Military Career Ideas

[bucket-of-aids]

I was wondering if any current or ex military baggers had suggestions for an alternate/backup Army MOS(job) if I don't get approved to be a pilot.

I'm almost ready to go get my physical and go in front of the Warrant board but it's by no means guaranteed that I'll be qualified or get approved to fly. I'd still like to do some time in the service either way, officer or enlisted. So can anyone point me in the direction of something somewhat intellectual but not in an office or pushing paper all day?

[Hudson]

I hear being a cook is nice.

[mikeybot]

You could always be a saucier
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[DonTheTrucker]

42R9J all the way, that's what I say.

11B if you can't get that one.

[bucket-of-aids]

42R9J all the way, that's what I say.

11B if you can't get that one.As far as 42R9J, I played the clarinet up to 4th grade so I still might have it.

I've considered 11B but that's pretty ballsy.

[Glenn Dandy]

On a retard level. PM me... My best friends sons on drugs..... hes a good kid....after rehab.... its straight to the military. what service do you advise?

[DonTheTrucker]

As far as 42R9J, I played the clarinet up to 4th grade so I still might have it.

I've considered 11B but that's pretty ballsy.

Wow I was trying to make an Army joke and you certainly put a stop to that!

Seriously though, the only infantry line I'd put my name on if I were a young man enlisting is 18X. SF isn't an infantry MOS but I'm pretty sure if you fail out of SFAS you end up as an 11 something.

What were your line scores on your ASVAB? If they're high enough to qualify for pilot school I'm pretty sure you could have any job you want. Pick something technical. You don't want to be driving a truck or kicking in doors in Baghdad. Let the kids with lower scores go 11B.

(and before anyone says shit about me bashing infantry, at the age of 32 I got a 96 on my AFQT, all line scores over 120 and I was going to go in as an 88M so I'm not "above" the dangerous jobs that the "dumb" people get stuck with....I suppose my bad knee saved me from a huge cut in pay and possibly running over an IUD. I've still considered trying again, but I'm too fucking old now I guess.)

[DonTheTrucker]

On a retard level. PM me... My best friends sons on drugs..... hes a good kid....after rehab.... its straight to the military. what service do you advise?

Assuming he's really clean I'd go in this order:

Coast Guard - Air Force - Marines - Navy - Army

They're all great in their own ways but if I were 18, I'd try to get into the Coast Guard in a second. Put 20 years in there with absolutely no risk? You'd be insane not to. The Air Force is probably best for technical job training, the Marines best for learning discipline, the Navy best for traveling the world and the Army the best for actually doing the hard work of defending the country. Any one of the services is one of the best things a young person can do.

[THE FEZ MAN]

EOD its a blast!

[Turtle]

Tanker, the only way to go.

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http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/2213/abramsshoot0hl.gif

[Three Hole Puncher]

Hey! Why don't you do like I did and become a Navy Diver?

It helps if you are:

A. In good physical condition.
B. A strong swimmer.
C. A suicidal lunatic.

The pros of being a Navy Diver:

-You get to wear this cool insignia on your uniform:

http://www.virtualarmory.com/retention/appearance/images/6_4-13-m33.jpg

The cons:

-Everything else.

So... if you enjoy being perpetually wet, cold, miserable and in imminent peril of dying an uspeakably horrible death, the Navy Divers is the right place for you!

[Capt.Caveman]

I was a weather man possibly the easiest job in the military. if your lazy that's the way to go

[bucket-of-aids]

Hey! Why don't you do like I did and become a Navy Diver?

It helps if you are:

A. In good physical condition.
B. A strong swimmer.
C. A suicidal lunatic.

The pros of being a Navy Diver:

-You get to wear this cool insignia on your uniform:

http://www.virtualarmory.com/retention/appearance/images/6_4-13-m33.jpg

The cons:

-Everything else.

So... if you enjoy being perpetually wet, cold, miserable and in imminent peril of dying an uspeakably horrible death, the Navy Divers is the right place for you! Can I get Di Nero to call me "cookie" the whole time?

Seriously that sounds like a motherfucker of a job man. Where do you go after a few years of doing that?

[d0uche_n0zzle]

Can I get Di Nero to call me "cookie" the whole time?

