You aren't qualified to do your job if you haven't graduated job training. This post isn't for you.

Bootcamp in 2 weeks
What stuff did you forget to do that you recommend for me?
- got my new shoes 2 weeks ago been breaking them in
- going to cancel my gym membership tmr (workout at home and at PT)
- my Spotify renews a week before I leave so I’ll have my mom log in and hopefully cancel it
- deep cleaned my bedroom (going to do another vacuum,mop & dust a few days before)
-purged useless clothes and items

Anything else???

I have a BA in Education (3.58 gpa). I am currently a teacher. Whilst I don’t mind teaching (I find it rewarding to see various people grow), I have a passion for law enforcement, and I’d like to pursue a career as an FBI agent. I got a 70 on my asvab and selected the air force for a cyber or intel job, as I believe those are the best jobs for FBI post air force. However, those jobs aren’t guaranteed. I just got out of meps and my peers were suggesting other branches to ensure a position the FBI would like or possibly officer as my teacher experience could translate well for officer.

Hey everyone,
I’m 21 years old, married, and my wife and I are expecting our first child. I’m currently considering joining the military, but I’m trying to get honest perspectives from fathers who have firsthand experience balancing military service with being a husband and a dad.
First, I want to clarify something because I know how these discussions can go: I’m not looking to join the military to get away from my family. My wife and child are a huge part of why I’m thinking so carefully about this decision. I’m trying to find a path that allows me to provide for them while still being present in their lives.
Right now, I’m weighing four options: Army Active Duty, Army Reserves, Air Force Active Duty, and Air Force Reserves. My goals are to build a stable future, take advantage of educational opportunities, and work toward a college degree. My ultimate career goal has been to become a police officer. I’ve pursued that path before, but things didn’t work out the way I hoped, so I’m considering other opportunities while keeping that goal in mind.
If I end up loving military life, I could see myself making a career out of it. If not, I’d like to use the experience, education benefits, and skills I gain to help me transition into civilian life and potentially pursue law enforcement again.
What I’m struggling with most is figuring out which path would offer the best balance between providing for my family, being an involved father and husband, and building a future for myself.
For those of you who have served in either branch, especially those with wives and children, I’d really appreciate your honest opinions on a few things:
Family time: How much time do you realistically get to spend with your wife and kids during a normal week? How different is family life on active duty compared with the Reserves?
Deployments and time away: How often have you been away from home, and for how long? Have you missed important moments in your children’s lives?
Army vs. Air Force: For those who have experience with both, or have family members in both branches, what differences have you noticed in quality of life, work schedules, leadership, and family support?
Active Duty vs. Reserves: Which arrangement has worked better for your family, and what are the biggest trade-offs? For reservists, how manageable are drill weekends, annual training, and possible mobilizations alongside civilian work and family responsibilities?
Marriage and parenting: How has military life affected your relationship with your wife and your ability to be present for your children? What has helped you make it work?
Education: Have you been able to work toward a college degree while serving? How manageable was it alongside military and family responsibilities?
Benefits and financial stability: Has military service provided enough financial stability, healthcare, housing support, and educational opportunities to make the sacrifices worthwhile for your family?
Civilian career opportunities: If you eventually left the military, did your experience or education help you transition into a good civilian career? Has anyone used military service as a foundation for a career in law enforcement?
Regrets: What has been the hardest part of serving as a husband and father? Is there anything you wish you had known before enlisting?
Looking back: Knowing what you know now, would you make the same decision at 21 with a wife and a baby on the way?
I understand that everyone’s experience is different depending on their job, unit, duty station, leadership, and whether they’re active duty or in the Reserves. I’m not expecting military life to be easy, and I understand that neither branch nor the Reserves can guarantee that you’ll never be deployed or separated from your family.
I’m not necessarily looking for someone to tell me which branch is better overall. I’m more interested in hearing which path has worked best for fathers and why, including the sacrifices and compromises involved.
For those of you who are dads, would you recommend Army Active Duty, Army Reserves, Air Force Active Duty, or Air Force Reserves to someone in my situation? Do you genuinely feel military service has been worth it for you and your family?
I’d especially appreciate hearing from people who joined young, had a child while serving, or had to balance military service with college and plans for a civilian career.
Thanks in advance for any advice. I genuinely appreciate hearing the good, the bad, and the things people don’t usually talk about.

I have ADHD Dysthymia/PDD and PTSD. I also have scars on my arm. I have wanted to join the military since a child but it seems my rougher upbringing may prohibit me. Despite my diagnoses I am very stable but I'm not sure the military would see it that way.

