Just ask yourself if you're committed. Real life suck more than video games. Maybe Air Force is a better option, since all you actually do is piloting some unmanned drone rather than flying F-22 Raptors. However to join AF require a lot of physicality tests and such.
As for foreigners in US army, I've never heard about that. However, I believe French Foreign Legion will be a way better experience than joining the Brits. I mean, you get to meet a lot more people from many different backgrounds and such. The jobs are less risky, but still has some of the thrills. Heck, if you got shot while working for the Legion you can become a French citizen immediately (or stay in the Legion for three years if you want to be one without getting shot, I think). Them French don't mind pirates, so you can download games and music without feeling guilty XD.
However, I believe French Foreign Legion will be a way better experience than joining the Brits. I mean, you get to meet a lot more people from many different backgrounds and such. The jobs are less risky, but still has some of the thrills. Heck, if you got shot while working for the Legion you can become a French citizen immediately (or stay in the Legion for three years if you want to be one without getting shot, I think). Them French don't mind pirates, so you can download games and music without feeling guilty XD. "
I was actually about to say join the Legion! But mostly as a joke, because those dudes are FUCKING CRAZY. If you think you could handle it, though, go for it. Anyhoo, I don't know much about Canadian vs UK armed forces, so my vote goes to whoever has the best hats.
Some friends of mine are in the Dutch army, and based on what they tell me you should make sure you have good cardio, can stand mockery and hard labour. It's mostly drills drills drill, patrols and chores then actual combat. Combat might seem thrilling but not something you should look forward to.
I have a suggestion for you, join the Canadian Reserves to see if you really like it if you are still unsure. Because if you do decided to join the Canadian Forces, you'll be sent out to New Brunswick for basic training and you are committed for 5 years.
As far as I'm aware of it, we don't have any F-22's in our airforce, nor do I think the United States is looking to sell any to other nations just yet. At the moment we are using the CF-18 Hornet (F/A-18 for Americans). We might get a future fleet of F-35 Lightning II or other fighters like the Eurofighter Typhoon. I doubt I want to join the airforce though, since I want to see actual combat. Why the need for me to get even more physically fit if chances are that I'll just sit on my arse in the base? I'd probably have no luck in piloting an actual plane. =P
That French Foreign Legion program sounds pretty insane. But based on what Mark said, I think I'd rather avoid going into something that I know I'll probably fail to get into. I know its good to set high goals, but those standards seem pretty bastardizing for me. <_<
@Jiujitsuka: Hmm, I think I can stand mockery to some extent. I know whenever friends make fun of me, I'd just laugh it off or something. Not so sure if this would be the same if I have a officer who I don't know yelling at me though. Drills sound pretty boring, but I've been accustomed to them when I was in the cadets. My cardio is pretty weak I'll have to admit, need to work on that.
@fini_fly: Five years? That's a year longer than the British army's requirements. How long does it take for me to sign up for reserves?
@KaosAngel: Again, we don't have any F-22's in Canadian or British airforces. They're definitely not nearly as good as the American counterparts; with their ability to afford spending billions on high tech toys. =P
Also what the bloody hell am I supposed to do with a handgun that's shared with the FBI's? -_- lol
@Meteora: Signing up for the reserves isn't an intense process as far as I'm aware. Check the Canadian Forces website and see what it says. I know that you only have to commit one night a week, and one weekend a month for service, and as far as I am aware, there is no minimum enlistment requirement.
@KaosAngel said:
" Stick with the AirForce, you always have the chance to use your full body and mind, and hopefully one day fly a F-22. Plus, AirForce vests are way better, and the standard issued handgun is the same that FBI agents carry. :P "
In the Canadian Forces you have to have correctable 20/20 vision to be considered as a pilot. And even if you do, the physical requirements to fly military aircraft is pretty intense. Maybe a C130 Hercules is more realistic.
I'm not sure what the likelihood is of you going to Afghanistan is if you join the Canadian Armed Forces. We're supposed to be withdrawing the bulk of our troops next year.
