I decided to join the Army not to long ago. I've always planned on joining eventually, but with today's economy where I am (there are no jobs anywhere around me unless you have a BS/BA in something, even then you don't have much chance), I decided to speed things up a few weeks ago.
I talked to a recruiter, decided to join the Army Reserves, my idea was, work one weekend a month, and be able to stay home with my wife and kids while working at a local job as well with the education I was going to get in BCT.
Ended up smoking the ASVAB (80 on the main score with my specialties all over 113, which is VERY VERY good). Was guaranteed to be able to get almost any job in the area with my scores. I chose 25S, which is Satellite Operations, a communication field. I was going to be stationed in MacDill AFB in Tampa, Fl which isn't that far. I looked a little more into the place where I was going to be working. My unit was going to be Airborne Rangers, but not just any Airborne Ranger unit, this was a unit under direct command of USSOCOM (US Special Operations Command), they are one of the only 2 unites in the US Army that are authorized to go out and buy their own equipment on the military's budget if they see something better than what is issued.
Well got really into it and was checking some more stuff out. My BCT was going to be the standard 9 weeks and 4 days and was going to be at Fort Jackson, SC. My AIT was 26 weeks and 1 day at Fort Gordon in GA. I would be gone for almost 36 weeks. My ship date was August 31st.
Now my wife is due to have a child on July 1st. I got to thinking about if I wanted to be gone that long. I would be back just in time for his first birthday, barely. After a few mess ups and a few other stuff we decided to switch to active for the better benefits and the on base housing.
My recruiter tried to find the same job but I found one I liked more, one I had been wanting for a while too. 13M which is MLRS/HIMARS operations. This job is Rocket Artillery. Here is an MLRS for those who don't know.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/52/MLRS_missile_launcher.jpg
I got the job and signed on. I'm officially a US Army Soldier Ranked E2. I ship out the same day as the previous job (August 31st). Tomorrow night I'm going for Future Soldier training which should get me to E3 (Private First Class) before I even ship.
If I'm lucky I'll be able to graduate BCT as an E4 but most likely I'll be leaving AIT as E4.
I talked to a recruiter, decided to join the Army Reserves, my idea was, work one weekend a month, and be able to stay home with my wife and kids while working at a local job as well with the education I was going to get in BCT.
Ended up smoking the ASVAB (80 on the main score with my specialties all over 113, which is VERY VERY good). Was guaranteed to be able to get almost any job in the area with my scores. I chose 25S, which is Satellite Operations, a communication field. I was going to be stationed in MacDill AFB in Tampa, Fl which isn't that far. I looked a little more into the place where I was going to be working. My unit was going to be Airborne Rangers, but not just any Airborne Ranger unit, this was a unit under direct command of USSOCOM (US Special Operations Command), they are one of the only 2 unites in the US Army that are authorized to go out and buy their own equipment on the military's budget if they see something better than what is issued.
Well got really into it and was checking some more stuff out. My BCT was going to be the standard 9 weeks and 4 days and was going to be at Fort Jackson, SC. My AIT was 26 weeks and 1 day at Fort Gordon in GA. I would be gone for almost 36 weeks. My ship date was August 31st.
Now my wife is due to have a child on July 1st. I got to thinking about if I wanted to be gone that long. I would be back just in time for his first birthday, barely. After a few mess ups and a few other stuff we decided to switch to active for the better benefits and the on base housing.
My recruiter tried to find the same job but I found one I liked more, one I had been wanting for a while too. 13M which is MLRS/HIMARS operations. This job is Rocket Artillery. Here is an MLRS for those who don't know.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/52/MLRS_missile_launcher.jpg
I got the job and signed on. I'm officially a US Army Soldier Ranked E2. I ship out the same day as the previous job (August 31st). Tomorrow night I'm going for Future Soldier training which should get me to E3 (Private First Class) before I even ship.
If I'm lucky I'll be able to graduate BCT as an E4 but most likely I'll be leaving AIT as E4.
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