Would you consider joining the military? Part.2

[Young Nile]

The first one was getting to long.... So here's part.2

[balla909]

I just joined the Army last week. I scored a 78 on the ASVAB so I got to pick any MOS I wanted. I decided to go into comunications. I ship out to basic on July 5 right after I graduate high school. I think joining the Army is the best thing I ever did. Peace

[MIDTOWN SB]

man a lot of the homies is joinin the military to get out of la talkin bout its to hard to make it here. I think the military is personnaly a cop out, cuz its like u just giving up on everything else.

[Kemosave]

Only if you make it so. The military will train you into a mean lean fighting machine if you go with the program.

[Anonymous20]

depends what branch u go to homie.. Id consider more street vatos tougher then some Army infantry man.. Now a Marine is another story

[BABYBRAZE]

dem green barrays or however u spell it those sum tough ass ppl

[Kemosave]

depends what branch u go to homie.. Id consider more street vatos tougher then some Army infantry man.. Now a Marine is another story

I'm a veteran and have been the route VJ. I've known a lot of Army and Marine enlisted men over the years that came from hoods and were in gangs. How you going to say that the homies who went to boot and then completed infantry training are less deadly than a vato on the streets?

Now if you're talking about Iowa whitebread or suburban kids that join up then I hear you BUT even the national guard was holding down the gangster rioters right?

[Anonymous20]

Yeh thats what im say'n.. And National Guard guys lol they be all pumped up that they gotta protect and server so do a real good job no doubt on those vatos bein tough. But yeh im sayn these white bread 4 eyed Alabama boys comein out of Army Infantry they aint gonna be near as hard or scary as some real down azz vato from the streets. But Marines man? Them dudes are just streight up crazy.

[Kemosave]

I'm a qualify your last sentence and say: Those career feet in the mud hard as a rock Marines are scary. Not the soft pencil pushers.

[Common Sense]

I think the military is personnaly a cop out, because its like u just giving up on everything else.

So tell us why you think it's a cop out?

[Common Sense]

I just joined the Army last week. I scored a 78 on the ASVAB so I got to pick any MOS I wanted. I decided to go into comunications. I ship out to basic on July 5 right after I graduate high school. I think joining the Army is the best thing I ever did. Peace

Good for you. A little inside secret of success for years to come.

After boot camp. Join the credit union right away.

Open a retirement account (Roth IRA), put in at least $25-50.00 a month indefinetly. NEVER NEVER NEVER Touch that money. It doesn't matter how bad things may be Never touch your IRA account, borrow before you touch that. Treat that account as if you paid your light bill, money to never be seen again. I believe you are probably around 17 or 18, place the cash in aggressive stocks. You young enough for the market to fix itself in cases where it falls.

Much later in life....you be glad you made that move.

2. Save all of your military certificates and diploma's, make sure they are well kept and preserved.

[Lonewolf]

I don't think is a cop out, but I do think that the Military is very selective as to whom they really give an opportunity from the get go.

The Military makes the pitch just like any other employer out there, and is true to it in many ways, but being realistic about it - they don't paint a true picture opportunity wise that is.

You can get your VA benefits, you can get education benefits, maybe even a skilled proffession for the real world, but is no more than what you can do for yourself on the outside, therefore the cop out I would see, is the fact that some are deceived into an unrealistic perception of what they'll easily get in the Military without putting in the effort needed to succeed - which is the deception that is painted by the Military.

[Kemosave]

I agree with you lonewolf. The marketing is very deceptive. A knight rides through a forest clutching his lance on the way to save a maiden and suddenly is transformed into a white marine sword held at the ready in a bright blue uniform. They are obviously trying to reach out to educated whitebread for the intellectual jobs and the hoods for the grunts BUT they WILL give anyone a shot at the good jobs if they can score high.

Plus you're right about the accumulation of wealth going to the fresh 22 year old college student degree in hand.

Neverthless, CM is right that if you do choose that route, stick with it and survive, you can retire in 10 or 15 years with a really good nest egg.

[Common Sense]

if you do choose that route, stick with it and survive, you can retire in 10 or 15 years with a really good nest egg.

This investment plans isn't necessarily tied into staying the military. If he starts it while he's in the military, then let's say he get's out in 3-4 years and then get a civilian job, he can still contribute his $25-50.00 a month.

The younger you are when you start, the least amount of money you have to contribute a month to end with a nice nest egg. For him, being in the military will give him a nice start, because his paychecks are guaranteed to come in every two weeks regardless of what he's doing, 3-4 years of montly payments into Roth IRA with compounded interest will have a little cash. If you keep the cash there til retirement age, you could have near a million dollars. That will take care of you, your family.

