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Deminyn wrote:More presentations to increase awareness would be good!

QFT

The British Army needs more presentations on WHAT WE ACTUALLY DO. Afghan,despite being our major commitment, is only a small part of day to day life. The Charity 'Help for Heroes' has highlighted and changed the shortfalls our wounded had suffered under the old system. But it only shines a spotlight on the terrible injuries troops have suffered. Which in turn gives civilians the impression that you join the Army,go to Afghan,lose limbs,and then spend 6 months learning to walk/talk/piss etc.

It would be nice to be asked 'What life like in the Army' not 'Have you shot anyone/know anyone who's died/do you gak your pants at random loud noises?

For the record, I have dived to the ground when a car back-fired back in the UK.In front of school kids.
My civvie mates still remind me to this day.....

Curly wrote:At college/uni I have no problem with it.
I however don't like the idea of them being at high schools with a large group of younger teenagers who are more likely to be persuaded into something that they might not think through or regret later.

Ya, really you have a lot of time and options to get it. Yep don't join the military learn some life long skills, and get discipline. Instead go to college smoke pot and waste your parents cash. Hrmmmm which would I have regreted later hmmmmm

Ahtman wrote:Many of the branches require at least a GED and prefer High School degrees so they aren't going to be pulling people out of school to join up.

We did but since their have been such an influx(bad economy it happens) we raised standards. Now it is much harder to get in and often a GED won't cut it anymore.

garret wrote:no i read thet if your 17 and passed a certain test you can join.

No need to pass a test just need parental consent and trust me most parents will gladly do it. Seldom though will you ship until you are 18.

Corvus wrote:I own a Romanian AK47 (semi-auto only of course) and a Romanian PSL marksman's rifle, and both are absolutely outstanding firearms.

Well, PSL is pretty good, had to be as it's derived from the AK47. However, the Recon/scouts division has limited PSL equipment they go for crappier but much more expensive rifles

Romainian sucks, Bulgaria now they make some damn fine weapons(minus SKS the best for that is the chinies).

Well, so you're all right for them being in high schools, but what about them calling you at home? Have you ever wondered how military recruiters get your home phone number?


I served 14 years in the military, till I go fed up with GW Bush's craptastic way of fighting terrorism. I believe it went something like this:

Bush- "Hey! We're not done in this country yet, but we're going to go ahead and start a war in this other country! Oh wait! We need to send some boys down to the Horn of Africa and take care of those terrorists down there too! Don't worry, we got enough troops!"
General X- "Uh, sir. We need more troops."

You can join the military at 17 with parental consent. However, you can't be deployed overseas until you turn 18. Of course, by the time you complete basic and AIT you usually are 18.

For the record, you put any soldier in front of a camera, they are going to "talk gak". All soldiers, in some form, love to show off and talk about their "achievements". Usually the soldiers you see talking tough and telling you about how many ragheads their gonna kill, are the ones that will piss their pants when the rounds start flying.

Example: I was stationed at Camp Victory, Iraq in 2004. This was when there was still random insurgents lobbing mortar rounds onto the bases. I was in a tent with 9 other guys sleeping one night, when we heard some mortar rounds incoming. We had 6 ft, double stacked, sand bags around all the tents. 7 guys hit the deck except for me and one other guy. Mortar round exploded about 200 meters from where we were. Once the attack was over, they started asking why we stayed on our cots. The one other guy said, "The floors dirty." I said, "I didn't feel like moving." "But what if it had hit right outside the tent", one soldier asked. I said, "Sandbags. Still got 4 ft clearance over my head." One guy asked, "What if it had actually hit the tent." The one other guy said, "We wouldn't be having this conversation." They shut up after that.

Ironhide wrote:
.

Example: I was stationed at Camp Victory, Iraq in 2004. This was when there was still random insurgents lobbing mortar rounds onto the bases. I was in a tent with 9 other guys sleeping one night, when we heard some mortar rounds incoming. We had 6 ft, double stacked, sand bags around all the tents. 7 guys hit the deck except for me and one other guy. Mortar round exploded about 200 meters from where we were. Once the attack was over, they started asking why we stayed on our cots. The one other guy said, "The floors dirty." I said, "I didn't feel like moving." "But what if it had hit right outside the tent", one soldier asked. I said, "Sandbags. Still got 4 ft clearance over my head." One guy asked, "What if it had actually hit the tent." The one other guy said, "We wouldn't be having this conversation." They shut up after that.

