He’ll either learn how the real world and other people work, or he’ll be booted pretty quickly. Military drill instructors are good at weeding out the unsuitable. I was Navy from '02 to '07 (submarine junior officer).
Interesting thoughts, all. Thanks.
You’re mostly (ok, entirely) reinforcing what I suspected. As mentioned, it’s not really my problem. But I don’t want to see him suffer either.
As to why he wants to join, I am pretty certain it’s because he doesn’t have many options. No friends, no useful education, and no real dreams and desires. I think he figures the military will give him a job and purpose.
Yes, I know there are multiple squadrons on an Air base. I never talked at length with Dad about his service. He may have worked for the squadron commander. I don’t know.
Dad only did this job because he had hearing loss from working maintenance on the flight line. It was discovered after he got back from Nam. The doctors recommended he move to another assignment until his retirement. The VA provided hearing aids for the rest of his life.
That’s something to consider if someone is thinking about the military. Some of the work environments pose hazards, even for men who aren’t combat personnel.
I have to ask “why” to this?
I believe coming smack up against Real Life, Real Authority, Real Consequences, Real Responsibility, and frankly, High Expectations, is EXACTLY the kind of “suffering” he needs to experience.
Yeah, he might get kicked out, but it’s not like he can just bail when the going gets tough. He might surprise everyone, himself included, and rise to the challenge. Sometimes people like him (religious nuts) crave authority they can respect and that treats them fairly. He sounds like he’s been sheltered enough. Bravo to him for wanting to break out of his narrow little world. A few hard knocks and some achievement might be the making of him.
well, now I want to find out What Happens. please keep us updated and I hope to hear the navy was exactly what he needed.
my fear is he finds other religious nuts and joins up with them - there are evangelicals in the military and, while not all of them are crazy, some of them are. :dubious:
I really hate that people like his parents, btw.
He won’t make it into the Navy.
The Army may, or more likely won’t, have him.
Barring any felony background, I don’t see why not. It really depends on if he can keep his opinions to himself with the recruiter. His problems will come when he gets to boot camp.
He MIGHT make it into the army if he lucks into a recruiter that really sucks and is desperate to not roll a donut for the month.
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Educational?
IANA expert on current recruiting practice, but if the kid finished homeschooling and has his state’s official certificate that’s equivalent to a GED or HS diploma then he’s in as far as the squares on the recruiter’s form are concerned.
If he’s too under-/mis-educated to get a decent score on the ASVAB that would be a show-stopper. Assuming the kid is trying to succeed and isn’t a total dolt, he can certainly get cram books, online practice tests, etc. Wiki sez GED holders need to score better than true HS diploma holders. I have no clue how home-schooling certificates fit in there.
Standards change over the years, but during my time in the 80s working with the US Army, the bare minimum standard for readin’, writin’, n 'rithmetic was pretty dismal. The kid doesn’t need to be the best recruit to get in. He only needs to be as good as the worst.
Back during Desert Storm a recruiter told me the were relaxing the standards to* no serious felonies,* with a bit of wink.
Standards change month to month depending on recruitment goals. As far as I know there is no current problems with staffing levels on the enlisted side.
I would say Boot Camp might be exactly what he needs to start to adjust to the real world. We had a couple of loud religious nuts, boot camp and A school helped deprogram them.
Does your name go on a list if you try to join and get rejected?
For example a recruiter in one town turns you down. Can you try again 50 miles away in a different one?
Are you already in the database as a reject?
What’s “A school”?
I don’t think this guy will get as far as boot camp. He can certainly apply, I guess.
It’s like the “W” bench.
“A” school is a job specialty school. Each job specialty (called “NEC” for Navy Enlisted Classification code) will typically have one or more follow-on schools after boot camp. More advanced or equipment specific schools may be called “C” schools.
A recruit can join the Navy without selecting an NEC before reporting for duty, and the Navy may decide to slot him/her in to an NEC that is critically short in manning levels. (Or they could send him to the fleet as a “nonrate”. Then he will have to “strike” for a rating/NEC.)
You also have to score high enough on the ASVAB testing to qualify for schooling in the NEC you want. You can’t just say “I want to be a translator” and have it be so. There were a couple of guys in my boot company who didn’t qualify for any schools and were assigned OJT according to the needs of the Navy.
There’s always law school…
Correct. I lost some of this detail, while striving to keep it brief. 