Any US militaryfags out there? I need some advice.
I'm graduating from college in the spring, with a reasonably high GPA and a degree in geospatial analysis (GIS). I want to go into the military, but I need some direction with where to go / who to talk to. I'm doing this as a way to pay for my eventual gradschool, if that means anything
tl;dr going into the military after college, need advice on what to do
you should probably talk to a recruiter you dumb fuck
What's your fucking question?
Army at least has Geospatial Analysis, assuming you're not a fucking degenerate and can pass a background investigation to get a securtiy clearance. Ask a recruiter about 35G
12Y also.
Sorry I guess I wasn't descriptive enough, you're right.
I know jack shit about all of this, this is kind of a recent life decision I've made - I didn't even know that the army is the specific place for geospatial analysis.
Does it matter which recruiter I talk to? Or just in general, and how early should I contact them? The sooner the better?
The other branches might have similar stuff, but I'm only speaking as to the intel side. Pretty much they're all gonna work with maps to some extent.
Sooners better than later. It can take weeks - months from when you sign to when you ship to basic. Think about what you want. I'm army, so I know the most about it. You thinking active duty, (army shit full time) or reserves/National Guard (1 weekend per month and 2 weeks in the summer, plus poss deployments?)
Are you graduating with student loans?
No student loans, thank god for scholarships. Active duty, definitely.
I don't have the kind of money to afford grad school on my own, this is kind of a means to an end.
Is there any way to ensure I'll be stationed somewhere away from home, at least out-of-state? Or at least make it much more likely?
Go officer! Being enlisted sucks
Sometimes recruiters can guarantee your duty station, but it's pretty rare. You won't know until you talk to them. Unless you live near Fort Hood or Fort Bragg you're pretty unlikely to end up near your town, but when you go to AIT you'll be able to list your assignment preferences, and it's pretty easy to get sent to Korea for 35G/12Y if that's something you might be interested in.
Do OCS, probably for army given your specialty.
Do NOT enlist.
That's actually exactly what I was looking for. Somewhere foreign sounds fun as hell
How does the whole "them paying for my education" work?
He's not wrong, but if you go officer you don't get as much say in what you're doing. You're more likely to end up doing logistics or infantry shit instead of anything geospatial related, and they're not going to give you Geoint training, you'd be managing soldiers and shit.
go talk to a recruiter, take the ASVAB and see what MOS's are available that suits you. Then just workout so you aren't one of those shitbags crying like you have a dick up your ass when your getting smoked in basic.
For anyone else reading this, you can have the army pay back your student loans (Up to 60k I think?) when you enlist but you'd have to waive your GI bill, which is what OP is talking about.
They ask you at your reception unit (the days before basic) if you want to opt in to the Montgomery GI and 9/11. They take a hundred bucks out of your paycheck every month for your first ten months of service, then when you get discharged (assuming you're not kicked out for fuckery) they pay your tuition plus an allowance based on where you live. I haven't done it, so I can't tell you much more than that. There's no reason not take both, you can cancel later and get your money back.
Oh yeah, asvab. Armed Services Vocational Aptitude battery. General test you take when you're trying to join to see if you're smart enough to spell your damn name. Buy a practice book, a little studying goes a long way. The scores you need are published online. General Technical is the most important one for most jobs.
I'm using my Post 911 GI Bill now, they pay for your tuition, give $1000 for books and supplies every semester, give you an allowance of an E5 with dependent(amount depends on area code of the school), and you can still apply for grants and loans from the school.
Op, sounds like warrant officer would be perfect for you. You'd want to do ocs and get a recommendation for warrant officer. If your college has an rotc officer I'd go talk to them. You can go enlisted and then go warrant. But that's the harder way. If you become an officer there is furthering education options, not to mention that there is tuition assistance available. First step talk to rotc officer on your campus. Baring that local recruiter, tell em ya want to speak to an officer recruiter.
DO NOT ENLIST NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY TO YOU.
Go in and ask how you can become a space shuttle door gunner. Best job ever!
Air Force. I was never in the military, but I looked into it. They have the best tech, much of which is ahead of the civilian market.
What do you wanna go to grad school for?
Warrant officer is an officer with a technical specialty. Yes, geospatial analysis is one of the specialtys you can have, and I know the army is hurting for em right now. I've never heard of anyone going warrant without enlisting first, except as helicopter pilots, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Ask a recruiter.
Just enlist and surrender your life to the army. I did it and look at me, spending me free time on Sup Forums...
Talk to a recruiter. You can take college courses at the education center while you are in. Credits are transferable to most colleges and that's less to have to take when you get out
The best post.
Best bet probably going 11x homie
Honestly OP, reddits gonna be better for this type of shit. r/army and r/millitary have ask-a-recruiter threads with actual recruiters and tons of knowledgeable people
100% this, if you cave into them pushing you into enlistment you are only fucking yourself over. Recruiters are just like a car salesman, they need you more than you need them. Don't be a bitch, tell them what you want and if jackoff isn't willing to. Find another one.
Interested. Just graduated with a bachelors in Environmental Science specializing in GIS
Go to the Esri user conference in San Diego and ask them yourself. It's usually just before comicon but military as well as NSA and NASA were there. Killer field to be in at the moment.
you want to commission. don't listen to any other bullshit.
if you're planning on getting a master's, you can do ROTC, which is a very good option.
if you're not set on pursuing a master's, and want to do the military thing ASAP, you can visit a recruiter and try to go OCS College Option as an 09S. You go to basic training (9wks) then OCS (12 wks) and then you pin on 2LT bars.
Branching as an officer is kind of a crapshoot, but generally it is on an OML system which you can influence. The Engineer branch has a partnership with the NGA (National Geospatial Agency) for 1LTs and a few positions at other grades.
Geospatial work in the Army falls under both MI (Military Intelligence) and EN (Engineers).
On second thought, however, if Sup Forums is your method of choice for research... honestly you probably shouldn't commission... because you're a tard.
unless you can swing one of those sweet NGA gigs as a 1LT
Half the people on here are using words they learnt playing battlefield.