Thinking about enlisting.

[turtle_sox]

Hi everyone,
I posted this in the recruiting thread, but there were no takers so here is take two.
I am a senior in high school graduating in december. I have started been looking into my education following graduation, and the Army MOS 68W caught my eye. I have been interested in the military for quite some time, and i was wondering if anyone could tell me more about it. I have been talking to a current medic, but he is deploying today and all i have figured out is it's 4 mo. training after basic.

With what I have gathered online, I will eventually be able to make the switch from combat to flight medic, and when i get that opportunity I will prolly take it.... but in the mean time. What is the training like, what do you do after training (like what is required in you job)..... I would like to know as much as I can before I start trying to talk to a recruiter and getting information that way.

Thanks in advance :)

[Battleshort]

Hi TS,

I missed ya in the recruiting thread.

Have you thought of Navy Corpsman?

[MACHINE666]

Turtle I will say this just once.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DON'T DO IT.

I've been in the Air Force almost 20 years and for almost half of that I've been exposed to the Army and how they 'think' - let's just say you're too smart for them from what I've read and you will regret the decision in doing so if you choose.

But...in that same breath, it is a choice that you would make and will have to live with the consequences either way. Besides isn't your boyfriend Air Force or something? Not that AF would be a choice worth making either.....seriously - go to college or join the Peace Corps but definitely not the military.

[Master Tanker]

Turtle, I have been in the USAF for 4 years (SSGT). But I had a well thought after technical job (jet engine mechanic). After 4 years I decided to get out and go College+ROTC. BUT NOT AFROTC, which was a good decision because in the USAF they have a very distinct class system: First the pilots and then after a gap the remainder on flight status and then a long gap with all the rest in descending order. This is not so in the Army, especially if you choose combat arms and get into a well led unit (no bum outfit). There (Army) everyone fights as a team, same misery, sweat and danger for all. I spent 16 years in the Army and retired as a Major (the 4 years USAF counted also). Thus, don't go USAF if you can't make pilot.

[CVal]

Hey Battleshort~~ good point. Turtle ~~ listen to him!

[turtle_sox]

To start, whether or not I enlist I will be medical, that much I know for sure. It is what I love and I never get bored learning something new about the human body.

Battle: I have not thought much into being in the Navy. I have never heard much about it good or bad, and when I tried to look up MOS for the Navy I couldn't find anything.... maybe I am just a little computer retarded, who knows.

Mac: the guy I am talking to is in the Air Force (yeah, we were dating. for the whole story see the ex-gf thread) and he has done his part of recruiting. I have looked into the AF extensively talked to people about their jobs and what they liked/disliked, and so forth.... but to have the job I would be really happy with I would have to finish college and be certified as an RN.... I don't mind doing that if that is what it comes down to, but I am honestly tired of the monotony of it all, and yeah I know that just b/c I am in the military I wont be done with school, but I will see the point in going through it all, if that makes sense...

[CVal]

TS ~ for info about the Navy, go to Navy.com, then click on careers and jobs then scroll down to medical and dental.

[turtle_sox]

thank you C-Val :)

[Proud Mom]

Army/Navy question...anyone help this person?


http://www.militarytimes.com/forums/showthread.php?p=259935#post259935

Thanks guys!!!!

[Battleshort]

Battle: I have not thought much into being in the Navy. I have never heard much about it good or bad, and when I tried to look up MOS for the Navy I couldn't find anything.... maybe I am just a little computer retarded, who knows.


That's cause we call it NEC. (Naval Enlisted Classification)

Google Hospitalcorpsman NEC.

The top of the line would to be an Independent Duty Corpsman (IDC).

[turtle_sox]

why cant all the branches call it the same thing????
I mean, do we really need to feel soooo special we create our own accronyms that mean the same thing?

and thanks BS, I found it with C-Val's help the other day :)

[silkywilky]

To start, whether or not I enlist I will be medical, that much I know for sure. It is what I love and I never get bored learning something new about the human body.

Battle: I have not thought much into being in the Navy. I have never heard much about it good or bad, and when I tried to look up MOS for the Navy I couldn't find anything.... maybe I am just a little computer retarded, who knows.

Mac: the guy I am talking to is in the Air Force (yeah, we were dating. for the whole story see the ex-gf thread) and he has done his part of recruiting. I have looked into the AF extensively talked to people about their jobs and what they liked/disliked, and so forth.... but to have the job I would be really happy with I would have to finish college and be certified as an RN.... I don't mind doing that if that is what it comes down to, but I am honestly tired of the monotony of it all, and yeah I know that just b/c I am in the military I wont be done with school, but I will see the point in going through it all, if that makes sense...

Before i write anything here, want to add that what ever you take from these forms, always take with a grain of salt. Every branch has its ups and downs, pluses and minuses. I have served for 7 years in the army, along side with medics due to my deployments to Iraq. You need to really look into the different branches, in my opinon, the better choice would be Air Force simply because compared to the army, the air force gets better living accomdations and better bases,i.e like Japan for example. You might not be looking tot ravel but if you are, the air force has a lot more bases stateside and worldwide. On the other hand, if you do decide to come into the army, I can give you some details as to what to expect since I have worked with some of them. I don't know about the schooling other than that you will go to train at t. Sam Houston in San Antonio which is a pretty nice city. If you are seriously looking to be a medic in the army, the next question is weather you are ready and willing to train hard and side by side with the infantry, engineers and other comba related MOS's. As a medic you can get assigned to any unit, combat arms unit or a combat suport or combat service support unit. I don't know if you will have much say in just which unit you get assigned to, other than the base itself. Some combat arms un its, and I say some, expect their medics to really really know their stuff. These units train hard and spend a lot of time in the field, if the unit goes then you go of course. Now some units will just have you standing by of course waiting to give IV's, medic assitance or what not whereas other units will also require the medic to conduct training with the unit. For example, my last unit, when there was a ruck march, the medics were expected to don a ruck and march along side the rest of the soldiers for however long ther were marching for.

I'm not trying to scare you, don't get me wrong nor am I trying to suggest that a medic is not the way to go. I have a lot of respect for the medics, not so much the officers in that field but the enlisted medics, and one of them helped save the life of a friend during my first deployment. You will also be having to deal with a lot of idiots who just to get out of training or somethong of that nature will come to you and try to file false complaints of this or that hurting.

Deciding to become a medic will give you a lot of opportunities and expierence that can not be beat.

I hope this has helped you and if you have questions let me know. I will try and see if i can give you a honest answer. Most of what I wrote here was based on expierences I've had, and not biased info.

[turtle_sox]

Thanks for your input Silkywilky...
Since I have posted this, I have been talking to the recruiters and conducting more research on my own, and have in the end decided to go with the Marines.
I know there are no medical fields, but the more I started thinking about it, it was more of a job I was looking to for the knowledge of job security and not so much one that I really had a deep interest in doing.

[silkywilky]

Well, hope for the best for you and glad to hear you found what you were looking for. Keep your head up and God bless you on your journeys.

[turtle_sox]

thank you very much :)