Tyler_PinkertonZ28

iTrader: (1)

I am 20 years old and a rising junior with a Criminal Justice Major. I really want to join the military, but I want to also finish my degree realitively quickly. I have checked with several recruiters, but I want to know some true first hand opinions. The branches I am interested in would be:

Army
Marines
Army National Guard
Air Force

Not in any specific order, my ultimate goal would be to finish my degree and become an officer. Which Branch would be the best for a family and for advancement. Also, paying for school is not a deal breaker, but it would be a benefit.

I have checked into the Marines PLC, the Army's Green to Gold Program, and the National Guard. All seem to offer a good program to finish school, but I just wanted to know what you all thought. Also I can't do ROTC as I am a year too late. sorry for writing a novel, I just really need some advice.

Thanks In Advance.

robcas47

iTrader: (2)

I can't speak for the other branches but I have seen the Amry's Green To Gold program work out really good for soldiers. Depending on what MOS you choose you should have plenty of time to get your degree wraped up. Even throughout a deployment, I've seen some impresive education centers in bagram and kandahar. With a good chain of command you will always be allotted time for your education when it comes down to it, not every soldier is pursuing additional education so the ones that do are usually allowed the time needed.

Tyler_PinkertonZ28

iTrader: (1)

That sounds good, I am taking that ASVAB on Monday so I should have a better idea by then of what positions I would be able to get. With the Green to Gold, wouldn't I have to enlist for 2 years prior to beginning the program?

AlamoTA

iTrader: (10)

I don't think any of the services are going to let you finish your school right out of boot camp. In the AF, expect to complete basic, tech school, and addtional upgrade training before ever getting the chance to complete school. I guess it depends on your idea of "relatively quickly". It also depends on your job and the ops tempo associated with it. You might find yourself deploying all the time with no time for school. I'd highly recommend you finish school first then join. Or look into the guard or reserves. Good Luck!

Tyler_PinkertonZ28

iTrader: (1)

That is the main reason that I am interested in the National Guard, I would go to basic, AIT, and OCS or Warrant officer school all within 6-8 months and then finish my degree. The only downside is that I think I will be wishing I had gone active duty and then I would have to wait 6 years to try to change over. As a warrant officer I know I would be much closer to active duty and working way more than one weekend a month. So that may be my best bet.

96WS6guy

iTrader: (1)

If you go Guard, the only amount of time you'd have to wait to go Active duty is the amount of time it takes for your unit to release you. And why would you be working closer to Active duty as a warrant officer? I'm assuming you're looking at branching in aviation with that talk.

Tyler_PinkertonZ28

iTrader: (1)

You are correct, if I go warrant officer it'll be for aviation. How often would I be working in that case?

Swiat34

iTrader: (9)

When I was enlisting the Marines offered to pay my way thru college then put me thru OCS and upon completion be commissioned as a FIRST Lieutenant. All because I had a high ASVAB score. I was in a hurry to get to war (graduated HS in '02) so I passed on th officer stuff. If you get a high ASVAB score and have high SAT or ACT scores, thats what the recruiters use to send ppl to the officer program. I always say if you're gonna GO, go all out! So I'm obviously biased to the Corps. But you WILL deploy frequently and it's not the "kindest" branch. ...But you DO get to wear those AWESOME Dress Blues! 8-D

Tyler_PinkertonZ28

iTrader: (1)

I've checked into the Marines PLC program and have been told that I qualify, I'm just trying to decide if that is the way I want to go. Basically I would finish school, go through OCS next summer and be a 2nd Lt upon graduation.

robcas47

iTrader: (2)

If you are looking to go WO and fly for the army then find yourself a recruiter thats worth a **** and they can get you on track for what we call, "High-School-To-Flight-School". Keep in mind that the Warrant Officer Candidate School(WOC) and Flight School take up about 2 yrs of your life. But they are both at the same post so it's considered a PCS move. There's a packet that you'll need to submit for both schools and if accepted you will simply ship out to basic training and then report to Ft. Rucker, "Mother Rucker". But be warned that there is this AWESOME helicopter known as the CH-47D/F Chinook and if you are lucky enough to ever get near one let alone fly on one you will be hooked for life. This Bad *** acft is powered by two Power Turbine engines each rated at around 5069 SHP and can haul a max gross weight of 50k. If you like speed, well this thing will get up to 170 knots easy before she starts to shake and complain. The only reason the Army has other helicopters is because those who are unworthy of the Chinook have to have a way to get around. All kidding aside, Army aviation is a group unlike most others, you might find yourself hooked on flying. There's a few Army pilots on this forum that should be able to steer you in the right direction, I'm just a Flight Engineer, I fix not fly. Once you finish WOC and Flight School you'll report to your unit and that's where you really learn to fly, they teach you enough to graduate in Flight School but there's a lot more you'll have to master before they can sign you off as an RL1 line pilot. So it will be awhile before you can dedicate some serious time to your education. But eventually you will find that a RL1 Warrant officer has *** loads of time on thier hands, unless you're deployed, but thats another animal.

Tyler_PinkertonZ28

iTrader: (1)

Wow. That sounds really good. The national guard recruiter never said anything about that, I have an appointment with both an Army and Air Force recruiter next week. I'll be sure to ask the Army recruiter about it.

