Military Thread

Generally the ARMY breeds it own leaders, which means, they train/educate to fill specific roles. You should have to be screened by an Officer Selection Team or something equivalent to that and your degree may/may not translate into a direct position.

If you have your heart set on becoming an Officer and they tell you to go enlisted then 'try' / 'apply' / 'request permission' to go to OCS => that route is convoluted and populated by EVERYONE in the ARMY and will take you at LEAST a year to two years before you're in a position to even be able to apply. In the mean time you will be serving with 18 year olds with zero education who either joined to escape jail, get a paycheck to send back home, or kill people (depending on your MOS).

A high asvab score only means you qualify for most jobs as an enlisted and most of them suck and do not translate (read qualifications / certifications) to their civilian counter part (with the exception of some IT / engineering / Police MOS's).

If I were you I would try for:
- Officer, OCS route or walk. If your life is that bad that you are considering ARMY enlisted at 29...be prepared to be in physical pain a lot.
- As HIGH of a security clearance as you can get and maintain in whatever position you can fill with your degree.

Do not go enlisted and assume you're going to be going to OCS at some later unstated date.

If you want OCS you get it on contract, written, or you walk and try again later. Since you have a degree there is zero reason for you to be enlisted for an unstated extended period of time. Unless its some basic-basic training.

Here's how the conversation should not go,

"What do I have to do to become an officer?"
"Go enlisted first."
"Then when will I be able to go to OCS?"
"When your CO / Company / Batallion Commander approves your application."

Source: 10 Years NAVY/Marine Corps: enlisted + officer candidate 2001 - 2011 // Military family (brother, uncles, cousins)

CalhoonJugganaut_sl said:

Specifically my recruiter says I have to talk to his Commander next week but I will have to enlist first no matter what.

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You know how people always talk about recruiters lying to people and fucking them? You're that guy right now.

You absolutely do not have to enlist prior to becoming an officer. In fact, mustang officers (those with prior enlisted service) are the minority of military officers.

I don't know how the Army does officers, but the Navy has officer recruiters who only deal with officer applicants.

Anyway, we had a guy in my basic training (Army) that was like 35 or something. So I've definitely seen older. That said, I went to OCS for the Navy in 2011 at 28 and I was one of the oldest there.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask me. I DOR'd out of Navy OCS (didn't commission), but I'm in a unique position as having experienced being in two different branches and going through the process as both enlisted and officer.

If you aren't an Officer or have/maintaining a TS clearance, you're wasting your time.

Brikker_sl said:

If you aren't an Officer or have/maintaining a TS clearance, you're wasting your time.

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Despite the fact that I don't want to stay in past my 6 yr enlistment I do wish my job had TS. Granted I do work with classified parts/data all the time, but having a few years of TS left when I go civilian would be a major help for finding a job.

Former enlisted Marine here, and have several friends that did the dumb thing and went to college and ended up officers. One of which ended up as a Navy recruiting division officer. That being said I know fuck all about the Army's recruiting practices specifically, but if it is anything like the Navy or Marine Corps then you have a fart in the wind chance to become an officer with a bachelors degree in underwater basket weaving even if you have a high GPA. If you happen to have a degree in underwater basket weaving with a shitty GPA then you have a fuckall chance of getting selected to be an officer (again i only have specific knowledge of the Navy & Marine Chores). If your 29 and enlisting in the Army is looking like a good idea, your probably not going to be happy if you do it. Being enlisted in any branch is generally a thankless job and hard on the body, mind, and any relationships you leave behind. That being said if your serious about joining, do yourself a favor get educated about your options by seeking out veterans, and understanding your ASVAB score and what it means. If you are not going to be selected for OCS understand your options, take the ASVAB again if you need to, but your best bet is to goal for something tech oriented.

CalhoonJugganaut_sl said:

Requesting advice

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Your recruiter is not trying to fuck you at all, they are telling you to go enlisted because your criminal history is really bad at a time when the military is harshly drawing down the people they already have employed nonetheless are recruiting.

There is no way with that record OCS would look at you even twice, your best shot is the slim chance you would be approved for even enlisted service and then after obtaining NCO rank applying for OCS. Due to your history your service records would have to be squeaky damn clean.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you have made some bad decisions in the past, and bad decisions do have consequences.

I think you said you have a 112 GT? That isn't even a good score man, 110 is the minimum for officers I believe. I mean I'm sitting on 134 and just an E-5 in the signal corps.

My best advice for you would be to obtain any enlisted position you can that will grant you a TS-SCI clearance, fulfill your contract and then apply for a DoD civilian position with that clearance which are typically well paying.

Also not to rustle any jimmies but alot of the above posters have 0 idea what they are talking about imo (Other then the guy who said either get a clearance or a commission or don't bother)

I can't post any of my service pictures because I can't officially admit that we had black ops in Cambodia.


...shit.

C'est moi.

Me on the left buying an Iraqi beanie. That thing will rustle some jimmies.

Blouse your fucking boots devil!

That's not me, that's our terp Jack.

Half the joy of flightsuit is not blousing, other half is going commando.

Growing up I always got up to go to the bathroom whether it was 2 am or 2pm. I also assumed after you drank the water from the plastic bottle that you simply threw it away.

How naive I had been when I became the roomate of a Marine.

Plastic bottles do not differentiate between piss and dip spit so neither did the Lance-Corporal.

---

Ode to piss bottles:

A nightly binge
Doth bring the urge,
Summon the plastic, hence.

Flight_sl said:

C'est moi.

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You legion etrangere or what brah? pic looks old as hell, and i can't tell if that's a famas. doesn't look like one though, so probably not?

Lvl_32_Bard_LFG_sl said:

You legion etrangere or what brah? pic looks old as hell, and i can't tell if that's a famas. doesn't look like one though, so probably not?

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His head gear looks like British Army design. The rifle looks to be an FN FAL, which would make sense since the picture is old as hell and the FN FAL was still in service with the British Army up until the mid 1980s.

Picture isn't as old as it looks. One of the guys was an amateur photographer who developed his own shots.

Flight_sl said:

Picture isn't as old as it looks. One of the guys was an amateur photographer who developed his own shots.

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Was my guess right though? British Army and FN FAL?

Lost a wingman the other day.
Left behind his wife.