I was a contractor at Wright-PAT AFB in Ohio for 3 years and until the last year I was there, the only PT I saw was riding a bike for test purposes. While I spent 4 years on Active Duty for the Navy I did the 1.5 Mile Run, and then the sit-ups and Push-ups. The Army does a 2 mile run but the push ups and situps were the same. Plus basic for the Army and Navy is 9 weeks, and the AF is 6 weeks. The Marines are 13 weeks, they do a 3 mile run and do situps but instead of pushups for their PT test they do pull ups.
I don't know but it's been said, Air Force wings are made of lead. I don't know but I've been told, Navy wings are made of gold. Yeah, Air Force guys have it easier. They don't have to move around as much. I've heard of guys retiring after serving on only a couple of different bases. In the Navy, pretty much you're in a different locale every two years...three years if you're married.
What was your rate in the Navy? I was an AE3 and stayed at NAS Glenview the whole time after Basic in San Diego and NATTC Millington. Does that date me or what?
Yeah, and I'm not trying to take anything away from my Air Force buddy either. I have buddies who have joined the Marines and stuff and think of the Navy guys and Air Force guys a bit less then they do their own. But I still think it's a noble thing when guys join the armed forces. Any armed forces.
Amen to that!! What seperates our Military from the rest of the World is that it is an all Vol. force. Think about that, every man and women in Uniform today did so of their own volition. The reasons for joining are different, but no one forced them to sign up. Also, life in the Military isn't for everyone. It isn't all fun and games, there is work that has to be done. The pay is not very good if you are enlisted. In fact you will be below the poverty line. But you will have a place to live, food to eat 3 times a day and you will learn a job skill or 2 or 3 or more.
Most definitely. I know I could never do it and I'm amazed how many people I know after high school signed up for the Marines or Army. Some have even been to Iraq and faced the dangers of everyday life out there. Luckily all of them have returned. Well, except one but he's stationed out in Korea and will be back soon! One thing I was curious though is the job skill you mentioned. I know a guy who graduated from West Point. He finished his officer training in Georgia and is now off to Ranger school (I think). But what exactly is West Point? Do you learn strictly military education or do you receive some form of formal education? I know he won't be in the Army the rest of his life so I just wondered what he'd have to fall back on after his service is completed. Obviously there will be options for continuing education, but will he have to spend years earning a degree or will his military background land him some sort of a job?
West Point, Annapolis, and Colorado Springs home to the AF Academy are all full fledged Colleges where you receive one helluva good education. It is very difficult to even get into the Academies. They learn all about Military History and tactics and other relavent service related classes on top of their formal education in whatever Major they chose. Annapolis is the Naval Academy that is also home to the Marines. The USMC, Sempr Fi you jarheads!!, are a part of the Department of the Navy. Hope this helps
I was a Civil Engineer Corp Liutenant. I was in the Charleston Shipyard for one tour, and tour in NAF Atsugi, Japan.
There have been a few scandals in the news at some of those schools. I recall a cheating scandal at Annapolis around the mid-90's and right now the Air Force academy is having issues with female cadets coming foward and making accusations of rape and accusing the administration of not doing enough.
West Point in the name of the city in New York State, where the United States Military Academy is located. It is a full four-year college where you graduate as an officer. Korea's equivalent would be Yookgunsagwan hakgyo.
Yeah, there have been some problems. I think my brother was at Annapolis when the scandal broker (he was not one of the cheaters). The military culture is one of "looking out for each othe." They did not know where to draw the line. As far as the rape thing goes, I think it is emblematic of an organization that is largely dominated by men.
Definitely helped. Thanks. I knew that West Point is a prestigious school to get into as the guys I know are smart and graduated from the top high school in New York (Stuy) and one of the top in the nation. Glad to hear that he received a formal education too.
I am just going on what I was told by him and the others. I thought it was an interesting option for them. I wonder if there is a certain program or some set of rules that have to be met in order for that to work. Let me know if you find out anything, I will look around as well.
Oh no an Officer!!! Just kidding. I worked at AIMD at NAS Glenview in support of P-3's C-130's and UH-1N's. Went into the Army reserve after I got out of the Navy to do some of the stuff I didn't get to do in the Navy. I loved my time in the service, it had its bad times just like anything else does, but when I got out of High School there was no way I was going to be successful in college. I just didn't have the mindset to goto school anymore. The military gave me an option to get paid while getting educated and get exp.
So does the fact that you were in the service help you when looking for a job despite not having a college degree? I remember during my freshman year at Hofstra University, this Marine captain would call me a few times to ask about my plans for the future. When I told him I was a marketing major he told me how a lot of Marines have a marketing background and how some have gone on to some big firms (he didn't name any specific firms). So I always wondered whether becoming a Marine would really help me in my life. I always thought he was just BSing to get me to enlist but I don't know. BTW, I'd have been the worst Marine ever if I enlisted. You think these smokers lungs could last a mile run? Hell, even a quarter mile run?
