I am graduating from uni next year, shall i join the army?

Question

I am a 23yr old female and would be interested in hearing from both male and females who are in the military. This is a major decision, and i wanna hear honest pros and cons!

I am in British, if you're wondering.

Answer 1

DONT BUSH IS TRYING TO GET EVEEYBODY IN THERE AND HES JUST A STUPID IDIOT. EVERYONE WILL DIE BECAUSE OF HIM

Answer 2

If you are still at uni why not speak to/join your OTC and get a better idea of what military life might be like? As a graduate are you looking at going to Sandhurst for officer training? Or do you want to enlist as a private soldier?

By the way, the facts from atpr wild are not very accurate - the pay will be the same for equivalent ranks whether you are army, navy or RAF. Food is better in RAF/Navy? Right, that's the most important thing in choosing a career! ( ATpr Wild seems to have a fixation with food - look at the cons list).
S/he is also talking from the pov of the most junior soldier and with less than 3 years experience has probably only had 1 posting - not really much experience at all.

So, my opinion. What makes you think you might like army life? You must have found something that attracted you to the idea in the first place. If you really do have an interest then go for it. What have you got to lose? The worst thing would be that in 10 years time you are stuck in a dead-end job wishing you had given it a try.
And to all the (civvy) people who think "join the forces = death in Iraq/Afghanistan" - there's a lot more to the job than what you read in the tabloids. Believe it or not, it's not all about killing people!
As a female who was British Army for 22 years I enjoyed my time and can honestly say I wouldn't change a thing.
Pros: training & qualifications directly transferrable to civvy street,
good pension, high level of disposable income + 6 weeks leave means good holidays and travel opportunities. New posting every 3 or 4 years means variety.
Cons: yes, you will probably do at least one operational tour depending on how long you serve. But you will be trained for it and ultimately you shouldn't join up if you don't accept this. (This wasn't actually a 'con' for me - I enjoyed my op tours).

Answer 3

Okay here goes. First I going to say join the Air Force, most enlisted wish they did that anyway.....there is a reason y u never see their commercials anymore.

Military in general:
Pros:
No matter what goes wrong u will always have:
Housing, Utilities, and Food, even if u mess up.
You go places people wish they could.....(except for the middle east)
There are more males then females, so finding a mate or just bouncing around is no problem.
U get paid to get a house
U can't get fired
Friends thru and from combat (unless ur Air Force)

Cons:
U can't quit
Depending on the branch, u can't exactly choose ur MOS
Long deployments 4 months (AF) to 1 yr (Army)
Gear that messes with ur joints
Medical.....
Sniper, IED, basically ur life
......and trusting the person beside u with ur life

Marines: (that i am so most indepth)
6-8 month deployments
Ur a rifleman first, cook/engineer/A/C & Heater Specialist second (so no getting taken hostage with a full 50 cal)
2 yrs in Japan
mainly get stationed in Camp Pendleton (near San Diego) or Camp Lejune (near Jacksonville)
Travel the world in a MEU for 6 months
Chose ur MOS branch but not ur MOS

Army:
Pay Grade compared to Marines: Less work for more pay
Bases all over including Germany
1 yr deployments
Better gear (DoD sends them 33 cents of every dollar, Marines get 8 cents out of the 33 cents the Navy gets)

Navy:
Not directly in harms way
Travel the world
Friendlier personnel
Good cooks

Air Force:
Pampered is all I got.

But no matter what branch u do, everyone agrees that u should be an officer, because everything is better. OCS school can be done whenever, not just after u enlisted but before, meaning ur never have to pick up trash (police call), or field day. Plus u get twice the money a Private gets with the same experience.

This is incomplete, but u already knew that. It better then people telling u what u already know (see above)

Answer 4

I was in the Army for 9 years. It's a great life if you decide on the right Regiment or Corps. What do you want to do? It's no life for married people in the main because the current overstretch means you will be on tours more often than in the past. The money, given that you are on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week and there's no overtime, is not that good. I left because of the financial strain and joined the police. Great career for a graduate.

Answer 5

Well, the problem you run into is that as a college graduate you are qualified to be an officer, however, there is no way to just walk in as an officer without ROTC or West Point graduation. You would have to enlist then go to Officer Candidate School to become an officer, but that enlisted time, with your education, would likely be very frustrating for you. If you want to do that, that's fine but it's sort of step back and a pretty long road to get into the officer's corps and hell of a lot of work and training, and not easy stuff at all. You might consider a career with the federal government or the Department of the Army if you feel you would like to serve the country, again, unless you just like this idea of joining the Army. Feel free to email me if you would like.

