Im interested to hear from the members on here who have been in the military. What was your experience like? Do you regret it? Would you go back and change anything? Anything you really didn’t like? Im just throwing out random questions… Im just interested about the experience of individuals in different branches performing various jobs. Thanks in advance.
Been a Navy Corpsman for almost 8 years now. I’ve worked as a EMT in an ER working on a rig in Chi-town. Worked in a NICU and ICU in a Hospital in Florida. Spent two tours in Iraq with Marine units. I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve done so far.
Cool man… anything you didn’t like?
5 years active, US Navy. Deployed x2 to Persian Gulf in support of Iraqi freedom and the ongoing fight in Afghanistan and what was known as “boots on the ground”
1- USS George Washington CVN-73, 6 months 6 days
2- USS Dwight D. Eisenhower CVN -69 8.5months
deployed to Iwakuni Japan for 4 months
been all over the place, enjoyed it. what drove me to leave was the lack of cooperation when negoiating for new orders.
If i could have gotten the orders i wanted, i would still be doing it today. i had a great time doing what i did, and have no regrets for joining.
How was living on the ship?
I did 4 years active duty in the Marines right out of HS. I can honestly say I don’t regret it at all and would do it all over again. Of my 4 years I spent 3 overseas in Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Haiti and of course Iraq. Haiti and Iraq were the only two that were combat situations, the rest were training ops with foreign military units.
I was a radio operator attached to grunt (infantry) units for pretty much my entire contract, shitty job and not much respect given because your not a “real grunt” but a very important one. Communication in combat is essential.
I will say being in the military and being able to travel to 3rd world countries makes you appreciate everything you have back home A LOT more. Sometimes I regret getting out and becoming a civilian, but at the time its what I wanted to do, I lived the experience and it was time to move on I don’t think I could spend my life in the military. It was hard leaving the Marines though, you form a really strong bond with everyone in your unit b/c essentially when your overseas they are your family and sometimes the bond is even stronger then that of your real family (sounds weird but you would have to be there to fully understand what I mean).
I think that about covers it for me lol.
luxurious
Seriously? I mean I know my dad enjoyed it, but I don’t remember him describing it as luxurious haha
you keep all your things in a 4foot high locker and under your rack. total storage space “your space on the ship” is probably 20sq/ft beds are about 30"x84" and youre divided by a 16ga wall from the next berth, and a thin curtain covers your bunk while you sleep. the most privacy you get is when youre sitting on the john with the door shut
was it bad?
not if you can adapt to things well. for me it was completely bearable. and luckily my workcenter was big so we had some space to store things we bought along the way. i think the view everyday made up for it. for me anyway. i had ocean front property at home, and when deployed.
this is where i worked.
what i worked on
where i lived
Oh one other thing…when there is down time on deployments (combat or training) playing spades becomes a big part of your lifestyle, I went from not knowing how to even playing to practically an expert lol.
Troof. i was quite crafty.
dont forget domino!!!
haha… never played spades. I don’t think I would mind sleeping in a bed like that, I sleep in a childs bed as it is… my feet hang off the end. For some reason I enjoy sleeping in tight spaces like that.
What other shit did you guys do in your free time?
air force reserves here, but i work full time at my base as a civil service position. the 2 jobs are tied together, i must stay in the reserves to do it, so during the week i come in as a civilian(they make us wear uniforms which is bullshit), and i still come in once a month and 2 weeks a year on military orders. this is an Air Reserve Technician(ART) position. it gets a little tricky because of the dual status but ill just give you a general idea of the goods and bads of being an ART.
Im an Aircraft mechanic on the C-5 in the Aero Repair(heavy maintenance) shop. basically we work on all the flight control, landing gear, and cargo door systems. anything thats big or moves, we change, rig, and troubleshoot those systems. I love the job that i do, but you gotta jump through a hoop of fire just to do a job because of all the regulations and management. you need to get some experience as a reservist before you can become ART but i can get more into that if you want PM me. Overall it was a great decision, definately changed my life for the better.
The Good:
-Military education benefits
-can travel to places i choose sometimes for 2 week trips for work but most of the time you can see the surrounding area.
-I picked my base
-secure job: cant move me unless they close my base, or they change the planes we have at our base(id likely just work on those planes then), and even then they have to at least offer me another job somewhere. this is very unlikely though, and i could try to find an equivalant job somewhere i want before this happens.
-great benefits: lots of paid time off, about 75% health insuranve covered, pension(both a civilian and military, neither are huge but combine with each other and TSP it adds up), 5% matching Thrift savings plan(TSP) basically a 401k with many options from aggresive to conservative.
-excellent pay an ART starts at 27.51 an hour plus your military pay
The bad:
-obviously can be called up and sent anywhere anytime with as little as a 48 hour notice.
-most of your weekends as a reservist are doing stupid training like fire extinguisher operation and sexual harassment policy, so if you are just a reservist you will pretty much do jack squat.
-long term contracts(6 years)
-gotta give up one weekend a month, which isnt super flexible but can be rescheduled to another weekend if necessary.
Masturbate lol
no but seriously, in the Marines when you had down time first thing you do is spend like an hour cleaning your rifle and pistol if you had one.
haha just reminded me of full metal jacket… “This is my rifle, this is my gun, one is for…”
You get the idea.
Out of all of the branches, I don’t think I could ever see my self in the marines.
why is that?
marines is more than just shooting guns and carrying a 120lb ruck.
they have aviation as well.
Maybe Im making assumptions, but I feel like if I signed up for the marines I would be asking to see combat. Im not going to lie, I don’t see myself in personal combat, meaning ground warfare where you can look your enemy in the eyes. I also plan on graduating college before I do anything and if I were to join any branch I would want to be an officer. I would not want to have peoples lives on my shoulders in an intense combat situation.
I was looking into the armies OSC program, but I just found out that you can’t pick your job before you go in like you could with the reserves. So once again, their would be a risk of personal combat. Im much more interested in support services of some sort.
Today I started looking at the navies OSC program. There is something that really draws me to the navy but I can’t really put my finger on it. I would loved to have a job involved with stuff like intelligence, surface warfare, or supply/logistics. Surface warfare really fascinates me, basing my knowledge from the description I read. Traveling around the world would be a great perk for me. I looked at all the naval bases in the US and they all look like they would be a blast to be stationed at. My dad has told me some great stories about his adventures in Newport.
Thats where Im at right now, not trying to jump into anything prematurely, just trying to get as much information as possible.
the navy is in high demand of Nuclear propulsion technicians. big bonuses’ and huge potential for big $$ outside the Navy
Thanks dude! I wouldn’t mind looking into the airforce as well