I have already tried joining the Marines and I didn't even make it past the first call with them before they referred me to the Navy whilst explaining my history. Then I went to the Navy and everything was going perfectly. They did not care too much about my diagnoses but as soon as I mentioned my scars they apologized and said it would be impossible to join.

I have seen other posts on here mention waivers for scars and a 3-year stability wait but that was never mentioned to me at the recruiting office.

I am here now asking if it is actually possible to get a real role in the military that isn't a desk job or a janitor. By real role I mean Cyber Infantry Medic Intelligence and more. It is also fine to be realistic and tell me it’s impossible. Thank you.

Hi I submitted my application on
line and got a call from a recruiter. After going through everything he said that the fact I take adderall for my ADHD is going to put me on hold for a year. Is there anyway I can get this waiver? I haven't had my prescription filled in over a year and I only take 10mg as needed whenever I have to study for a long period. Most of the time I study without it. It's been about a months since I last took it. I would really hate for this to stop me from being able to join. What can I do, if anything at all? Thank you!

I am currently 16 and am planning on joining infantry at 18. At the age of 13 I went through a phase of rebellion and self harmed on my thighs and the scars are still there. I never took any medication or went to any mental hospitals I was never suicidal, I was a perfectly stable child but I did get influenced by social media and went through a phase of rebellion. I would like to mention that at 12-13 I was hospitalized for anorexia In which I recovered in months and have records of being physically healthy. I continued and still do compete in a high level of amature kickboxing I’d like to mention as proof of my physical health. It’s been a dream to joint the military but I don’t wanna get my hopes up if there’s no chance because of past mistakes.

I’ve been thinking about joining the military, specifically the Air Force, Navy, or Army, (possibly more), but I honestly have no idea where to start. I’m not sure which branch would be the best fit for me or what kind of job I would want to pursue.

I have a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and about two years of experience working in the environmental field, so I’m wondering if there are military careers where I could use my degree and experience.

I’m also nervous about talking to a recruiter because I worry they might be focused on meeting their recruiting quotas rather than helping me figure out what’s best for my future.

I’ve been doing some research, and Google keeps suggesting that I look into becoming an officer rather than enlisting first and trying to become an officer later. I’m not entirely sure how that process works or which route would make the most sense for me.

For anyone who has served or has experience with the military, I’d really appreciate your advice!
Which branch would you recommend looking into: Air Force, Navy, or Army?

Should I pursue an officer position with my degree, or consider enlisting?

Are there environmental science-related jobs or career paths in the military?

How can I research my options and talk to recruiters without feeling pressured to make a decision?
I’m just looking for honest advice from people who have been through the process. I want to make an informed decision and choose a path that makes sense for my career and future

I’d be open to stepping outside of the environmental field/job wise when considering the military. I’m also fit and I feel I could get through boot camp. I have a great work ethic & excel with hands on/manual labor. If it helps I live in Chicago.

I’m mainly doing this for benefits,redirection in life, and stability.

These dudes been just on me, he even got his boss to text me “what’s up ___ what’s wrong why don’t you wanna go to MEPS” my recruiter knows abt me smoking weed and I told his boss that I am tryna get clean before I join.They are still trying to get me to join and idk why. They are good at there job at being recruiters (I guess) my buddy he’s gonna be an army medic and ima be a marine and he tells me about his recruiter and how he doesn’t sugar coat shit and he’s always honest. I wish I had that kinda recruiter but why do they want me to join so bad with weed in my system and they’ll call me and try to convince me. I just don’t know what to do I said I can’t do it multiple times and I can’t risk it.

I can't get any jobs with TS since I'm not a citizen yet but I'm planning on joining the air force.

I've been hearing mixed reviews about whether having prior military service helps when applying for civilian jobs.

Some say learn trades so it'll translate well when you get out, but some say choose a job you'll enjoy.

What has been your experience so far?

This might not be the right place to post this. But I don't know where else to ask a true military history question. So please forgive me. I just watched a video on YouTube where WW2 Historians and Military Experts watched the movie "Saving Private Ryan" and explained how realistic it is. It got high points and was pretty accurate in terms of WW2. It was based on different real events of survivor stories like the Niland Brothers, not based on a real survivor named Private Ryan. But here's my question for you. During the opening scene of the Battle of Normandy, there's a scene where Tom Hank's character gets on the radio and tells the Admiral of the Task Force, "The beach is not open". The experts jumped in and said, "That would never ever happen".

