Military (Joining the Military?)

[bonzo34]

So I got the advice from the discord to join the military due to my low industriousness score.
The benefit of joining the military, get better at working and then apply that to all the self help stuff makes alot of sense.

I wanted to ask the forum guys that are in the military or were in the military for general advice.
It's scary to even think about joining and feels like alot of steps to find the right branch and the right role and get started.

I'm mainly wondering:
What the commitment is (how many years)?
Do you commit to a job/career path with it?
Also wondering how self improvement fits into it, hard to imagine being in the military and then also approaching girls.

Please let me know more context to add or better questions to ask.
This is for the military in the United States.
I'll tag everyone I think was in the military at some point;
@komeback_kile
@dinsr4
@MuadDib
@Noself
@WASP
@pussypounder9000
@che5568
@Conan33
@shakirsux
@Vice
@ManlyCockfellow

[Vice]

Do you have a college degree?

[bonzo34]

Yeah I have a Bachelor's Degree
Sociology Major/Psychology Minor

[komeback_kile]

I'll caveat my answers in that you need to ask a recruiter these questions since I sense you haven't. My answers won't entirely make sense until you research more, and I can't be your recruiter.

Talk to recruiters from the different branches (Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, Space Force, and even Coast Guard) as well. Ask about active, reserve, and guard components for the various branches (not all have them)

What the commitment is (how many years)?

AFAIK, 8 years (MSO - military service obligation) but not all of that is active duty. I was 9 active (aka "full-time") and 3 IRR (aka "on call" but they never called me back to active and I worked a non-military job). An enlistment is usually 4-6yrs active. Just keep in mind the years you're committing

Do you commit to a job/career path with it?

Yes, but you *can* cross-train (though not easily) into a different one. Usually, you'll do your career path in blocks of 3-4 yrs before being able to cross-train
Rarely, you can join the military without a career picked, but that's almost always a dumb decision. You're older, so pick a career field and be deliberate about it. Every dude [that I ever met] who joined without a career absolutely regretted it and got stuck in a shit job that they didn't like (usually military police)

Also wondering how self improvement fits into it, hard to imagine being in the military and then also approaching girls.

Self-improvement fits great into that, but there's plenty of lazy people in the military. You have to be self-directed above all, but you have a good chance of being around those who want to self-improve. Be very deliberate about the career field that you choose since that will affect the type of people you'll be around. You can approach as your schedule allows

[bonzo34]

Thanks.
No I haven't talked to a recruiter at all.

[Vice]

I’ll write up a more detailed response later, but:

- you have a college degree. You can and should become an officer. More responsibility but more pay.

- Contracts vary. Minimum will be 4 years from the start of boot camp. There’s and option for 6. Some jobs in aviation will require 8-10 years of commitment.

- being enlisted sucks. Shit pay, shit people around you for the most part. There’s shit officers as well, but overall less in general.

- There are better career options than the military since you have a degree, and the big draw to service is the free college and the fact you can buy real estate with no money down. Military service can be a great way to obtain upward social mobility if you’re not a stupid fuck, which too many people are, unfortunately.

- not all military jobs will result in you seeing any kind of combat.

- you may be stationed somewhere awesome, or somewhere not so good.

- women in military towns are not impressed by you being in the military. Consider it just another job. Seems like you’re in San Antonio so I’m sure you already get this.

[bonzo34]

Thanks Vice.
I think I messaged you too so might be redundant questions.
Yeah I'm in San Antonio.

[Vice]

For enlisting, you'll need to take the ASVAB. It's a single test.

For commissioning as an officer, it's going to take more. Each branch has their own officer qualifying test that varies in content. For example, the Army test probably won't have the same subsections that the Air Force does (AF has a few aircraft-specific subests).

As a potential officer, you'll also be evaluated on your current ability to lead, as well as potential to lead. Depending on what job you get as an officer, you'll be forced to make immediate, difficult decisions in a time constrained environment, with only 80% of the information available to you. You need to be prepared to sometimes have those decisions not work out. People can and will die no matter what decision you make, sometimes you have to select from a course of options that are all poor. You also need to be able to be given somewhat vague directions, and be able to determine what effect is being desired, and then working with your team to execute the requirement.

