[SniperForce-Duffek]

How do I explain DT's situation, he's a 2LT only....he's not really an LT...Just go with it.

[Death_Taco]

Just read the title of the "Army Thread" hahahaha

[barrel roll]

I've got some awesome advice for you, but I'm drinking and this is from my cellular telephone. This is text to spinach, and yes I said cellular telephone. **** you autocorrect. Dammit.

[mavLP]

my job consists of getting yelled at for doing too much, getting yelled at for not doing enough, getting yelled at for something that happened over 6 months ago, getting yelled at because my boss isn't secure in his sexuality, getting yelled at for smiling, getting yelled at for being too smart, getting yelled at for not being superman. I love my job

[DyePaintballer2k11]

Originally Posted by barrel roll

I've got some awesome advice for you, but I'm drinking and this is from my cellular telephone. This is text to spinach, and yes I said cellular telephone. **** you autocorrect. Dammit.

What the ****.

[barrel roll]

If you are smart enough... I would recommend ROTC. If you feel like risking it, I'd recommend LDO. If you want to go to Douche Town, The Academy. If you want to get your toes wet before you jump in, enlist in the reserves. No choice is for everyone - just keep in mind there is only 1 community like the one your dad was in, and he was in it. Everything else pales in comparison.


Nuclear... ugh. If you can hack it, the rewards can be good. BUT you have to be able to put up with quite a bit of stupid. I'd wager to say even more so on the O side, trying to get your Engineer quals.

Intel... it CAN be fun. It can also suck horribly. What job in intel you take will have an extremely large part in how much it sucks.

Your dad is right, about going in undesignated. Second biggest mistake people make.

You're going to hear people say "It is what you make of it" or "You get out what you put in." I say bull****, that is a small part of the equation. It is highschool revisited. If you piss off the wrong dick-nose, your career can be trashed 20 years too early. The ONLY thing that is a universal truth is "1 'you ****ing guys' gets rid of 100 'atta boys." Also, being the "command-boy" aka "golden boy" aka "house nyu..." gets you at least 1 get out of jail free card... but everyone you work with (not for) hates you.

[timseffinview]

Originally Posted by timmytime94

I'm continually learning new **** here.. I dont want to clutter the individual threads for each branch, So if any of you could tell me what you do, and give a no bull **** explanation of what you do and how you like it, it'd make my life a million times easier than dealing with this D-bag of a recruiter I'm dealing with.

Well, I'm in the Air Force and I work on vehicles. HMMWVs, MRAPs, Deuces, Fords, Dodges, Chevys. It's like any mechanic job, but you get a sense of hatred for the operators using them.

^^^ and like it says above, the military is not what you make of it. That's maybe 10%. Cuz if you piss off the wrong high and mighty tinsel toe sucking tard, you're gonna hate life immediatley after.

If I could impart any wisdom of my time in the military about selecting a job, it will always be this: Never be a cop/MP/Security Forces/Master-at-arms/police/K9/Bacon/Salad/Enchilada.

[Cima2oo3]

I am currently Air Force Reserve working on going active. I am a munitions systems apprentice. 2W051. What that is in english is my career field builds, maintains, tests, accounts for, and tracks all conventional munitions. I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S!

[timmytime94]

Originally Posted by barrel roll

If you are smart enough... I would recommend ROTC. If you feel like risking it, I'd recommend LDO. If you want to go to Douche Town, The Academy. If you want to get your toes wet before you jump in, enlist in the reserves. No choice is for everyone - just keep in mind there is only 1 community like the one your dad was in, and he was in it. Everything else pales in comparison.


Nuclear... ugh. If you can hack it, the rewards can be good. BUT you have to be able to put up with quite a bit of stupid. I'd wager to say even more so on the O side, trying to get your Engineer quals.

Intel... it CAN be fun. It can also suck horribly. What job in intel you take will have an extremely large part in how much it sucks.

Your dad is right, about going in undesignated. Second biggest mistake people make.

You're going to hear people say "It is what you make of it" or "You get out what you put in." I say bull****, that is a small part of the equation. It is highschool revisited. If you piss off the wrong dick-nose, your career can be trashed 20 years too early. The ONLY thing that is a universal truth is "1 'you ****ing guys' gets rid of 100 'atta boys." Also, being the "command-boy" aka "golden boy" aka "house nyu..." gets you at least 1 get out of jail free card... but everyone you work with (not for) hates you.