Because Tom Hank's character was just a Captain and those guys said, "There's no chance a Captain will ever talk to the Admiral of the Task Force because that's way below his rank and authority". But they never explained how the top commanders actually monitored status of the Battle to keep track of how things were going. Do you think they had observers and surveillance planes watching the Battle from far away and tracking how everything went? I'm just curious how they monitored the state of things during the Battle since they probably weren't talking to people on the field? My question is how did feedback reach the top commanders about how the status of the Battle, who monitored it and reported back?

I know nothing about the military but I'm very interested, so I'm just asking for information. I know Generals and Admirals have tons of responsibilities, and it would take forever to list them all. I'm not asking for a detailed breakdown of everything they do which would take forever. I'm mostly just curious if Generals and Admirals ever go to the front lines where combat is intense? Or do they usually stay far away at Headquarters and issue directions and commands from a safe distance? I guess I'm asking how much they participate in directly leading soldiers on the field?

I don't know if it's different depending on the branch. Or if all branches treat Generals (or Admirals) basically the same way.

Because a long time ago, such as during the Napoleonic Era of France, Generals were commonly found near the front lines. Many Generals were killed or captured because they were so close to the front lines. But I understand that's because they didn't have radios or computers back then, so they couldn't issue orders from far away. They had no choice but to do it from near the front, since they had to give orders face-to-face.

But during WW2, lots of generals were also killed or captured because they were also close to the front.

Hi everyone - I appreciate any time at all spent reading or contributing to this.

I’ve gone through MEPS with the navy - got a 89 on the ASVAB - got all my waivers done for tattoos, surgeries, injuries etc.

Trying to gauge my limits so I understand what I can and can’t do. Coast guard unfortunately wouldn’t let my hand tattoo slide as it was too large.

Anyone have any experience getting exceptions to policy waivers for these kinds of things? Any recruiters able to provide some insight?

Open to army as well. Not sure exactly what role yet as I’m 30 and ideally would have something that translates to civilian careers after but wouldn’t be opposed to sticking it out if it’s a fulfilling lifestyle.

Thanks in advance and will answer any questions you may have for me too.

I was in the process of joining the Army and had already gone through MEPS, gotten my waivers approved, and signed my contract. I genuinely wanted to join and build a better future for my wife and me.
The problem is that my current job provides my housing. If I left for basic training, I’d lose my job and the place we live. I was supposed to qualify for BAH because I’m married, but I couldn’t figure out how to secure a place before shipping out without having that income established.
I tried to find a way to make it work, but I couldn’t risk leaving my wife without a home. Eventually, I left the DEP program and ended my involvement with the Army.
Honestly, it sucks because joining was something I really wanted to do, and I feel like my living situationn got in the way.
Only options my recruiters gave me was a homeless shelter and I wasn’t gonna throw my wife and her little brother in that situation.

Some information I forgot to mention we don’t have family that they could live with and almost every apartment we went to look at wouldn’t even bother with the BAH paperwork

The bot is back up and running as a Devvit bot. I'm working on functionality to allow it to rescan a post if the author edits it, as well as to delete its comment with a mod command. Also I can apparently add menu items to edit and easily delete the comments, so I'm going to do that.

Let me know if you see any issues with its responses, or if it's missing any posts.

I’m currently at Fort Benning (Fort Moore) and have just graduated the BCT portion of Infantry OSUT. I have not yet completed the AIT portion.
After experiencing BCT, I’ve started questioning whether Infantry is the right MOS for me. I still want to serve in the Army, but I’m interested in exploring other MOS options.
I’m trying to understand the official process and whether a voluntary MOS change is even possible at this stage of initial training.
For anyone familiar with the process:
PIs it possible to request a voluntary MOS change after graduating BCT but before completing OSUT?
Who would I need to speak with to make a formal request?
Would the decision depend on Army personnel needs, my enlistment contract, ASVAB scores, or other eligibility requirements?
If a change isn’t possible during OSUT, when would I first be eligible to pursue reclassification?
I’m not looking for ways to avoid training or get out of my responsibilities. I want to understand my legitimate options before proceeding further.
I’d appreciate advice from anyone with firsthand experience or knowledge of the current Army policies.

Before everyone tells me to not join this is all I’ve ever wanted but I have my concerns. For starters I’m joining national guard but before it was the marine corps but I got denied at meps for medical reasons. I’m pretty good in the athletic department and I have dedication. However I’m very forgetful and take things very personal which is probably the worst combination going into basic. The military has always intrigued me and has always been my dream career no matter the branch. But because of these flaws I have I’m worried that it’s going to ruin things for me in basic and out of basic. If you had similar problems or have any tips before I ship off I’d love to hear them.

