Army, Navy, Marine, AF etc. can you answer me some questions?

[TwoJ's]

I was reading a thread over on e30tech about a kid who scored a 31 on the ASVAB and would not listen to people telling him to retake it. That is completely irrelevant to my questions, but it got me thinking.

I recently graduated with a BS in mechanical engineering, and I am curious about what kind of opportunities I might have in the armed forces. I take tests quite well and I think I could catch the attention of whomever looks at those aptitude scores.

What I'm wondering is, what kind of opportunities are available to me? What kind of pay would I be looking at when I enlist? Does pay stay the same for the four years or so that I would commit to? I'm no waffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffles, but I would like a job that involves less risk than infantry. I would also like something that would be interesting, challenging and that would provide me with skills on top of my degree that would help me out as a citizen once my obligation is fulfilled. I'm pretty open as far as what I would be doing, but something with at least a little bit of relation to engineering would be good. And I would love to be a pilot, but my gut tells me that they are likely looking for people with degrees in aviation, or at least someone with some flying experience.

It may seem strange to be asking this on a car forum, but I have seem quite a few veterans or current service members post here, and I thought I should listen to what they have to say before I go listen to a sales pitch from a recruiter. From my experience right when I finished high school, they are basically full of shit.

So I'm a noob. I don't know what kind of jobs there are, what the ranks are, where I would be placed since I have a degree and what types of jobs are specific to each branch. So please, educate me.

Thanks in advance.

[Danny]

If you go in, you'll be an officer. Cake job with great pay.

[E30Kaiser]

If you are looking for decent pay I would look into OCS since you already have a BS. I don't have to many of the answers you are looking for since I am not in the military, but I have looked at it as an option and even took the ASVAB. It is the easiest test in the world, my friend got a 33 or something on it and is a meteorologist in Korea now, after spending a little bit of time as a truck driver. I made a 96 I want to say on it in my Junior year of highschool, but since I am just about done with college if I do go into the military it will probably be after OCS as an officer.

[decay]

If you go in, you could be an officer. Cake job with great pay.

fixed. having a degree does not mean you automatically get routed to officer. it just gives you the option.

there's a lot more to correct than that, and i'm pretty sure that's why OP was asking for advice from people with service time...

first, the pay thing- here is the current pay scale for officers:

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/fy2010paycharts/a/basicpayoff.htm

keep in mind if you stay in 4 years, you will never get past O2. promotion for officers is automatic up to O3, you get your O2 at 2 years and your O3 at 4. the upside is if you own property (or can play the game right) you can collect BAH (housing allowance) for the zipcode of your home of record. BAH for washington is all right, but not great- i collected los angeles BAH while i was overseas and it almost doubled my paycheck.

here are the downsides to going officer-

if you only stay in for 4 years, you are only going to be a 2nd/1st lieutenant. you might as well have a "noob" patch on your chest. everyone E5 and above is going to know you have less time in than they do, and they will absolutely treat you that way behind your back, and sometimes to your face if they think you don't have the balls to do anything about it.

as an officer, you don't get to pick what kind of unit you command. you could wind up running around mosul/kandahar with a platoon of infantry guys. if that doesn't happen, you _will_ be middle management... meetings and paperwork. don't think the fact that you have a degree in engineering will mean you get to turn a wrench on anything, because your E7 platoon leader will say "excuse me sir, but please back off and let my troops do their job".

if you stay in for 8+ years, prove yourself worthy of your O4... yeah, -then- it's a cake job with good pay. it does not matter what route you take- your first 4 years in the military are going to suck somehow. pick your flavor.

[TwoJ's]

Thanks for the experienced advice. I do own a house here, so what would I be looking at for BAH? Would they cover my $1350 mortgage on top of my pay check? If that pay scale you posted is as good as it's going to get, that would immediately turn me off. I would need to earn at least $50k to go this route. And from what you posted, "military basic pay charts" makes me think pay is the same from Army to Navy to AF... is this a safe assumption?

DK, if you were in my position, what would you advise me to do from the basic info I've given you?

[decay]

Thanks for the experienced advice. I do own a house here, so what would I be looking at for BAH? Would they cover my $1350 mortgage on top of my pay check? If that pay scale you posted is as good as it's going to get, that would immediately turn me off. I would need to earn at least $50k to go this route. And from what you posted, "military basic pay charts" makes me think pay is the same from Army to Navy to AF... is this a safe assumption?

DK, if you were in my position, what would you advise me to do from the basic info I've given you?