I'd have to wait for next year to do ROTC, I don't really have any doubts I'd get in (not to sound cocky). My high school GPA is a 98.9 and I have a 1480 on my SATs, but the idea of waiting practically two years just to go to college, and then have a six year contract, doesn't sit well. That'd be 10 years, two of which would be sitting around waiting just to see if got accepted into my desired field. I'm not much for sitting around, when there are other routes I could be taking, and gaining experiences from that I wouldn't have gained from sitting on my *** waiting for two years.

Also, i'd feel more justified doing LDO, almost as if I'd atleast feel that I'd earned my way there. Just my opinion on it though, and I wont truly know until I jump in and find out.

On the note of Intel though, do you, or anyone reading this, know the different job oppertunities within Intel? Even better, anyone have a recomendation on which fields within Intel to stay away from?

[timmytime94]

Originally Posted by mavLP

my job consists of getting yelled at for doing too much, getting yelled at for not doing enough, getting yelled at for something that happened over 6 months ago, getting yelled at because my boss isn't secure in his sexuality, getting yelled at for smiling, getting yelled at for being too smart, getting yelled at for not being superman. I love my job

Got a good laugh out of this one, but i'm taking it this is universal no matter where you go. Always going to be someone higher up than you taking a **** on you.

Originally Posted by Cima2oo3

I am currently Air Force Reserve working on going active. I am a munitions systems apprentice. 2W051. What that is in english is my career field builds, maintains, tests, accounts for, and tracks all conventional munitions. I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S!

I think this is what my nieghbour did, he said it was an interesting field, but kind of limited promotion wise, correct me if I'm wrong.

Originally Posted by timseffinview

Well, I'm in the Air Force and I work on vehicles. HMMWVs, MRAPs, Deuces, Fords, Dodges, Chevys. It's like any mechanic job, but you get a sense of hatred for the operators using them.

^^^ and like it says above, the military is not what you make of it. That's maybe 10%. Cuz if you piss off the wrong high and mighty tinsel toe sucking tard, you're gonna hate life immediatley after.

If I could impart any wisdom of my time in the military about selecting a job, it will always be this: Never be a cop/MP/Security Forces/Master-at-arms/police/K9/Bacon/Salad/Enchilada.

This has become a common theme from people I've talked to in person... "NOT MP" "Don't even think about being military police" etc. taking it either noone likes it, none of them like thier job, or a combination of both.

So, do you come out with all the qualifications to be a mechanic as a civilian, or is limited to just military? Sounds slightly interesting..

[Cima2oo3]

I haven't been in very long. Muns is critically manned right now, so Im not sure about promotions. With any mechanic type job, what you do in the civilian world has to line up with what you did in the military. For instance if you fixed turbine engines in the military, that's where you'd want to look in the civilian sector, tanks with heavy equipment, etc.

[Death_Taco]

Originally Posted by timmytime94

I'd have to wait for next year to do ROTC, I don't really have any doubts I'd get in (not to sound cocky). My high school GPA is a 98.9 and I have a 1480 on my SATs, but the idea of waiting practically two years just to go to college, and then have a six year contract, doesn't sit well.

with the downsizing you may just eat those words.

[barrel roll]

You have to give at least 6 years as an ossifer no matter what route you choose. At least I think it is 6...

There is also STA21, and a few other programs. Not to discredit, or look down on any of my enlisted friends... but if I had to do it over again, O is the way to go.

[GM2viking]

Originally Posted by barrel roll

You have to give at least 6 years as an ossifer no matter what route you choose. At least I think it is 6...

There is also STA21, and a few other programs. Not to discredit, or look down on any of my enlisted friends... but if I had to do it over again, O is the way to go.

STA21 is probably your BEST bet to become an officer, since you can start putting in packages for it the day you get to your first command.
You get paid while you go to school (three years straight, no summer breaks) and you can still advance off the tests.
You wouldn't have to worry about the Navy being overmanned, since you're already in, and as long as you keep a 2.0 (maybe 2.5) or higher GPA, you've got yourself a four year degree essentially for free. Then you have your 6 years (I'm 90% sure barrel roll got that right) obliserve time as an O.

[SniperForce-Duffek]

Originally Posted by barrel roll

You have to give at least 6 years as an ossifer no matter what route you choose. At least I think it is 6...

There is also STA21, and a few other programs. Not to discredit, or look down on any of my enlisted friends... but if I had to do it over again, O is the way to go.