It all comes down to the job you are looking for, and what field you were in. I have found that quite a few jobs I have gotten I would not have without my Military Service. Now having a College Degree is something that I am pursuing in order to move higher up. But yes I would say that having that on my resume has helped me over the years. I have asked some of the people I have worked for over the years if it made any dif and they have all said it did. They said it showed I had the discipline to get the job done. It helps me get in the door, but the rest is up to the person. You would be surprised what your body can do. That is why the have Basic Training. To build you up phy. and mentally. Not everyone makes it out of basic. People get dropped for various reasons. As for the marketing, I am not sure how being a Marine would help there. It all comes down to the job you choose. For Marketing or Technical I highly recommend the Navy and the Air Force. The Marines mostly go to Naval Training centers so choosing a career there would essentially be the same as the Navy, only much more physical.
Good deal. Very cool that you're pursuing a college degree. The people I know that have returned from their service don't have any clue what they're doing. To them it's like high school all over again where they go to their crappy part-time jobs and just sit around drinking. Kinda sad to see. You'd think their experiences would lead them to be more motivated or something. Yeah, I don't know how the marines would've helped me get a marketing job, although I see how it could for other things. My buddy in the Air Force is in communications so I'm sure he could find a pretty decent job after he's done. As for the physical capabilities of MY body, I just thought it was funny. I remember the marine captain was asking for my vitals over the phone. He asked me height and said 6'0. He was like "Ohhhh, that's pretty good." When he asked my weight and told himi 160, he quickly went "Uhh. You might want to put on a little weight." I'm a bean pole.
The jobs people choose in the service make all the difference. I was an Aviation electrician and was lucky enough to get an assingment to Intermediate level repair which is we get the parts sent to us from the airplane to work on. Much more to my liking. I got to open up the equipment and work on it. When I got out, I found quite a few good jobs as a repair tech since I knew how to open em up and fix em. When I moved into computers I started out just repairing them then through OJT, thank you again to the Navy, I was able to learn Networking and how to do software fixes. The troubleshooting concepts are the same. The jobs I have had all require college degree's but my service time was able to get me past that and the skills I learned while in allow me to be a productive worker.
scarecrow19d - I did some research and it is indeed possible for Korean nationals to enlist in the US forces. It seem that there are around 4600 Koreans soldiers in the US atm, with 11 colonels waiting to get their 'stars'. Unfortunately one of the main reasons for the Koreans to enlist is to facilitate obtaining the green card and US-citizenship; but I wasn't able to find if serving in the US military gives a Korean national an exemption from serving in the Korean military if he/she was to come back to Korea without getting the US citizenship - but I doubt if anyone would do that, though.
Thank you for the info. I am very biased in that I think the US Armed Forces are the best in the World, and I feel that we are due to the people who are in the service.
Just thought I'd jump in here and give my two cents worth. I've been in the USAF for 16 years and have been lucky to see alot of the world and would have to admit that our living conditions and facilities are generally better than the rest of the services. But times of riding the bike as a PT test are over! Back to a 1 1/2 mile run (rumored to turn to 3 miles in the future), push-ups and sit-ups, plus a waist measurement that all gets factor into your PT score. For example for me (35 years-old) to score a 100% I would need to run 9 minutes 30 seconds, complete 45 pushups in 1 minute, 48 sit-ups in 1 minute and maintain a 31 inch waist. On the ROK side, I was based in Taegu for a year where they train alot of the draftee. Our bus stop to work was right accross the street from where they brought in the new guys and I saw them get beat down more than once! on a side note, me and a couple AF guys would kick around the ball every now and then outside one of the Korean Barracks. It didn't take long for some of the guys to come out and join. they played in their fatigue pants, t-shirts and boots, adding a whole new reason to wear shin pads!! Also, I had a German friend who decided to join the US Army, not sure of the requirements but he was ready to go and then he had some family problems which kept him from joining. I also know of a pair of brothers from Ireland who had never been to the US until they when to basic training so it must be possible. Mikey
Although I do intend to go this is what I heard: This guy walks into the byungmuchung (병무청) to get everything sorted. Well he drops his pants and takes a sh1t on the floor and eats it. He gets kicked out and doesn't have to serve.
haha, I guess he's done enough to make himself look like a deranged maniac Football plays a big, big part in the Korean military. There's a really well-known joke about it; when the Korean women were asked to list the top 3 things they don't like about their men, their responses were: 1. the men talking about what happened during the military services; 2. the men talking about various footballing experiences; 3. the men talking about playing football while in the military. And ROK actually boasts not one football league but two - along with the K-League, there's also the Gundaes-linga ('Gundae' means military in Korean) as in Germany's Bundeslinga, which have ~600k+ registered players where almost no players last for more than 2 seasons, and the pitch-size can be as big as several regular size fields put together with more than 100 players playing at once with as many balls as they like. And while the Korean NT displayed some semblance of the Total-Football during the last WC, these Gundaes-linga players been playing like that for decades; but of course there are exceptions - the newest recruits must stay at the back defending and running their butts off, while the seniors who are soon to be completing their terms play solely as strikers and do nothing but shoot. And yeah, these guys get paid about $1 a day for all their troubles