Posted on 12/14/2014 9:33:49 PM PST by Hillarys Gate Cult
My nephew is seeing the Army National Guard recruiter tomorrow. He has some questions and I'm going with him.
Can he wait until after Nov. 2016?
Congrats to him, the few, the proud!
Second best. The best job in the ANG is KC-135 boom operator.
Nah, in the KC-46A the Boom Operator will be in the crew compartment sitting at a console. The best a loadmaster can do in civilian life is stuff suitcases in the belly of a 737.
Seriously, if the goal is a civilian job, then he’s better off working a flightline job and getting his A&P license, or any one of dozens of other career fields.
Listen,
If your nephew is going n he has many options for an MOS (job type).
Depending on how he does on his entrance exam he has the ability to choose a job.
Make sure it is a job he can do after getting out.
Heavy equipment operator (bull dozer, front end loader etc), medical tech, computer anything, mechanic, pilot, and many others.
Make sure he does not go in to be a grunt,(parachutist, tank driver, cannon shooter etc.)
If he uses his time in properly he can be trained for a fine job when he exits.
Nope. The National Guard is frequently federalized. The Governors have no say in the matter.
Folks are suggesting alternatives to the NG. What you join is usually a function of what is close to where you live. Unless a person wants to completely disrupt their lives or plan on a 2-3 hour trip to the nearest installation a person usually goes with what is close. If he does live close to an Air National Guard (ANG) installation it is a great way to serve and have fun too. When I would take ANG teams to mountain tops in Arizona for the weekends in the 1970’s I would tell people the only difference between the ANG and Boy Scouts was that the Boy Scouts had adult leadership...and I was the ANG leadership.
i agree. do not enlist. if he’s christian and conservative do not enlist.
I flew Cobras for a few years in the Army. It was a “single-pilot” rated AC, so we could take the crew chiefs up as front seaters. Between the T/Os and landings, I always gave the crew chiefs some stick time. Not actually by the books allowed, but very much appreciated by the crew chiefs, and as far as I was concerned, a good way for them to more fully appreciate and understand the A/C they worked on.
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Big nostalgia trip for me, too!
I worked for Bell Hel. for over 35 years. Around 1970 I was a Quality Engineer working temporarily on second shift that Summer. Late one afternoon I was at the flight line and one of our hot shot test pilots said he needed some ballast for a test hop. I sat in the front seat of a Cobra and that pilot gave me the ride of my life, as he put that aircraft through its paces!!!
In re your comment about appreciation. I would often participate in supplier conferences where we would host our casting, forging and machined parts suppliers. As we would tour the plant, we would end up at the flight line. There, we would point out their products on a Huey and explain what would happen if they failed. ...Then, we’d make them get into the aircraft and our test pilots would fly like crazy! High speed dives that stopped maybe 25ft from the ground; high speed flight only about 10ft from the ground through a maze cut through the river bottoms; etc. .....Some of them threw up and a couple wet their panties, but they DID gain an appreciation for the vital functions their products had.
Sorry, everyone, for the long post. Old memories just popped out.
True, until it gets nationalized by the President.
My advice is to wait till mid 2017 and I'm serious about that advice. He has plenty of time to enlist these days especially in the guards and right now the past 20 plus years have been a serious downturn & meltdown in discipline, morale, forced acceptance of homosexuals, Congress, POTUS, Weak SEC of Defense's for past two decades unwilling to back combat troops and making them subject to unseen before PC witch hunts, and rampant PC. This is not the same military those of us enlisting in 1980's and earlier knew.
POTUS, not the governor is NG CIC even though the NG oath is also to obey the orders of governor. Does your state have a State Guard? Many states do and he can be mentored by older vets.
BTW in the mean time if he wants to serve nation and community several other very worthy options are there. VFD or Volunteer Rescue Squad is a good alternative. Most can use the manpower.
That’s a 12 minute video, but if you open up the “About” section, all 5 reasons are listed there.
I will throw in my 2 cents here, even though it looks like I’m a bit late to the party.
I started out doing 4 years enlisted in the Navy, got out, went to college, then was commissioned in the Army 11 years ago. Commissioned means that I am an officer, so my military experience is quite different from that of an enlisted person. For one thing, my word is law to enlisted people, and that takes some getting used to. The lesson that drove that fact home to me happened when I told my NCO (the only one I had assigned to me) that a walk-in refrigerator was unacceptably dirty. Ten minutes later, I walked by the refrigerator in question, and every enlisted person in the division was busy cleaning it out (and they did a great job).
Since I am medical, I can’t talk to the experience of operating helicopters or tanks, or any of the other combat-related jobs. But I will say that the people I have had the honor to work with have been wonderful. Despite all the disparaging remarks (mostly from the left) about the low IQ of service members and the other insults about our intelligence and ability, the services are filled with highly talented people. Also, despite the stereotypes, the military is NOT the only option for poor people—proportionally to their representation in the population, rich kids are overrepresented in the service, and poor kids are underrepresented. (I guess that poverty culture that doesn’t prepare kids to become self-sufficient does not prepare them to serve, either.)
Since I am active duty, I live the military. This is not the same situation for reservists. Some reservists I have encountered have less than military discipline. Others are gung-ho, so I guess it evens out. It depends, I suppose, on how much experience they get serving with the regular forces—some reservists have deployed to various places, and so do get the experience of active military life.
I will close by saying that I wake up every day, thankful for the opportunities that I have had in serving. Some of these opportunities would not have been available had I remained a civilian. Being in the military has been a truly remarkable experience. Your nephew can have a very successful, fulfilling career in the service, if he puts forth the effort and has a good attitude.
Not only that, but remember this: Until he raises his hand after intake (I can’t remember what the place is called) he can still back out. Not the first time, but the second time. Sorry to be so vague, but I just can’t remember the details.
God bless him.
...admiration for the Cobra AH-1.
One of the best fighting helicopters I’ve ever had the pleasure of mixing into my airport traffic area,...
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The Super Cobras (AH-1W and AH-1Z) being turned out before I retired in 2001 were REALLY badass combat aircraft!
I know the Apache is a good machine, but believe politics played heavily in their procurement.
As I told a friend of mine, today's military is unrecognizable to the one I entered, and not in a good way. Our national leadership is dangerously stupid.
I told my son to wait till the dems got out but he is a Marine. He is a grunt. He loves his buddies and he also got certified to drive heavy equipment.
As for all the negatives. Civilians are facing the same crud. With all the sweet, loving unification being spread through our nation, I think all of our children should be taught how to defend themselves and their towns.
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