National Guard

Reply #30 – May 09, 2007, 02:28:31 PM

Mikey,
The Montomery G.I. Bill is the same for all branches as long as your Active Duty. You pay $1200 into it your first 12 months and when you Honorable Discharge you get ~$85,000 for school. I've been getting $1100/month for tuition, books, etc from it since January. Extra nice is the fact that my school has reduced tuition for veterans :D

http://www.gocoastguard.com/

http://www.gocoastguard.com/offices/Ohio.html

http://www.gocoastguard.com/offices/Pennsylvania.html

National Guard

Reply #31 – May 09, 2007, 02:31:00 PM

I don't know how it is today but another thing to look into is the quality of the training. When I went in the Navy guys were getting a lot longer and more in depth training than the Army for similar jobs. It's not a big deal as long as you take advantage of the college opporunities both while you're in and after you get out but if you plan to rely on the job you have in the military getting you a civilian one when you get out you'll want the branch that has the best initial training. You can be a cop in the AF, Navy or CG too, I think they still have SPs anyway....

On a side note - I wonder how recruiters cope these days? Before the Internet us uneducated dumba__es just wandered in and signed up, no questions to speak of and certainly no detailed grilling like you're prepared to do from reading all this. I didn't even know I was committed to a 6 year enlistment until I'd been in a year.

Whatever you do - get that 4 year degree. Consider it the minimum requirement for a decent job.

National Guard

Reply #32 – May 10, 2007, 07:10:40 AM

you actually have two options for your education while active duty or even perhaps NG.

While active duty an "AT" , i was pretty much fu@#ed for additional education as my first 4-5 years was sea duty in the navy. I reup'd for 4 more years and got s duty in oceana va. While on s duty, i registered with ODU and ECPI in va beach va. I was working midnights in the navy and going to school in the evening.

The navy covered 75% of my school as long as i made a "C" or better in the class. This process was called Tuition Assistance back then. Anyway, I also had the GI bill but back then it was 1200 out of pocet for 12000 return plus a bonus amount for each nationa defense medal you had, to which i have three.

I did not have to touch my GI bill since TA covered most all of the expenses. the remaining was covered by either Pell's and then Staford Student loans. No bills for school arrived until i graduated.

School,, in addition to your military school while active is very achievable if you just make it a vision. Picture yourself with a plan and build that path to sucess.

In the long run, you can join up with the rest of the united states job hunting about every 2-5 years :D .

Just pick an industry that will be interchangeable with just about anywhere you go. The MP training and what has been said previous actually goes against what is "popular" today. There are many job options for prior military with "Humint" and Security training. If thats what you want, go for it.

If i had it all to do over again,, would have gotten my BA or BS degree by now. Working all the time makes it hard but i am currently looking into On line sites that are accredited. Ill need to ask around about this with people who have done the same.

You make sure you see yourself doing the same industry you are going to train for 10 to 20 years from now.

I suggest you rewind on that "motor pool" thing. Ive been embeded within units as a civilian and that side of the house sux ass. I was recently in Ramadi iraq and this on motor pool sgt had a problem. The harmonic balancer on his RG31 MPV (diesel) flew off (for unknown reasons i later on figured out) and he put it back on but it wobbled real bad when at idle. Im like WTF, so i got a hemit and towed it up to where all my shiznit was so i could be near my tools and such. I discovered that he did not line it up with the Keyway and just tightened the center bolt.
His response as a motor pool sgt,,"i didnt know the crank had a keyway":toilet: This is unexuseable.

I was their DS/GS level rep or what the navy calls Depot level maintinance. I had to make repairs to ANYTHING that got broke due to an IED blast. When i went out on mission with the army and marines, we would do route clearance. Knowing everyday you could get blown up sux and im not to happy with the close calls i had. We had a hull penetration when the insurgents figured out how to pierce armor plating 1'' thick using our own trash dump as a resource for this easy to find ingredient.

On an unrelated note,, i was also deeply humbled and troubled (and i usally dont talk like this) at the attitued of the soldiers and thier kills. When they get a kill, they call it "getting some". So often id be hollered at by one of the guys,, "hey cass, check this shiznit out,," only to find thier watching a vidio of the kills and sporting pics of the flesh burned, skin of ones head flipped inside out , skull busted open and braines leaking and the such. It bothered me that people like us dont find that disturbing anymore. Things like this happen everyday over in iraq but i cant seem to find in myself to enjoy the results of "getting sum" Ive got countless vidios of this type of stuff as "gifts" from the units cause i was in the team and i saved / they saved my ass on countless occasions. I guess i just turned a blind eye so no one would get in trouble cause in reality, these guys will "finish" growing up (they are all so young) later on and probably break down in tears. I wanted so bad to have feelings over there, but i had none, i still have none, when you have to put your ass out there for another man, you dump feelings inplace of self preservation. I feel guilty for doing something wrong and i know that someday i might find what that wrong doing was. Until then,, ill call it "serving my country" and well did i serve her. I may not have believed in the war over there, but i did believe in the soldier, thats what kept me going. I know all too well, what you face.

scott

National Guard

Reply #33 – May 11, 2007, 03:11:51 PM

When I was layed off from my previous job, I myself looked into joining the Coast Gaurd. I was trying to join either through the OCS (Officer Candidate School) or Direct Commision as an engineer. At the time I held an Associates Degree in Electronic Engineering, and an Associates Degree in Telecommunications. I wanted to go full enlistment. The "problem" I was told is that the college that I had received my degrees from didn't have a 25% minority population. By the time they had figured everything out, I had already started a new job. (I was out of work for about 3 months). I am currently working for the same company and am back in school majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Design Engineering. The best part is the company I work pays my tuition 100% as long as I get a "C" in the class. They also pay for 50% of the book. So if I sell the book back at the end of the semester, I usually only end up paying about $15 a semester.

National Guard

Reply #34 – May 12, 2007, 09:41:25 PM

military service is an honorable way to serve your country, that will pay dividends down the road. true you get a free education, and you get decent medical and other benefits, as well as you work part time. the downside? i dont see any downside. i say go for it.

National Guard

Reply #35 – May 12, 2007, 10:41:44 PM

I got it down to full time arny or coast guard. Army looks better for now but coast guard would be better long run. I'll know by the end of the week what I wana do, as I'm talking to a CG guy on thrusday about it.