why Getting sued is gonna be a problem If you want linguistics, like a cryptolinguist, you're gonna need a TS clearance with SCI and polygraph. But forgetting all that fancy stuff, number one reason for getting a clearance denied is bad credit. I'd go with the "just try super hard to fix that garbage and get student loans" option.
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Apr 23, 2019 07:40
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You have about a .0000000000000358% chance of become a Japanese linguist.
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Apr 23, 2019 08:03
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The problems you currently have would be amplified by enlisting. You'd still have those problems, but now you're in a contract with basically no agency over your life. Don't do it.
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Apr 23, 2019 15:32
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EBB posted:The problems you currently have would be amplified by enlisting. You'd still have those problems, but now you're in a contract with basically no agency over your life. Don't do it. Alternatively, and bear with me on this, you could go 18X
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Apr 23, 2019 16:05
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UP THE BUM NO BABY posted:Alternatively, and bear with me on this, you could go 18X
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Apr 23, 2019 16:38
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UP THE BUM NO BABY posted:Alternatively, and bear with me on this, you could go 18X I did and let me tell you how all my dreams came true.
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Apr 23, 2019 21:26
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No one ever gets to one up me at dinner conversations because of my numerous exploits in the delta ranger seals, 10/10 would enlist again.
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Apr 23, 2019 22:31
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A Bad Poster posted:I did and let me tell you how all my dreams came true.
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Apr 24, 2019 01:17
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Hey GiP, I'm assuming that this is now the de facto recruiting thread? After a few big life changes, I'm considering all of my career options, and the military is certainly one of them. I'm 26, with a degree from a 4-year university, and considering commissioning. Mostly, I look back at the ~5 years since I graduated, and feel like if I had commissioned right out of college (or gone through an ROTC program) that I'd be better off than I am now. A stable paycheck, career opportunities, retirement options, educational assistance, etc. Seems like a lot of stuff that I haven't had access to in civilian life, that'd really put me in a better place for the future. Still, 22->26 is very different from 26->30. I also feel like I'm now in a mindset/place where I could and would absolutely maximize every benefit (maxing TSP contributions, making best use of the GI Bill, taking every training opportunity I can, etc.) which could really help me out for the rest of my life. Plus, a lot of skills / training / networking that could help me out later in life. I talked to my buddy who enlisted into linguistics / signals int. about it and he basically said "don't do, army gay", but I also think our situations are totally different. I know the AF is usually recommended for enlisting, but is there a 'best' option for going the officer route?
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May 23, 2019 22:21
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Still the AF.
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May 23, 2019 22:35
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Public Health Service
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May 23, 2019 23:05
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The skills won't help you, only the crudely learned lessons. What's your degree and do you want to do something with it? My experience is with the Navy and it's draw will be that you pick a designator before heading off to OCS. This is probably only advantageous if your trying to leverage your service as experience in a specific field (Medical, Engineering Duty Officer, Civil Engineering Corps, or mmmmaaayybbee Information Professional). Otherwise, you should consider the available jobs and what is important to you for living. For example, the Air Force is known to have the best accommodations but in the worst places. Army and Marines sometimes have to sleep outside and if you're proud of your expertise and training, it is reported to be secondary to fitness, leadership and PowerPoints. The Navy is most likely to send you to a 'cool city' or a nice beach, but your experience there will probably be driving through it to work absurd hours and starting at it from the flight deck.
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May 23, 2019 23:16
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Worst places? Are you high? Army bases are in buttfuck nowhere, whereas the AF has las vegas, Hawaii, gulf coast, etc
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May 23, 2019 23:22
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WAR CRIME SYNDICAT posted:Worst places? Are you high? Army bases are in buttfuck nowhere, whereas the AF has las vegas, Hawaii, gulf coast, etc Those places are also buttfuck nowhere, but point made--Army bases are also in nowhereville and in disrepair. And the bases themselves are all better than Navy bases. Edit: corrected bumfuck to buttfuck.
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May 23, 2019 23:34
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Not all navy bases are awful. I’ve had a pleasant time at some of them.
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May 23, 2019 23:47
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My degree is in Government (aka Poli Sci with a different name). I've worked on campaigns before (The campaign you managed won by a landslide! Now have fun being unemployed) and I've done a bit of non-profit work (Thanks for serving as president of our organization while we were going through hard times, you held things together at great expense to yourself. For your efforts, here's $0). Everything else has been retail or meaningless grunt work. Ideally, I'd like to work in local government, public administration or non-profit. But I feel pretty burnt out on that stuff, and other than endlessly submitting applications to *anywhere* that might provide medical benefits, I don't have much direction in my life right now. I'm also considering going NG. Domestic / civil stuff like disaster preparedness / search and rescue / emergency response interests me, and I have to imagine that stuff transfers pretty well to the outside world. DoktorLoken posted:Public Health Service literally this big fucked around with this message at 23:59 on May 23, 2019 |
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May 23, 2019 23:55
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Air Force. How fit are you? Are you in decent physical shape? You can get most of the stuff you are looking for from NG.
