Joined the Army
#43
Teching In
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: College Station/Dallas
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Yeah stand out, always complete the mission and be a man.......other than that get a calling card for all those calls home you army guys get. Have fun...jodies got your girl.
Semper FI
Semper FI
#44
TECH Junkie
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Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: dfw, TX
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yeah, if you got a girl that you arent married to already, break it off...remember that they make you fail to break you and help you to build you. Dont worry about it you'll be alright. Just remember that when you're in your MOS at your duty station or in Iraq...recruiters lie, make sure you swear in for the second time because you want to, not for college or any other reason than it's something you wanna do for yourself
#46
Banned
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Colorado Springs
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Yeah, if you're not wearing ACU's yet, you're behind the power curve. Last I read in the Army Times, new recruits are getting them, or getting them soon. Drill Sgt's are hating it. I love my ACU's.
#48
No, they started getting them in October for BCT. A guy that's just come back to his unit from BCT/AIT has them. Funny thing is, he'll be the only one with them because the rest of the Guard (vast majority) is in BDUs.
#50
On The Tree
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Houston
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Originally Posted by SmokeySS
Yeah fawk I wish I got a bonus like that. Didn't know satellites were a critical MOS. I thought infantry and a couple other dangerous MOSes were the ones with bonuses.
Perhaps tomorrow after I've had lunch or something I'll post up some more stuff.
Perhaps tomorrow after I've had lunch or something I'll post up some more stuff.
Bonus news. Break this **** down if you may. You get $20,000 signing bonus to join the Army. This sounds great up front, but unfortunantly that's not the way it works. You are signing a 6 year contract for that and you don't get a lump sum at anytime. So calculate what you just did, 20,000 devided by 6 years comes out to be roughly $256 extra per month. That's before taxes. So the bottom line is, if you feel that this much more money is going to make you feel better while your out there in Hell (Iraq) then that was your call. I would have rather taken the quality of life in the Navy or the Air Force. I have nothing against the Army, great men and women, but that's just my point of view.
#52
TECH Junkie
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Originally Posted by GOHOME
if you feel that this much more money is going to make you feel better while your out there in Hell (Iraq) then that was your call. I would have rather taken the quality of life in the Navy or the Air Force.
#56
TECH Junkie
iTrader: (63)
Originally Posted by 11 Bravo
Believe it or not, some guys are more concerned with killing the enemy than living comfortably. Depends on what your priorities are
Man, do those A/F guy's live the life or what!!?
Hmmm,, living in the woods, going from FOB to FOB hunting bad guys... orrrr, swimming, drinking Jack Daniels, lifting weights, looking @ women in Quattar???
Yeah, i go for the killing bad guys..
#57
TECH Enthusiast
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Mannheim, Germany
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The Army is great. However, you should know, that as a DEP, you still hold all of the cards. If you decide, for whatever reason, you don't want to join for YOURSELF, don't do it. All you have to do is write a letter to the recruiter that says you changed your mind or you don't want to leave until a later date. It's a great career, especially as a 25S, but understand that it's completely voluntary until you actually ship out to basic. Don't let people freak you out about going to Iraq either. Just because you're new doesn't mean you're going to go. Do you think everyone that's in Iraq is a new private? That's not the way it works. You have a much lower likelihood of getting deployed than 99% of people in the Army. If you do get deployed(as a Sierra), it will just be a loong business trip that looks really impressive on your resume.
You picked a great MOS. I'm a 25P which is like the brother MOS of 25S. I joined about 3 years ago so I'll give you my perspective. Basic training changes all of the time so don't get caught up in expecting anything someone told you about. Don't expect to make phone calls for the first few weeks and when you do, it may be for like three minutes.
When you first get to SC, you'll be inprocessing, doing paperwork and getting shots and then going to actual Basic Training will be a relief. Be prepared to spend the first night at basic camping and arguing with your classmates and doing pushups(not gauranteed but very possible)
Basic is pretty easy. The only hard part is missing your family and friends. Tell them before you leave that you want **** loads of mail and you'll let them know your address ASAP.
Just start running and doing pushups / situps every day and Basic will just be a matter of enduring some suckiness. The hardest part of basic is the people you'll be there with.
AIT at Gordon is pretty chill now. It sucked more when I was there but now you basically just get up at 5am, do some PT and then go to school until 5pm. They don't **** with you much at AIT as a 25S/P because our AIT is pretty long.