@Meteora: I live in America, but from what I've seen of returning vets, you will pretty much be fucked up for the next twenty years if you actually get into a war and you still won't be normal after that.
These people that come back, its like they live in another world. They'll act completely normal one second, and then if anything starts to remind them of what they've seen they go completely silent. Other times they talk of their friends they watched die as if it were nothing, and then freak out at the most insignficant shit.
The decision to become a soldier is commendable, and it is certainly a position of respect.
But I implore you, do not make this choice lightly. Decide and then decide again. If you go to combat, if you get into that shit storm, your mental and emotional state is going to degrade so fast its fucking unbelievable.
You aren't a soldier for 12 months, or 3 years, or even a decade. You are a soldier for life. There is no unseeing that shit.
Seriously, think this shit out as much as possible and make sure that this is absolutely what you want to do this. I've seen enough kids go into the army for all the wrong reasons and being stripped of everything that made them who they were.
If you can't get into college and want to get into the army because of that, maybe you should, I don't know, apply for a job and work your way up the corporate ladder. The reason ppl joins college or university is to prepare for a carrer, skip that step. However it's your life.
To tell you the truth, I couldn't get into any other college either, I could draw, I became an art student. I wasn't very sucessful at it, however I don't know, look for other options besides military.
One advice that was offered me was go to a vocation school, see what skills your good at, then they will actually train you for a job and try to find out near your location. That's a good advice and something I myself am considering.
Navy & Airforce = Great travel, best benefits, harder to earn ranks though. Only join with good asvab scores.
Army = Asvabs don't matter. Worst benefits of all the branches, crap travel. Easy to rank up, but that's because people die more in this branch than any other. Think about that.
National Guard = Part time / More freedom. Good if you want the benefits of military life without making a complete life adjustment.
Marines = Join only if you're really into combat and pushing your own physical and mental thresholds. Asvab scores not that important. Being in good physical condition is extremely important.
Coast Guard = Haha. NO.
Best advice if you want to join is to make these branches compete over you. With excellent test scores, you get to pick you job and you start at a higher rank than your peers and also earn more money right from the start. So unless they're interested in you (calling you constantly, wanting to meet up) don't join. They'll hand you any shit job and send you to some shitty base. Good scores = you pick your base and job. And since this is basically going to take a good chunk of your life, plan it out and take it seriously. I have a few friends who impulsively jumped in, and they totally regret it.
Honestly, I don't think you are taking this all that seriously. Based on what you have wrote, if I was a recruiting officer, I would deny you an application immediately.
Well before you sign up, you HAVE to do it for the right reasons. The money (which is horrible usually, depending on your rank), becoming a man, and learning to use weapons are great and all, but you sign up to join the military solely because you want to SERVE and PROTECT your country any time, anywhere, no matter what. Some people sign up for Reserves and coast by for the college money, which I think deserves no respect. If you don't love your country, or don't like the way they do things, don't sign up for the military because in the military all you'll be doing is serving your country and loving your country. Don't sign up for any other reason. Everything else is a fortunate byproduct of your service.
As for which military would be best to join, it's obviously Britain. They have some of the best Special Forces in the world, the fabled SAS soldiers (parallel to America's Delta operators) and the overall military force itself is trained pretty well because of its small size.
" Honestly, I don't think you are taking this all that seriously. Based on what you have wrote, if I was a recruiting officer, I would deny you an application immediately. "
I agree. The images within and the tone of your posting; wake up, man. It's not a joke, it's not a game. You'll get the shit kicked out of you, physically and mentally. If you do plan on joining, I recommend starting a sport, or MMA, or another activity such as that which tests your strength and willpower much like the army.
That being said, I think you should. It is my personal (and controverisal) belief that everyone should be required to do a stint in the army, and I plan to do so, when I am able to. That being said, I am physically and mentally a disciplined person; which, again, I think you need to work on if you indeed plan on joining.
