Thread: For those about to Enlist "I salute you!"

Ok, theres always loads to post about signing up to be a professional like an Army Soldier... I know we Army folks serve or have served alongside Navy and Airforce/Corps whom are very similiar to us on the fundamentals so I suppose this post relates to them too. That said, Ive only Army experience, so Im gonna cover two topics from my own experience and views on the job of "Army Soldier", which has to be truely lived to be truely understood.. that said, good planning is always a plus and a good understanding is a good start!!.. So onto my first of two related topic...

Why we fight?

In order to get ones head around the whole concept of nationhood and a military, we must understand why some of its citizans stand up and take the heavy lifting... aka.. why we fight? For me, there are two fundamental positions that answer that question, the former being negative in my view, the latter being positive in my view.

On the former, the motivation for soldiers to fight can be based in conquest, domination over other souls for personal and/or group gain at the cost of those whom are being dominated by. This general position for some is what I would consider to be characteristics of the soldiers we fight, those whom support a less then moral school of governence that we would consider tyrannical, oppressive and uncivilised.

On the latter, the motivation for soldiers to fight is generally based in defence, a sense of service to wider citizanry whom rely on the soldier for protection and service in fighting for them, so they can live their lives in relative freedom and engage in their personal persuit of happiness, free from undue influenceses of terror and tyranny. Brazen examples of such terror and tyranny can be found in many African states and many Middle Eastern countries.

Its my contention that the above two are the two general positions that underpin the reasoning for soldiers existing in the modern world, and to be honest I think these two positions are timeless with recorded examples of these positions going back into history.

So with the background as I see it covered, my view on the why we are motivated to "do the right thing" by signing up and contributing to our society is expressed. Our motivation to sign up as soldiers in the free world is driven in my view by a person identifying with the latter (see above)... My contention is that we have a sense of duty of what is right which compels us to sign up..Now our journey has begin, our military lives can lead us directly into the fight.

So if you ask why you after X amount of training and experience would lead you to pull the trigger in a firefight and take someones life, it boils down to survival kill or be killed? Maybe, maybe not, however for those whom have being there, the time for rationalisation is not at the fight, it is after the fight and the fact is that you will do what ever you have to in order to protect your brother soldiers to your left and your right and make sure that you all make it through alive whilst acheiving your objectives... we dont engage an enemy lightly, but as part of something larger then the sum of our parts, if we have to engage them, we do so like we were standing with the Spartans at Thermopolye.... fierce and deadly... professional to the very end...

Its a long winded exploration of the reason why we fight, but the motivation to sign up and fight as I see it are two different things.. So onto my seond topic...


Enlistment - General Advice

Im not US Army, so I shall leave the AVSB and MEPS advise to others more experience in the area. However, as an old Army Dogg, I can part some advise of a more general nature...

MOS

There is so much to do in the US Army and in contrast to other Armies, you can get it sewn into your contract..... its awesome IF you know what you want to do with your career, even if its short to medium term. Think about what you want to do, what interests you generally and google "US ARMY MOS" and see what comes up... heres a good link that I looked up..

http://www.us-army-info.com/pages/branches.html

Point being that you have to see a recruiter and best be suited up with some prior knowledge, cos many recruiters can be directly compared to salesmen and like salesmen, they have targets and may try and guide you to filling their quota targets, rather then whats good for you... So... with your MOS researched, pick up the top 5 MOS's that interest you and then investigated through Google, resources like this forum site and pick the brains of whom every you can get your hands on about Army life, the MOS choices youre into and get maximum knowledge about the choices. I would focus on:

1. General Army Info - Training Basic/Fitness Requirements/Mental aptitute/entry tests/training syllabus/Army life and deployments

2. MOS Choices - Training requirements/culture in these MOSs whats expected?/field deployments/useability demand for the MOS/promotional prospects/usability of skills learnt after the Army-transferrability to civilian life

I would think about, research more and then write questions down for the recruiter to answer. I would do it in a couple of sessions, cos ya always remember something else you forgot the first time around you put pen to paper.

With that in mind, I would go see a recruiter, if you think hes working for you stick with him.. Good test is how he reacts to your prepared questions and see if he trys to bring you off your desired MOS choices *5. IF he trys pushing something else, walk away and find another recruiter. If he engages you in a genuine fashion, then in my view, you are good to proceed with him. That said, if you feel youre getting BS, try confirm what hes telling you from an independant source like this site and challenge him if neccessary.

So proceeding with enlistment, you reach the stage where you are worrying possibily about entry fitness.. Medical says you are good to go, but you worry if you will cut it from a fitness perspective.. well my general advise is that you should be able to run 2 miles in 14 minutes (if under 30 years old, but army entry guide has a less strict guideline) and do 35 press ups in one minute and same for sit ups. Its varies by age and sex, but warm up and train every second day to reach and exceed that goal for as long as you can prior to entry date into the Army. On a sidebar, I ran double digit mile runs prior to entry a few times a week. With the above specs satifisfied you are at entry level fitness and will not have any issue with fitness through training as the programe will lead you through a regime of conditioning to train your body for the rigours of life as an Army Soldier.

So allow me to leave you with what I consider are the top rules/tips for being an Army Soldier. They in my view will guide you into and through training and will be good guide into your operational careers as Army Soldiers. They are as follows:

1. Understand what you are signing up for and understand the core Army values and the culture behind the Army, its history, its reason for being and what you are contributing to society by enlisting... its no small contribution might I add...

2. "Train as hard as you are gonna fight!"... Training is hard for a reason.... push yourself each and every day even when you feel the pressure fall on you like molten lead... stay the course, and get into what you are doing like you are training to be on the battlefield the following week.

3. Trust your instructors, they have being there, done that and want to impart the maximum amount of knowledge to you whilst building you up a soldier... learn from them as that knowledge may well save your life in times to come

4. Learn to trust your platoon mates, and rely on them as you want them to rely on you. One day, they just might save your life.

5. Fail to plan, plan to fail... know what saves you pain on the go like vaseline inbetween legs to prevent friction burns on the run and also on the nipples for the same reason. If you dont all the "trade secrets" up front, dont worry, take the pain and make sure you plan using the new information for the next time.

6. Safety first, NEVER EVER handle a weapon without safety checking it first

7. Remember that sleep cycles are learnt, you can learn to sleep REM in 45 minutes with practice, so dont be stressed by notices of little sleep in training... you WILL get used to it...

8. Have a few non issue items (Must be approved by instructors) with you always.. Carry a lock knife with you, you never know when a good knife with can opener, screwdriver, etc will come in handy.. limit your $$$ spending until you get sense of what you need.. dont preempt.. its better to take the pain first time round (see rule 5) and then buy... you get a better suited product... and understand its application better....

9. Always remember that judging others in a balanced way is a life skill and should not be overlooked... judging someone correctly talking to you in the US especially if something contentious is being discussed is a valuable skill as you will need to do this on deployments regular enough depending on your job. Trust your intuition and develop it by becoming a thinking soldier... once you engage training in the right manner, your ability to think intuitively is a very valued skillset when done under the pressures of a combat environment.

10. "Dead or Alive, leave no man behind"

So, thats all the general stuff I have for you other then to wish you good luck in your career choices and be Army Strong!!....

Best Regards
Exo..