A couple questions about the Military

I have a few questions about the United States military before I talk with a recruiter because I'm having some slight difficulty finding which branch offers the best benefits to a Linguist. So far I think the army has good benefits, but how do they stack up to the Air Force, or Marines or so on? I plan to talk with a recruiter, but I'm slightly worried about getting a biased answer on the subject, I've seen friends get biased answers sometimes on other subjects and would prefer to learn flat-out which ones have the best benefits for linguists.

If I were to categorize the military by social classes

The Airforce would be at the top. The Hierarchy goes USAF > Navy > Marine > Army.

My question to you is, Are you planning to enter the enlisted side or Commissioned officer?

With military jobs each branch is different. The Air Force guarantees you the job you pick, while the Army and Marines put you wherever they want.

I would check out the Air Force first, see what they can offer you since you already know a couple languages, if I read your post correctly.

Also, benefits are really the same across the board, if you go enlisted and you have a college degree, you should be able to swing another stripe(enter the operational side a rank higher than everyone else), or two. I wouldn't go in as an officer. It's extremely hard to do, for one, and people respect you more if you go from enlisted to officer.

Hmm, if your willing to be hardcore soldier, then the Green Berets welcome linguist and have schools specifically for it.

The Navy offers a rate called CTI, which is intel. They send you to A school in California to learn the language, and as soon as you graduate you're an instant petty officer.

However, you don't get to pick which language you want to study. It's based on the needs of the Navy.

With military jobs each branch is different. The Air Force guarantees you the job you pick, while the Army and Marines put you wherever they want.

I would check out the Air Force first, see what they can offer you since you already know a couple languages, if I read your post correctly.

Also, benefits are really the same across the board, if you go enlisted and you have a college degree, you should be able to swing another stripe(enter the operational side a rank higher than everyone else), or two. I wouldn't go in as an officer. It's extremely hard to do, for one, and people respect you more if you go from enlisted to officer.

airshocker

Avoid all of it, the money is not worth the risk. You may end up dead or the loss of your legs afterwards all the best you can say is ' I was in....' that really worth it?

Avoid all of it, the money is not worth the risk. You may end up dead or the loss of your legs afterwards all the best you can say is ' I was in....' that really worth it?

tenaka2

Avoid all of it, the money is not worth the risk. You may end up dead or the loss of your legs afterwards all the best you can say is ' I was in....' that really worth it?

tenaka2

The Air Force guarantees you the job you pickairshocker

[QUOTE="airshocker"]The Air Force guarantees you the job you pickWilfred_Owen

Avoid all of it, the money is not worth the risk. You may end up dead or the loss of your legs afterwards all the best you can say is ' I was in....' that really worth it?

tenaka2

Seriously, just stop. You're clueless.

A linguist should logically look at intelligence, take a look at the CIA.markop2003

That is not true. You sign up with a contract and your MOS is part of that contract. Unless you cannot pass the training.....you get the MOS. Anyway....the Air Force is the slowest branch for promotions.

LJS9502_basic

Yes it is, LJ. You might get your MOS, but you'll be pulling rifleman duties in Iraq just like every other guy.

The Air Force is, though, the slowest branch for promotions.

Guarantee? Sure. Doing on the other hand? About that....Wilfred_Owen

That's more in line with the Army.

I got Security Forces and did security and LE. But I was lucky.

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"]

That is not true. You sign up with a contract and your MOS is part of that contract. Unless you cannot pass the training.....you get the MOS. Anyway....the Air Force is the slowest branch for promotions.

airshocker

Yes it is, LJ. You might get your MOS, but you'll be pulling rifleman duties in Iraq just like every other guy.

The Air Force is, though, the slowest branch for promotions.

Well, I'd like to thank you all for your answers. There were a lot of mixed answers, but you all gave me something else to consider or look at. Thanks

No it's not. You get assigned to your unit based on MOS. Seriously dude....I WAS in the Army.LJS9502_basic

I know you were, yet my cousin is still serving and has never ONCE used a tank in a combat situation. He's been a rifleman ever since his first deployment.

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"]No it's not. You get assigned to your unit based on MOS. Seriously dude....I WAS in the Army.airshocker

I know you were, yet my cousin is still serving and has never ONCE used a tank in a combat situation. He's been a rifleman ever since his first deployment.