@Metalideth: I do think I have other places to go to; its just that I'm not so sure if I want to stick with a civilian lifestyle. From what others told me (including my school councillor); the college that I've applied for will accept me regardless of my academic performance. As long as I graduate from high school and I show them the green cash, they'll accept me. I wanted to originally go into graphic designing and have the available skills for it (+4 years of experience with Photoshop). The same thing with game & arts design; it being a private institute pretty much will accept me based on available cash. But I think I might be entirely wrong on both pointers, I honestly didn't do much research (I'm terrible, I know).
@nofx4208:@xobballox: Yeah, I noticed he was in the US Army. Like I said in my original long ass post; I am thinking of becoming a graphic designer or something in the gaming industry if I don't want to be a cannon fodder on the battlefield. =P
@FrankCanada97: All the better not getting my arse blown up by IEDs and all the better in deciding if I want to join during peace (Canada) or go to combat (United Kingdom), eh? Though we still have some guys either training the Afghans or rebuilding stuff, don't we? Not that they'd send in a grunt to do those jobs, though.
@Godlyawesomeguy: Oh, definitely. I think I'll go about shouting game phrases like "nubs" or something. xD
@Bones8677: Do recruiting officers really deny you an application form? I had the impression that they are always on the look for more new recruits. Sorry if it seems like I'm not taking it seriously enough, I'm sort of excited by the idea of being in the army and the experiences I will get. I originally had the thought of being in the army a few years ago, but dropped it when I figured they probably won't accept me since I can't swim for shit. Apparently that wasn't the case. The power of Google is quite startling... =/
@RedneckedCrake: You have a good point. Though I probably should've written down that, college money isn't really the issue here. If my country was under attack, I would probably be pissed off enough to seriously join the military to fend off some attack (not that anyone wants to invade winter wonderland). I love Canada, and I think that being in the British army is the same as being in the Canadian one. We all fight under the same Queen; but with maybe slight different political policies (such as Canada not being in the Iraq War; and thank heavens for that).
I think special forces are out of league for me. Great to day dream about; though not very realistic for the common soldier. <.<
British are in Iraq and Aghanistan - Canada's just in Afghanistan. Pick your poison brother.
My personal reccomendation is that you join neither, you seem to be experiencing a minor existential crisis facing the reality of life after high school, acting in concert with self-esteem debasing opinions from your parents. The military then appears a sane, stable answer - an easy choice that will be approved of by your parents as well as society at large, including those you fear will judge your abilities to compete in the real world - hence your uncertainty and anxiety about your college application chances.
The military is no answer to this crisis, do not allow yourself to be drawn to any port in a storm. If graphic design is your thing, work hard to get into a university with a good graphic design program - if you need to upgrade do so. I guarantee that this path - though not immediately the most obvious or appealing to you - is the path of least resistance.
Not to mention the moral ambiguity of this proposition, I mean does your personal code of ethics allow this kind of behaviour? If you aren't religious ( I am not) then you really need to examine what you believe in and why before making a decision of this magnitude, it is not something you can back out of later when you find it does not gel.
In the spirit of full disclosure I am a Canadian opposed to the war, and have participated and organized protests in opposition to it. In my opinion neither war is a justified act of national defence and are not morally defensible as such, and I'm no pacifist either.
This is a decision that will mark the rest of your life - do not make it lightly.
I'm actually joing up this summer myself. Don't really know how that is gonna turn out. A part of me want to join, another has no interest for it at all. It's not like I have a choice thou. Here were I come from, if you're fit and in good health and as a dude you have to join. It's just a matter of when -- before or after studies. I figure before studies is probably the best. Since then I can get right to work after studies and not have to get through the mandatory part you have to serve in the army.
@Brazzle: Yeah, I think I know why you'd say that. I'm sorta naive at the moment with things. But that doesn't necessarily mean that I should outrightly rule out the military, crisis or not. I'm sure its much more of a easy route out just to go into graphic designing than gutting up and leave the civilian life for 4-5 years or so. There's a lot of things that I'm discontent about in my life (the need to move out, physically unfit, "gaming addiction", terrible communicator, not making any friends, lack of any initiative, unwilling to take up responsibilities or leadership), so I'd figure the military could be a clean slate for me to work on. Plus being in the army is naturally cool. ;)
This is probably irrelevant, but I'm ethnically Chinese. Very rarely, and I mean VERY RARELY do Chinese parents approve their kids from joining up. Most of us tend to be good enough not to piss off their parents and instead become something like a doctor or a lawyer. So if you were pointing out that my parents are like any other; they aren't. Of course, what am I to say? I'm pretty biased myself.
