[OT] I'm Going To Enlist In The Navy

[Paladin]

ANYWAY...

Let us know what you decide to do and which way you go, Azure. And if you have any questions, you'll find that we are an invaluable reference to Navy life.

If you end up in Charleston, The Green Dragon was a nifty little gaming store a dozen or so years ago, and I hear it still is.

Yeah, yeah - you're right. Sorry for the hijack everybody.

Go Air Force

 

[Heretic Apostate]

Say "Goodnight, Gracie."

This thread is getting closed soon.

 

[JPL]

Here's the thing about the Navy:

The rum is great.

The lash you can get used to.

But from there, it's all downhill...

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

LOL.

"But my dear Lord of the Admiralty, to what do you attribute the ascendance of the British Navy?"

Churchill: "Rum, buggery, and the lash, Madam!"

 

[JPL]

It's a little something called "cultural literacy."

Stay in school, kids.



[No offense intended, by the way.]

 

[Henry]

I'm giving the thread ONE chance to return to topic, before a war of a different sort begins in here.

Does anyone else have anything to add that will directly help Azure Trance in his decision?

If not, this thread will be closed.

Thank you.

-Henry

 

[Dinkeldog]

I'm not going to close this just yet, but that's only because I know that we're not going to discuss Panama, terrorist attacks on military barracks or ships, and the relative merits of the US going to any military action we've taken over the past forever.

What we can do is try to help Azure Trance and anyone else interested into making good decisions.

So here's my input: AT, if you go Navy, try to pick something that'll be primarily shore-based. The reasoning is that even though sea service is really what the Navy is about, it also really sucks. It also makes life really hard on whomever you should decide to marry (or at least date regularly). Navy deployments (and Marines to a lesser extent) are hard on you, which is fine, you did this to yourself, but it's also hard on your spouse. And going to get harder.

I would, of course, recommend the Navy Music Program. It's hard to get into, but possible even from high school, provided you've got some type of intellectual theoretical background in music. The advancement tests are a bear, though. Probably the most difficult in the Navy aside from the Nuclear fields.

I'd also recommend Hospital Corpsman and Legalman as other good fields. All of those are intellectual-based fields (you did mention good ASVAB scores), so you'll be treated a bit better by officer types.

The best option, though, is to go officer. It's always better to be an officer.

If you're interested in other services, Marines are my first love. Gungy and intense and just a hell of a lot of fun to work and play with. The brainwashing is extremely good--I still bark 8 years after my separation--but isn't impregnable. The Army is like the Marine Corps Lite, but my little brother likes it. The Air Force "deploys" like the other services except they're mostly Last In, First Out.

Any playing around with the other services is, of course, meant in fun. As I'm sure anyone would take it.

So remember, children, no more politics, except maybe inter-service rivalry games. And those only as long as they're mostly nice and don't refer to Marines as "bullet sponges".

 

[bolen]

I really would encourage you to look outside the miltary all together. There are many ways to help people without joining the military. As far as training you for work outside of the military. some of the best electronics techs I know are trained outside of the military. I know some very good techs who served and I know some that I doubt know how to hook up a stereo.

The navy is not the only nor the best way to gain these skills.

It is unfortunate that you did poorly in college but I would encourage you to look at all your options and not just the military.

 

[William Ronald]

Azure Trance,

Best wishes. I will offer a little advice: find someone whose opinion you know and respect to help you weigh your options. I have found that family members and good friends can at least serve as a valuable sounding board when I have had to make difficult decisions.

 

[Azure Trance]

Going to try to answer all points here. I stopped by the recruiter office today with more questions, and felt more confident (relatively) about joining. The 2 year active / 4 years reserve is not running anymore. All questions about NROTC had not as good sounding answers. They downplayed it a lot, though I'm not sure if just because or because they really felt it wasn't worth it.

The power in a military contract, is the signature of the civilian that obligates them to become a solider. Once you give that signature, you loose free will. If it's not on the contract, you don't get it. Remember that. Only sign if you fully agree with the contract. Be an officer. Not only is the pay better, there are less people who can tell you what to do.

Aye ... the fabled job counseler. What will set it all in stone. I'm still looking for a primary MOS since Nuke Power School is apparently hell on Earth (I also have a mediocre interest in Mathematics).

Olgar Shiverstones Factors

As a kid I was interested deeply in the Army or Marines, but later realized that killing people (infantry, artillery) isn't what I'd really like to do (war books by Larry Bond to the contrary). The AF and Navy has the Technology, but the Navy is larger and has more travelling involved.

Remember that the Navy fills its quota of MMs (machinist mates), EMs (electricians mates), and ETs (eletronic technicians) with dropouts of the nuclear program. If you drop from the program you wont get your enlistment bonus and you WILL be deployed to a ship. With the sea/shore rotation for these 3 jobs you can be virtually assured of going to sea if you drop from the program.

I did not know that. So if I went for another MOS, say, Firecontrol, and was successful in that (compared to flunking Nuke Power School) I would keep my enlistment bonus even if smaller then Nuke? I'm also not familiar totally with the sea/shore rotation program. I was told it would be 15 months shore and 6 months sea - is that the standard for any non-Nuke program?

Yeah, our town's marine recruiter is like that, also.

I'm hoping mine is. AFter an hour of talking today, we just drifted into gaming ... PCs, XBOX, and I even broached the topic of D&D. I just find it a little worrying that I find essential info from you and not from them (it seems like if I don't ask, they won't tell). For example, if this was still last week I might've blindly signed up for NPS, fail and say goodbye to the enlistment bonus, and not know generally where I'm going to be in the chain.

Let us know what you decide to do and which way you go, Azure. And if you have any questions, you'll find that we are an invaluable reference to Navy life.

They want me to sign up tommorow for the date of the ASVAB / Job Counseling (as soon as next week). I didn't get to thoroughly talk it over with my parents yet, so I'll have to tell them I won't sign anything until at least Monday.

So here's my input: AT, if you go Navy, try to pick something that'll be primarily shore-based. The reasoning is that even though sea service is really what the Navy is about, it also really sucks. It also makes life really hard on whomever you should decide to marry (or at least date regularly). Navy deployments (and Marines to a lesser extent) are hard on you, which is fine, you did this to yourself, but it's also hard on your spouse. And going to get harder.

Would you know of any MOS off hand? The job descriptions all seem too compatible ... and I'd rather not wait until I meet the job counseler.

I would, of course, recommend the Navy Music Program.

Quit the Cello after 8 years in 11th grade

The best option, though, is to go officer. It's always better to be an officer.

I'll always keep this in mind.