As an enlisted person, you'll essentially be following orders given by officers and noncommissioned officers. Enlisted people have very technical skills. That doesn't mean that you'll be "mindlessly following orders"; American doctrine towards its enlisted personnel dictates autonomy and independent decision-making in the event the chain of command is disrupted. So, as a new guy, you'll be learning your job and following orders from noncommissioned officers, who in turn are following commands from officers, who were following commands from their commanders, who were given strategic goals from THEIR commanders (think 1-4 star generals), who were given THEIR orders from the President of the United States. As you learn your job and excel at it, you'll be expected to fulfill a leadership position and lead those who are new to the job.

Leadership and followership is emphasized for both enlisted and commissioned military members. This creates a decentralized command structure where units can operate and still be effective in the event of lost communications with leadership, regardless of the cause of that lost communication.

The pay is shit and the hours are long, there isn't much prestige when you're in a military town and every other single guy is also in the military. I suggest finding out what benefits are good for you and starting there. Each branch also has its own positives and negatives:

Certain jobs tend to attract certain personality types, and then shape them further.

Army - Pretty cool operations. However, most Army personnel are... not the brightest. Duty locations suck, you'll likely be stationed in the middle of nowhere, with the dating options that come with that.

Air Force - Some jobs are cool, some are dorky and boring. Air Force personnel tend to be more nerdy/arrogant, but still have their fair share of not so bright people. Duty locations vary; some are great, some are in the middle of nowhere.

Navy - Great duty stations in major port cities, for the most part. However, them being Navy towns, you're just another dumbass Navy guy according to the local population of women. Any negative interaction with a Navy guy a woman has, will be stereotyped to you. Not difficult to stand out though, since most Navy dudes (and military guys in general) tend to have a herd mentality.

Marines - Similar duty stations as the Navy. Heavy indoctrination into their combat culture. Similar to Navy. Marines have a reputation, better to be an officer in this branch.

Coast Guard - lol

Space Force - lmao

Great options to get some kind of technical certification and then make triple your salary as a civilian contractor afterwards (this applies to a lot of technical military jobs across all branches). Many jobs don't allow for this opportunity, so choose carefully.

[bonzo34]

Thanks this is helpful.
I kinda ruled out the coast guard, marines and space force haha.

[bonzo34]

Update I guess

Narrowed it down.
I'm trying to see if I can do Army Officer or Navy Officer.
There's 2 Navy Officer Recruiters for all of San Antonio. I talked to the medical one. I haven't talked to the general one to see if I have a chance there. I hate there's only 1 recruiter, it's like one-itis. I feel like I might be annoying him but there's not really an alternative. I can get the information and get an idea if I can do the officer route from people/sources other than this one recruiter, it's if I do end up applying he's the only one who can do the application. I guess worst case I message the guy too much and he never responds or he tells me to leave me alone. Which would then rule out Navy Officer so I can't really lose or I have nothing to lose.

I'm gonna check out National Guard and Air National Guard. I honestly don't know much about either one.

[bonzo34]

So I guess this turned into a log.

I got in the touch with Navy Officer recruiter. So I can do that option it's just living on a ship is hard.

Honestly I have no chance of Air Force/Space Force Officer unless I try to be a pilot or weasel into healthcare administration which I don't think will happen.
My GPA was 3.28 instead of 3.0 which is what I thought it was.
Navy seemed better than Army, though I could Army Officer as well.

[Antonio44]

To throw something left field at you - have you thought about the french foreign legion? I've known a couple of guys who joined (I only knew them afterwards), both hard as nails, immense respect for them. + you have the EU passport bonus after a few years.

Plus girls dig french accents

[bonzo34]

oh no I didn't think of anything outside the United States. Thanks I'm gonna research a bit

[bonzo34]

I talked to the Army medical recruiter.
So there's an option where you are an Army Officer but you don't do basic training or officer school you just work as a social worker.
There's a 4 week "leadership training" but that's it.

So my options are really:
Navy Officer
Army Officer
Army Officer Social Worker

I could do Air Force Enlisted would just have the regrets of not doing officer.
I'm trying to decide next week, it's just talking to the army recruiter and navy recruiter again and deciding how much I want to be a social worker.
ill put that in my actual log

[bonzo34]

after researching a while I realize how good the advice in here is
thanks @Vice and everyone