Career Advice (wordy)
Well here’s the short version of my back story. I left the Army in 2007 way earlier than I wanted to so that I could get custody of my children from my now ex-wife. In 2009 I won full custody and I started trying to reenlist to go back to my old job (11B). I spent 3 years straight doing this. And I mean literally 3 years straight, going to MEPs about once every month, meeting with commanders etc. I turned down college and jobs because I was always told I’ll be leaving in a month or so. They lost my paper work several times and just overall dicked me around. Eventually it was explained to me that since they knew I was a sure bet they wanted to kind of hold me over for when they needed to make their quota. And because of waiting so long, the Army changed its regs and stopped taking people with GEDs (which the Army originally convinced me to get.) Finally I decided I was going to be a prick and use connections. I ended up going all the way up the chain of command to the Brigade Commander of USAREC. After trying to push waivers through he told me that the Army wasn’t taking any more prior service at that time and told me to contact him again in six months when he could try it again. All of this is made even more shitty by the fact that I first started this at the tail end of the surge and I qualified just fine then.
I added all that so you could know my level of commitment and what my career priority is. I don’t want Law Enforcement as a career I want to settle down into it and I want it to be federal. I need to go back into the Infantry, I can’t really explain it but basically even though I don’t regret leaving because my daughters are safe and with me, I’ve basically lost my honor I guess you could say. Also this is what I’ve always wanted and having the job just made the need to do it worse and I’m honestly damn good at it. I’ve never been able to be happy in any job since. I’m drawn to it and every other job feels temporary and unimportant.
Anyways I decided that I would use this time to start college since through the whole process it was mentioned that if I had some I’d be in just fine. Also so that I could fall back on something if I had to. I’m currently majoring in Criminal Justice and minoring in Abnormal psychology. At the end of this semester I’ll be at 9 credits. I’m considered out of state so I can only do 6 credit hours. Also to help ensure that I’m good to go I want to learn a language so I’m getting Rosetta Stone with this semester’s student aid disbursement.
So I’ve got a few questions. For starters what Language would be more advantages to learn? I want to go back in time to go to Afghanistan but if I don’t make it back in then learning Farsi or something will be a bit useless. Obviously if I do make it in it will help quite a bit. I plan on trying out for SOF once I’m in. On the other hand there is Korean, Russian, Chinese or Spanish (border patrol and federal gov’t are two backups). I’m torn between all of these languages and I don’t have enough experience to prioritize them.
Also by fall I’ll have 15 credits which nullify my GED so I’ll be resubmitting my waivers then. Does anyone have any advice to boost my chances? Or just advice in general?
Like I said I plan on returning to the Infantry, then hopefully going to Afghanistan, and I’d like to go to SOF and Sniper school. I’m unfortunately sort of not a heights person. I love being high up and rock climbing and things like that but I can’t make myself leave the ground or whatever platform I’m on lol. This is obviously a problem with my career choice. Any advice to get over this before I get to that point?
Last question for now… The whole process of turning down schools and good jobs for all of this has wrecked mine and my wife’s credit, so bad that I can’t get a security clearance. Any advice on how to get on track to fix this? I’ve put myself into a position, at least till fall, to start to fix this, I’ve moved back in with my mother basically alleviating me of any major bills (although adding a whole lot of stress).
Finally I’d like to add that, before anyone rips on me for it, I’m aware the Army has effectively wrecked my life. I don’t love the Army, I love the people (mostly) I work with, I love the mentality and I love the purpose of it. I’m not hooked on some halfcocked delusion of the glamor of war and the Army itself. I’ve lost friends and I know what it does, and I know first-hand how bad the Army can and does suck. But it’s all worth it to me. So if you personally hated the military, and that’s all you’ve got to say, keep in mind that I’m not you and you’re not me. The military and especially the Infantry isn’t for everyone so don’t bash how hard I’ve tried because you hated your time in. I loved every second of mine, and even if I don’t make it back in, I consider it an honor to have spent what time I could with the people I was with. This is the career I want, the good and bad, so I’d appreciate any helpful advice. Also I welcome any advice on how to prepare for a backup job if it all falls through.
Sorry for the long read and thanks in advance.
