Considering the Army

[Guest Kwiatek]

Recently I have been serously considering Joining the army. and with that, I have also been praying and seeking cousel and advice on such a serious decision. It is a very hard one to make, but I believe it would bother be benificial to my life to join or not to join.

I feel in would offer dicipline, leadership skills, and a outlook on life- that I cant get where I am. I believe it is good to fight for what you believe in, and along wtih a series of other reason, financially it is the answer in that area too. it would help me go back to school- which seems impossible after all ready graduating and entering the working world. I want to do online classes to get a phycology degree (i have an engineering degree now). It just seems to be what I am looking for, but I want to see bother side to the coin. the pros and the cons. how do you all feel?

[followerofjesus]

The Army helped me improve my life. It is a tough road & won't be easy but it can change a person for the better.

[Constant]

Well I am in the Marines and I love it. With the Army you have a greater selection of what you want your MOS to be and you have more Bases, you could travel the world. Good luck to you.

[BrandonL]

Now, I stress that this is my opinion, but, i would recommend looking at other services first. Being in the Air Force, I am obviously biased to say go Air Force, but the Marine Corp or Navy would be a better choice than the Army. The problem that I see with the Army is that it doesn't stress enough personal development. They seem to often over-look that if the individual performs better, then so does the unit. Now, from what I've seen the Air Force seems to push the personal growth the hardest, followed by the Coast Guard and the Navy. The Marines seem to be more unit-based like the Army, but with a more elite force that pushes the individual to perform his best. The Army is often viewed by the Air Force to be our "trashy" brothers. Again, I stress that this is purely my opinion and I could be dead wrong. I just strongly recommend that you look into the other forces, too. I am currently at an Army/Air Force coalition base in Baghdad and going to the Army side, everything is just dirty and depressing versus the Air Force side which is much cleaner, neater and has far better living conditions. I have been to some deployed Army bases that were much nicer than some Air Force bases, but that's not the norm. I'll let Constant tell you about the state of the MC bases, because I've only been to one of those (it was actually one of the nicest bases I've seen).

[His Ambassador]

I am an Air Force veteran of the Korean era and I believe the military today offers many more opportunities than it did when I served. Better education opportunities, better pay, better promotion opportunities and better benefits for dependents. If one is concerned about combat then pick the Navy or Air Force which are not usually on the front line. Or one can join the Army or Marines as a C.O. and request a non-combat position. But whatever you do the military is a good training ground and I would encourage you to become a part of it.

[followerofjesus]

Now, I stress that this is my opinion, but, i would recommend looking at other services first. Being in the Air Force, I am obviously biased to say go Air Force, but the Marine Corp or Navy would be a better choice than the Army. The problem that I see with the Army is that it doesn't stress enough personal development. They seem to often over-look that if the individual performs better, then so does the unit. Now, from what I've seen the Air Force seems to push the personal growth the hardest, followed by the Coast Guard and the Navy. The Marines seem to be more unit-based like the Army, but with a more elite force that pushes the individual to perform his best. The Army is often viewed by the Air Force to be our "trashy" brothers. Again, I stress that this is purely my opinion and I could be dead wrong. I just strongly recommend that you look into the other forces, too. I am currently at an Army/Air Force coalition base in Baghdad and going to the Army side, everything is just dirty and depressing versus the Air Force side which is much cleaner, neater and has far better living conditions. I have been to some deployed Army bases that were much nicer than some Air Force bases, but that's not the norm. I'll let Constant tell you about the state of the MC bases, because I've only been to one of those (it was actually one of the nicest bases I've seen).

You must be Air force recruiter.

[BrandonL]

You must be Air force recruiter.

No, I'm an Air Force fire fighter. I'm actually currently deployed to Baghdad, Iraq. The base I'm on is a joint Army/AF base so I've had a lot more interaction with Army than I would have liked lately. It seems to me that most of the Soldiers I deal with are what I would call "white trash." From what I've seen of Army's leadership, they are generally good guys, but somehow that doesn't translate to the younger Soldiers. Now don't get me wrong, I have a great deal of respect for the Soldiers that I work with, they're just not the kind of people I would ever hang out with off-duty. The Army does all the "dirty jobs" so that the AF doesn't have to.

As to what someone said about the AF and Navy not working on the "front lines," that's not entirely true. Traditionally, yes that used to be the case, but these days, there is no "front lines" and everyone is involved in the fight. Most of the convoy duties these days are done by the AF with a lot of help from the Navy. The Army has more or less reverted to protecting gates. I often even see Rangers and Airborne Soldiers at gates, which is kind of odd because these are the elite of the Army. To give you an idea of how it works, allow me to just say that in the AF you will be carrying weapons just as much as you would in the Army. The MC are the ones who take the brunt of the fighting, though, because they are far and away the best at it. If bullets were flying and there was a Soldier, and Airman and a Marine around, I would run over by the Marine first. Then I would go to the Soldier for help, and if all else failed, I would go to the Airman. It's not because I don't trust the Soldier, I know for a fact that they are highly-trained, but they're not as good as a Marine. Even though Airman are often filling Army's "front line" positions, we simply don't have as much combat training as the other branches, so I would go there as a last resort.

Basically, every branch has its ups and downs. I want to stress again that this is merely my opinion, based on my perspective of life so don't take this as fact. However, that said, I am very glad I chose the AF, if I had to do it again, I would choose the AF again. I simply could not handle being around Soldiers often enough to wear their rank, and I wouldn't want to be a Marine because I wouldn't like their living conditions. I really don't know a whole lot about the Navy or CG except to say that either would be a better choice than Army (at least in my life).

Simply put, choose carefully. Don't simply join the Army without looking at the other branches first. I know the Army often brags that they have the most MOS's (different specific job specialties) than any other branch, but in reality, when you are deployed (and you will deploy no matter what branch you join) you are just another body if you are in the Army or MC. Only the Navy and AF deploy their troops and let them work at their actual jobs. In other words, I am a fire fighter in the AF, so my primary job is fire protection. Army fire fighters are primarily riflemen and then they are fire fighters secondarily. Same with MC.

I pray that God gives you wisdom in this decision. I think that the USA should make it mandatory for all men to join the military, because it is such a huge growing experience regardless of branch. The differences I'm referring to are more nit-picky than anything else. When it comes down to it, if you wear the uniform, you wear the uniform; no more, no less.

[followerofjesus]

The only thing I disagree w/ is most Army is white trash. That is very insulting. There are many respectable young men in the army. The army has been around alot longer than its offspring Air force.

[Giaour]

If I was younger, I'd join.