Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am very close and on some levels a mentor to my 17 year old cousin who has announced his desire to join the military after high school. He has a vague idea of what type of military job, he wants to have:
He wants to be to some degree near the action, but not be a direct infrantry type fighter, marine, fighter pilot, etc, since he feels that is not his main skill.
Here are some things that he thinks that he wants to do as possibilities ( In other words, his fantasy/dream jobs);
a. Be the guy on the other end of the radio from a fighter pilot, who analyzing data has to think on his feet, passing on target info, intelligence, data etc so that the fighter pilot can do his job.
b. Be involved with setting up mobile technical opperations within a combat zone and at times, having to make decisions that involve quick thinking.
c. Using technology and some scouting to scan upcoming emeny areas and providing crucial data to officers and NCO's at a rapid pace.
In other words, from what I take he sees himself as not warrior enough to be infrantry or such, but he wants a job that:
Has more excitement than being a desk clerk at some continental US base, but is slightly more rear area than being a direct infrantry man, navy seal, marine, etc.
As in a technical job with some exposure to the risk and excitement of the action and the honor of supporting the great warriors.
I have been trying to drill into his head the following:
1. The military is laying off tons of people not searching for new ones.
2. If you get in the military, in today's recruiting market you will not have much say as to what type of specific career/ job path you follow.
3. I have also told him that if he goes into a combat zone, he may have to be infrantry in case of emergency, but he states he is willing.
My questions are the following:
1. In today's tight recruiting market where recruiters are less likely to grant guaranteed jobs, should I be encouraging or discouraging him?
2. What jobs/ branch of service would you reccomend for someone like him, who wants some "exposure to the action", but does not want to be a full fledged infranty type?
I would encourage him. While I think you are correct about the tightening military market, think of how bad the corresponding civilian job market is right now.
My son and I had a similiar discussion, and he ended up enlisting to be an AH-64 Apache crew chief (Army). He is now at Fort Stewart and is very much enjoying it. I urged him to pick a MOS that would have a civilian application after the Army (not much call for civilian tankers, 11Bs, etc) and he heeded that advice.
Good luck to your cousin. Sounds like he has a strong sense of duty and a good head on his shoulders.
I'm going to second AJBarney's recommendation. I think military aviation has most, if not all, of what your cousin might be looking for. I was USAF and I worked mostly on fighter aircraft but serviced just about everything else the U.S. military and our allies fly. I worked with LOTS of great Army Aviation folks and feel that would be just as good a fit. Not sure about 6 month+ cruises, but I've always wanted to experience launching jets from a carrier deck, too.
Best of luck to your cousin, Stevechang103! If he decides on a career in the military, it will offer him opportunities he'd only dream of in the civilian sector. Whether he stays for one enlistment or a career, the values, experiences, camaradery and even the skills he'll come away with will last him a lifetime!
One more thing: Regardless of End Strength or any other military personnel factors, the military is ALWAYS looking for good folks to enlist for the first time. Those that leave the service before completing a full carrer must be replaced. And while the number of new recruits the services need at any one time may fluctuate, they are always looking for good people!
I'll try to give some meaningful advice.
Have HIM do his homework. He needs to really REALLY dig into what SPECIFIC Branch and Unit he wants to get involved with. The recruiter can’t and won’t guarantee he can get him into any particular unit per se but the recruiter sure wants to sign people up so he’ll try to make deals. Be wary be careful and get it in writing. Don’t be in a rush, consider many things.
He will need to keep in mind several main points.
The military is NOT a democracy. Standard civilian rules and habits do not carry over.
He will have people he does not like telling him what to do, day and night.
He will have to learn to cover himself, as in C.Y.A. He'll need to learn to keep very close track of his papers, record, hand receipts, medical and dental files etc etc. If he loses or breaks it he’ll have his pay docked until it’s been fully reimbursed.
He will have to be / get / stay in shape. The services are getting rid of people who don't meet "standards" even though they may pass physical fitness tests. Strong fast and fat doesn’t cut it any longer.
He will have to learn to work with and associate with some of the brightest and some of the thickest people on earth. They're all there in the military, PhD smart to insanely stupid.
He doesn't want to "fly a desk" but he doesn’t want to go where it's "hot" as in dangerous. Well he's going to have to get a reality check there. People in the rear get killed. People in the front get killed. He signs on the dotted line he's theirs. Period. He can't have both excitement and safety. Recent events have shown that to be the case pretty conclusively.
Every time I got into a helicopter I gave myself to God (again) and believe me, you're all strapped into this flying thing and you have really little to no way out should something go bad. Most of the time our gear protects us, our pilots are awesome and pull one out of their.... But not always. There are times when it's just a real bad day. Our enemies can frequently be horrid uneducated child-molesting mutants, sadists, what have you, but that does not make them stupid necessarily or lousy shots, or just dang un-lucky. Sometimes the bad guys DO get lucky...that happens too.