Answer 6

In the end it all comes down to you, though having served in the British Army now for getting on for 3 years, I would say forget the Army and join RAF or Navy, heres alittle why: -

*Pros for RAF / Navy: -
1. Better food,
2. Alot better pay,
3. When on tour, as army youll stay either in barracks or a crap 2/3 star hotels if that, however those RAF b*****s stay in top hotels, yes I'm talking 5*, (with this I'll not include what some infantry regiments stay under (yes I do mean UNDER not IN) due to you being female and so unable to join them),
4. Better accomodation (though the Army is catching up, we are still about 8+ years behind anything either of the other two Forces have),
5. Better postings / Tours

*Pros for H.M.Forces in general: -
1. It's true what they say, the mates you make are some of the best you can have,
2. You can't be fired, lol, so you've got a job for life,
3. They train you, so you'll leave with yet other qualifications,
4. You'll always have a roof over your head.

*Cons for H.M.Forces: -
1. May as well mention it first seen as everyone thinks they know what they're talking about yet really don't have a clue. YES you do have a chance of going over to Iraq, Afghanistan and all the rest of the ...nice.... places and YES there is a chance you could could die, yet answer me this, is there not a chance you could walk outside tomorow and be hit by a bus or car? look at our KIA stats then compare the examples,
2. Due to the Army and I'm guessing the RAF and Navy have done the same, changing to Pay as you Dine, you now only pay for what you eat, might sound great at first but I'll explain, the money originally taken off you before you were paid to pay for your food for that month is now given to you and you decide whether or not to put it on your "Pay as you Dine" card (this is like a debit card / meal card) however if you do not put enough money on the card and don't watch what you spend (like me) you could end up without the money to feed yourself, this can be sorted by speaking to your SSM (Squadron Seargent Major) who then gives you a 50 top up, this is taken off the following months wage (The Pay as you Dine dosn't count by the way if you are serving in Northern Ireland (last time I checked) or on exercise / tour / OP tour),
3. You'll not always get what you want, when I say this I mean, postings wise aswell as many other things, I spent my 17th birthday in a shell scrape (great eh) and my 18th freezing my balls off again in some training area running around after helicopters (otherwise known as "cabs") yet my 19th was spent parachuting and freefalling so you can see what I mean 2 crap birthdays for 1 brilliant one,
4. Throughout the Forces history theres been a saying "its 80% crap, 20% good, but that 20% is the best you'll ever get anywhere and thats what keeps you going"

But like I said in the end its up to you, we / I can only give advice and tell you my own experiences and though many say "Go speak to the forces careers advisors", I suggest you dont until you've thought it through and got an idea of what your wanting to do trade wise, this is due to the advisor will push you into doing something that the Forces need the most, when infact you can do much much better.

If you want/need anymore advise then I'm happy to help, just send an email to [e-mail]

Answer 7

Well if you go in as an officer I think it would be very rewarding. The advantages is you will be handed lots of responsibility for your age. It will challenge you to grow up fast. You'll do many things most civilians only dream of doing and at the same time get paid to do fun things. Then you will know that you have served your country and play a direct part in keeping ole' glory waving.
In the military I have made the best friends that I'll ever have.

Cons:
You essentially become the property of the US government. They can tell you where to go, when to go and what to do. Sometimes you will be required to obey orders from people that are pig stupid. But you must obey!

PWL
US Army 1986-1991
VaNG 1991-1993

Answer 8

It's a big decision, once you sign up there's no going back. I finished my degree just over a year ago and decided against signing up properly, instead I signed up to the TA for three years - this way I get to have a peek at army life as well as enjoying the life of a civvy. Who knows if I'll take the plundge one day...

Answer 9

I did 10 years in the Army and although it's not for every one I had a great time.

Don't go to the recruiting office whatever you do. The people in there are paid by regiments to recruit for them and they will tell all kinds of crap just to get you to join.

You need to know if you want to be a Whitehall pen pusher or a hands on in the field type. Once you know this then go to your local TA and speak to them

Answer 10

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
erm.
i suppose it depends on which part u go into.
i have had several mates in the army
and a beautiful girl i used to know from years ago too.
part of me feels like crying with worry for her.
i don't know what she does.
all i know is that if my daughter was in the army
i would probably feel exactly the same.
bloody worried.
i think u know whether it is in ur heart to join. i can help u on this one. the only person who can make ur mind up is u.
if u do, u can be assured i and many others would be proud of u and there would always be a place for u in my heart.

Answer 11

Well, the British Army could use some good officers. Since all British men are tossers, I suppose they'll have to rely on the females. Good luck.