HAHAHA I have said that before too. My belief is I'm fine as long as I can hear them..once I feel them then I have problems. Also the school itself gives out the numbers. Public schools are required by law to allow recruiters in and hand over that info. All part of state funding.

Empchild wrote:
...
Also the school itself gives out the numbers. Public schools are required by law to allow recruiters in and hand over that info. All part of state funding.

Really? Wow, I think that's a little crazy. Then again, I hate any form of unsolicited phone calls.

Empchild wrote:

Ironhide wrote:
.

Example: I was stationed at Camp Victory, Iraq in 2004. This was when there was still random insurgents lobbing mortar rounds onto the bases. I was in a tent with 9 other guys sleeping one night, when we heard some mortar rounds incoming. We had 6 ft, double stacked, sand bags around all the tents. 7 guys hit the deck except for me and one other guy. Mortar round exploded about 200 meters from where we were. Once the attack was over, they started asking why we stayed on our cots. The one other guy said, "The floors dirty." I said, "I didn't feel like moving." "But what if it had hit right outside the tent", one soldier asked. I said, "Sandbags. Still got 4 ft clearance over my head." One guy asked, "What if it had actually hit the tent." The one other guy said, "We wouldn't be having this conversation." They shut up after that.

HAHAHA I have said that before too. My belief is I'm fine as long as I can hear them..once I feel them then I have problems. Also the school itself gives out the numbers. Public schools are required by law to allow recruiters in and hand over that info. All part of state funding.

My NG (National Guard) buddies tell me stories of how a random mortar would fall close to their base during chow time and every single Marine in their would crawl under the tables, the NG guys would just stay in line for chow. When asked why the NG guys didn't dive under tables the Marines were informed that if a mortar landed on the chow tent being under a table wasn't going to help much at all.

I had some rather bad experiences with military recruiters in and at my high school. They were literally all toolboxes who would all but harass you and openly mock whatever it is you said you wanted to do if it wasn't military-related. One guy went so far as to his cousin/brother/friend tried to do whatever it is the person said and that it won't work out. I heard the jerkoff say it multiple times! I had one guy yell to me across a parking garage at 11:30 at night at the mall "Hey you!" really loud several times as I frantically tried to get the right key for my car door. He stopped short of me and said "Why aren't you in the military yet?" He also mocked what I wanted to do at the time. I think it's fine, so long as they aren't allowed to act like the people I had to deal with. I'm sure many/most aren't that way.

Cannerus_The_Unbearable wrote:I had some rather bad experiences with military recruiters in and at my high school. They were literally all toolboxes who would all but harass you and openly mock whatever it is you said you wanted to do if it wasn't military-related. One guy went so far as to his cousin/brother/friend tried to do whatever it is the person said and that it won't work out. I heard the jerkoff say it multiple times! I had one guy yell to me across a parking garage at 11:30 at night at the mall "Hey you!" really loud several times as I frantically tried to get the right key for my car door. He stopped short of me and said "Why aren't you in the military yet?" He also mocked what I wanted to do at the time. I think it's fine, so long as they aren't allowed to act like the people I had to deal with. I'm sure many/most aren't that way.

yeah the rest ain't that bad, your town must have been where they sent the screwups.

Deminyn wrote:

Empchild wrote:
...
Also the school itself gives out the numbers. Public schools are required by law to allow recruiters in and hand over that info. All part of state funding.

Really? Wow, I think that's a little crazy. Then again, I hate any form of unsolicited phone calls.

It's not unsolicited. They ask for the permission to speak with you, and if you agree--they give you a very brief conversation, and then arrange a face to face.

Cannerus_The_Unbearable wrote:I had some rather bad experiences with military recruiters in and at my high school. They were literally all toolboxes who would all but harass you and openly mock whatever it is you said you wanted to do if it wasn't military-related. One guy went so far as to his cousin/brother/friend tried to do whatever it is the person said and that it won't work out. I heard the jerkoff say it multiple times! I had one guy yell to me across a parking garage at 11:30 at night at the mall "Hey you!" really loud several times as I frantically tried to get the right key for my car door. He stopped short of me and said "Why aren't you in the military yet?" He also mocked what I wanted to do at the time. I think it's fine, so long as they aren't allowed to act like the people I had to deal with. I'm sure many/most aren't that way.

