Military Thread

I've been at my duty station for a year now. I really don't mind being on the enlisted side, but a lot of what I end up doing on the day to day is really menial stuff and I don't feel completely utilized. On the same token I get things done quicker than most of the other specialists in my shop. If any of you are officers, please shoot me a PM. Really thinking about dropping my OCS packet by the end of the year. Got a baby on the way and want to get settled into that first, but would like some advice if anyone has a little to give about what to expect and where it might take me over the next 5-10 years.

The officer route is highly competitive; lots of young men with non-STEM degrees realize they'll make far more as an O1-O3 than any fucking job their history/poli-sci B.A. qualifies them for.

Are you stronger/faster than everyone you know? Can you run a sub 20 minute 5k? (That's USMC; maybe the lesser branches have lax standards for their new LTs) =P

Jackie Treehorn_sl said:

My dad was in the Navy on destroyers in the 70's, he's frequently mentioned he wishes he would have taken home some brass. He said they just used to throw it overboard as I recall (memory might be wrong on that aspect.) He said when they were at port in (I believe) the Philippines people would beg for the casings, and he said someone on the ship once threw one down and sank a little boat some Filipino guy had.

I've looked at buying him one on a couple of militaria sites but they were quite expensive as I recall from the last time I looked.

That looks awesome.

Here's the site I was talking about. They run $200-$600!

Heavy Ordnance Catalog

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A friend who was in the Navy called it the shit river. People would throw a quarter or whatever in it and kids/people would jump into all the shit to retrieve it. Didn't sound like much fun but whatever.

CalhoonJugganaut_sl said:

I've been at my duty station for a year now. I really don't mind being on the enlisted side, but a lot of what I end up doing on the day to day is really menial stuff and I don't feel completely utilized. On the same token I get things done quicker than most of the other specialists in my shop. If any of you are officers, please shoot me a PM. Really thinking about dropping my OCS packet by the end of the year. Got a baby on the way and want to get settled into that first, but would like some advice if anyone has a little to give about what to expect and where it might take me over the next 5-10 years.

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Honestly, I would rather drink piss than be a 2LT. I went warrant and never looked back. If you want to go the OCS route, be prepared to take a lot of shit and get the shaft 99% of the time until you make O4 (minus command time as an O3.)

Seriously, anything is better than enlisted. It's a pretty thankless job.

CalhoonJugganaut_sl said:

I've been at my duty station for a year now. I really don't mind being on the enlisted side, but a lot of what I end up doing on the day to day is really menial stuff and I don't feel completely utilized. On the same token I get things done quicker than most of the other specialists in my shop. If any of you are officers, please shoot me a PM. Really thinking about dropping my OCS packet by the end of the year. Got a baby on the way and want to get settled into that first, but would like some advice if anyone has a little to give about what to expect and where it might take me over the next 5-10 years.

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Guess it depends on the branch. You sound like you're Army? I'm Air Force enlisted and went in with a Bachelor's and am currently working on a Master's. It's really not that rare for the Air Force, though. In my tiny shop of 12 people, two of us are working on Master's, three are working on Bachelor's, and all but three others have at least an Associates. Even with my education level, no way would I want to be an officer. CGO's in the AF seem to just get shit on left and right. No one (including enlisted) look at them as anything more than equal to a junior enlisted but give them all the bullshit when something goes wrong (they're officers, they need to get good at taking shit!).

Of course, they do make way more money. I can see the pay amounts changing a lot over the next few decades as more and more enlisted people join with equal education levels as the officers. Becoming way more common. If you're married with a kid, definitely try to get as much money as you can. I'm single/no kids so my E5 pay with BAH etc is a decent living (~42k/year in North Dakota goes a long way).

All that said, I joined with the clear goal of only doing one enlistment and getting out. Just a stepping stone to get into the career I want. I don't really encourage anyone to seek a career in the military these days, unless you're a really gung-ho, oorah military type or it's a family legacy type of deal.

I really wish the USAF still had warrant officers, though

Wouldn't an officer with your TIS be an O3 by now and making roughly 2x what you make, Brikker? Seems like a pretty ridiculous statement to say that an E5's life is better than an O3's. Unless something is substantially different in the USAF, I would have expected that by the time an officer becomes a Capt they're trusted to not be dipshit 2LTs anymore.

Brikker_sl said:

It's really not that rare for the Air Force, though. In my tiny shop of 12 people, two of us are working on Master's, three are working on Bachelor's, and all but three others have at least an Associates...

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Unless you are planning on career military, I would take those "degrees" with a grain of salt. On the outside world, those degrees from "University of Maryland University College" (lols) are one of the pretty shady for profit schools. I use this one as an example because pretty much every AF base I have seen is pushing this program. UMUC has a 100% acceptance rate, yet has an 8% completion rate in 6 years. It's pretty focused solely on military distance learning. (ie: getting those sweet sweet government funded tuition monies from active duty)

If you really want a serious education, I would take the post-9/11 GI Bill and get out and go to a real brick and mortar University that has a decent reputation.