Seriously that sounds like a motherfucker of a job man. Where do you go after a few years of doing that?

Commercial deep sea divers make a boat load of money when working on drilling rigs, docks, bridges, etc...

[VMS]

Seriously that sounds like a motherfucker of a job man. Where do you go after a few years of doing that?

Not directed at me, but at a guess, there are a lot of civilian diving jobs that might work for someone with that training.

On Deadliest Catch, there are often divers who go down to check the hull of the ships, for instance. I don't know how many civilian shipyard jobs there are like that, but I have to think they're pretty good paying jobs. But dangerous and difficult, of course.

[Three Hole Puncher]

Can I get Di Nero to call me "cookie" the whole time?

Seriously that sounds like a motherfucker of a job man. Where do you go after a few years of doing that?

I'm going to go the lazy way and answer this with a cut and paste:

My dream in life, from as far back as I could remember, was to be a deep sea diver. I saw a movie when I was a little runt that had a guy in one of those diver suits with the big round brass helmet. He was finding chests of gold in sunken ships, fighting off giant squids and getting smokin' chicks. I thought that was the coolest shit on the planet, and that was all I ever wanted to be from that day on.

So I slacked through high school, because I knew it was pretty easy to get into the Navy. I was a strong swimmer, and I volunteered for diver training while I was still in boot camp, they accepted me into the diver program. I completed the training and PRESTO! My life's dream realized at the ripe old age of 19... and then it dawned on me... Hey, this sucks.

Being a diver is like being a construction worker... only colder, wetter, and far more dangerous. You're always diving in water that is filthy, dark, and polluted, and your life is always in the hands of a pack of morons that aren't even smart enough NOT to reenlist in the military.

The worst part... not only did the chicks not knock each other over to hop on my ding-a-ling when I walked into a room because I was a Navy Diver... as I had assumed they naturally would... nope, most every chick I ever met didn't even know whet the hell it meant to be a diver... most of them thought that every guy in the Navy was a deep sea diver. Chicks suck. :icon_mad:

I sucked it up and stuck it out for five years, did my time, but since I left the Navy almost twenty years ago, I haven't done anything more than go snorkeling on vacation in the Caribbean, and I don't miss diving one bit.

After I got out, I fell back on what little electronics training the Navy had given me, and that's how I've earned my daily porn and chicken ever since. It ain't glamorous, but it beats freezing my ass off 200 feet below with a metal bucket on my head.

[Three Hole Puncher]

Not directed at me, but at a guess, there are a lot of civilian diving jobs that might work for someone with that training.

On Deadliest Catch, there are often divers who go down to check the hull of the ships, for instance. I don't know how many civilian shipyard jobs there are like that, but I have to think they're pretty good paying jobs. But dangerous and difficult, of course.

The yard divers make decent, but by no means fabulous cash. Deep water or "saturation" divers EARN the big bucks. Those are the guys who work on offshore oil rigs... where they can earn like 1000 bucks per DAY when they're "in saturation". But they certainly do EARN every penny they make. Diving beat the shit out of my body when I was 20. I can't even imagine being a 40 year old diver. 'Rodeo clown' would probably start looking like like an attractive alternative career option at that point in a diver's life.

[Budyzir]

I was a weather man possibly the easiest job in the military. if your lazy that's the way to go

Air Force or Navy?

Navy 1800 here.

BTW, now that I'm older and supposedly a bit wiser, after seeing some of the stuff the USCG does, it's a pretty cool gig.

[stillbornstew]

don't be a corpsman.

[CougarHunter]

95C

Stacking nekkid terrorists into pyramids kicks ass.

[AngryPest]

You may be able to learn commercial diving for free without the military. Up to a couple of years ago (don’t know now) oil companies would include the training in your contract. (There was a Discovery channel show about oil workers in the gulf. )

Commercial diving is rough and dirty. You can be literally be swimming through shit or in a cooling pipe of a Reactor. A lot of old time divers have hearing problems (the bones in the ear grow abnormally) or they shake like a drunk due to nerve damage. Most of these guys never got bent. You’ll get a fair salary but your body will pay.