[QUOTE="Wilfred_Owen"]Guarantee? Sure. Doing on the other hand? About that....airshocker

That's more in line with the Army.

I got Security Forces and did security and LE. But I was lucky.

But he's properly slotted. I did MI...in fact....I went to DLI for the language course...and they keep you in a MI Battalion...not infantry etc.LJS9502_basic

I'm not really talking about what battalion they keep you in, I'm talking about what you're going to do when deployed.

Is it harder to get into SF or something? gmaster456

No it's just harder to get out of the security side and into the law enforcement side. Which is what I meant by being one of the lucky ones.

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"]But he's properly slotted. I did MI...in fact....I went to DLI for the language course...and they keep you in a MI Battalion...not infantry etc.airshocker

I'm not really talking about what battalion they keep you in, I'm talking about what you're going to do when deployed.

And you're not right about that. Your unit gets deployed. And that does depend on your MOS. LJS9502_basic

The only thing I'm not right about is generalizing the entire Army that way. I do know your job isn't guaranteed when you enlist, and for certain jobs you won't be doing what you signed on for, as is the case with tankers and a few other MOSes.

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"]And you're not right about that. Your unit gets deployed. And that does depend on your MOS. airshocker

The only thing I'm not right about is generalizing the entire Army that way. I do know your job isn't guaranteed when you enlist, and for certain jobs you won't be doing what you signed on for, as is the case with tankers and a few other MOSes.

[QUOTE="gmaster456"]Is it harder to get into SF or something? airshocker

No it's just harder to get out of the security side and into the law enforcement side. Which is what I meant by being one of the lucky ones.

So if you don't get into law enforcement are you just stuck doing base security and outside the wire missions?gmaster456

Depends where you go. You could spend your entire enlistment on the security side without even being deployed.

I was sent to Minot as security, got deployed within two months, came back as LE, got deployed again and got my base of prefernece after that deployment and stayed LE the rest of my enlistment.

Mine was guaranteed. So was the MOS of everyone else that I knew. And that was a lot of people with various MOS'.LJS9502_basic

What did you do again? You told me, but I forgot. :(

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"]Mine was guaranteed. So was the MOS of everyone else that I knew. And that was a lot of people with various MOS'.airshocker

What did you do again? You told me, but I forgot. :(

Military Intelligence....I know secrets.:oLJS9502_basic

Oh doh, you just said that a couple posts ago.

Military Intelligence is an oxymoron, though. Take that, LJ!

[QUOTE="airshocker"]

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"]And you're not right about that. Your unit gets deployed. And that does depend on your MOS. LJS9502_basic

The only thing I'm not right about is generalizing the entire Army that way. I do know your job isn't guaranteed when you enlist, and for certain jobs you won't be doing what you signed on for, as is the case with tankers and a few other MOSes.

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"]Military Intelligence....I know secrets.:oairshocker

Oh doh, you just said that a couple posts ago.

Military Intelligence is an oxymoron, though. Take that, LJ!

Actually the army is the only branch that will guarantee your MOS. HOWEVER there's a slight loophole in terms of Combat MOSs. Even though your cousin signed up and was trained as an armor crewman he was assigned to an infantry unit which means if he wasn't needed in a tank then he'd be "dismounted" and given a rifle. Same thing happened to my friend who is currently in Afghanistan. He was trained as an artilleryman, assigned to an infantry unit and he spent the first 2 months of his deployment as a Cav Scout until he was needed back on the artillery guns. Now that doesn't mean if the OP signs up for linguistics that the Army is going to give him a rifle and send him next to the infantry instead. He'll be doing whatever it is linguistics do. This was only the case for combat MOSs that were assigned to infantry units.atony12

Uhm, All I hear people say is that smart people goes to Air Force, dumb ones to the Marines(Which I think is very wrong to say, because a lot of marines are quite smart) Easy ones to the Army/Navy...So yeah lol idk. But anyways, I plan to join the Marines corps after high school..that is my current goal in life.Bloodseeker23

What do you mean by "easy ones"?

At least my memory is good..>__>LJS9502_basic

My selective memory is good. >.>

I hear all the hardasses join the Coast Guard. 8)fidosim

I talked to many recruiters about it, and in the end I enlisted into the Marine Corps