Joining the Military

[Eida]

Meeting with a Marine recruiter in an hour to chat and take the ASVAB.

I know there are a few people on here currently serving and some more who have served. Do I have to bargain with these guys for financial perks if/when I choose to sign? Finances are far from the motivation here, but I'd feel stupid if I did something wrong and cheated myself out of x amount of dollars...

Any advice?

[Tyen]

Don't do it

[TheMarauder]

Why are you joining anyway?

[Marck]

Well, for financial incentives the Marine Corps probably isn't the way to go. Join the Marine Corps for the Marine Corps. If you have an idea of what you want to do, sign a contract for an mos in that area. If you sign an open contract you can end up in a mail room. Have prepared questions, and don't be timid. Recruiters get credit for shipped recruits not how few incentives they end up giving out so the recruiter should be upfront with what, if anything, he can offer. I haven't worked in recruiting but I think there are quotas for different types of mos's and such so if you have your heart set on something and you get told you can't have it, it may be because he is out of 04 contracts for instance and needs a few more 03's. Don't rush into it, take your time, think about it.

A recruiter will try and get you contracted as soon as possible, allow yourself to get all of your options and figure it out on your own time. Take good notes.

I'm sure there are a few people on this board who have worked recruiting that can give much better advice than I can.

[dy fey]

choose a specific job. do not, under any circumstance, select any option with "general" in it's title. you'll automatically be placed in the field in that category with the lowest manning, and that normally reflects the level of shittiness in said field (due to retention rates).

ask direct and general questions. "what is the largest bonus available?" do not say "what is the largest bonus i can get?" they will distinguish and may fail to mention possibilities. i'd recommend signing up for the minimum service length as well. the ~2k signing bonus for an additional 2 years or whatever it is now is irrelevant. just go in and gather the info you'll need to do your own research. next time you come in, you can be more specific with questions and be better prepared to catch the recruiter off his toes. you're the one who needs to have the bargaining power.

i may be mistaken, but i believe that recruiters are also comped for quotas. just keep that in mind.

[Jysin-DW]

Need to know the reasons for joining first of all. (Education, Travel, etc)

As a 6 year Navy vet and an additional ~7 years contracting for various government agencies, I would really try and stress the importance of joining a service that will give you the best opportunities for career / employment when you get out. There are some really damn good schools (medical, nuclear, electronics, etc) to be had out of the Navy and offer fairly large sign-on and re-enlistment bonuses. I was an electronics technician, which was a high demand and tough school. It offered guaranteed E4 rank out of school in addition to bonus college money on top of the normal GI Bill. Today's rates for the GI Bill + College Fund are somewhere up to $>70,000. Like I said, you need a qualifiying ASVAB (>50) and a critical job field though. I took every training opportunity I could in the 6 years I was in and I got out making a 6 figure income at the age of 24.

The Air Force is another that I would consider. They have some great schools as well, plus some of the best base facilities and locations in the world.

No offense to the marines (which is a branch of the Navy actually) or the Army folks on here, but you are MUCH better off getting an Education, College Fund, and career you can actually use once outside the service. I cant stress this point enough. No sense becoming a "bullet sponge" and having no training to progress yourself once you get out.

My 2c.

[Kiroy]

If you think you have any brains and don't want to directly kill hajji - join the air force or navy and get into a tech field. Intel, IT, even some of the engineering fields.

Then if you want to get out in four years you'll have a career.

edit: Jysin beat me to it and put more effort into it. what he said.

[Arbitrary]

There is not some sort of secret handshake you need to give to get the maximum bonus you are entitled to given your education and MOS but you need to be absolutely sure of two things -

1. You are choosing the right branch and for the right reasons.

2. You know the exact MOS you want (or have a short list) and understand what they are comprised of. It is the most common horror story. Example -

"I want to operate heavy machinery."
"Sure, that's a 12B, Combat Engineer."
"Ok."

And you sir have just fucked up. I choose that MOS because explosives sounded cool (and man, are they) but I don't know how many sob stories I heard about people who thought they were getting one thing and got something totally different. Know the MOS you want, know it's secondary mission (Infantry in this case, take that crane operator guy), and make sure you don't get sold something different because the recruiter or administrator is good at making multiple jobs sound the same.

Are you getting station of choice? Don't gloss over that decision. Take that shit seriously too. Don't just pick a term commitment out of the fucking air either. I completely underestimated the gravity of each decision I made.

[Marck]

Originally Posted by Jysin-DW

No offense to the marines (which is a branch of the Navy actually)

The Marine Corps isn't a branch of the Navy. We are a part of the Department of the Navy but the Marine Corps operates as its own branch just as the United States Navy does. I'm not trying to play semantics but simple wording can construe the Marine Corps much differently than it really is.


