I don’t recall; probably Marines. It was a few years ago…
They’ve always been able to afford to be super-choosy. A couple years after I left the MC, I decided to go back in to the military, this time to a technical field in the AF. I figured I’d be a shoo-in, they’d love to have a former E-4 right? Not so much. I got less priority then a brand-new recruit…both as far as career choice and training date. Basically, I had to choose 3 careers, and then the AF would decide which I would get or even if they wanted me. Then for a period of a year I had to be on a 1-week leash to leave to begin training. No effing thank you, I said. I kind of wish I had signed up after all…that ended up being a crappy year for me, anyway!
It came up for me, because my first desire was to be an Army pilot. I walked in a asked if I was too tall to fit in the cockpit, and the recruiter said “Nope, but you’re wearing glasses.”
Funny thing is that I have a friend who flies Apaches, and he was pissed off when I told him that story. Apparently that’s not even a universal disqualifier for pilots.
Yes it is. Was. When I was looking into becoming an Army pilot you had to past a Class I flight physical. That meant 20/20 non-corrected. No waivers. That was just for new pilots. Once you got into flight school you had to pass a Class II for the rest of your career. 20/20 corrected. It was only a few years ago that they changed it to allow for surgically corrected vision.
Same here.
USAF from 1972 to 1997. That’s 24 years. I retired as a E-8 / Senior Master Sergeant. I was an aircraft mechanic on F-111s, T-39As, and C-9As.
I now work as a contractor for the USAF as a database administrator. Sure beats changing 250 lb wheel and tire assemblies outside of weekend midnight shifts in the snow!
Entered the Army in April of 53, and after Fort Belvoir was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood until September of '53. Then sent to Korea - but the armistice had been signed in June of that year, so nobody was shooting at each other when I got there. Thank God!!!
US Navy, March 1980 - February 1991.
With the exception of training periods, my home port was always SUBASE, Pearl Harbor.
US Air National Guard in Tech School.
No.
Dad and brother were in the military, Army and Navy respectively. I did my “public service” as a police officer.
No, I never served in the military. Things just didn’t work out that way, and there was always something else I wanted to do more at various points in my life. In retrospect, I really wish I had served; I’ve always been interested in military and naval history. Unfortunately, by the time I looked into JAG service in the Navy or Marine Reserves, I was too old.
My dad served in the Army’s 8th Infantry Division in Germany in 1955-57, and rose to buck sergeant, commanding a Patton tank. My maternal grandfather served in the Army as a Stateside JAG officer during WWII; I think his highest rank was captain.
Wasn’t required or allowed to by medical reasons (lack of a penis). Spain, I turned 18 in 1986 and would have been required to perform military service (no civil service option available yet) if I’d been a male in good health.
No, although these days I deeply regret that I haven’t. My brother was in Afghanistan, and I very much admire him for that.
USAF, 4 years, honorably discharged.
USAF Medical Corp: 7 years, 1 month, 6 days
Travis, Barksdale, Incirlik (Turkey)
I was in 8th ID too. In the early 90s when the unit was deactivated.
Thanks, Loach. Just one more reason I like you.
I only learned a few years ago that the 8th was no more. My dad has good memories of his time in the ranks. He liked zooming around in his tank - being out on maneuvers - even served as company clerk for awhile because he’d had some college. The 8th was stationed near Munich, and he also enjoyed Oktoberfest very much. 
Navy
Army. Six years.
I always intended to go to either West Point (I wanted to go Armor or Artillery) or the AF Academy (if my eyes were good enough), or barring that, one of the SMCs (likely Texas A&M, since I grew up in Texas) and get commissioned, with the intention of making a career of it.
Then, during my Jr. year of high school, everything changed. I hurt my knee for the second time and required reconstructive surgery, the Soviets started falling apart and the Berlin Wall came down.
After looking at some historical info about the post-WWI military, I figured we were about to have a long run of the same along with ridiculously brutal competition for promotions, so I opted not to try and overcome the knee injury and ended up figuring out what sort of civilian career I might like to have, and ended up going to Texas A&M anyway, but as a civilian and studied computer science.
Had I known that I’d have had about 5-6 years of relative peace, and then 12 years of war, I’d probably have tried to make a career of it anyway, despite the knee and the end of the cold war.