can anyone tell me.................................?

Question

about their experience in the military??? any positive or negative stories you want to share. i'm looking forward to joining. just wondering. (i'm a bit nervous but even more excited about it!!!)

Answer 1

Well, while I was in the Navy I hated it, but for some reason every time I tell stories it comes out as the greatest experience of my life.

Ultimately you get whatever you put into it. I lost my rating (that's an MOS in other military branches) due to administative fault and I thought I would hate going to sea as a non rated seaman. I got off lucky I guess because my first ship was very old school. The higher ups expected you to work hard and train hard, and if you did you got a LOT of respect for it. Even before I became a petty officer (that's a non-com in other branches) I quickly became a leading seaman. I realized that being without a rate did not mean I was stuck with mopping and painting, and that not having a rate meant I could study several ratings and work with several divisions. When it came time to test for advancement I had several lieutenants taking me out for beers in order to convince me to work for their divisions.

A lot of people would say that N.A.V.Y. stands for "Never Again Volunteer Yourself" but I figured out pretty quick, the more you volunteer, the less work you end up doing. You keep getting more important jobs until finally, for me, I became the administrative assistant for the Master Chief. That job mostly entailed being an on call secretary, and spending most of the day doing nothing.

Like I said, you get what you give, and the military machine pretty much knows how to work with what it's got. Some guys never did more than they wanted and they spent a lot of time doing the crap jobs. I knew one guy who was a cook for 18 years and only an E-4. He'd gotten nearly all the training offered and was a serious gourmet chef so he cooked especially for the officers. I found out he never advanced because he made a fortune betting on the horses. Two car garage, 5 bedroom house, a different girlfriend each month. He didn't need the navy but he liked to travel so that's what he was in for.

Training is the funnest thing (in the Navy at least) and when you know your stuff you perform in rating Olympics. The trainers are real people who have directives they must follow for safety, but they like to have fun just like anyone else. We went through a "wet trainer" which is three compartments built like a ship with water gushing in and we have to stop it. The investigator, a sort of recon guy goes in and calls out what we need to fix the problem. The repair team is suiting up and getting equipment and the instructor stops us and says to the radio "did not copy that, repeat your last?". Yeah, he does that about four times while this poor joker is getting wet. The rest of us laugh, until we realize we're going into compartments with about a 4 foot water level.

I had fun. If you start out understanding there is a reason for EVERYTHING then you can have an easy time... That leaves me with one more Basic Training story.

My company was the best. We got all the awards and were ready to accept the "Admirals White" for best company. Sure we worked hard for it, and we played because we pretty much could do no wrong. One of our CC's was already with his next company, a FEMALE company and the other was a great guy whose voice squeeked whenever he was making a joke.
We were returning from chow and I was doing my chicken cadence. I made the mistake of telling another commander I was the best so he made me come up with a new cadence every day. That day I squaked like a chicken. Our CC met us at the barracks, screaming at us to get into line. We got into line and he's bawling us out, but we haven't figured out what for. He yells at us to shove our bunks and lockers up against the wall while he's tearing off our bedsheets and stomping around. He tells us there's an orange flag (which means too hot for PT) so he can't work us, but by God he's gonna kill us for what we did today. He tells us to pour our water canteens over our heads and starts us on pushups. Suddenly he squeeks "I can't hear yah!". Oh yeah. So we groan, and our arms shake, and we play it out, yelling to our partners "Don't let the b@st@rd get ya!". Our watchman calls out "Female on Deck!" and in comes our other CC with his squad leaders from his new company asking what wen't wrong, these were his best men! He goes down the line and we are making up the stupidest answers like shoes untied, didn't finish chow, missteped in formation, and one guy even rolled his eyes back and just plain passed out. These girls were terrified.

Have fun!

Answer 2

I've been in the Navy for about two years, and it really depends on what you want out of it, what you're willing to put into it, and how much B.S. you can take from a single organization. At times it's great (fleet week, foreign ports, etc.), at times it sucks (being underway all the time, never seeing family), there are benefits (steady paycheck, retirement if you stay in), and there are negatives (you can't get out even if you want to, unless you do something dumb that screws up the rest of your life). It depends on your command, the people you work with, and what you're hoping for.

The military does a lot of things that don't make sense. For instance, the other day I had to fill out a form about BAH (housing allowance) because we're going on deployment and all the rules change.... I don't get BAH (I don't rank high enough), but I still had to fill it out. Stupid things happen, like my buddy who is about to transfer... Admin lost his service record. Sometimes you just have to stay at work after the job is done for the day, just because it's not 1600 yet. And I went to school for 8 months to learn how to do my job, got to the boat and my job had nothing to do with what I had learned.

The military has helped my time management skills immensely. I've disciplined myself a lot better (I used to be pretty lazy). I'm a lot more confident, and I've learned a lot. But I'm dying to get out and go to school. I don't feel that my job (cryptology) presents any new challenges for me; I'm bored with it, and there's only so much stupidity I can put up with. The real world may be no less stupid, but at least my boss will work with me (or I can quit and find a new one).

In all, I wish I could get out, but if I had the chance to go back in time, I would still join. It's been a good step in the right direction in my life. But it's definitely not going to be my career.

Answer 3

my cousin had several of her girlfriends join the military, they all ended up pregnant, fairly soon after joining. My experience in a psuedo military school was a lot of bull***t from a bunch of mostly incompetent idiots, i cant imagine four years would be any better than the four months i went thru.

Answer 4

Basic training is fun when you're not sitting around waiting to do something. Just join the Navy or Air Force; they take care of their people the best.

Answer 5

Way too many good times to list on here. I even had fun in basic training. Go in with a good attitude, that will carry you a long way. I have 2 sisters and myself that are prior Air Force and currently have a niece in the AF in Germany. You make it what you want it to be. Have fun.

Answer 6

actually my brothers girlfriend is handicapped for life from a broken back that was caused by a drill sargeant, and if you think you can sue them or try to get any pain or suffering, remember you sign a contract when you go into the military, they OWN you. I don't want to discourage you but watch your back...seriously

Answer 7

DO NOT JOIN THE MILITARY! YOU WOULD BE MAKING A HUGE MISTAKE!

No, I have never been in the military, but I have some advice. Check out http://war.onlyoneworld.net.

Answer 8

Remember, it's a very structured environment, worse than anything you have experienced with your parents. You are basically a slave for the term of your enlistment, and they will do what they want with yiou - The catch phrase for everything is "Good of the service", for jobs, assignments, stations, deployments, etc.

Answer 9

I served within the Royal Air Force in a medical unit. I thouroughly enjoyed my time in the forces, it instills personal discipline increase your moral and confidence. I was even lucky enough to fight in the first Gulf War. Go for it, you will love it.

Answer 10

Basic training was ok. just stand up straight, shut up, and do what youre told. yes the instructor yells a lot, but thats because he has to get up at 0300 and deal with morons all day.