Current Army, navy, etc Life?

Question

Can anyone who is currently in the military tell me how thier life is like and how is it to get deployed to iraq or afganistan? i dont want a bunch of sugar coated recruiter bull

Answer 1

The military is like any job. You have your good days and bad days.

Deployments are the same. It sucks being away from home, but I had good and bad days in Iraq, Africa, Kuwait, Bosnia and Turkey.

A lot about the deployment will depend on your MOS. If your in a support MOS that doesnt leave a FOB (base), it will be boring overall. If you go into a MOS that leaves the FOB, then things will be slow, and then speed up suddenly, and then slow again.

Life back at a base in the US or other countries is the like a normal job except when you are in the field. You do PT in the morning, then work 9am to about 4:30pm.

I am Army, but I did have a tour on a Navy ship as well. Being on a ship is interesting, but does get old fast (atleast for me, but I didnt join the Army to be on a ship). You have a daily routine you do. You rarely leave the ship, so you get a "Ground Hog Day" effect. You get port call every so often which is nice.

Overall, you get do things nobody else does. You dont just watch the news on TV, you are that news, even if it is just a small part. Being in the military is about bringing your skills to help the team. That team then tries to make a difference somewhere. Sometimes that progress is slow. Other times its too fast, but in the end, your not the one on the sideline.

And for the record... the Army experimented with stress cards... it failed and we dont use them anymore.

Answer 2

I have been active duty Air Force for two years in November and I have to say that this life is definitely not for everyone. The basic is not as bad as everyone says, especially since the Army is making it a little easier (i.e. stress cards, push up pads etc.) but the Air Force is getting harder and was elongated. I know that the Navy basic is no cake walk either and the Marines...well they are the Marines. However, after you are in basic training you go to a technical school to learn your job. The lengths vary but the common point is that you are pretty much still in training considered still a trainee and still treated like one. For most, especially if you have been on your own before the military, it is like being treated like a child again. Luckily, for 95% of the jobs the tech schools are not longer than 6 months long. I would recommend asking the recruiter exactly how long you will be in training TOTAL! I joined as a linguist and thought a year max. However, I got the language that gets the longest training period and am still in training but will finally graduate next week and will join the real Air Force. (which by the way is completely different than training). I dont know about being deployed because I cant be deployed because of my job but I will tell you from the point of view of someone who has a loved one deployed: it sucks! Long distance phone calls, weeks to get letters and hoping you dont get a call saying they are dead. Lots of lonely nights and lots of things bring back memories of when they were here. I would definitely recommend thinking very long and hard if this is right for you. Pretty much every moment of your life is controlled or under guidelines. This is a big decision.

Answer 3

I was in Iraq it wasn't fun I will give you that. During the summer months it is hot and with the gear you have on add a few more degrees. Think our hottest day was 120 degrees. I work in avaition though so we have a/c vans we work out of.
Guard duty is a constant thing. We work 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week.
When we first got there no PX, no running water, no electricity in the barrack, and we had to burn our crap.
Today most places are built up nice having gyms, port a potties, running water and A/C in the buildings. It depends where you go and what branch you are with.
It was a hard year but looking back I would do it again in a heartbeat. It brought my unit much closer and made me appreciate what I have here. Freedom.