The key is: Don't touch the money before your 59 1/2, because the government will severly tax you, and I mean take a grip from you. Which is good, beacuse this money is for your later years. That way, you can use your Social Security checks for gas money in your new RV.

That's one way how it's done.

[Lonewolf]

Well you can forget about your SSN, because if those that think like BUSH have their way, that ssn deal will be a thing of the past.

As to the other deal with the IRA, well CM you need to enlighten the site with that kind of "know how", for those that are not in that field of "alertness".

Going back to the Military, my son has been on the grooming list for the Air Force Academy, that is his dream of becoming a pilot, I support him as well as his teachers, but we all agree that he needs to continue his education not only to guarantee his acceptance into the academy (all we need now is a letter from a congressperson or representative), but also for the "just in case". So for me the Military for my son is a secondary option "not the first" - bottom line.

[Kemosave]

if you do choose that route, stick with it and survive, you can retire in 10 or 15 years with a really good nest egg.

This investment plans isn't necessarily tied into staying the military. If he starts it while he's in the military, then let's say he get's out in 3-4 years and then get a civilian job, he can still contribute his $25-50.00 a month.

The younger you are when you start, the least amount of money you have to contribute a month to end with a nice nest egg. For him, being in the military will give him a nice start, because his paychecks are guaranteed to come in every two weeks regardless of what he's doing, 3-4 years of montly payments into Roth IRA with compounded interest will have a little cash. If you keep the cash there til retirement age, you could have near a million dollars. That will take care of you, your family.

The key is: Don't touch the money before your 59 1/2, because the government will severly tax you, and I mean take a grip from you. Which is good, beacuse this money is for your later years. That way, you can use your Social Security checks for gas money in your new RV.

That's one way how it's done.

The wonders of tax deferred compound interest.

[Interested]

My uncle went to college and joined ROTC, After he graduated from college he was automatically a LT, so he was making more money than enlisted men at a young age. He then served 15 more year in the Marines and after he left he's making over 120,000 a year so you can have a good life in the Military if you follow common sense. My uncle did exactly what he just said.

[Interested]

I just joined the Army last week. I scored a 78 on the ASVAB so I got to pick any MOS I wanted. I decided to go into comunications. I ship out to basic on July 5 right after I graduate high school. I think joining the Army is the best thing I ever did. Peace

How in the hell did you join the Army while still in high school? Tell me so i can get a head start.

[Lonewolf]

I just joined the Army last week. I scored a 78 on the ASVAB so I got to pick any MOS I wanted. I decided to go into comunications. I ship out to basic on July 5 right after I graduate high school. I think joining the Army is the best thing I ever did. Peace

How in the hell did you join the Army while still in high school? Tell me so i can get a head start.

Go talk to a recruiter, you can go thru the motions and committ yourself prior to graduation or if you are 17 and one of your parents signs.
If you take the ASVAB and score low - don't sign, otherwise you'll get an open contract wich basically means they'll stick you wherever they see fit for you. What you should do instead is continue your ed' + get your GED or diploma and re-take the test after you've studied the book and score high so that you can go in with a closed contract which pretty much gurantees you a carreer of those fields of your choice which you scored high on. One more thing, when you're taking the tests and you don't know the answer to a question, leave it blank - it doesn't count against you - it only counts against you if you answered it and gave the wrong answer. TRUST ME.

[BABYBRAZE]

my kousin wus in army in sophmore year of HS in ROTc or sumtin like that or maybe it wus Junior ROTc but it wus training 4 army so wen u get to legal age 4 the army u can rank higher faster n my outher kousin wus 14 n joined young marines

[Common Sense]

How in the hell did you join the Army while still in high school? Tell me so i can get a head start.

It's called the Delayed Entry Program. It means you can sign up while in high school. I think you have to be at a junior. You can go to boot camp during the summer, then go after graduation.

Another option is to go to community college and take military science, get your A.A. and then apply for a Army commission.

[J-DUB]

IM NOT JOININ NO DAMN MILITARY

[Common Sense]

IM NOT JOININ NO DAMN MILITARY

If you are in a gang JBUB, you are in a para military organization. Isn't that why you guys call non gang bangers civilians?

The major difference is:
No Pay
No Retirement
No Medical/Dental Insurance
No Life Insuarance
No Credit Union
No 30 day paid vacation per year
No real support or real backup

You are much better off being in the military than being in a gang.