Pretty sure it's a 5-6 commitment if you go the ROTC/Academy route, 4 if you paid for your own school.

[Dynastyfan2021]

This is just my experience this far in the Marine Corps OCS process, but what Duffek says is about right for ground contracts for the most part in the Marines. If you're an NFO/Aviation contract, it's a 6-8 year commitment, and I think about the same for JAG contracts.

[CptObvious]

I watch paint dry on a $143,000,000 model. Well, a whole bunch of $143m models. Which equate to a number that I cannot comprehend.

Low Observables, the wave of the future. Any new airframe that is to come out in the future that is either a bomber or fighter (or in some cases, a UAV), will be of the stealth variety.

When the word "Stealth" is used to relate to the Air Force and it's expensive toys, it means Low Observable. There is now way in hell that an aircraft will be totally invisible to radar. It is our job to ensure it is miniscule on the scope, and we deal with the coatings to make it happen. Our job is a huge chunk of the maintenance on these jets. If a crew chief needs access to something inside the jet, then we are called to remove the coatings. When they are done, we have to reapply what we took off, and in proper steps. (Can't just slap paint on!)

When things get busy, prepare to work 12+ hours in a tyvek suit and respirator. The drone of a DA sander is forever stuck in my head as I've spent countless hours getting paint off of panels. They send our jets to hot and humid climates, but there is no way around the suits. If you're lucky, you'll get to do work in a climate controlled hangar (which we are SUPPOSED to do), but not every base where we go will have them, and if they do, there are only 3 or so bays.

Downside to our job is that no matter how much safety **** we wear, we are still exposed to a lot of chemicals which contain carcinogens. Sure, we have our gloves, suits and respirators, but we are exposed to them every single day. I know of quite a few older NCOs who have had, or have, some form of cancer. Regretably, I have been to a funeral of a couple who have lost their battles to the disease.

It is getting better. The companies who make the chemicals have been putting out new compounds that are less harmful, but only fractional. Lockheed also has put to use new procedures that make our job a lot easier, starting with the F35. As time goes on, things will be refined here and there and will get better.

[timmytime94]

Originally Posted by CptObvious

Sure, we have our gloves, suits and respirators, but we are exposed to them every single day. I know of quite a few older NCOs who have had, or have, some form of cancer. Regretably, I have been to a funeral of a couple who have lost their battles to the disease.

That is my biggest fear of the Nuke program, 14 hrs of working on nuclear reactors 10 hrs off equals up to a lot of time around all that radiation.

On a side note, is watching paint dry less boring when you know you're getting paid for it?

[CptObvious]

Not one bit. I would rather be doing my original job- Sheet metal / corrosion (the second of which was painting jets, but I didn't have to sit there and watch it dry. In fact, I loved it). When we have a job that needs to be done quick, we apply heat to the panel or area we are working. This requires a 'bag' of PVA to be taped around and area with a heat gun inserted and cranked up. We have to stay with it until it's done to ensure that the panel does not get warped from the heat gun getting to hot. (There are people who have completely melted the **** out of composite panels). Usually it's not too long, considering an ambient cure time for some paints is 2-4hrs. Accelerated (heated) reduces the time it takes to cure down to abotu 30-45mins. In some instances, an accelerated cure still takes 4hrs. (The normal, ambient, time for that chemical is 16hrs). Magazines, CDCs and other reading materials are handy, unless you have multiple panels to do, then you get to stay busy.

What I do like about the job is that there are not that many of us. It is growing, thanks to a tech school that is in high gear, but there really aren't a whole lot of us who do this. Before I joined, I did want to work on the F22. So that's achieved. Luckily I was able to touch all the other fighter air frames prior to it.

[CptObvious]

Also- on the whole Cop thing. Look up kapp_badbloodz (you can easily find him by looking at who started the Air Force thread). He is a po-po man and enjoys it. He's really good at his job, too, and is a wealth of info on the subject. Don't knock it 'til you've heard it all.

[timseffinview]

This has become a common theme from people I've talked to in person... "NOT MP" "Don't even think about being military police" etc. taking it either noone likes it, none of them like thier job, or a combination of both.

So, do you come out with all the qualifications to be a mechanic as a civilian, or is limited to just military? Sounds slightly interesting..

Combination of both. Usually you can take your military training and put that on the Civilian application and they would probably hire you from that, but in the civ world of mechanics, it's all about ASE certifications, which you can take while in the military anyway and thats what gets you the bigger pay.