He'll have to really look inside himself to see what he thinks he may be made of. The time could very well come that he'll have to kill someone. Some dudes say that this never bothers them. I think they're lying. It bothers me. I did it at the time, when it was automatic, no thought about it at all....but later on… different story. He will need to be ready to carry some heavy emotional baggage. That is really the biggest way that the military can make you a man. It's not really about physical strength, apes can have that....it's about having great emotional strength, will power coupled with physical strength. Muscles can be built up but a strong soul and heart and brain power...not so much. He will lose friends, and people he knows, see them really messed up, shredded, suffering, in excruciating pain. He'll see the best and worst of humanity, on both sides theirs AND ours. He’ll see stunning bravery, I’m sure he’ll have it in him too, but it’s either there or it isn’t.
If he can't take that w/o cracking he should consider another career path. He will have to come to grips w/ his own mortality. Nuff said. He'll have to be decisive. I would not tell a recruiter what you said here in your post, at least not in those terms. It makes your cousin sound like he wants the "high-speed" glory w/o any of the high-speed work or risk; he wants the safety of a desk job in the rear but none of the boredom or staff infighting to deal with. Don't let him talk like that. It will earn him bad ju ju everywhere he goes. Both the kinetic guys and the pogues will end up full of hate and rage for him. He will have to make not just one commitment but MANY commitments, all throughout his career, and really... well… commit to them. He'll have to stick with his career path more or less and, as they say "embrace the s.u.c.k." even when it seems like it will never end. Then one day he'll be out on some normal, "normal" mission and then pop...there it is. It won't be announced and he won't be ready, but....he'll be ready...I know it sounds weird but do you get it?
The "new" military is going to be challenging on a whole new level too, internally. The last two three decades have really seen the advent of what I call the "welfare-state military" and the “politically correct military”. Don’t wear an attitude like a gigantic chip-on-shoulder as the welfare tur-d-z do that simply will earn him endless scorn and dislike from the real troops out there. Most of us just groan and “deal with it”, the political Bull and the rest of the “touchy-feely” garbage because we ARE committed to this country, even though our politicians are not and simply can’t resist the temptation to play “god” with the troops, forcing stupid political decisions on us because we “obey orders”. He’ll have to learn to survive in this environment too, the frequently toxic work environment in the office, the staff puke jobs. As much as I’m sure he’d like to blurt out his thoughts, as much as I’d like too, there are times when you just have to hold your tongue. Order and discipline still count, well for those of us that care. You can hope and pray that future administrations reverse the stupid decisions of today at some point years away, but here and now, there is frequently little that the average “Joe” can do to change things, though the official “organs” will protest endlessly the opposite. Again he’ll just have to deal with it. Then you have the real U.S. military, the people who are no less embodiment of humble upbringing but have taken the challenge and run with it, come to be outside themselves in a sense, the trigger-pullers. But, that said, even the “trigger puller” types’ end up doing work boring work like this, the “desk job”, fairly frequently filling those billets. They’re recovering from injuries or they can’t play anymore or whatever. So even if he gets the exciting job that will only be exciting like 8, 9, 10% of the time. Most of the time it’ll be grinding repetitive training and staff work. Get used to it. And yes, the military welfare cases... These are the folks that join up only to ride the system and do as little as possible. They are lazy surly mouthy fat out of shape tur.d.z incessantly whining about their "rights" and perpetually on "profile" it seems. These folks tend to be in the rear pogue jobs, though not always, but for the most part yes. Now I'm not suggesting that your cousin not take advantage of the benefits... do so, even the budget cut watered down remnants of benefits. They're (at least as of today) still pretty good, but don't let him be a leech. There’s way too much of that already in American society where it has NO place and for sure there is not any place for that AT ALL in the U.S. Military.
Well I hope some of this helps.
Make him do the homework then make a decision and stick with it.
Last edited by Happy Cells; 08-11-2011 at 07:05 AM..
I wish i knew then what i know now. I would of never chosen combat arms as my mos. I wanted to be in construction & the army recruiter said combat engineer was the job for me. I trusted him without doing my home work. I do kind of regret not re-enlisting in a mos i would of liked such as a vet tech. Combat arms is not for everybody.
He's thinking that we will always be at war somewhere. Is this a logical way of looking at the situation?
Get him to look at the whole situation. The Services might be his first choice, but he needs to also think about a civilian job. It would come as a surprise, but we might get to see World Peace.
He's thinking that we will always be at war somewhere. Is this a logical way of looking at the situation?
Get him to look at the whole situation. The Services might be his first choice, but he needs to also think about a civilian job. It would come as a surprise, but we might get to see World Peace.
In this day and age its a realistic way of looking at things. What I never understood was those who sign up for the military then cry/bich/moan when they get deployed! What did they think? They were gonna hang out on base for 4yrs playing cards and working out?
He's not going to find a particular position in the military that is going to meet everything he wants. He needs to understand that a career in the military is a process, not an event. By that I mean he's going to start off as an inexperienced Soldier, Sailor, Marine, or Airman. He'll be learning about his job and developing into a person who can one day be the person that is providing crucial data at a rapid pace.
He needs to explore all options and make the decision that is best for him.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
