Current Events > Where all tha current and former U.S. military members of CE

(+) Yeah! (+)

For the guys still in what are your plans, stay in or get out?

For those that got out what did you do with your life post service?

Ive been the Marines for 7 years now and now with one year left Im thinking of letting it go and starting over. Very undecided at this point.

youre good with the marines? how does re-enlisting for another term appeal to you?
you got a re-enlistment bonus?
look into that.
youre going for 20 years now if you re-enlist. think you can tough it out for 12 more years?

if you do want to get out, what are your plans? the transition is competitive. your supervisors will ask you what youll be doing when you get out. they cant really stop you from getting out but you should listen to their advice and consider what they say. take everything you can about staying in or getting out. everyone has stories of their own and yours will not be theirs tbh.
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gamer167 posted...

For the guys still in what are your plans, stay in or get out?

I've been in 3 years, staying in at least 20.

Got out after my first contract(8 years)

Its stupid to stay any longer. The military is great when youre a fresh faced kid.

Once youre an adult its just inconvenient and youre always treated like a child especially in combat orientated

Fuck that I deployed, took what I could from them because they took from you. Now Im using all my benefits
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Mark_DeRosa posted...

Its stupid to stay any longer. The military is great when youre a fresh faced kid.

Once youre an adult its just inconvenient and youre always treated like a child especially in combat orientated

Sure if you stay as an enlisted.

Fossil posted...

Mark_DeRosa posted...

Its stupid to stay any longer. The military is great when youre a fresh faced kid.

Once youre an adult its just inconvenient and youre always treated like a child especially in combat orientated

Sure if you stay as an enlisted.

Officer too. You see all these top dog military guys spend their whole life in the military. Once they get out they literally have 0 life skills and have military as a resume which doesnt mean shit anymore. Yeah the real top dog officers that are famous and generals make it big. Every LT I see is a damn kid that works retail lol.

I saw a retired sergeant major I met once work retail after his mandatory age was up. Spent his whole career being hoo ah with no actual civilian plan or experience
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Got medically retired after 10 years.

Bought a house, retirement pay paid for mortgage it doubled in value over just 4 years, property tax was getting too high, sold it.

Moved to a much cheaper state, got a much bigger house, retirement pay has hundreds left over each month, currently getting more furniture to fill the nearly empty rooms.

Cant disclose my job.
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Mark_DeRosa posted...

Fossil posted...

Mark_DeRosa posted...

Its stupid to stay any longer. The military is great when youre a fresh faced kid.

Once youre an adult its just inconvenient and youre always treated like a child especially in combat orientated

Sure if you stay as an enlisted.

Officer too. You see all these top dog military guys spend their whole life in the military. Once they get out they literally have 0 life skills and have military as a resume which doesnt mean shit anymore. Yeah the real top dog officers that are famous and generals make it big. Every LT I see is a damn kid that works retail lol.

I saw a retired sergeant major I met once work retail after his mandatory age was up. Spent his whole career being hoo ah with no actual civilian plan or experience

Yes, but to a much lesser extent. Aviation has a different breed of Officer considering most are Pilots. If they end up in retail after they get out, they reeeeeeeeally fucked up somewhere.

But you aren't wrong, there are some really shitbag higher ups out there that have literally leeched the system because of how backwards it is. I am looking forward to the big NCO promotion changes being implimented.

Enlisting with the Army this month, just waiting for a very stupid court settlement to clear.

Doing it mostly to clear my debts and get a proper career. I've been winging it essentially my whole life. Successfully, but that's no way to grow old. My girlfriend's getting sick of it, too.

Any advice on getting the most I can out of this? I qualify for all the physical tests, taken practice asvab's a dozen times a day. I want that cheddar. I want insurance.

Do I have to stay any longer than the bare minimum to maximize on profit and benefits?
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I was an 88M in the Army from 2001 to 2005.
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Guide posted...

Any advice on getting the most I can out of this? I qualify for all the physical tests, taken practice asvab's a dozen times a day. I want that cheddar. I want insurance.

A good asvab score is the key to what will be available to you. Pick something you are interested in that has a lot of job security once you get out. Infantry = no job security. Aviation? Lots of job security. Something that gives you a technical skillset will set you up for success.

Not to mention you can practically go to school for free while you're in to get a degree and depending on what MOS you pick the training you receive at AIT could transfer into college credits and get you that much closer.

Go in with a game plan and don't wing it and you'll be fine. I see way too many kids who joined just to serve or because they didn't know what to do and they still don't know what they are doing. I've watched quite a few get out already for various reasons and they end up with nothing because they fail at the basics like financial management.

Fossil posted...

Guide posted...

Any advice on getting the most I can out of this? I qualify for all the physical tests, taken practice asvab's a dozen times a day. I want that cheddar. I want insurance.

A good asvab score is the key to what will be available to you. Pick something you are interested in that has a lot of job security once you get out. Infantry = no job security. Aviation? Lots of job security. Something that gives you a technical skillset will set you up for success.