[WillieCreeper]

My thoughts on the military:

If you don't want to fight on the ground, join the Air Force. But you're going to have to do well on the tests.

Since everyone already knows that, the Army is recruiting heavily. Understand that they want you to go to Iraq. Don't enlist just for the free mug.

I suggest that if you know nothing about stocks, just invest in an S&P 500 index fund. Because you are contributing every month and also because you're young, it's OK if the stock market goes down, because that only means that in following months you're buying the same thing cheaper. Don't touch it if it goes down. Forget about it.

[Interested]

With more reserbe units going AWOL it looks like young americans like myself are not intersted in Joining the military.

[Lonewolf]

THAT IS WHY THE DRAFT IS COMING BACK PEOPLE, AS SOON AS BUSH IS RE-ELECTED AND WE GET INTO IT MORE HEAVELY IN IRAQ OR GO AT IT WITH SOMEONE ELSE, BE IT NORTH KOREA OR IRAN, OR EVEN PAKISTAN IS THE CURRENT DICTATOR FALLS, THEM YOU CAN BET YOUR BIG FANNIES THAT YOU'LL BE TAKING A NUMBER.

[WillieCreeper]

By James T. Quinlivan
James Quinlivan is a military analyst and senior mathematician at RAND.

The longer that U.S. troops remain heavily deployed in Iraq, stretching the limits of the all-volunteer force, the stronger (or at least louder) become the voices of those who want to reinstitute the U.S. military draft. The time has indeed come to bring back the draft, but not in the United States.
Three reasonable arguments have been made against reinstituting a U.S. draft to fill the need for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan:
1. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan do not constitute a national emergency at the level that should reverse the U.S. commitment to an all-volunteer force. The United States is rich enough to pay enough to attract the required numbers of people to the military.
2. There is no feasible way to impose universal service on a large fraction of the more than two million young men (plus two million young women) who turn 18 every year in the United States, rendering conscription of some small fraction inherently unfair.
3. In the short period of a conscript’s service, he or she cannot be trained to the level of skill required for today’s professional military.
However true these statements may be for the United States, they are false for Iraq. In fact, the situation is the complete opposite for Iraq:
1. Iraq faces a national emergency that calls into question the survival of the Iraqi state. Limited to its own resources, Iraq is no longer a rich country that can afford to buy its way out of problems.
2. The Iraqi military, police, emergency, and public services can use a large fraction of the roughly 300,000 Iraqi males who turn 18 each year.
3. As in previous wars, counterinsurgencies, and difficult situations, Iraqi conscripts would qualify to fill the many military and civilian jobs that require courage, physical effort, and little training.
The interim Iraqi government is now considering calling back elements of the former Iraqi army. The government is also upgrading the skills of the volunteer Iraqi forces that were willing to enlist in the forces formed by the Coalition Provisional Authority. However, the need for manpower continues to grow. As the regular Iraqi forces improve their own performance, they also increase their ability to add lesser-skilled auxiliaries for more routine tasks. Sooner or later, either the interim government or its post-election successor will have to consider reintroducing the conscription that was a nearly universal feature of Iraqi life for decades before the U.S. and allied occupation.
Worth the Risk
It is now clear that Iraq faces an insurgency that genuinely threatens the Iraqi state. The interim government faces Iraqi insurgents who have some popular support and a continuing ability to thwart international reconstruction efforts.
To counter the insurgent threat, the new government has proclaimed that its most important duty is to provide security for the Iraqi people. The government must also demonstrate that it is the ultimate guarantor of the people’s rights and welfare.
In return, the ultimate test of the legitimacy of any Iraqi state is whether its citizens will defend it with their own lives. Providing security is a manpower-hungry activity that can require many more people than are required by the actual battles with insurgents. Reintroducing conscription might alienate some factions or regions within Iraq, perhaps sparking defiance, but taking the political risk might be the only way to ensure the political integrity of the state.
Security requires the protection of the people as they move through their daily lives; it requires checkpoints to screen cars for bombs; and it requires guards who control access to markets, schools, neighborhoods, and the children who move between them. For the ordinary citizen, a sense of security must include protection from common crime as well as from politically motivated terrorism.
The first requirement is simply to add more guards and checkpoints. That is a big part of the solution. Highly visible security halts some attacks, deters others, removes some opponents, and reassures many citizens. The skills required for these jobs are the simplest of military and police skills. But the benefits of simple skills applied to commonplace tasks and universally accepted services should not be underestimated: Improvised explosive devices cannot be hidden in trash near roads if members of a labor force collect the trash along the roadside every morning.
At a more complicated level, the economic life of the country requires the protection of big industries and their associated distribution networks, most notably the oil industry and its web of pipelines. The economy also requires the protection of the electrical power plants and their network of high-voltage distribution lines. Even water and sewage systems have been targets and require renovation, repair, and protection.
To secure the utility infrastructure, the balance of effort might be shifted away from capital, or equipment, and toward labor. High-technology solutions that depend on special-purpose tools, foreign technicians, and high-priced security contractors can be too vulnerable. In a situation in which the invulnerability of large new facilities cannot be guaranteed, designing multiple smaller facilities that are more easily replaced or repaired with indigenous work crews kept on perpetual alert can be a more resilient approach to maintaining the infrastructure.
All of these sorts of options depend on the availability of manpower. The population pyramid of Iraq (see the figure) tells a common story of a population that is growing—and growing younger. The figure, which breaks the population into five-year age bands, shows that roughly 300,000 males turn 18 every year in Iraq. Under Saddam Hussein’s regime, 18 was the conscription age for most Iraqis who could not wangle a deferment, and a high proportion eventually served in the regime’s many conflicts.
These young men are certainly capable of learning the simple skills needed to help bring security to Iraq. Not much training would be required for many laboring jobs, and other military and police skills would be within the teaching ability of the improved Iraqi forces. More complicated skills associated with conscript gendarmerie, with constabulary forces, or with reserve police might be taught by many of our NATO allies that have such forces, including the British, the Dutch, the French, and the Spanish.
As with conscripts everywhere, such service would be not only a test of their mettle but possibly also a physical outlet for their nationalism. Moreover, every conscript productively employed in the service of his country is not readily available to the insurgent militias or to the violent crowds of unemployed youths that can erupt around any street incident. Absolute loyalty to the regime would not be required for the conscripts to contribute to an improved security situation.
As the ultimate test of a new nation, there is no substitute for its own people taking on the burdens of its defense. The Iraqi conflict has moved into a stage in which it is no longer a conflict for the Americans to win. Only the Iraqis themselves can win this counterinsurgency.