BAH lookup is here:

http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/perdiem/bah.html

you would either be starting out as E-4 or O-1 (at least in the army- if you decide to go enlisted in another branch, you might not get E4, i don't know, but BAH is the same from E1 thru E4).
how much your mortgage costs you does not play into it- it is based on the zip code your house is in and your pay grade.

yes, pay grades are the same no matter what branch you are in. keep in mind if you are either stationed or deployed anywhere outside of the US, you are tax-free. you can request a duty station (i hear germany and korea are fun if you're single), but that doesn't mean you'll get it; what the military needs comes first.

my honest advice? talk to some of the AF guys- i know there's a few here on r3v, and they'll know more about how stuff works in their camp. but from what i've seen, enlisted or officer, they have it better than anyone else in terms of "daily suck". if i had it to do over again, i'd go AF door-gunner rather than army combat engineer, in a heartbeat.

[TwoJ's]

Any of you AF guys are to chime in? I'm curious about what is required to have to ability to become a pilot either in the AF or Navy.

[CreamE30]

Subscribed.

I'd really like to get into federal law enforcement in the later years and I'm seriously considering military as my next move after college. I took an ASVAB a while ago at our local marines recruiter station but I can't remember what I got.

[87e30]

Any of you AF guys are to chime in? I'm curious about what is required to have to ability to become a pilot either in the AF or Navy.

My friends are doing ROTC right now, going into their third year. Both looking to become pilots, one navy and one air force.

They are currently flying and building up flight hours and taking some lessons.

Both also say it's not promised that they will become pilots, they look at grades and how you stack up against everyone else.

I'm fairly certain that if you wanted to be a pilot you're going to be behind a few years. Not sure, though.

[RwMystery]

You have to be selected to be a pilot for AF. Cant be color blind. Cant have glasses or something along those lines, unless you get it fixed (Lasik), also a 4 year degree. There's more to it I'm just noting the jist of it.

[RwMystery]

Subscribed.

I'd really like to get into federal law enforcement in the later years and I'm seriously considering military as my next move after college. I took an ASVAB a while ago at our local marines recruiter station but I can't remember what I got.

You dont need to be a marine to get into federal law enforcement. Any military background is accepted. I know a bunch of people who were AF cops and Army cops who became SS (not KGB ;) ).

[hoveringuy]

Any of you AF guys are to chime in? I'm curious about what is required to have to ability to become a pilot either in the AF or Navy.

I had a girlfriend who was a Theater major that got selected for Navy pilot training. She was dumb as a box of rocks (but had great tits).

Only reason she didn't get her wings is that is that... she couldn't fly for shit.

There's plenty of people with normal academic backgrounds in Navy and Air Force jets. Go to a recruiter and tell them you want to fly. Worst that can happen is you get offered OCS and you say "no".

[Ral]

go through OCS- my former roommate went to OCS with a pilot contract already in hand. No idea how you go about getting that though- I went through a different commissioning source.

PM myself, FreedS4 (air force pilot training with us Navy scrubs) and I think there's one or two more who are Navigators in the AF.

Also, if you're cut out for it, check out Marine air. They have some cool toys and do some cool stuff.

[delfin]

I'm an E-3 in the Air Force and I'll tell you that if you're going to join, join the AF. From what I've seen, we have it much better off than the other branches. If you're looking to make a career out of the military then I'd definitely go officer. If you're looking to do a quick 4 and get out then enlisted is what you want to do. You'll have all the same benefits either way. If you enlisted you'd come in as an E-3; AF doesn't give out E-4. My job is RF transmissions systems so it's pretty technical and I've had a really good experience in the military so far. If I stay in longer than my 4 year commitment I'm definitely going to be an officer. By the way, you get much more respect as an officer if you're prior enlisted.

[RwMystery]

I'm an E-3 in the Air Force and I'll tell you that if you're going to join, join the AF. From what I've seen, we have it much better off than the other branches. If you're looking to make a career out of the military then I'd definitely go officer. If you're looking to do a quick 4 and get out then enlisted is what you want to do. You'll have all the same benefits either way. If you enlisted you'd come in as an E-3; AF doesn't give out E-4. My job is RF transmissions systems so it's pretty technical and I've had a really good experience in the military so far. If I stay in longer than my 4 year commitment I'm definitely going to be an officer. By the way, you get much more respect as an officer if you're prior enlisted.

+1 on the prior enlistment.. a lot of the people who go straight in as officer are usually dicks and don't know the ropes. Note: I said a lot, not all.