By the way, the Brits already pulled out of Iraq for almost 10 months now. From my impression, this is now America's shithole problem, no one else's. Canada will pull out of Afghanistan by next year, I'm entirely unclear about the Brits position on Afghanistan though. I've been reading that they'll be around for a while, and others stating they'll be out in a year. So... there's a chance that I'll never see combat, which could be a good thing for my life and limbs. =P
@SPACETURTLE: US Army? Why don't you have a choice?
@dopeman: I'm clean and legit. I haven't even consumed alcohol yet, why would I even try to do crack?
@Al3xand3r: Damn good advice son. And no,don't join the army,only if you can kick puppies in the face without sharing an emotion and shoot people without thinking that you just destroyed a family,and that you broke the rules: "Thou shall not kill" You decide.
@Meteora: Nah, I'm in Norway. The thing here is that dudes have to join the army for at least one year to get the basic army training. The army has cut back on the super-hardcore-everyone-has-to-join now the last couple of years, but still they're pretty strict. So if you're a health dude you got to do at least one year. This happens in most cases for most people when you're done in high school. About half a year in you graduation year you'll get a letter stating you'll have to go to the recriut offices to go through a healt check and a couple of mental tests to check... yeah, you're mental abilities. Reasons for not having to join is poor vision, if you use glasses and so forth. Also if you fail the mental test you wont get accepted either. But if your in good physical condition and you mental abilities are good then you have to join.
In my case I scored 9 (highest score) on the physical test and I got 6 on the mental test, 9 is the highest here too. Just to clearify, the mental test includes stuff like math and IQ tests and things like that. I suck at math so I failed on that part, big time. Almost no one gets over 7 on the mental test -- it's bloody hard... :P Anyways, judging from what you score after these test you get accepted in different generes in the army. For example, if you get an overall high score you can join up with the special forces, elite groups and so forth. But everyone who dosent fail fataly on the test has to do the one mandatory year, even dudes who has a high enough score to join the scecial forces.
So the thing for me is that I HAVE TO JOIN cause I am in "perfect" physical condition, according to the army and my mental abilities are also top noch. I really have no idea how it's going to be in the army. Knowing myself I might find it to be super awesome, but also I might find it to be total bullshit. So depending on how I feel after the one mandatory year I'll either just say "thank you for your time, army" and get the fuck out, or maybe I'll sign up for some more.
I've been accepeted in the infantry so I guess that's what I'll be doing the next year, even if I want to or not. Like I said, I'm kinda interseted, but also not that much. So considering I'm kinda game, it's not THAT bad for me. But thinking of guys who don't want to join the army it most really suck for them. I mean, if you don't want to it's a bummer you have no choice.
But it's not like this in the US? I wasn't aware of that. Kinda makes sense in some way I guess.
" Navy & Airforce = Great travel, best benefits, harder to earn ranks though. Only join with good asvab scores. Army = Asvabs don't matter. Worst benefits of all the branches, crap travel. Easy to rank up, but that's because people die more in this branch than any other. Think about that. National Guard = Part time / More freedom. Good if you want the benefits of military life without making a complete life adjustment. Marines = Join only if you're really into combat and pushing your own physical and mental thresholds. Asvab scores not that important. Being in good physical condition is extremely important. Coast Guard = Haha. NO. Best advice if you want to join is to make these branches compete over you. With excellent test scores, you get to pick you job and you start at a higher rank than your peers and also earn more money right from the start. So unless they're interested in you (calling you constantly, wanting to meet up) don't join. They'll hand you any shit job and send you to some shitty base. Good scores = you pick your base and job. And since this is basically going to take a good chunk of your life, plan it out and take it seriously. I have a few friends who impulsively jumped in, and they totally regret it. "
Hey clueless, the Coast Guard has all the perks of the Navy (sea time, etc, on top of identical BAH and GI Bills) with less shitty looking uniforms and equal pay, and like the fastest advancement in any branch of the military. By far. They do that by having higher standards. Basic training is based on Marine Basic, a trained monkey could get through Navy Basic. Laugh that one off.
