Picking a Branch of the Service

Off Topic
61

[quote]boatguy wrote:
Navy guarantees jobs, and you can contract in with option to try out for SEAL/SWCC/Diver/EOD, but you will have to pass the PT test in boot camp to keep that option and the associated signing bonus. PT test consists of 500M swim(side or breaststroke ONLY), max pushups and situps in 2:00 each, max pullups(no time limit), and 1.5 mile run(either boots and pants or shoes and shorts, depending on program). Minimum scores vary depending on program. Pushups and situps are 42 and 50 across the board, unless it has changed. If you can do 10+ pullups after swimming and pushups/situps, then you are good to go. Run time is around 12 minutes to pass. Obviously you want to do your best, but as long as you are above the minimums, you’re fine.

Army: you can contract in with 18X(SF option), as well as Ranger and Airborne options, but you must have that in contract BEFORE you go to boot. A friend of mine just went through basic thinking he’d have the option to try out for Airborne once he was there, but no dice. Again, whatever is involved in the process, assume you will have to pass them in boot camp to keep the option.

And to whoever was making fun of the ‘SpecOps is an option’ comment, those programs are an option for EVERYONE. As long as you meet the requirements(ASVAB, vision, etc), the rest is all on you. I barely passed the basic swim test (50M any stroke) when I joined, but after teaching myself sidestroke, made it to NSW anyway.

Making such comments shows your ignorance of the issue. SEALs/SF/Rangers/PJs/etc. are not ninjas, they are not gods, they are not superhuman. They are ordinary men who worked their ass off to attain their goals.[/quote]

Yeah, but he wants to go the officer route. I know from experience that getting to BUD/S that way is a lot harder.

62

my bad contrl i didnt do spell check fare enough maybe when I get to 1400 posts ill be better at it but by then ill have no choice but to stroke my ego on T-Nation

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[quote]hazarddude334 wrote:
my bad contrl i didnt do spell check fare enough maybe when I get to 1400 posts ill be better at it but by then ill have no choice but to stroke my ego on T-Nation[/quote]

That’s a good lad.

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[quote]boatguy wrote:

And to whoever was making fun of the ‘SpecOps is an option’ comment, those programs are an option for EVERYONE. As long as you meet the requirements(ASVAB, vision, etc), the rest is all on you. I barely passed the basic swim test (50M any stroke) when I joined, but after teaching myself sidestroke, made it to NSW anyway.

Making such comments shows your ignorance of the issue. SEALs/SF/Rangers/PJs/etc. are not ninjas, they are not gods, they are not superhuman. They are ordinary men who worked their ass off to attain their goals.[/quote]

i wasn’t ‘making fun’ of his comment. i was simply refering to the apparant ignorance of every friggin member who comes on here with questions about joining the military.

the same way 135lb dudes are proclaming about their ‘ripped abs’ b/c of no bodyfat, these guy toss around the idea of going spec ops simply b/c they are joining the military.

well lets face it, in all honesty they won’t make it.

however, members of elite units are NOT ‘ordinary’ men. they push their minds and bodies to limits that few people can. were they just run of the mill people, then every motherfucker that comes in here proclaiming how they’re going to be spec ops would be on a team.

I am unfamiliar with ‘NSW’

I promise you, I am anything but ‘ignorant’ of facts relating to this issue.

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[quote]Liquid447 wrote:
boatguy wrote:

And to whoever was making fun of the ‘SpecOps is an option’ comment, those programs are an option for EVERYONE. As long as you meet the requirements(ASVAB, vision, etc), the rest is all on you. I barely passed the basic swim test (50M any stroke) when I joined, but after teaching myself sidestroke, made it to NSW anyway.

Making such comments shows your ignorance of the issue. SEALs/SF/Rangers/PJs/etc. are not ninjas, they are not gods, they are not superhuman. They are ordinary men who worked their ass off to attain their goals.

i wasn’t ‘making fun’ of his comment. i was simply refering to the apparant ignorance of every friggin member who comes on here with questions about joining the military.

the same way 135lb dudes are proclaming about their ‘ripped abs’ b/c of no bodyfat, these guy toss around the idea of going spec ops simply b/c they are joining the military.

well lets face it, in all honesty they won’t make it.

however, members of elite units are NOT ‘ordinary’ men. they push their minds and bodies to limits that few people can. were they just run of the mill people, then every motherfucker that comes in here proclaiming how they’re going to be spec ops would be on a team.

I am unfamiliar with ‘NSW’

I promise you, I am anything but ‘ignorant’ of facts relating to this issue.

[/quote]

I’ll say this much, you are ignorant to this particular ‘issue’ because you don’t know me. You don’t know what I am capable of. Simple.

And don’t categorize me as a statistic.

Enough talking. I’ll keep you guys updated as to my ASVAB score. The firsts criteria is a 110 or better on the ASVAB.

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I’m not in any branch but one of my old boss’ was a navy eod diver during desert storm. From his description of it, the job seems pretty badass. It’s less physical than the seals but more mental I believe. You might want to look into that.

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[quote]Liquid447 wrote:

I am unfamiliar with ‘NSW’

I promise you, I am anything but ‘ignorant’ of facts relating to this issue.

[/quote]

NSW- Naval Special Warfare. I believe boatguy is either a SEAL or works in that community.

D

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I’m gonna go ahead and say that ‘Boatguy’ mean’s “I’m SWCC”.

Bad. ass. MOS.