If I were given the choice, I would look into an Officer’s candidate program (or medical) with the Coast Guard. Just remember the Navy guys look down on the CG (They called them the Jewish Fleet in WW2). Second choice would be USAF. (all non-pilots are Wing Wipers)

Be careful about any technical training. A lot of military training is not transferable to civi life. The safest bet would be medical.

Good luck.

[Hydrosludge]

Stay away from any branch of aircraft maintenance.

Long thankless hours of maintenance and no real cross over to civillian jobs without repeating all schools.

[Cunt Smasher]

don't be a corpsman.

Beats the shit out of ABH,chock 'n chain on the flight deck.Always thought the crash an salvage guys had agood gig,but that's relative. Fuckin' carriers stay out awhile,93 days once(93 days without going to port,any port,working 12 hour shifts,7 days a week),during the Marine barracks in Beirut thing.CVN69

[DonTheTrucker]

You may be able to learn commercial diving for free without the military.

Be careful about any technical training. A lot of military training is not transferable to civi life. The safest bet would be medical.


I can say for a fact that military driving experience is NOT considered experience for most trucking companies. The actual driving part isn't what is important in civilian driving, its the rules and time management that are important.

[de2903]

Thanks GD for the advice. Son takes the next test for the MC on Monday. It will be tough but he needs it. At least it is related to Navy. Buh

[Hudson]

Assuming he's really clean I'd go in this order:

Coast Guard - Air Force - Marines - Navy - Army

They're all great in their own ways but if I were 18, I'd try to get into the Coast Guard in a second. Put 20 years in there with absolutely no risk? You'd be insane not to. The Air Force is probably best for technical job training, the Marines best for learning discipline, the Navy best for traveling the world and the Army the best for actually doing the hard work of defending the country. Any one of the services is one of the best things a young person can do.
Honestly I would agree..I have numerous friends that were in the Coast Guard..This was typically their year: get on a boat in the winter and and go south to where it is warm...stop at ports along the way..drink and get laid..get back on boat and go. Stop a drug smuggler or two, help stranded boats, and do a search or two. keep going south. Get to the southern edge of the US in spring. Stay there for a month..turn around and head north, do the same thing back up the coast. My one friend was lucky enough to be stationed at the outer banks..he said it ruined his marriage.
Another was in Oregon and patrolled up in the Bering and said they would go out an intentionally get their boat overturned for training (it was a self righting boat), said you have no idea how freaking cold the water is..and coolest thing was that they saved a polar bear family stranded on an ice flow..mom jumped right on the boat and sat there cool as a cucumber as they got the cubs and put them on board. (mind you a polar bear would normally smoosh you if you got anywhere near her cubs or just for fun)

[notmikeh]

Honestly I would agree..I have numerous friends that were in the Coast Guard..This was typically their year: get on a boat in the winter and and go south to where it is warm...stop at ports along the way..drink and get laid..get back on boat and go. Stop a drug smuggler or two, help stranded boats, and do a search or two. keep going south. Get to the southern edge of the US in spring. Stay there for a month..turn around and head north, do the same thing back up the coast. My one friend was lucky enough to be stationed at the outer banks..he said it ruined his marriage.
Another was in Oregon and patrolled up in the Bering and said they would go out an intentionally get their boat overturned for training (it was a self righting boat), said you have no idea how freaking cold the water is..and coolest thing was that they saved a polar bear family stranded on an ice flow..mom jumped right on the boat and sat there cool as a cucumber as they got the cubs and put them on board. (mind you a polar bear would normally smoosh you if you got anywhere near her cubs or just for fun)

Damn the coast gaurd sounds cool. what was your friends job in the coast gaurd? I am seriously quiting drugs anyway maybe I wll join...

[Hudson]

Damn the coast gaurd sounds cool. what was your friends job in the coast gaurd? I am seriously quiting drugs anyway maybe I wll join...one was a Fireman the other did something with the electronics...most are out now..one is a cop, the other works for Homeland Security on the Mexican Boarder..Others are still in and two are Rescue Swimmers.

[Mule Spanker]

Armor, Ooh Rah!

[Capt.Caveman]

you could be a weatherman like I was. easiest job in the military. you literally work 15 min per hour. I t doesn't do much for you when you get out, so if your looking for a career choose something else. if your looking for an easy 4 years then weather is the best bet