Not to mention you can practically go to school for free while you're in to get a degree and depending on what MOS you pick the training you receive at AIT could transfer into college credits and get you that much closer.

Go in with a game plan and don't wing it and you'll be fine. I see way too many kids who joined just to serve or because they didn't know what to do and they still don't know what they are doing. I've watched quite a few get out already for various reasons and they end up with nothing because they fail at the basics like financial management.

Yeah, dont get like an 89 on the asvab and then choose to become a tanker.

Only an idiot would do that.
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Mark_DeRosa posted...

I saw a retired sergeant major I met once work retail after his mandatory age was up. Spent his whole career being hoo ah with no actual civilian plan or experience

I've heard of a lot of former military guys who go work for the government in various types of roles. Could be something law enforcement related or something for some government department. If they already have a security clearance that can help too.
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Guide posted...

Enlisting with the Army this month...
Do I have to stay any longer than the bare minimum to maximize on profit and benefits?

think its 3 consecutive years active duty and an honorable discharge is the bare minimum to get it all. talk to your recruiter. they can give you everything you need to know for sure though.

the 3 years thing is 100% post 9/11 gi bill. its changing in 2020 to the eternal gi bill. honorable discharge is all the VA benefits.

this isnt gonna be what you expect though. there are many folks who enlist for other and for the same reasons you are and they still dont meet the bare minimum to max out their military benefits

a lot will happen. are you gonna have an attitude and fight everything the Army asks of you? because thats a sure fire way to poor reviews from your immediate supervisor and low scores for nco promotion later.

dont get a DUI
dont do drugs. they test every month randomly. if you get popped theyll test you again.
dont fail your job training unless you want to have an army job with even lesser skill

yet all this and more wont matter if you do not graduate basic training. not everybody can make it passed basic training. recruits can get washed out and the army career they wanted is done.

so in conclusion, be all you can be in the army. its what the army needs from you to perform your military duty. anything less will make you wish you didnt enlist. the army will take good care of you as you become one of them. good luck and serve the army well for that honorable discharge.
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I guess that attitude's popular with a lot of enlisters? I'm no sort of risk taker though.

I'm not finding a way that I could give benefits to any siblings. Is that not possible? Am I limited to spouse and children?
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usually its only spouse and kids that benefit from your service. again ask your recruiter about that stuff. i dunno for sure but that kind of transferring benefits thing usually means you have it documented and it was okay'd by the Army if it even was possible to do that. .
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This topic has been a boon. Didn't expect CE to actually be useful lmao
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My life now is that of a college kid after 9 years in the air Force. Money is stretched way more than I'd like it to be, but I'm still living more comfortable than a lot of people, and I know I have wasteful spending habits I need to fix that weren't an issue before.

Overall, I'm much happier than I was. I used to wake up three-five times throughout the night and was never rested, and now I sleep like a baby. People used to ask if being an air traffic controller was stressful and I would say no, because I was mentally worn down all the time, but I now realize that I was exhibiting physical signs of stress. Plus, I basically had to drink when I got home sometimes, and now I maybe drink twice a month and smoke weed the rest of the time.
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Army 2007-2011 93B

I spent most of my time in all vehicle recovery and maintenance. Field Artillery so my main babies were a HMTT wrecker and an M88 tank.
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^you on disability? you should be if anything from your military service affected you afterwards.

lack of sleep is a big one.

in every VA hospital theres a nonprofit group. these folks are help file veteran claims. usually they are veterans too. they arent affiliated at all with the VA and its one of the stops you need to visit after your service. nobody knows about them unless you tried to file a claim on your own. it took me years to do mine tbh because im didnt think of it. as i get older, my body simply aint the same.

took dd214 to them. talked about my concerns. they told me i had enough to file a claim. they asked me if i wanted them to file on my behalf. just getting me in the system was the important thing they'll take your afsc and see common disabilities you might have based on the veterans with the same afsc you had and they helped.
again took years for me to go there. apparently many veterans deal with their own pain and suffering and dont seek help. its tough talking about these things to others because i believed i didnt deserve it and that others needed it more than i did.
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Been in 12, just going for the full 20 at this point.
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HBOSS posted...

usually its only spouse and kids that benefit from your service. again ask your recruiter about that stuff. i dunno for sure but that kind of transferring benefits thing usually means you have it documented and it was okay'd by the Army if it even was possible to do that. .

It's "dependents", so if the guy's sister is legally his dependent he could transfer benefits to her but you also have to re-enlist/extend to transfer Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits and stuff like medical/dental isn't permanent unless you are medically retired or retire at 20.
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I got out, started contracting for the gov. Good life.
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I'm about 5 years until retirement. It's been good for me. I joined to learn a useable skill and I've done that. I didn't intend on staying until retirement but I cant complain about a pension at 38.
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I'm a veteran of a 1000 psychic wars
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bump
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