P.S. I would echo what people said above. If you are simply looking for awesome job training for a future in some sort of technical profession the Marine Corps isn't always the best choice.

[Jysin-DW]

Err... semantics, yes.

[hauwk]

FUCK... Massive wall of text ruined for login-fail.

Alrighty... lets try this again:

This is FoH.. I have one acronym for you: CTN - CryptoTech Networks. It's a rate in the Navy that Hacks and Compromises enemy networks... I have a buddy who's hacked a foreign government computer and fucked all their shit up. Highly classified and always interesting.

If you dont dig the Navy, that's cool; you mentioned The United States Marine Corps... dude.. lets get something straght, lots of people claim that joining the armed forces is a life decision, I know, shit I've been in the Navy for 10 yrs. Get this straight: IF YOU JOIN THE MARINE CORPS you are dedicating yourself to the Corps.. whether you like it or not. The Marines are our nations elite troops.. They make the Army look like bumbling idiots because they train, live, eat, and sleep MARINE CORPS life. I shit you not, if you want to have a life outside of work.. start looking elsewhere, because the USMC is not for you. They DO NOT fuck around when it comes to the job. They are a completely different animal than the other three forces (o.k. 4 if you count the puddle pirates)

Dont get me wrong, I've done two Gator cruises, and worked very closesly with a shitload of Marines in and out of combat, I have the utmost respect for their way of doing things, but I can tell you point blank... it sure as shit isn't for me. By all means, if you can deal with your Corporal or Seargent shoved so far up your ass your tasting shoe polish due to your haircut being out of regs, then you can probably count yourself as one of the few, the proud, THE MARINES. FYI- as a last word on the Corps..if your not going to be infantry then pick something else.. that's one of the only things they accel at, they're the finest fighting force in our arsenal by a long shot... but when it comes to tech jobs.. they arent so hot.

Alrighty OVERALL:

your about to sign an enslistment contract, on that contract will be loads of info about you and what your going to do in the military.. Here's some must haves:
1. Guaranteed tech school
2. 5-10k enlistment bonus
3. meritorious advancement to E4 after techschool

get that shit and you'll be ok. AND DONT FUCKING JUST UP AND PICK SOME MOS/RATE BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT IT SOUNDED GOOD... if you do.. then fuck you, when you hate your job in a year it's all your goddamn fault.. nobody cares. Do some research. Better yet, visit a local base and talk to some people doing the job every day.

If you have any family that is active duty right now I HIGHLY suggest getting with them and asking them to go down to the recruiter with you when you enlist.

I've had a goddamn blast in the Military, I've been to roughly 30'ish foreign countries, Been to Warx3, been a SAR Swimmer, been a helicopter inland rappel crewman, rescued 6 people at high altitude, Aerial Gunnery Instructor, Night Vision Device Crewman, Prowler Mechanic, leader of young men and women, mentor, teacher, and all of the above. I love it man.. It can be a lot of fun but it's ALWAYS what you make it. If I had fucked around and didn't care about what I was doing I would have hated every second of it.

Good Luck in what you do.

[hauwk]

lol yes.. dude with the pics is correct, unfortunately, the Marine Corps is absolutely a department of the Navy. Most Marines que in here and say "THE MENS DEPARMENT" but yeah, we're one and the same, all started back in the Tunn Tavern:P or some shit.

[Marck]

The Marine Corps is neither a department of, or a branch of the US Navy. In military terms both of those terms have substantial meaning. If you look at that chart the Commandant doesn't report to the CNO, he reports to the civilian leadership - the SecNav, just as the CNO does. The Department of the Navy isn't the ships and sailors all over the world, that is the United States Navy, which along with the Marine Corps is a uniformed service and branch of the US military which falls under the Department of the Navy.

[Ronne]

Anyone here with experience in the national guard ROTC? It's become a very real possibility for me next year. Would do my basic training over the summer, then do my 2 years of ROTC concurrently with my masters program at college. Recruiter outlined all the benefits for me, and it really looks too good to be true. They'll pay back up to $20,000 of previous loans I incurred doing my 4 year degree, plus pay my entire way through graduate school, as well as a monthly stipend.

I guess my question is, how much of this is true, how much is bullshit "best case" that will never happen? Anyone have experience with national guard commitments/contracts? Do they still get shipped to Iraq?

[hauwk]

Marck.. I'll break this down for you barney style:

Ol' General Conway... he works for The Honorable Donald C. Winter.. ie- Secratary of the NAVY

ADM Roughhead... he works for Mr. Winter as well.. (the Secretary of the NAVY)

so you explaining how the USMC doesnt fall under USN hierarchy doesnt hold too much weight. ya herreee??


I will now quote you for effect:

which along with the Marine Corps is a uniformed service and branch of the US military which falls under the Department of the Navy.

yes.. you are right... the USMC is a Department of the Navy.