What are the pros and cons of being in the military? I am just talking about the utilitarian benefits of joining to you, as an individual. Leave the morality of war or the objects of foreign policy aside for this discussion.
I did 25 years, active and reserve. I know AliB and Fisto also did time, I am sure others on the forum. My experience was mostly positive, but there is no doubt that the military can fuck you up, obviously get you killed.
If you know what you’re getting into, you can have some control over your service. The U.S. military has enlistment contracts and officer selection programs that allow you to choose your job and sometimes where you’re going. These can be overruled for the “needs of the service,” but are generally honored, at least the guaranteed training.
In these times, I don’t recommend the line ground combat arms jobs (infantry, armor, artillery) or even combat support (air defense, military police) because all of those guys end up doing patrols in Afghanistan to a greater or lesser extent. The risk/reward ratio for your service is not as good as, say, being a wheeled vehicle mechanic or finance clerk.
There are contracts and mandated benefits for military service, but don’t have any illusion that “they” really care about you. If you are injured or go crazy from service, they will kick you to the curb pretty quickly and you will have to fight for those benefits.
But the benefits can be pretty good, especially the U.S. GI Bill, which pays a good amount of money for a university or vocational training education. You can even attend foreign universities. There are a lot of other service and lifetime benefits – for example, veterans’ preference in government employment.
It’s better to have a low risk / high reward job. You get the GI Bill whether you were an infantryman who did three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan or a personnel clerk at Fort Lewis. The base pay and allowances are the same, too.
If you do feel compelled to test your mettle in battle in the combat arms, try to get into the best unit you can – special operations forces. The quality of leadership is better, the training is better, your peers are smarter, the deployments shorter.
Think about where you want to live, and what training and basing options there are to satisfy your wishes. You won’t be able to be stationed in Cannes, for example. You might not want to pick a job that limits you to a few bases in rural North and South Dakota and Nebraska.
Each of the U.S. services has its own culture. The Army is the largest, and also the dumbest, but it has many interesting and cozy niches, for example water transportation, port operations, signal intelligence, and aviation. The Air Force is mostly like a uniformed civil service, with some exceptions like fighter and bomber crews and combat controllers and pararescue. The Marines are well enough known, they have excellent publicity agents. The Navy is not all ships and submarines, they have the Seabees, various support for the Marines, and large fixed-wing aviation.
You can be trained in just about anything in the military. There are barber schools, language schools, all kinds of mechanical schools, IT schools. Just be careful that what you’re learning has some outside application. Some of the skills can lead to a meal ticket for life – for example, there are scores of helicopter mechanic jobs being contracted out to civilians now.
If you’re in the right spot, being in the military is mostly like a regular job. You might live in barracks, which are increasingly comfortable these days. They feed you in what they now call a “dining facility,” with plenty of choices. With lodging and food paid for, your income is disposable.
I don’t know as much about foreign militaries. I do know the Canadian forces are extremely well paid. The UK is paid around the same as the US military. There is also the Legion Etrangere if you want to have French beat into you.
Something to think about, but go into it well-informed and with your eyes open.
I did 25 years, active and reserve. I know AliB and Fisto also did time, I am sure others on the forum. My experience was mostly positive, but there is no doubt that the military can fuck you up, obviously get you killed.
If you know what you’re getting into, you can have some control over your service. The U.S. military has enlistment contracts and officer selection programs that allow you to choose your job and sometimes where you’re going. These can be overruled for the “needs of the service,” but are generally honored, at least the guaranteed training.
In these times, I don’t recommend the line ground combat arms jobs (infantry, armor, artillery) or even combat support (air defense, military police) because all of those guys end up doing patrols in Afghanistan to a greater or lesser extent. The risk/reward ratio for your service is not as good as, say, being a wheeled vehicle mechanic or finance clerk.
There are contracts and mandated benefits for military service, but don’t have any illusion that “they” really care about you. If you are injured or go crazy from service, they will kick you to the curb pretty quickly and you will have to fight for those benefits.
But the benefits can be pretty good, especially the U.S. GI Bill, which pays a good amount of money for a university or vocational training education. You can even attend foreign universities. There are a lot of other service and lifetime benefits – for example, veterans’ preference in government employment.
It’s better to have a low risk / high reward job. You get the GI Bill whether you were an infantryman who did three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan or a personnel clerk at Fort Lewis. The base pay and allowances are the same, too.
If you do feel compelled to test your mettle in battle in the combat arms, try to get into the best unit you can – special operations forces. The quality of leadership is better, the training is better, your peers are smarter, the deployments shorter.
Think about where you want to live, and what training and basing options there are to satisfy your wishes. You won’t be able to be stationed in Cannes, for example. You might not want to pick a job that limits you to a few bases in rural North and South Dakota and Nebraska.
Each of the U.S. services has its own culture. The Army is the largest, and also the dumbest, but it has many interesting and cozy niches, for example water transportation, port operations, signal intelligence, and aviation. The Air Force is mostly like a uniformed civil service, with some exceptions like fighter and bomber crews and combat controllers and pararescue. The Marines are well enough known, they have excellent publicity agents. The Navy is not all ships and submarines, they have the Seabees, various support for the Marines, and large fixed-wing aviation.
You can be trained in just about anything in the military. There are barber schools, language schools, all kinds of mechanical schools, IT schools. Just be careful that what you’re learning has some outside application. Some of the skills can lead to a meal ticket for life – for example, there are scores of helicopter mechanic jobs being contracted out to civilians now.
If you’re in the right spot, being in the military is mostly like a regular job. You might live in barracks, which are increasingly comfortable these days. They feed you in what they now call a “dining facility,” with plenty of choices. With lodging and food paid for, your income is disposable.
I don’t know as much about foreign militaries. I do know the Canadian forces are extremely well paid. The UK is paid around the same as the US military. There is also the Legion Etrangere if you want to have French beat into you.
Something to think about, but go into it well-informed and with your eyes open.