Post Script for the OP: Keep in mind like 70% of the military as a whole is logistics. ETs, ITs, telecom, navigating. There's a wide birth between joining the military and joining the military in a rank that will put you directly in harm's way. Probably a bigger jump than the initial one deciding to join.
If you end up joining good luck to ya, i never joined but my brother did and from what i can tell he had some great experiences. You really do get to travel all over the world and see everything(in American military anyway.) My only advice is dont use call of duty as a reference tool to what you will experience. When you step off that bus and your boot camp instructor begins screaming in your face like a lunatic to line up and stand straight the last thing in your head is gonna be "This is totally like the first level in COD 4 lol."
Oh and also keep thinking about it, be absolutely sure its what you want to do, tremendous amount of dedication required.
I spent a year in the army, and oh my god it is boring. I guess it's worth mentioning that I never stepped a foot outside the national border at the time.
I would suggest not to. If you want to join just because you feel that you need to be toughened up, it will not work without problems. Unless you have the will to change, placing yourself in a situation that requires you to change will become stressful and mentally damaging. If you don't like the way things are going for you, change it. But joining the military as a proverbial bandaid to your problem will only lead you to more problems.
If you are unsure, it's a no. I know people who do this thing and you can tell they live for it. It's what they want to do. If you're having second thoughts, I highly suggest not joining.
But if you did, emo girl avatars give you a higher rank in the army.
Keep in mind I have a combat-arms job in the American Military. I'm a Cavalry Scout. That of which I suggest you become if it's available in your country of choice, for in the American military, the title of Cavalry Scout if very prestigious. Keep in mind benefits and negatives may very since you're talking about another countries military.
I joined the Army for a lot of reasons. To learn about life, get a unique experience, help the world by "taking out the trash", stay in shape, and get college payed for so I can be a videogame journalist. Yes, I want to work in the game business that bad. I joined when I was 17, I wasn't in very awesome shape either. The Drill Sergeants in boot camp are aware they're going to be training athletes and people like you who probably weren't very physically active. Before I went to Basic, I was only able to do maybe 25 push-ups and run a 2 mile in 18 minutes. After Basic, I was able to do nearly 75 push-ups, and run 2 miles in about 15 minutes. We also had an overweight guy, and e lost 45 pounds in the 16 week training. Don't worry about your physical ability prior to training.
...but it doesn't hurt to start working out before leaving.
Find out what benefits each military offers, and the job you want. Evey civilian field of work you can think of is offered in the military. So if you don't want to go into the mountains to fight, you can work in an office, fly helicopters, be a mechanic, doctor, cop, and so on. However combat-arms such as Scouts, Infantry, and Tankers are entitled to higher pay while deployed. I just became a Scout because I hate office work and I hate fixing things. Also, it sounded badass. To be frank.
The military is great for the most part. You'll have a guaranteed job, medical, dental, and a steady flow of income. You will get deployed. Canada and Britain are major players in the Coalition. Any specific questions? Also, if a recruiter is telling you something that seems shady, look it up
EDIT: The American military is nearly on a recruiting freeze. The military has too many soldiers right now. This may be the case for your countries. You might not get the job you want, but you'l know that before you sign. Understand the military isn't desperate at all right now. In fact, the Army straight-up stopped taking in recruits all last summer.
My personal advice? Don't. And it's not a matter of you being "ready" or "mature enough". Fuck that, lots of people who join the army are like that. What you need to bear in mind is that you're going to go through absolute HELL every day. Whether it's waking up at the crack of dawn to be screamed at while doing drills or not sleeping at all for fear of being shot at, I honestly don't see why anyone would even join, let alone support this atrocious war effort.