It takes 3.5 years to get O3, and then you sit at O3 for like 4-6 years before you are able to make O4. Those are all minimums. Brikker getting E5 in roughly 3 years in the air force is basically legendary atm though. I know guys who are SSGT's that are almost 12 years in and they're good guys.

With college etc you're going to be 25 by the time you make O3, if you enlist when you turn 18 you can be an E7 by age 25 (roughly the same pay as an O3) and you will probably have gotten a degree in the meantime. Granted what Jysin said holds true. You need to go to a real college not UMUC.

8 year E-7 is probably the top 1 percent if you go by USMC terms. 8 year E-6 isn't even bad.

E7 by the age of 25 is pretty fucking unheard of. I had fast tracked automatic E4 upon my 2 year school completion and then made E5 at 21 (Navy - Electronics Tech). Advancement rates also depended heavily on the career field. I know Corpsmen in the Navy that were still E4/ E5 in their late 20s / early 30s, which was a pretty common thing. YMMV significantly!

The navy has some amazing advancement for certain rates for sure. CT and I'm about to put on E6 and am only at three years. I won't make E7 by 25 but that's because I joined when I was 21.

Jysin_sl said:

Unless you are planning on career military, I would take those "degrees" with a grain of salt. On the outside world, those degrees from "University of Maryland University College" (lols) are one of the pretty shady for profit schools. I use this one as an example because pretty much every AF base I have seen is pushing this program. UMUC has a 100% acceptance rate, yet has an 8% completion rate in 6 years. It's pretty focused solely on military distance learning. (ie: getting those sweet sweet government funded tuition monies from active duty)

If you really want a serious education, I would take the post-9/11 GI Bill and get out and go to a real brick and mortar University that has a decent reputation.

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My Bachelor's is from University of Oregon and my Master's from Arizona State University (and ASU is the #2 school for my program/degree). My co-workers getting his Master's through University of Southern California.

There are many options outside the for-profit degree mills.

Eidal_sl said:

Wouldn't an officer with your TIS be an O3 by now and making roughly 2x what you make, Brikker? Seems like a pretty ridiculous statement to say that an E5's life is better than an O3's. Unless something is substantially different in the USAF, I would have expected that by the time an officer becomes a Capt they're trusted to not be dipshit 2LTs anymore.

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Oh, more money for sure. I think a 2LT probably makes what I make now (I'm just about to hit 4 years service). Quality of life? Guess it depends heavily on the job and your co-workers. I see Capt's get shit on a whole lot more than SSgt's.

Zaide_sl said:

Brikker getting E5 in roughly 3 years in the air force is basically legendary atm though. I know guys who are SSGT's that are almost 12 years in and they're good guys.

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I had tested and received a line number for E5 before my 3 year mark. I was happy

The USAF does promotion different than the rest of the branches, though. You have to meet minimum time in service and time in grade before you can put on ranks, on top of the testing etc.

I'm going on 10 years in the USAF and I can tell you it's all about timing. If you make/sew on BTZ prior to that years testing cycle you can make SSgt on your 3 year mark, but you probably won't sew it on until you hit 4 years in. I have never seen an E7 at the age of 25, that's a stupid statement and it should not be listened to. The fast burners I've seen have made E7 at around 10 years and the fastest E8 I know was 13 years in. As far as quality of life, NCOs have it pretty well depending on your job. When I was an E5 I was an NCOIC and on a daily basis I would have to tell Captains/LTs what to do (in a tactful way of course). It all depends on your career field...

Brikker_sl said:

My Bachelor's is from University of Oregon and my Master's from Arizona State University (and ASU is the #2 school for my program/degree). My co-workers getting his Master's through University of Southern California.

There are many options outside the for-profit degree mills.

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Glad to hear! ASU does have a great program and it's also the school Starbucks is giving free tuition to its employees. (even part timers!) I might have gone the Starbucks route if that was a thing instead of military. I hope more businesses adopt this model.

Lejina_sl said:

Jesus, I knew salaries were lower in the US military but that's just brutal. Explains why it's so prevalent for people to do their 4-5 years then move on to something else.

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Ha no shit and that is considering how long you are stuck at E1-E3 depending on whats up, E1 was just under 12K a year after taxes in 2001/2002 I know because I remember those paychecks for 488.32 while training at Ft. Gordon. I didn't even have the 100.00 coming out for the GI bill either.

Lejina_sl said:

Jesus, I knew salaries were lower in the US military but that's just brutal. Explains why it's so prevalent for people to do their 4-5 years then move on to something else.

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Yea, it's not really about money (or shouldn't be)