96WS6guy

iTrader: (1)

In the guard, you'd be doing more than one weekend a month and two weeks a year, but you'd also be getting paid for it, lol. I don't know the actual hours, but it's nothing too crazy. It's just to ensure you maintain your flight status. Good route too, btw. I'm a grunt and planning on going the flight route one of these days if I decide to stay in. That's the way to live!

Tyler_PinkertonZ28

iTrader: (1)

After talking to some people today I have narrowed it down to either warrant officer in the guard or SERE instructor for the Air Force. Talk about a tough decision.

robcas47

iTrader: (2)

SERE Instructor? I'm curious as to what someone told you about how you can just jump into that sort of job. For starters are you at least a level 2 combatives instructor? Do you have any experience in the Spec Ops field? Have you ever taken and passed any sort of swim test? What did this recruiter tell you? Has any one warned you yet about recruiters? They can be like used car salesmen, except they sell souls. They say that if you can sell a soul you can sell anything, this is what an old recruiter friend of mine once told me. Always go and talk with at least a few different recruiters from each branch of service you are interested in. Don't give them to uch info and don't worry about anything you may have signed, you can back out anytime you want, unless of course you were sworn in by a commisioned officer, then your screwed dude.

Tyler_PinkertonZ28

iTrader: (1)

I talked to an AF advisor through their online chat and from what he said all I have to do is go through basic, tech school, and SERE school. After that I go through a 6 month instructor school and can become an instructor after finishing. I haven't signed anything or anything like that. Just talking to a few different people.

robcas47

iTrader: (2)

See if you can get ahold of an actual SERE instructor and ask them what it took to get where they are now. You could ask your recruiter to do so but then his tone will probably change up. Unless the Airforce has a specific MOS that is SERE Instructor you will go through basic, then tech school for whatever MOS you sign up for and then if you have SERE school in your enlistment contract you will go through. If not you will report to your assigned unit and have to put in for the school and if your unit and DOD approves you will get to go. Then putting for SERE instructor course will probably be same deal, by then you will have alost been through your first enlistment. None of this is fact, more of a realistic scenario, I've seen soldiers come through with high hopes and dreams and promises from thier recruiter and get a dose of reality. Your recruiter may seem like a nice guy who's looking out for you but sadly thats not always the case, go over everything with a fine toothed comb, even the fine print. I only say this because once you leave for basic training that recruiter no longer has anything to do with you.

Tyler_PinkertonZ28

iTrader: (1)

From what can gather from the AF website, SERE is a specific mos. I may spoken wrong when I said instructor. I would be a "specialist". But from what I can gather it seems to be different than the other branches.

AlamoTA

iTrader: (10)

The AF has a specific AFSC/MOS for SERE instructors. But you were talking about flying earlier. We definitely need them. If your the outdoorsman type, then you'd probably love it. But it's a big difference than being an operational flyer. They are more in the support role. I learned a lot of cool crap from them, but in the end, I'd take the flying over the teaching how to skin a rabbit, eat bugs, buildf ires, tie knots, ..,etc. I'd get a little more info on AF SERE before you ditch the WO flyer idea.

Tyler_PinkertonZ28

iTrader: (1)

The thing that I like about the AF more is they seem to take care if the family more, the benefits are better, and I feel like I would get more "military experience". The pros to the NG however are that I could choose where I live, fly, I would also be deployed more frequently which I wouldn't necessarily mind. One more thing about the AF is they will pay 100% of my tuition whereas te NG only pays a portion.

99SSJarhead

iTrader: (2)

As a Marine grunt I can honestly say, go air force. Better quality of life.

But as rob said get more info on SERE because a LOT of MOS's that sound cool are only open to people that have qualified out of other MOS's. In the Marines we have Recon which a lot of young guns think you can just jump right into from boot which isn't true. Same with EOD and some other specialty jobs in our Branch.

I'd also say be careful trying to get aviation out of the Army or Airforce. They take on a higher volume of officers and aviation is a top ticket item. Last I remember the Marines were about the only force that had guaranteed flight placement. So be sure you have everything in writing before you commit, otherwise you may be a chow hall butterball (2nd Lt).

Also as rob said, your recruiter probably has not been forth coming with you. Most guys use recruiting duty because you get promoted very quickly and because quantity tends to matter more than quality so as long as you sign on the dotted line they get the credit and look better. So you are doing good getting opinions from those who've served. First and foremost however.... GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING!

To many people get promised everything from bonuses to meritorious e-2 to other nonsense and because it wasn't in writing when they get to boot they get laughed at and told the recruiter lied to them.

I'd also suggest finishing school. You never know what type of unit you'll be with and while some will work with you, I've had as many 1st Sgt's who (and somewhat rightly so) put the training over any after hours learning.

Transferring reserves to active is also a LOT of red-tape. You can sometimes find a good recruiter to help, but your reserve admin are basically lame ducks in a lot of cases and reserve battalions are notoriously slow.

There is a lot of other things I can't think of at the moment but if you've got questions I've done enough to know the ropes from both the active and reserves sides.