Originally Posted By PFC_Dustin:
Well here’s the short version of my back story. I left the Army in 2007 way earlier than I wanted to so that I could get custody of my children from my now ex-wife. In 2009 I won full custody and I started trying to reenlist to go back to my old job (11B). I spent 3 years straight doing this. And I mean literally 3 years straight, going to MEPs about once every month, meeting with commanders ETC. I turned down college and jobs because I was always told I’ll be leaving in a month or so. They lost my paper work several times and just overall dicked me around. Eventually it was explained to me that since they knew I was a sure bet they wanted to kind of hold me over for when they needed to make their quota. And because of waiting so long, the Army changed its regs and stopped taking people with GEDs (which the Army originally convinced me to get.) Finally I decided I was going to be a prick and use connections. I ended up going all the way up the chain of command to the Brigade Commander of USAREC. After trying to push waivers through he told me that the Army wasn’t taking any more prior service at that time and told me to contact him again in six months when he could try it again. All of this is made even more shitty by the fact that I first started this at the tail end of the surge and I qualified just fine then.
I added all that so you could know my level of commitment and what my career priority is. I don’t want Law Enforcement as a career I want to settle down into it and I want it to be federal. I need to go back into the Infantry, I can’t really explain it but basically even though I don’t regret leaving because my daughters are safe and with me, I’ve basically lost my honor I guess you could say. Also this is what I’ve always wanted and having the job just made the need to do it worse and I’m honestly damn good at it. I’ve never been able to be happy in any job since. I’m drawn to it and every other job feels temporary and unimportant.
Anyways I decided that I would use this time to start college since through the whole process it was mentioned that if I had some I’d be in just fine. Also so that I could fall back on something if I had to. I’m currently majoring in Criminal Justice and minoring in Abnormal psychology. At the end of this semester I’ll be at 9 credits. I’m considered out of state so I can only do 6 credit hours. Also to help ensure that I’m good to go I want to learn a language so I’m getting Rosetta Stone with this semester’s student aid disbursement.
So I’ve got a few questions. For starters what Language would be more advantages to learn? I want to go back in time to go to Afghanistan but if I don’t make it back in then learning Farsi or something will be a bit useless. Obviously if I do make it in it will help quite a bit. I plan on trying out for SOF once I’m in. On the other hand there is Korean, Russian, Chinese or Spanish (border patrol and federal gov’t are two backups). I’m torn between all of these languages and I don’t have enough experience to prioritize them.
Also by fall I’ll have 15 credits which nullify my GED so I’ll be resubmitting my waivers then. Does anyone have any advice to boost my chances? Or just advice in general?
Like I said I plan on returning to the Infantry, then hopefully going to Afghanistan, and I’d like to go to SOF and Sniper school. I’m unfortunately sort of not a heights person. I love being high up and rock climbing and things like that but I can’t make myself leave the ground or whatever platform I’m on lol. This is obviously a problem with my career choice. Any advice to get over this before I get to that point?
Last question for now… The whole process of turning down schools and good jobs for all of this has wrecked mine and my wife’s credit, so bad that I can’t get a security clearance. Any advice on how to get on track to fix this? I’ve put myself into a position, at least till fall, to start to fix this, I’ve moved back in with my mother basically alleviating me of any major bills (although adding a whole lot of stress).
Finally I’d like to add that, before anyone rips on me for it, I’m aware the Army has effectively wrecked my life. I don’t love the Army, I love the people (mostly) I work with, I love the mentality and I love the purpose of it. I’m not hooked on some halfcocked delusion of the glamor of war and the Army itself. I’ve lost friends and I know what it does, and I know first-hand how bad the Army can and does suck. But it’s all worth it to me. So if you personally hated the military, and that’s all you’ve got to say, keep in mind that I’m not you and you’re not me. The military and especially the Infantry isn’t for everyone so don’t bash how hard I’ve tried because you hated your time in. I loved every second of mine, and even if I don’t make it back in, I consider it an honor to have spent what time I could with the people I was with. This is the career I want, the good and bad, so I’d appreciate any helpful advice. Also I welcome any advice on how to prepare for a backup job if it all falls through.
Sorry for the long read and thanks in advance.
It took me a year to learn Farsi (at 8-12 hours a day) at the military language school and Korean and Chinese are harder than Farsi, so plan accordingly and realize learning language is a huge time commitment and very difficult. I believe the border patrol has stopped hiring since they had a big push last year but Spanish would be good to learn anyways and not as difficult as other languages. As far as your credit, it depends how bad it is, but it can take YEARS to bounce back and I know lots of people who got denied a clearance because of it. However if you enlist as a 11B and save your money and start repairing your credit within a few years you could apply for a clearance and be good. If you really want to be in the Army you will find a way to do it and even if you don't get exactly what you want at least you will be serving.
how difficult would it be compared to spanish? Honestly aside from the military I dont see any other use for Farsi but I want to understand people over there. Career wise what would be the better choice? Also is Rosetta Stone as good as its made out to be?
Originally Posted By PFC_Dustin:
how difficult would it be compared to spanish? Honestly aside from the military I dont see any other use for Farsi but I want to understand people over there. Career wise what would be the better choice? Also is Rosetta Stone as good as its made out to be?