As you probably figured out, you're not going to be running around killing people as a 25S. You'll have the potential to get some seriously high tech kick *** assignments and you'll be interacting with a lot of high ranking people.
If you have bad credit, they'll help you out at AIT in clearing it up to help you get your clearance so don't worry too much about it. You only have to get your clearance by the time you graduate AIT.
Your bonus will be taxed 31% just so you know but that's still a nice chunk of change. I think they removed the maximum contribution cap for the TPS (retirement savings) so you could theoritically put your whole bonus in there tax free if you wanted. You'll get your bonus after AIT. Most likely, your first duty assignment will have to do the paperwork since they are lazy at Gordon.
Like I said, I have a very similar MOS I work with some Sierras so if have any questions about Army life in the Signal Corps, feel free to send me a PM.
One last thing, take anything anyone says about Army life with a grain of salt because every single unit and base is like a totally different Army. Especially in the Signal Corps. Every question about the Army you ask your drill sergeant is going to have one of two answers, "f -off, do some pushups" OR "it depends on your unit" and he won't be lying.
Good luck! It's a great career!
You picked a great MOS. I'm a 25P which is like the brother MOS of 25S. I joined about 3 years ago so I'll give you my perspective. Basic training changes all of the time so don't get caught up in expecting anything someone told you about. Don't expect to make phone calls for the first few weeks and when you do, it may be for like three minutes.
When you first get to SC, you'll be inprocessing, doing paperwork and getting shots and then going to actual Basic Training will be a relief. Be prepared to spend the first night at basic camping and arguing with your classmates and doing pushups(not gauranteed but very possible)
Basic is pretty easy. The only hard part is missing your family and friends. Tell them before you leave that you want **** loads of mail and you'll let them know your address ASAP.
Just start running and doing pushups / situps every day and Basic will just be a matter of enduring some suckiness. The hardest part of basic is the people you'll be there with.
AIT at Gordon is pretty chill now. It sucked more when I was there but now you basically just get up at 5am, do some PT and then go to school until 5pm. They don't **** with you much at AIT as a 25S/P because our AIT is pretty long.
As you probably figured out, you're not going to be running around killing people as a 25S. You'll have the potential to get some seriously high tech kick *** assignments and you'll be interacting with a lot of high ranking people.
If you have bad credit, they'll help you out at AIT in clearing it up to help you get your clearance so don't worry too much about it. You only have to get your clearance by the time you graduate AIT.
Your bonus will be taxed 31% just so you know but that's still a nice chunk of change. I think they removed the maximum contribution cap for the TPS (retirement savings) so you could theoritically put your whole bonus in there tax free if you wanted. You'll get your bonus after AIT. Most likely, your first duty assignment will have to do the paperwork since they are lazy at Gordon.
Like I said, I have a very similar MOS I work with some Sierras so if have any questions about Army life in the Signal Corps, feel free to send me a PM.
One last thing, take anything anyone says about Army life with a grain of salt because every single unit and base is like a totally different Army. Especially in the Signal Corps. Every question about the Army you ask your drill sergeant is going to have one of two answers, "f -off, do some pushups" OR "it depends on your unit" and he won't be lying.
Good luck! It's a great career!
Last edited by kenkaru; 03-24-2006 at 09:38 AM.
#58
12 Second Club
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im with 25th ID in Ft. Lewis WA and all our new joes we are getting have the acus already they started getting issued that **** a while ago.. Well infantry anyway i dont know about you pogs..
#59
12 Second Club
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Originally Posted by PewterY2KZ28
Amen Brother... I did a little R&R in Quattar from Afghanistan..
Man, do those A/F guy's live the life or what!!?
Hmmm,, living in the woods, going from FOB to FOB hunting bad guys... orrrr, swimming, drinking Jack Daniels, lifting weights, looking @ women in Quattar???
Yeah, i go for the killing bad guys..
Man, do those A/F guy's live the life or what!!?
Hmmm,, living in the woods, going from FOB to FOB hunting bad guys... orrrr, swimming, drinking Jack Daniels, lifting weights, looking @ women in Quattar???
Yeah, i go for the killing bad guys..
AF have it nice.. And those are the ******* that go home and talk about all there *kills*.... ****.