Need little advice for starting school/military. Ty~

[saven]

Howdy, a little info about me before I ask my question here I suppose is in order. I'm 24 years old wanting to join the military, preferably Navy cause most of my uncles and grandpa grand dad was into the navy, mostly because I also love boats and subs, although I know subs are cramp..its ok. So i've taken the asvab and gotta a bad score. I've been out of school for 6 years now. "Don't use it..you'll lose it"..lol guess that is true. So after the bad news the recruiter told me to grab some books from barns and nobles for asvab study specifically so I could FINALLY get my butt in gear and make some peace with myself about doing something right in my life, don't get me wrong..my life is maybe greater than most. Blessed to have a job atm and a place to be.


So this is were college comes in. Would I be taking the right road by attending math class's, english class's? Cause the job I want most from the military would be computer science or encryptions..both sound cool.

[notorious bum]

This should be good.

[Zilong]

Do you like seamen too?

Sorry, had to do that. Anyway, may want to look into shit like NROTC or something if you plan on going to school and joining the navy

[Furtwangler]

computer science and encryptions are going to require more than just a good score on the asvab, so you're going to have to do 2+ at a CC or small college.
Find one that does ROTC and they will pay for almost all if not all of your college expenses, and do years in that.
You'll get officer status upon graduation I believe, and on your way to whatever you want to do providing you're halfway decent at it.

(someone correct me if I'm wrong, thats what I always understood)

[lovehatehero]

If you can send me a copy and or a list of your overall score as well as your score for each section of the test I can look up certains jobs and see how far off you are for said jobs for the navy at least. I can tell you right now though, a lot of the navys IT / CT are pretty tight locked manning wise and you are going to have to get a decent score ( 80+ overall and a combo score of certain sections) to even be considered for them. They make some asvab specific study guides that could help. Looking into ROTC programs might be a good idea but still going to need a decent enough asvab to be picked up. If you have any more specific questions you would like answered more throughly when Im at work, feel free to email me at my work email. I will PM it to you, I have a lot more access to that kind of stuff at work than at home.

[BerenTebogo]

I too love long, hard, rigid structures filled with seamen. Perhaps we could get together sometime and discuss our mutual interest?

[Nephlite]

Army's where it's at. Can be dumb there and still make a decent career.

No seriously though the best way to study for the ASVAB is to not fuck up in High School. Not sure what would be considered as "Grunt Work" in the Navy but in the Army, you fuck up the ASVAB and the recruiter says "You'll make a perfect infantryman son! Someday, you WILL be a General!" Since it's too late for you, pick yourself up a copy of the "ASVAB For Dummies" (on a serious note, it helps) and skip the large huge books that say "Score a 100 on your ASVAB with this book! Only $99.99!". Most of the books have nothing to do with the actual test and are filled with ridiculous propaganda problems and quizzes for you to "study".

[notorious bum]

Maybe he could fly those predator drones, they seem to lack any type of prerequisite skills, but you still get to kill shit.

[Cream Soda]

in before Abandon

[Abandon]

To get IT or CT(insert designation) in the Navy, that bad score is going to need to go up at least 40, based off the way you tell it. You'll need to know math and certain sciences to get through CT school, that shit is not easy. My ship actually got about 7 CT school drops a few months ago. If that is truly something you wanna do, you may wanna think about the officer route for intel. However, if you have bad credit, kiss it goodbye; also, there are age requirements and other shit that is required. Since I work in admin for the Navy, if you like, you can drop me a PM, and I can hook you up with the links you'll need to research possible officer routes. Good luck to you, in whatever path you decide.

[Abandon]

fuck you, hobo.

[Archain]

If you are enlisting, I'd try to shoot for something that would actually allow you to get trained in something that you might be able to use outside. I initially did the Navy as Nuke Electrician's Mate (93 ASVAB / 65 NFQT), but "shot the gap" in my "A School" and eventually was given two choices from there. I was given Missile Technician and Fire Control Technician due to my status as a submarine volunteer. I picked Missile Technician and don't regret it at all, but I couldn't do 20 years on a submarine.

Most of what I learned initially came from the Nuclear EM pipeline, the courses were much faster than anything I was used to. I didn't take the schooling in the beginning as seriously as I should have; I didn't nail down some of the fundamentals initially (motor/generator stuff, electrical equipment, basic electricity). I was put on mandatory 25-4 (25 hours a week, 4 hours a night) study sessions and was able to improve a great deal by the end of the schooling. I was very good when it came to digital, electronics, and math...a change from electrical equipment. My comp test came and the coursework from the beginning came back to bite me in the ass. The gave me an academic review board and I passed it (giving me a pass on my comp, allowing me to graduate the EM "A School"). Shooting the gap was a term used when someone passed the "A School" but did not have an average high enough to advance to Power Scool.

I was designated an EM3 (E-4) coming out of EM "A School" and was sent to Submarine School (Groton, CT), Missile Technician "A School", and Missile Technician "C School" before being sent to an SSBN out of King's Bay, GA. These other schools were much easier as most of the tests were multiple choice (unlike the Nuke EM pipeline where all answers must be answered via full essay explanations, requiring you to show your work and back it up) and the content being covered was essentially already covered at a MUCH deeper level in the electrician pipeline.

I only did an initial enlistment, but I came out of the Navy with a great deal of experience in multiple systems. We used hydraulics (muzzle hatches/locking rings/system hydraulics @ 3000 lbs), pneumatics (missile gas, 4500 lb nitrogen/air), and AC/DC power (440V 3 phase AC, 270V DC systems). Due to the fact that there is essentially nobody you can call to help with problems while underway, I became really good with system troubleshooting, fault isolation, and reading/interpreting schematics and engineering drawings. You do have a lot of redundant equipment, so most of the troublshooting is on the offline equipment while a backup is running in the hopes that you can restore the failing equipment.

I actually was able to do a few cool things while I was in, but port calls on an SSBN wasn't one of them for me (always screwed by weather, tasking, or other countries not wanting a Boomer in their port). Essentially the sub's mission is to act as a mobile launch platform for SLBMs, the Trident II D-5 missile, which means you act alone as a unit and don't go out with a battle group. You remain undetectable even to blue forces while in an alert status and are only assigned a "state" in the ocean in which you can reside. I did get to launch two D-5Ts (Trident IIs with the nukes removed and replaced with telemetry warheads and remote detonation equipment) for an FCET and actually got to fire a torpedo at the Ex-USS-Guam, sinking it as an artificial reef (went with a battlegroup, they performed training with live ordnance until we put the torpedo into it at dusk).

I got out after my enlistment and actually found a job as a technical writer, essentially producing the documentation I was using to troubleshoot while underway. I've worked with BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, and I'm now with Force Protection creating the instruction manuals (like what you'd find with a Blu-Ray player) for military hardware and vehicles. I never thought I'd be doing this, but the pay is really good. The guy sitting right next to me is ex-Army, only 3-years older and is making ~$48.50 an hour/$72.75 an hour overtime and we're working ~50 hour workweeks.



If there is any way you can get some sort of college while you are in, by all means do it. Instead of using this as a way out, you could possibly use it as a springboard. What you are considering is a pretty big thing, trust the people that tell you both the good and the bad. Recruiters like to make everything rosy, make sure you hear the opinions of people that don't have a direct interest in seeing you signed up.

[Abandon]

Nuke EM, eh? I left Charleston as ET3, heh.

[Effluo]

Damn bubbleheads