No mate. To be fair most of my gear there is not regular issue and I'd bought myself.Was my guess right though? British Army and FN FAL?
No mate. To be fair most of my gear there is not regular issue and I'd bought myself.Was my guess right though? British Army and FN FAL?
Damn.No mate. To be fair most of my gear there is not regular issue and I'd bought myself.
I have an ASS in Liberal Arts and a B.S in Comp Info SystemsWent to MEPS this week and did my ASVAB and my physical for the Army. I've got a couple of things with the court I have to get cleared up before I pick what I'm going to do. I've got 2 speeding tickets (2001 & 2004), a possession of Marijuana charge from 2006, and a DWI from 2009 that all need to get waived I guess. I have a bachelor's degree in history and I scored a 112 on my GT score and passed my physical. I've been told a number of different things so far by co-workers and people who are my friends who have served in the past. Some are telling me to try to go to OCS before I even enlist. Others are telling me that I will have to go enlisted first and serve a year or two before I can try to get commissioned and one guy is telling me OCS is probably out of the question. So I wanted to post here and see if I can get a better answer. Specifically my recruiter says I have to talk to his Commander next week but I will have to enlist first no matter what. I will be 29 on Oct. 31 of this year so I don't have a lot of time. This is something that I'm going to do regardless of the outcome because I'm not making enough money at my current job and this is something I've been weighing for more than just a couple of a months. I've been thinking about this for about 5 years now, but I don't come from a Military family so I didn't know how good of a deal that it can be until I was hit with the gravity of student loans coming off of deferment etc. I'm single and have no kids if that information is needed. Just wanting to get a couple of more opinions right now. I know that I will want to pick a job that translates well in the Civilian world but at my age I am really thinking this is something I will probably want to make a career out of. My mind may change over the next 4-6 years, but I'm here right now to gauge what I should do right now. Thanks in advance for the replies...I stay pretty busy so I may not be able to respond as soon as I'd like.
P.S. This thread was in General last time I think.
As an NCO with 20 years in , this made me Laugh ... Thanksshame though, I'd have made a good Officer.
Condolences, mang.Lost a wingman the other day.
Left behind his wife.
Is that Mt. Rainier? Would put you in Seattle I reckon, though I know shit about Coast Guard postings and bases that aren't Cape May.They needed a profile pic to do my employee marks (USCG 18 years here!), so I did the Bond villain look as a joke. I swear to god this is not photoshopped. The lighting looks too perfect, and the cat looks stuffed. It's my wifes cat, that white fur gets everywhere. Bonus points if you can guess where this is.
Hint:
There's an awesome show on the weather channel just for my state
Enlisted pay is pretty shit as it is, but enlisted pay without BAH should be fucking illegal. Before I moved off base (25 year old E-3 with no dependents) I was only pulling in about $750 every two weeks. Yeah my 'food' and housing is paid for, but when your paycheck literally doubles when you move off base, something is fundamentally wrong there.Is that Mt. Rainier? Would put you in Seattle I reckon, though I know shit about Coast Guard postings and bases that aren't Cape May.
As for officer pay and such, it starts out blah as an O1, but by the time you are an O3, it really isn't bad when you add in BAH, BAS, the other shit they lump into it. For being that young, with the level of education/experience required, it's pretty decent compared against most fields. An O3 at 4 years (normally when you would get promoted to O3) is pulling in 5.1k per month in base salary, plus 242 in BAS, plus 1-2k per month in BAH depending on where you are. Adding it up, that's like 75-90k per year, pretty damn competitive for 4 years out of college in most fields that require only a 4 year degree.
It is not a bad life to get into, if you can hack the responsibility and the possibility you will be shot and killed on a battlefield somewhere.
Compare that to, say, an E-5 (Sergeant) at 4 years in. 340ish bucks for BAS, 600-1200 BAH, 2.5k base salary. Pretty much half of what an officer with that time served makes. It's goddamn criminal, the pay disparity, but that's the way it is. (*edit - and that's only if you have a family; if not, you may be living in the barracks, which means you will not be getting BAH)
So yeah, if you are joining the military with a 4 year college degree, and not going in as an officer, you are losing out pretty big financially, to the point where it may not be worth it.
And the military wonders why it has a beyond terrible divorce rate and a shitload of E-1s and E-2s with credit problems. Nothing rustled my jimmies more than seeing some brand new boot show up then a week later get married and get out of the barracks along with making twice as much as I was then.Enlisted pay is pretty shit as it is, but enlisted pay without BAH should be fucking illegal. Before I moved off base (25 year old E-3 with no dependents) I was only pulling in about $750 every two weeks. Yeah my 'food' and housing is paid for, but when your paycheck literally doubles when you move off base, something is fundamentally wrong there.
Yup. I've seen that before too. I wonder, with DOMA gone, and eventually all marriage perks apply to everyone, if there'll be a rise in,say, 2 dudes in the barracks getting married just to draw double housing allowance while just being roomates. With sequestration and other cutbacks hitting all the military branches, I'm actually shocked they still give out double housing allowances when 2 military folks marry.And the military wonders why it has a beyond terrible divorce rate and a shitload of E-1s and E-2s with credit problems. Nothing rustled my jimmies more than seeing some brand new boot show up then a week later get married and get out of the barracks along with making twice as much as I was then.
You wouldnt happen to know a jack lacey would you ?Close! Kodiak, AK. It does remind me of Maine sometimes though.
It's weird seeing people I work with all the time on TV, and we give a particularly hard time to a certain rescue swimmer.
http://www.weather.com/tv/tvshows/coast-guard-alaska
Yup. I've seen that before too. I wonder, with DOMA gone, and eventually all marriage perks apply to everyone, if there'll be a rise in,say, 2 dudes in the barracks getting married just to draw double housing allowance while just being roomates. With sequestration and other cutbacks hitting all the military branches, I'm actually shocked they still give out double housing allowances when 2 military folks marry.