Nervous as all get out :/

Garnet · October 2013

My boyfriend talked to a recruiter today.. He's been for the last few years wanting to join the U.S. Army. Its scary as heck thinking about how long he will be gone and of course, will he come home at all? So far I'm allowed to move on base with him and take my animals. Although some bases have a pet limitation as to the breed/amount you can have.. if we don't meet either of those, we will be posted off base. Its kind of scary because, I've lived in the same lil town in Texas for nearly 21 years, not counting the short two weeks in Arkansas. With him joining the Army, I have absolutely no clue where I will be going. I swear if I didn't love my nails so much id have chewed them off by now..

PaperWings · October 2013

My dad was in the British Army for 21-22yrs. As a child it was normal for me for dad to not be around, but I never let the idea of him never going to be home again pop into my head. I found moving around with my dad the best experience in my life. I don't like civvie life, I miss the army life. Longest I've lived in the same house is about 6-7yrs, shortest being about 18mo. I get itchy feet if I'm still in the same place for too long! Lol. If my dad was never in the army I would never have lived in Germany, with chances to visit most of the connecting countries. I would never have lived in Nepal and got to experience life in Asia and holidays in Thailand. There is the fear of being alone, and them never coming home. But there are always events and groups going on for military wives. You get to be with people going through the exact same worries and thoughts as you. And they can become friends for live. Lots of partys/mess do's (functions) to attend. And then don't forget the ability to explore the places you get to go! The best thing you can do is support his choice and enjoy the opportunities that arise!

Alabama · October 2013

Having served in the Army, I wouldn't hesitate to tell anyone it's a great experience. That said, recruiters are a different breed. They are scored on how many they get to join and will say many things to make that happen. I'm not saying they will flat out lie, but they might leave out part of the story. Make sure your boyfriend gets stuff in writing from the recruiter and when he goes for his physical and to be sworn in that he shows it to the person who will talk to him there before he swears in. Those persons absolutely will not lie to him and if the recruiter won't give it in writing, chances are he/she is flubbing a bit. As far as I know, military persons must be legally married in order to qualify for base housing or any off post housing allotment. Off post housing is not free, you will have to pay for it, but the military might give him an allowance if he's married, depending on various circumstances. There is usually a waiting list to be housed on post. It may be 6 months to a year or longer depending on the post and you can't apply until he is out of basic and AIT and knows where he is being ordered to. If he is unmarried, they will not pay for off post housing unless the barracks are full and then senior NCOs get first choice of living off post. They expect single soldiers, especially newbies, to live in the barracks. Like Paper says, you don't think about him not coming back. The chances are greater that he will come back than that he won't, even if deployed to a theater of war. He won't be deployed until after Basic and AIT and his first duty will most likely be to a stateside post.

Garnet · October 2013

My dad lived on an Air Force base in Germany for a few years with his mom and step dad so he has explained a little to me about the housing and the waiting list. I have traveled my whole life and absolutely LOVE seeing new places, but at the end I've always come back to Texas. Just gonna be weird to think of "home" as somewhere other than here lol I have a good friend who served and her husband is still serving. She's explained a little to me as well! She also mentioned the get it all in writting thing. Her exact words were "recruiters. I hate them. Make sure he gets everything he's promised in writting before he signs anything." So bama you double enforced that part showing how important that was! We have talked about getting married before he even leaves for basic, but its not a 100% decided thing just yet. I'm not good at meeting new people though, that's another scary thing. Being around so many strangers all the time. I guess ill have to work on that and get a lil more outgoing. I hate the being gone. He's wanting to go in to be MP then K9 division training dogs.. so maybe that will require him to be at the base for the most part after AIT? O.o

