This one is especially for dopers who’ve served in the armed forces.
Tuesday morning I walked into a local army recruitment office, took an aptitude test, and spoke to a recruiter. He said they’d offer me the maximum signing bonus and officer training school.
I’m a former semipro athlete with an Ivy League education and a second language. I’m two incompletes short of a master’s degree in film. I’m female.
I’ve always believed I’d serve my country if it were under attack. Right now I’m waiting to see how the news develops. It’s looking more and more as if I’ll do this.
Family tradition is to go with the army, but I’d consider any branch of the service. Which would you suggest and why? And specifically what should I get in writing from the recruiter?
Two things worth mentioning are that I wear eyeglasses and that I have a slightly diminished range of motion in my right wrist from a snowboarding accident. I hardly notice the wrist injury except when doing push-ups.
While we’re waiting for the experienced military types to answer, a couple questions spring to mind:
Do you want to go overseas?
Do you want to get as close to combat as possible?
Is there any MOS you think you’re particularly well-suited for?
What work experience do you have?
How tall are you? (affects options as a pilot)
Based on work experience I’d probably be best suited to making training videos, although the recruiter was talking about sending me to language school to brush up my skills. I once spoke fluent German with a Hamburg accent.
Piloting is out of the question with my eyesight. Overseas work, especially in a high risk area, appeals to me. I seem to be at my best in crisis situations. Actual combat jobs wouldn’t be an option but that’s congress’s problem, not mine.
If your wrist injury bothers you during pushups, that could lead to trouble. Pushups are 1/3 of the Army’s Physical Fitness Test.
I spent six years in the Army, and I am female. I highly recommend it. One thing, I had a BA degree and a second language, and my recruiter also promised officer’s school. He swore on a stack of bibles that it would happen automatically, but he couldn’t put it in writing because it would happen automatically. It didn’t happen. If you can’t get it in writing, don’t expect it to happen.
On the bright side, I got a guaranteed MOS–so if for some reason I hadn’t gotten the MOS I wanted, I could have gotten out (in theory). Anyway, I got the MOS I wanted.
I recommend the Army, the Navy, and the Marines in that order.
I joined during Desert Storm, and many of my shipmates joined out of patriotism. Some enjoyed it, others regretted it.
My advice is to think long and hard about this. The military is a serious commitment, and if you join and hate it, and we’re at war, it’s not easy to get out.
Another thought:
I know every talking head on TV is spouting off about “the new war on terrorism” and that the initial impulse is to enlist in the military services, but I’d like to inject a different point of view:
The “new war on terrorism” will likely be fought on our own soil as much as it will be overseas. It will involve basic police and emergency services work as much as military action. The uniformed service that lost the most members to these recent attacks was the NYFD.
Maybe you (or anyone who is considering “joining up”) could consider joining the emergency services/law enforcement/Coast Guard? Protecting our communities is perhaps more important than ever now.
Full disclosure: Former/future EMS and married to a doctor. Grew up in a coastal area with a great deal of respect for the Coast Guard. Not a recruiter.