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[quote]meangenes wrote:
Enough talking. I’ll keep you guys updated as to my ASVAB score. The firsts criteria is a 110 or better on the ASVAB.[/quote]

My ASVAB only went up to 100… I think the Army’s goes above 100… I guess they get extra credit for spelling their names right? =D

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Yeah, here’s a video for anyone who doesn’t know what SWCC is/does…

'Cause I didn’t. lol

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[quote]JokerFMJ wrote:
meangenes wrote:
Enough talking. I’ll keep you guys updated as to my ASVAB score. The firsts criteria is a 110 or better on the ASVAB.

My ASVAB only went up to 100… I think the Army’s goes above 100… I guess they get extra credit for spelling their names right? =D[/quote]

Right well my name is kid of hard to spell , you can trip up on the phonetics.

110 General/technical score. Which is one of the combined averages of some of the different sections to the total ASVAB score of up to 99. i.e. How good is your general knowledge of these combined subjects?

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Well if you’re talking about the raw scores, which i’ll assume you are, they didn’t give those to us. =/

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[quote]meangenes wrote:
…

Right well my name is kid of hard to spell ,
…[/quote]

Are you kidding me?

74

I like reading stuff like this. You tend to see good advice and ignorant advice. I’m a paralegal in the Army. Not exactly the glory-filled job that has been on here, but, it’s got its perks. For those that are hating on one service or another, until you work with other branches in the heat of battle or an attack, you should really keep your fingers occupied with something other than typing.

Everyone serves a purpose, no matter the branch or job position. That purpose is typically bigger than any one individual, however, on some occasions, that purpose does boil down to that one individual to your left or right. Stepping off of the soapbox now.

OP, it’s good that you are at least expressing an interest in joining the military. I have to hate on you a lil bit for thinking of the officer route, but no one is perfect! Whichever branch you decide upon, best of luck to you, although, the Army is the largest of the lot, and there is always a job with us…lol!! Anyone out here in the DC area???

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[quote]meangenes wrote:
I’m gonna go ahead and say that ‘Boatguy’ mean’s “I’m SWCC”.

Bad. ass. MOS.[/quote]

A+ for meangenes. You’d be surprised how many people even in the Navy have no idea what we do/who we are. Very small community, only about 580ish Navy-wide.

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[quote]Beast27195 wrote:
I like reading stuff like this. You tend to see good advice and ignorant advice. I’m a paralegal in the Army. Not exactly the glory-filled job that has been on here, but, it’s got its perks. For those that are hating on one service or another, until you work with other branches in the heat of battle or an attack, you should really keep your fingers occupied with something other than typing.

Everyone serves a purpose, no matter the branch or job position. That purpose is typically bigger than any one individual, however, on some occasions, that purpose does boil down to that one individual to your left or right. Stepping off of the soapbox now.

OP, it’s good that you are at least expressing an interest in joining the military. I have to hate on you a lil bit for thinking of the officer route, but no one is perfect! Whichever branch you decide upon, best of luck to you, although, the Army is the largest of the lot, and there is always a job with us…lol!! Anyone out here in the DC area???[/quote]

Pretty solid advice. Like others have said it depends on what you want to do and please believe it helps to know going in or at least have an idea of what rating/MOS you want so you’re not standing at MEPS with your dick in you hand when you find out the job you wanted isn’t available. I can tell you from my experiences that if you’re interested in anything medically related the NAVY is definitely the way to go. Hell they’ll even send you back to school to become a nurse or a surgeon if you’re willing to add some years to your contract. I’ve worked with all of the branches and all have pro’s and con’s some more than others. For special ops you’d better be DAMN sure that’s what you want no matter what branch you’re interested in. I had a friend I was at boot camp with that I’d of bet my life would have made it through BUD/S, has a brother already in the teams so he knew what to expect, had the fastest 1.5 mile time most people had ever seen, 246 consecutive pushups at BUD/S indoc. but the cold broke him at the final two days of hell week. In my eyes if he couldn’t make it I’m amazed that anyone can but now his future is up in the air. He may have to be a CS(cook) for 18 months till he gets another shot. If you do decide to go officer you get only 1 chance and that’s if they let you go. I agree with the previous poster that whole career field isn’t something to just be thrown around lightly. I’ll be honest and tell you that if it isn’t something you have trained or wanted to deeply do for the last couple years then you probably won’t make it. So do your research, talk with as many people as you can that have been in those shoes and try to narrow down a career field because I’ve seen WAY too many people end up getting the shaft because they were unprepared and though the recruiter would just do everything for them. Good Luck

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I recommend reading “The Warrior Elite” if you want to go to BUD/S.

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[quote]sjoconn wrote:
You might be surprised. When I worked in the MI community I knew a guy that was convicted of assault and still got his Top Secret clearance.
[/quote]

Really? I got in a couple bar fights and lost my security clearance.

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[quote]malonetd wrote:
sjoconn wrote:
You might be surprised. When I worked in the MI community I knew a guy that was convicted of assault and still got his Top Secret clearance.

Really? I got in a couple bar fights and lost my security clearance.[/quote]

agreed. it’s hard enough keeping our secret security clearance, much less top secret.

he had an assault charge on his record BEFORE entering the service and was cleared? i find that hard to believe.

80

What I’m wondering is if the rumors are true that if you have a foreign wife you can’t get clearance. I know that the feds have different relationships with each country, so specifically what about Japan?