If you really think you owe something to your country, and you fully support whatever war in whatever sandbox they'd ship you to, go for it. Just don't say we didn't warn you....
@SPACETURTLE: Ohhh I see. Compulsory military service. Yeah that doesn't work in the United States or Canada. The United States stopped drafting its people since the Vietnam War and has a huge pool of recruits to pick from its population. I can see why Norway would want compulsory military service, given its small population. Good luck in the military life then. =P
@ryanwho: If that's the case, doesn't that mean death rates are actually much higher than suggested; due to the large proportion of manpower aren't even in combat situations? And with that said, wouldn't that mean we'd actually have something more like 250,000 actual soldiers in the United States; with the rest being in non-combat roles? =/ That sure sounds like a helluva lot of logistics.
@Laharl: I have a feeling that I'd be the grinning bastard of the platoon thinking that I'm playing some actual FPS. Says much about me. Heh.
@HypoXenophobia: I don't think in my condition, I have any will to change. I think its mainly because of the environment I'm in. Having the luxury of a console, a computer and a TV doesn't really navigate me away from trying to go outside for a change... or hell do some exercises. I'm also pretty spoiled by my grandparents. They literally feed me every 3 hours. If it wasn't for my insane metabolism I'd probably weigh more than 200 pounds by now (by comparisons, I averagely weigh about 128-132 lbs).
@AlwaysAngry: You really think? I'd totally join if that's the case. ;)
@EpicSteve:
Never really heard of Cavalry Scouts. Also it sounds like BT sure does a hell of a job at physically making you fit... and totally agonizing your body for the first few weeks. I think I also don't like to fix things or do paperwork; so being in the combat arms isn't a problem for me. At least it gives me a reason to be fit for me than sitting behind a desk.
Americans freezing their recruitment drives? That's a surprise. I think the British are still having problems finding new recruits; they recruit a bunch overseas because of that problem. Though it might have been solved with the increasing number of the young unemployeed with the economy being a load of crap (probably another reason why I ought to join?).
I do have three specific questions. First, I was wondering on how hard is it to become a airborne infantry (specifically, air assault)? And if so, how do I become one? I figured my likelihood of being blown up by IEDs would drop dramatically if I became a airborne soldier and ride on planes and helicopters where IEDs can't get me for shit; than riding on flimsy convoy vehicles. xD I also have this really big urge to ride on helicopters than being on a road. It also helps that I'm getting over my fears of height. Before I would shit my pants if I was only 20 stories high up in an apartment standing behind a glass window and looking down.
Second, do you get to choose which regiment and or battalion you belong to? Like do they randomly put you in some regiment based on your performance? I assume if I were in the American army, I'd need to have superb performance to be in the 101st Airborne Division.
Third... helmet cameras? Worth it? They allow you to bring them with you right?
Infantry is a job that's most likely taking in new recruits at this time (The Americans are expecting 300-400 Killed in Action this summer). Every job in the military has supply and demand, at certain periods of time certain jobs might be locked out entirely to fill others. For instance, when I signed, Scouts were in high demand and are considered the most life-threatining MOS in the Army. Thus, I got $20,000 just for enlisting. I couldn't tell you what job is in high demand right now.
Yeah, the American Active-Duty Army and National Guard are pretty much full. The government are increasing it's standards and making it more difficult to get in. It's mostly the Army National Guard, however. But they make up about 55% of the force in Afghanistan right now.
Airborne isn't a job, it's a qualification like Sniper, Air Assault, and so on. I'm actually going to Airborne school this June. However, nothing will protect you from IEDs. It doesn't matter what your job or qualifications are. Our American Airborne units are coming home from deployment without doing one combat jump. But you'll ALWAYS be driving somewhere regardless of branch or job, that's why they're a major treat. Since there's no "frontline", combat jumps aren't done too often. It's all about Air Assault now, which is repelling from Helicopters (see "We Were Soldiers", a movie about an Air Cavalry Scout unit).
