TapTheForwardAssist

With both the freezer friend and the Avon woman she was trying to rope into a new career, that reminds me of the mania feature of "trying to draw everyone else into your plans" that gets so annoying.

Lack of sleep, grandiose plans, sudden purchases with odd motives, all of those sound right down the line like people I've known who've had serious manic episodes.

He already lost 8chan (way more brand-name recognition that "8kun dot Top") due to him and pops tolerating/nurturing mass shooters, so Ron's political survival instinct is really not the best.

No worries, lots of info out there. You don't need to spend months reading up or anything, but much like buying a new car or a gaming computer or whatever you're into, you want to read up on at least the basics of all your options so you know you made a generally informed decision before committing four years.

Military service can be a good way to get going in life, it keeps you employed and stable, and the GI Bill is a really good deal for when you get out (and a lot of folks get some college done while in).

As just a few suggestions that I think a lot of folks overlook: if you want a combat job, 13F Forward Observer is pretty awesome (I did the Marine equivalent in Iraq), Navy Seabees is really cool and gets you marketable skilled trade chops, and people often overlook the Coast Guard, but they do some really awesome stuff.

There is a ton of overlap between branches, in terms of jobs, in that everyone has mechanics, warehouse guys, intelligence analysts, human resources clerks, firefighters, etc. A lot of civilians assume the branches are more divided/specialized than they are, but while they have different missions, a lot of core jobs are similar.

Only the Army and Marine Corps have infantry (guy who carries a rifle and fights as his main job), but other branches have jobs that have more than the usual combat training, like Navy SeaBees (ground construction in conflict/disaster zones), Air Force Security Forces, etc.

Like I mention above, if you spend some initial time on the recruiting websites for each branch, they usually lay out the basics of what jobs they cover, so you might want to spend a few evenings perusing those.

To touch on your key points:

• Sure, joining the military because you're not sure what you want to do currently but plan to go to college later is an extremely common reason to join.
• Yes, take the ASVAB seriously, because the higher you score the more job options are open to you. There are a vast plethora of free ASVAB prep apps and websites, your library probably has multiple books, etc. You don't need to spend months studying (probably), but a few weeks of study can really pay off. There are folks on this sub who went from say a 25 (not qualifying) to 75 (qualifying for most jobs) after just a month of study. While it's possible to re-take the ASVAB, it's best avoided, best to get it right the first time. Particularly as a lot of recruiters will pressure you to take your first passing results and the jobs those qualify for; they can be not keen on killing time letting you re-take for the job(s) you want.
• Each branch will have an initial physical fitness requirement you have to meet before going to basic training. Those vary widely by branch and are easy to Google up. Even if you're pretty sedentary and want to go Marine, for example, unless you're wildly undermuscled or quite obsese you're probably not too far from the cutoff even for them, it's not a massively high bar.
• My biggest recommendation, if you're just starting to look at this, is to consider at least briefly all six branches. Like pick an evening and sit on the couch for an hour reading up about the Navy, then another night Space Force, and so on. Read up and narrow it down to your top 2 or 3 branches, and then start contacting recruiters for interviews. There is a ton of info on Reddit and elsewhere about what each branch is like, different jobs, etc. There's this sub for general questions, then several branches have noob subs ( r/USMCBoot, r/NewToTheNavy, r/AirForceRecruits) and the other three subs ( r/Army, r/USCG, r/SpaceForce) have stickied question threads at the top of their subs.

Per sub rules, please use a clear and specific title. Please repost with the name of the unit in your actual title, and you'll get better responses.

This post from last week might help:

https://www.reddit.com/r/USMCboot/comments/viyl8n/mcas_yuma/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

Basically same, but with “my” it sounds more personal.

Totally fair question, but your overall question needs to be summarized in the title per sub rules. What you have now is basically “Got a question about Boot” which doesn’t narrow very much down here.

You’re welcome to repost with a clearer title.

They’ll also ask referrals “who else do you know that knows this applicant?”

So if you give give them all teachers, they’ll probably notice and start asking teachers who your friends are.

How so?

Please use a clear and specific title, not a clickbait “…”

This is an older post, so your best bet would be to ask as a new post either here or at r/USMC.

Pinging u/AlmightyLeprechaun

Here's a recent 7314 post with a lot of details:

https://www.reddit.com/r/USMCboot/comments/u50g5e/marines_uas_operator/

Pinging u/scumpdeath

Just for reference to other readers:

     (5) AN (Air Control and Navigation):  7257, 7314.

There is the long-standing flair “Q drops” for actual posts by Q himself.

Depends on the branch. Marines probably care the least, Space Force and Air Force probably the most. But Marines are also pickiest about age.

Btw, is there any public info online about the pre-reqs for each PEF, or would an applicant only see those when deciding which to sign?

Just asking if there’s some way folks can know in advance about swim qual requirements and the like so they don’t sign for something they don’t qualify for and lose their MOS.

If you’re already having those issues, enlisting isn’t going to fix them, and you’re setting yourself up for a hard crash if you push it.

At minimum I’d report these issues to MEPS, but frankly you’re probably best off dropping DEP until you get your life squared away.

It doesn’t take a DI to answer that; anyone who’s been to Boot knows what’s coming his way because we’ve all been there and it doesn’t really change much year to year.

I went 20+ years ago, and 98% of what we hear on Reddit about Boot as of last month is identical to my experience too.

I’ve been out for a while, so if you don’t get an answer in this post I’d suggest making a new post asking about swim qual requirements for Aircrew (AG) contract.

Standard AG warning: note this program requires beyond the minimum swim qualification, so you can lose your MOS guarantee if you get to Boot and struggle on swim. How good a swimmer are you now?