My response "I'm going to be the one that writes the programming for all your fancy gps guided weapons and anti missile missiles, guess were we would be in iraq if it wasn't for guided weapons"

note this is in no way a disrespect to you military guys, I have the utmost respect for you and the dangers you face and would gladly join myself if I wasn't as jiggly as i am now. I figured if I couldn't help directly I could still do my part.

youbedead wrote:note this is in no way a disrespect to you military guys, I have the utmost respect for you and the dangers you face and would gladly join myself if I wasn't as jiggly as i am now. I figured if I couldn't help directly I could still do my part.

If it wasn't for guys like you then we (Serving or Ex services) would be no better off than 19th century Line infantry....And we all know what a whale of a time they had.....

Fateweaver wrote:

Empchild wrote:

Ironhide wrote:
.

Example: I was stationed at Camp Victory, Iraq in 2004. This was when there was still random insurgents lobbing mortar rounds onto the bases. I was in a tent with 9 other guys sleeping one night, when we heard some mortar rounds incoming. We had 6 ft, double stacked, sand bags around all the tents. 7 guys hit the deck except for me and one other guy. Mortar round exploded about 200 meters from where we were. Once the attack was over, they started asking why we stayed on our cots. The one other guy said, "The floors dirty." I said, "I didn't feel like moving." "But what if it had hit right outside the tent", one soldier asked. I said, "Sandbags. Still got 4 ft clearance over my head." One guy asked, "What if it had actually hit the tent." The one other guy said, "We wouldn't be having this conversation." They shut up after that.

HAHAHA I have said that before too. My belief is I'm fine as long as I can hear them..once I feel them then I have problems. Also the school itself gives out the numbers. Public schools are required by law to allow recruiters in and hand over that info. All part of state funding.

My NG (National Guard) buddies tell me stories of how a random mortar would fall close to their base during chow time and every single Marine in their would crawl under the tables, the NG guys would just stay in line for chow. When asked why the NG guys didn't dive under tables the Marines were informed that if a mortar landed on the chow tent being under a table wasn't going to help much at all.

Reminds me of a dirty prank played on me in Ramadi- I was in my CHU when a heavy THUD! landed on the roof. Now what falls from the sky... thought I was about to die. Turns out our unit's Marine (we were joint) just thought it would really funny to chuck a big rock on the roof and watch my reaction. After that one of our Soldiers told me if it had a mortar it would have went right through the roof. So now I know and knowing is...

Anyway, I'm for recruiters at school, even if some can oversell the military, it comes down to the recruiter's personal style, I do believe it's a good option to present to people and set them straight on what the services have to offer.

For the record even if you just do 4 years, the military is a good way to get a headstart on life. Plus you'll have really jacked up stories (not all war related, most more like real life scenes from 'Clerks' mind you) to tell your friends who've never left the state when you come home.

Military is a great way to travel.

Buddy of mine has served in Marines, Army NG, and now the Air Guard and in his 16 years of service he has been to all the tourist friendly countries (and not so tourist friendly obviously).

He's got 4 years left to retirement and he would do it all over again if he could.

You could always tell how long someone had been at Marez in Mosul back in OIF II. The new guys would crawl under the tables, the guys who had been there for a few months would half stand up out of their chairs, and the guys with a month left would keep eating.

I joined the army national guard at 19. They've paid for every bit of my college and promoted me to Chief Warrant 2, and spent 1 million dollars teaching me how to fly.

It's a misconception that the military is primarily for people with no alternatives. I joined because of a strong sense of duty, a family history of service, an opportunity for job training, a way to help pay for college, and a sense of adventure. I should note that I graduated high school with a 4.0 GPA and plenty of acceptance letters from good schools. I'm on my fourth deployment to Iraq and my seond wife, but I don't regret a minute of it.

I would not have done any of this had I not seen a recruiter at a mall, given him some info, and gotten a call a day later.

BTW Bash the Bosh - I've been to Al Amarah - what a gakky place.

Sgt_Scruffy wrote:BTW Bash the Bosh - I've been to Al Amarah - what a gakky place.

QFT. I went there 2005 on Op Telic 6. I was 19. It was my first tour and I was a unbloodied Combat Medic, I passed my training 6 moths before.

I CRAPPED MY PANTS

I could swap war stories but those four words sum it all up for me. I've returned to Iraq twice since then, and I recently came back from Afghanistan (Op Herrick) last year.
Never have I been the same

As for mortar/rocket shells.....fething things. Especially the 107mm Chinese rockets........we knew when they were coming. Even the SF lads hit the dirt.