[FLUID]

FUCK NAW.

[Military Mind]

YEA I JOINED! IM FROM TORONTO CANADA OCCUPATION: INFANTRY SOLDIER AND WELL TRAINED. THE SHIT GOIN ON IN U.S THE PRESIDENT IS A JOKE! THEY AINT TRAININ YOU LIKE YOUR READY FOR WAR! THINK ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES HAPPENIN RIGHT NOW IN IRAQ. ITS BS YOUR GOVERMENT NEEDS TO STRAIGHTEN THE FAWK UP!

[Military Mind]

NO DISRESPECT TO THE SOLDIERS THAT PASSED AWAY! YALL SEEN FARENHEIGHT 911? MAKES YOU THINK!

[Common Sense]

YEA I JOINED! IM FROM TORONTO CANADA OCCUPATION: INFANTRY SOLDIER AND WELL TRAINED. THE SHIT GOIN ON IN U.S!

Okay...cool.

THE PRESIDENT IS A JOKE!!

You are entitled to your opinion.

THEY AINT TRAININ YOU LIKE YOUR READY FOR WAR!!

The U.S. Military is always ready for war.

THINK ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES HAPPENIN RIGHT NOW IN IRAQ.!

Consequences. Who else is there carrying the weight? This is a major war operation. No other country can pull this off but the US. When it's all over, every nation not envolved will be there with their hand out for the credit.

ITS BS YOUR GOVERMENT NEEDS TO STRAIGHTEN THE FAWK UP!

and Canada remains benign as always.

[Young Nile]

YEA I JOINED! IM FROM TORONTO CANADA OCCUPATION: INFANTRY SOLDIER AND WELL TRAINED. THE SHIT GOIN ON IN U.S THE PRESIDENT IS A JOKE! THEY AINT TRAININ YOU LIKE YOUR READY FOR WAR! THINK ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES HAPPENIN RIGHT NOW IN IRAQ. ITS BS YOUR GOVERMENT NEEDS TO STRAIGHTEN THE FAWK UP!

Man how you gonna talk. You from Canada.... What War have yall ever been in besides going to war to help the Brits..
Talking about you well trained..... Well trained for what?

We aint getting trained like we ready for War huh? Thats so funny coming from Non Hostile Canadain that has no military History besides a few battles in WW1 and WW2 under British Command....LOL.... Get the F*** outa here....................