Originally Posted by Red370

Why do these always turn into a "Oh man, join my branch" thread? The guy said hes considering joining the ARMY, and would like to know about it, not the navy, not the Air Force, not the Marines.

I've been a soldier for the last 8 years of my life, and I rose through the ranks pretty quickly. At 25 years old, I make 60k+ and enjoy free medical/dental/college benefits (family qualifies for these too), I'd say i'm much further along than many of my peers in life.

All I can say is, dont join a specific branch because you want to collect a paycheck and not have to see combat, thats the pansy way out. If you want to get paid while serving your nation admirably while getting excellent college benefits, you cant go wrong. If anything, i'd say try your damndest to get on a deployment, quick and easy way to come back with 40K+ sitting in your bank account and knock out an associates degree. I've seen it plenty of times, hell I got 19 year old privates driving 7 series BMW's and a Staff Sergeant like myself driving a GT-R. Dont let others sway your decision on your branch based on "if you dont wanna get shot at" or "you'll find more technical fields in this branch" type of comments, the Army has just the same or better opportunities believe me. PM me if you have any questions man. Did I mention that i'll be retiring at 37 years old and collecting a $3,000 paycheck for the rest of my life for sitting on my ass?

My Advice: Go to the recruiter knowing what you want. DO NOT budge from the job you wanna do, if they give you some BS like "we dont have any openings in that field", it is just that, BS. Some jobs have a specific amount of slots that need filled and if there is a shortage in one certain area, they are nudged, if you will, to present you those MOS's and say thats all thats available and thats not true at all. If they claim they cant give you the job that you want, stand up and walk right out, I GUARANTEE they'll call you the next day and some how mysteriously, a job opening has appeared.

Next, make sure you get the duty assignment of your choosing, dont let them stick you in some shyt town in the middle of kansas without you having some say about it. You can have Germany, Hawaii, Italy, Japan, all included in your contract, depending on the job you choose. Pick one and stick to your guns. You can also have things like Airborne school, Ranger, etc. included in the contract as well.

And lastly, GET PAID. Pick a job that you're comfortable with and make sure it includes a bonus, nothing like joining the military with a nice fat $20,000 enlistment bonus coming along with it. Oh and you said you want to do 6 years, NEVER sign up that long for your first enlistment, you may decide that military life isnt for you and be stuck waiting out 2 or 3 years longer than you want. Do 4 years max the first time. And for the love of god, ask your recruiter what you can do to come in with some rank! You can come in as an E4 depending on your civilian education/accomplishments, crazy as it sounds, if you ever attained the "Eagle Scout" ranking in the scouts, you can come in as a specialist, crazy huh?