When I complete Airborne school, I'm not a "Airborne Scout", I'm just a Scout that can jump out of a plane if needed to. In you Army career, you'll eventually get military school opportunities.
You also don't pick your Regiment or Unit, and it's not decided based on performance. At some point in training, units that need more soldiers will make requests. Typically a graduatiing group of 200 soldiers will be split among 3-4 different units. The 101st doesn't carry any weight and isn't anything special, just another regiment like 1st Cav, 3rd ID, or 3rd ACR, that happens to have a kick-ass track record. However, if you perform well while deployed and get perfect scores on Physical Fitness tests, you can apply for the Rangers or Special Forces. But don't worry about that now, that's years away for you.
I don't recommend you buy anything expensive to take into battle, you'll probably look rather silly. Besides, your helmet is for Night Vision. Just take a cheap digital camera like I am.
EDIT: Your're a male, right? Because that would change a lot. And if you join the Army, be prepared for a lot of fuckwits to push their political agenda on you. For some reason, some people don't like us killing terrorists.
@EpicSteve: Aren't the Army National Guards reservists though? I thought American forces haven't really activated their reservists just yet.
Oh I see about qualifications. Why do you want to go into airborne school? Sounds like there's a underlying reason for a qualification that may not see much action put into use. And yeah I know about air assault; though from videos it doesn't seem like they rapelling a whole lot. Not in large fields anyways. Too bad that you'll be driving a bunch, I just hope if I ever join up there will be enough MRAPs around. <.<
I just had the impression that the 101st was one of the elite regiments in the Army, probably because of the unit's history and it being frequently portrayed in media entertainments. *shrugs* I suppose I'm cool with that.
My problem with cheap digital cameras is that... well lets just say that I don't like fumbling with something like that. Picture and video quality always suffer, and they're not very durable. Ever since using those big ass DSLR cameras that professional photographers use, I don't like the idea of going back to crappy pictures. Of course there's really no way out of this with pictures. Might as well bring a digital camera along, but video is still a issue. I've been looking at the VholdR ContourHD 720p ( video review & demo) as a really nice investment for recording videos, which isn't entirely too pricy ($250 according to Amazon) and is mounted on the side of my helmet, which shouldn't interfere with a mounted night vision. I'm kinda that person who likes the opportunity to record or take pictures on certain moments and cherish them; possibly even sharing with some others (thinking about YouTube; but I need to know more about policies and whatnot).
Yep, I am male. Don't let my avatar fool you. =P Hopefully I don't meet too many of the political guys.
Oh. And how badly do you guys treat each other in boot camp? I want to know in general if every other soldier out there is out to get your ass or something. I think things complicate a bit more since I'm not white, either.
"Coast Guard has all the perks of the Navy (sea time, etc, on top of identical BAH and GI Bills) with less shitty looking uniforms and equal pay, and like the fastest advancement in any branch of the military. By far."
I never brought up uniforms, as that's a silly variable to consider when joining the military. The Coast Guard is not the fastest ranking branch. And no, not by far. Completely incorrect.
@ryanwho
said:
"Basic training is based on Marine Basic, a trained monkey could get through Navy Basic."
Obviously you didn't get the point I was making. Most people want basic training to be easy, so I considered it's low difficulty a perk, not a con. Coast Guard training is more difficult, you're correct.
@ryanwho
said:
"Laugh that one off."
Haha?
Also, please don't get personally butt hurt when something bothers you. I didn't attack you personally, nor was my generalization meant to be attacking, but interrogative and informative. If you don't like it or think I'm wrong, say so intelligently by backing up your argument with sources. Because all of my information is based on military.com and my friends who are in the military (spanning over all branches).
Another point, I was intending on joining the Army with a test score of 90, and my top choice was to work in Hawaii with satellites. All my choice. Due to a technicality I couldn't join which I found out the day I was going to be shipped. Deformity in my kneecap :-( This emphasizes the seriousness of the testing. The ASVAB/AFQT will make or break you, and by that I mean it could mean the difference between you sitting cozy in an office on an island, or sitting in ditch with bombs and gunfire popping off every night.
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