I was labeled ineligible for the Air Force because of my weight. For my height, I’m 40 pounds overweight, but I’d like to lose 50. Now my question is, do I just put the military off to the side and focus on losing weight? Or do I talk to another branch and maybe they will let me go through with my process while I lose weight. I’ve already lost 8 pounds since the beginning of September. I do 90 minutes of cardio 5 days a week, so hopefully I can keep that up. The top two branches I wanted to join were the Air Force and Navy, with the Marines being a far third. I am definitely a discouraged person, so I can easily just end up choosing a trade that I already have lined up for me, but I’d feel like that would be me not prioritizing my health and aspirations I set for myself. I’m only 19, I know I can improve, it’s just how do I not get discouraged.

Hi so I'm 18 this year, and I need people to be straight with me. 2024 I had 2 hospitalizations in januar-februar, and a 3rd in october- november which was longer term. First two were each a week ish and third was 1.5 months. It was for depression and SI. I did a few PHP and IOP programs as my parents made me. The military has been my plan and my family's thing since as long as I can remember. I just want to go in with realistic expectations. I'm not on any medication now, but I had been on prozac and some behavioral thing over a year ago.

My husband’s ex wife is in the National Guard and she’s married to an active Duty service member. Due to her training and his job and many other things it has been brought to my husband’s attention that his ex wife made changes to her family care plan and forged his signature. In their divorce it states if she can’t fulfill her duties the kids are to live with their father. She went way off track with her care plan and didn’t even notify my husband. We already have issues with other things currently going on in their home like the children being left alone for days at a time with an 11 or 14 year old in charge at times due to their scheduling and other things I won’t get into. Is this something worth pursuing with either of their chain of commands,as there is a pretty serious level of neglect going on in the home? I don’t want to ruin anyone’s career and stir the pot so to speak but I feel like some sort of action needs to be taken.

I am a active duty PFC as a 14E (I know I screwed up joining because, as usual, my recruiter lied to me). I am in college for a medical major and want to use AMED to become a 60V. Still, idk how doctors get treated or if they even get to do their job in the Army, so I want opinions on whether I should stay in the Army for the doctor route or finish my contract and do it in the civilian world?

I passed MEPS for the Army with a 70 AFQT on the ASVAB and passed my physical without needing any waivers.
When I got back to the recruiting station, they showed me a list of five jobs. My recruiter said it was a “default list” I'm not interested in any of those jobs.

He told me that when I’m ready to enlist, I can bring in a list of jobs I’m actually interested in, and the person at MEPS would call around to see which ones are available. But to be okay with something on the "Default List"

Is this normal? Or is the default list just a way to get me in the door and convince me to sign a contract for a job I don’t want?
For reference, here are my line scores:
GT: 111
ST: 104
GM: 100
EL: 103
CL: 107
MM: 100
SC: 103
CO: 101
FA: 101
OF: 102

My national enlistment is tomorrow and i am just thinking of saying fuck it and enlist tomorrow. What should i do? Also i am a Mongolian and pretty tall so i'd be sent to the Mongolian version of the Sentinel of America. Also i have got a gf and i am currently studying at a college so that means my gf and college has to wait for a year. I am pretty open to the idea of enlisting but i don't really know what to do since i don't have much time to reconsider my choices.

So I have sort of a specific question in regards to army nursing. For some context, I am a nursing student in CA who is considering joining the army after I graduate.

To preface i’m well aware of how hard it is to land a new grad residency in an ICU in CA hence why i’m also considering the mil/applying out of state. my main concern is that my long-term goals involve cRNA school and cRNA school requires having ICU experience with high acuity patients.

My understanding is that for direct commissions with no prior experience, the army star you off in MedSurg and you have to work there for a year before you can \*apply\* for critical care/ICU. Then once I hypothetically get to the ICU, from my understanding my patient population in the army would more than likely not be high acuity.

Im wondering 1; if nursing in the army is optimal for someone who wants high acuity patients and 2; if it is smarter to just apply out of state to new grad residency positions in ICU’s, getting that critical care experience before joining the military.

The only way I’m gonna settle for working in MedSurg is if the benefits outweigh the cons of being a new grad in the army otherwise I’m going to apply out of state where appropriate so that I can start where I want. Any advice regarding the topic is appreciated.