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May 23, 2019 23:59
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LingcodKilla posted:Not all navy bases are awful. I’ve had a pleasant time at some of them. Fallon is the second worst place I've ever been. Yuma is the worst. Advice: Figure out what you want to do with your life. Do you want to use your degree? Don't join the military. Want to get a steady paycheck and (probably) disagree politically with 3/4 of the people around you? Join the military. Being politically active to the point of actually managing campaigns and whatnot is going to be awkward at best. You're going to end up explaining a whole lot of times that what you're doing is actually legal. Assuming you actually keep it legal by not doing it during duty hours, in uniform, etc.
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May 24, 2019 00:59
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I was in your shoes once. I joined the Army at 27 as an OCS candidate, currently a captain on the way out. I don't regret joining at all, my experience in the Army has by far been the most influential experienc of my life. My posts in the Army thread are also evidence that I also haven't enjoyed much of my time in the Army. If you are remotely competent you will be used and abused for years on end while your less capable peers are given drastically less responsibility. If there is any organization that rewards good work with more work it's the US military. Other than being a platoon leader I have spent the entirety of my time in the Army in captains positions. People that don't know you and seeing a bar on your chest instead of rail road tracks absolutely makes your job harder until you've worked with them long enough to prove yourself. I won't say don't join but you need to be aware that in the Army and in a brigade combat team you will have the ever living dog poo poo worked out of you until you leave for the captains career course and then again once make it back to a BCT. The Army officer life is a meat grinder. There's a reason why they're the "miserable majors".
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May 24, 2019 01:51
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Yeah the navy will send you some really cool places. I joined he navy once. Thought I was going to go cruise around the ocean and hit some ports. You know where they sent me? Twentynine Palms.
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May 24, 2019 03:49
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If you go the Navy route, there are a few designators they could hit you with. Surface Warfare Officer means that you will be a jack of all trades and a master of none, and live your life on a ship, have poo poo working hours, but on occasional you'll see some really amazing places when you're on deployment. Note the "On occasion." I've been to some great spots (Rota Spain, Gaeta Italy, ... I liked Soda Bay Greece, and some spots in the Philippines and Japan) but then there's also the Sand Box. How much time do you really want to spend in the Persian Gulf? Depending on your fitness/eye health you might be able to pick up pilot/Naval Flight Officer. Better hours sure, but you are at the mercy of the flight schedule. I've known a few people that hated it and have since gotten out. You might really get lucky and get Intelligence, but that's up to quotas and is not guaranteed. Bases for it are okay, but you'll still deploy on ships and planes. None of these designators listed require you to have any background in any of these areas. My undergrad is in International Studies, I'm finishing a graduate degree in National Security Affairs, and I'll likely end up a Chief Engineer on a Destroyer. Because that's what the Navy wants. AF certainly has the highest standard of living, but man, they have some duty stations in the middle of loving nowhere. Does North Dakota sound good to you? Because the AF has bases there! How about in the middle of the Nevada Desert? That's where some of their aircraft are!
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May 24, 2019 06:31
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I've done a decent amount of training with/through the Air Force and even their lovely bases have a pretty high standard of living compared to the Army. Like Mountain Home Air Force Base has great hours and even though they're in the middle of nowhere they're still only an hour tops from Boise. Something tells me that Air Force field problems aren't a month long like the Army's, unless they're TACP's anyway. The one thing I've noticed about the Air Force is that they smile a hell of a lot more often than the Army does. The Army is in a near constant state of anger and bitterness.
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May 24, 2019 06:37
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Mustang posted:I've done a decent amount of training with/through the Air Force and even their lovely bases have a pretty high standard of living compared to the Army. Like Mountain Home Air Force Base has great hours and even though they're in the middle of nowhere they're still only an hour tops from Boise. The air force doesn't do "the field". It's just not a thing. The worst deployment I've seen, and this is being as close to the way the army operates as it gets (outside of tacp) is living in tents in Iraq for four months. Aside from that, deployment locations are either a) joint and everyone basically lives the same way or b) basically like living in a holiday Inn in the desert. The Valley Stared posted:If you go the Navy route, there are a few designators they could hit you with. Surface Warfare Officer means that you will be a jack of all trades and a master of none, and live your life on a ship, have poo poo working hours, but on occasional you'll see some really amazing places when you're on deployment. The middle of nowhere Nevada desert is a navy base, FYI
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May 24, 2019 11:05
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