Very difficult compared to Spanish. It has an entirely new alphabet and sounds that we don't have in English. Military career wise I would pick Spanish since it is easier but you won't get any extra pay for knowing it. If you go SF you will get a language crash course at Bragg or get sent to DLI.
Rosetta Stone is hit or miss, it all depends on the time that you put into it. If you buy it and only use it for an hour a day you will never learn the language, but if you use it every day for a few hours and use flash cards to study you might do alright.
Originally Posted By PFC_Dustin:
how difficult would it be compared to spanish? Honestly aside from the military I dont see any other use for Farsi but I want to understand people over there. Career wise what would be the better choice? Also is Rosetta Stone as good as its made out to be?
If your money situation is as bad as you make it out to be, I wouldn't waste any of it on Rosetta Stone. I am sure that knowing a language will not be the deciding factor that gets you back in the military.
I have Rosetta Stone and it's decent but I am using it as a supplement to traditional language courses.
OP- Your recruiter did not hold you over for 3 years waiting for that month were he was going to be one contract short and then enlist you to save the day. For the last year or so, the only MOS availible for prior service (E4 and below) into active duty is 18X. since your allready job qualified, you would just have to do Airborne and then begin SWIC. What rank did you ETS as? Did you ever get UCMJ or an article 15? What type of discharge and RE code is on your 214? You have to qualify for 18X to get in, so if you are dedicated, look in AR 601-210 and determine if your eligible.
Originally Posted By ABNglocker:
OP- Your recruiter did not hold you over for 3 years waiting for that month were he was going to be one contract short and then enlist you to save the day. For the last year or so, the only MOS availible for prior service (E4 and below) into active duty is 18X. since your allready job qualified, you would just have to do Airborne and then begin SWIC. What rank did you ETS as? Did you ever get UCMJ or an article 15? What type of discharge and RE code is on your 214? You have to qualify for 18X to get in, so if you are dedicated, look in AR 601-210 and determine if your eligible.
It’s a lot more complicated then I said obviously. But I did have one recruiter (the first one) drag it on, she told me herself. She held me over for 1 year. The next one was awesome. When I first started we were at the end of the surge, my brother got in in 7 days believe it or not lol. Sad thing is he wasn’t really the military type at all. As it dragged on options started disappearing. I know all the different things that caused it to drag on but I’m not going to get into that here lol. Also I will have to go through basic again the army started a new policy last year stating that all prior service needs to redo basic. Not a big deal though its only 4 months and I had fun the first time.
Oh and Im not eligable for 18x until i get my credit fixed, my security clearence was denied.
Originally Posted By madbarbarian87:
Very difficult compared to Spanish. It has an entirely new alphabet and sounds that we don't have in English. Military career wise I would pick Spanish since it is easier but you won't get any extra pay for knowing it. If you go SF you will get a language crash course at Bragg or get sent to DLI.
Rosetta Stone is hit or miss, it all depends on the time that you put into it. If you buy it and only use it for an hour a day you will never learn the language, but if you use it every day for a few hours and use flash cards to study you might do alright.
Thanks for the input on Farsi I’ll try my hand at Spanish since I already know a little from living in the DC area. I’m not looking for the language pay just the personal improvement and the improvement on my resume. Is pashto just as hard?
Originally Posted By 25Chuck:
Originally Posted By PFC_Dustin:
how difficult would it be compared to spanish? Honestly aside from the military I dont see any other use for Farsi but I want to understand people over there. Career wise what would be the better choice? Also is Rosetta Stone as good as its made out to be?
If your money situation is as bad as you make it out to be, I wouldn't waste any of it on Rosetta Stone. I am sure that knowing a language will not be the deciding factor that gets you back in the military.
I have Rosetta Stone and it's decent but I am using it as a supplement to traditional language courses.
My student aid covers the cost. Otherwise I would have done it a long time ago.
Are there any other programs out there better than Rosetta stone?
OP- unless you served for less than 179 days on active duty, than you are only eligible for enlisting under the 18X option. If you can not get a secruitiy clearance, you are screwed and need to consider non-army options. I just looked at the USAREC message pertaining to prior service and 18X, both had new messages come out last week. the only thing that changed was the very few MOSs that we are taking back. For the 18x message the change was DLAB is taken at FT Bragg not MEPS now. Also, since you are job qualified, you would not need to redo basic.
Can any waivers get past that? I am waiting till Aug. to give it another shot. So thats a problem that future Dustin can worry about lol. (Been waiting a while to use that I dont really mean it I am worried)
Im aware its not looking good but all I can do is hope and pray and try to make myself more valuable to the Army.