Alabama · October 2013

I'm drawing on memories here, so I may be mistaken... Unless he has previous experience working with police dogs, he won't be able to go directly into working with K9. He'll have to apply for the special school after he's been active duty for a while and there's probably a waiting list. MPs are like any other job (outside Special Forces, etc) in the Army, they will mostly be assigned to post duty. If he's assigned to a post unit, he probably won't go anywhere. If he's assigned to a team that's part of a bigger unit, he will start out on post, attached to the post MPs, but may be deployed. Let me use myself as an example... I was originally assigned the Public Affairs Detachment of the 9th Infantry Division, which was, at the time I was in AIT, deployed to Operation Desert Storm. Because they didn't want to fly a newbie overseas to a war zone, after a month of waiting at AIT, I was reassigned to Headquarters Company I Corps, which was the main post unit. Being in I Corps, I most likely wouldn't be deployed unless the entire I Corps was deployed (possible, but not likely unless a big war broke out). About a year in, 9th returned stateside and I was reassigned to them. 9th ID was always 48 hour deployable, meaning I would have 48 hours after receiving order to get my stuff in order and report for deployment. I was attached to and still worked with the I Corps Public Affairs, submitted stories for the post newspaper, etc, but that would have ended the moment I received deployment orders. I'm glad someone else has told you about getting stuff in writing. The recruiter cannot promise what profession he'll be. That doesn't happen until he goes to the MEPS station. What he is offered there will depend on his scores and what's available. He needs to not be afraid to refuse the all the jobs offered him if he doesn't want them. He can return to the MEPS station at a later date to see if something he'd like to do has opened up. This is what I did. First time to MEPS, they offered me things like airplane runway clean up. Stuff I'd never imagine doing and nothing the recruiter had discussed with me, so they sent me back home. I think my recruiter realized he wasn't going to pull the wool over my eyes, so he kept checking what was available and sent me to MEPS a second time, where they offered me Public Affairs journalist, so I signed up. Don't let him fall for he can switch jobs after he's active duty. It's true, he can, but only after serving a certain length of time, usually 2 years and if he gets a job that isn't glamorous, so has a hard time getting filled, maybe not unless he re-enlists. The paperwork involved to change jobs is seemingly unending and it will take a year, if not more to happen. Then he has to go through AIT again. Is his goal to be in the Army or to be a K9 MP? If K9 MP is more important, I believe all branches of service offer this, so he might check them out. As much as I loved being in the Army, I wish I'd gone for a different branch of service. The Air Force is really the easiest to live with and if he can swim, the Navy is pretty nice too although he may be away from you for longer periods of time. The Marines are great if what he's looking for is that sense of pride and camaraderie military dreams are made of, but it's more of a challenge. I don't know if it's the same in all places, but when I went in and my daughter, all the services were present at MEPS.

Garnet · October 2013

I'm thinking he's going mainly for the k9 thing. He's wanting to go to police academy once he gets done with the military. He may change his mind once he gets in if he enjoys it. He can't go into the air force cause of his tattoos

navy sucks massively for the being gone thing. My ex who I'm still friends with, is a nuclear tech in the navy and is gone on the ships for about three or four months at a time. He wants the army branch for sure though. I'm excited at the same time as being nervous haha I'm gonna take a screen shot and have him read all this next time he comes so he can see it over so he can see it for himself and understand it better

Cherokeezbaby · October 2013

My best guy friend is freshly out of training in the US Army and he actually got stationed 3 hours from home. They gave him his first pick of where he wanted to be stationed. However, he can't have anyone live with him until he is S5 because he lives in a dorm type house with like 5 other men. They do get a lot of leave time and every weekend off, so if you moved near him, you will see him often. Also, (not saying this is important to you) they get a lot more money than a normal job. My friend's pay check is $600 every other week, so $300 a week! My ex-boyfriend only got $200 a week for landscaping, so $300 is a lot for me, it may not be for everyone though lol.

Garnet · October 2013

Once he gets out of BMT and AIT ill be able to live with him as long as we are married. My brother makes almost 2k every two Weeks working on a drilling and my dad makes about that much at the mill he works at so i'm used to higher checks, but to me its not about the money. I just want to be with him and be happy.

Howdy, Stranger!

Nervous as all get out :/

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