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I'm thinking of joining the armed forces, and would appreciate any thoughts on the subject. I am leaning toward the coast guard b/c its smaller and easier to move up.
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Originally posted by e1flakedsvt:
I'm thinking of joining the armed forces, and would appreciate any thoughts on the subject. I am leaning toward the coast guard b/c its smaller and easier to move up.
not trying to be an ass, but this would go into Common INtrest section.....Just letting you know.
But comming form a military family( dads a marine, cousin a ranger, other cousin is Specail Forces, UNcle is a SEAL, Friends are in navy and marines) Id say go with COast gaurd if you want to be close to home.
Any other branch and you run the risk of going over seas, and if thats not for you...i reconmend Coast gaurd
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Joined: Oct 2002
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Well, I come from a military family as well, from most branches, and pretty much everyone in my family would say Air Force. Even with the Coast Guard you run the chance of being stationed on the opposite coast from your home, but you more than likely won't go overseas.
My opinion, what's the point of joining the military without going overseas. That's no fun. I have lived overseas 3 years of my life and loved it. It's best to get away and be totally on your own for a least a few years. I would at least try another branch for the lowest term you can get, which is usually 4 years, and then, if you are not happy and decided you want to go Coast Guard, have at it. Just change over as soon as you get out of one branch, don't let more than 2 months go by.
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I've put in just over 12 years of service in the Air Force and I can't complain. It's been a great experience. I would suggest going active duty if you do join the military and putting in for an overseas assignment...get out and see the world while the US Military is footing the bill. If you want to stay close to home I would suggest Guard or Reserves as you stay at one base all the time (except for temporary duty and deployments) Making rank in the guard/reserves is not really all that easy. Its a matter of when a slot for a particular rank opens up. Sometimes that can mean you gain fast, sometimes very slow. Active duty AF you make up to 3 ranks by time in service then you test for every rank after that. If you do go active duty I would HIGHLY suggest AF as the quality of life in the AF is better than any other service. If on the other hand you want to get in the middle of the fight then go Army or Marines. Any service will do you a lot of good but I believe I made the right choice going AF (although I MAY be a bit biased  ) I have a guy who used to work for me that is recruiting now so if you would like any info about the Air Force pm me and if I don't know it I can find out for you from my buddy. Bottom line to me: Joining the military can only do good things for you as far as maturity, discipline and lots of great benefits for education medical etc.
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I've been in the AF for 9 years so of course thats what I would recommend. But it really depends on what you want to do. The Coast Guard might be cool. You get to go rescue people. If you want to fly you can be a flight engineer on a Coast Guard C-130. A flight engineer is an enlisted person who flies on the aircraft monitors the engine performance and other systems. Also unlike the Navy you don't sit on a boat for 6 months. Thats why I didn't join.
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I was in the air force and it wasn't that bad, just another job after you get out of basic training. If you do join the coast guard do what a friend of mine did and get stationed at the destin florida coast guard station as it is right near crab island which is bikini central in the summer.
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go for it 
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My suggestion would depend on what you wanted to accomplish.
Air Force is good duty.
Coast Guard won't send you too far away from the mainland USA.
Army offers an easier path to make rank. A potentially good move if you plan on more than one hitch.
I had wanted to sign up in the Army, make as much rank as possible during my 20 to get the pension beefed up. Then enter the private or public service sectors at age 40 & build up another retirement nest egg. Unfortunately, I got hurt in an accident before the physical & I became permanently 4-F.
I don't know much about the Navy. I had some friends in, but most moved into the private sector after their first enlistment was up. One guy was a hard-core, meat eatin', SEAL SOB & he was in for 12 years & is in the Carribean someplace.
Must be that jumbly-wumbly thing happening again.
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Originally posted by maxx_power76:
Also unlike the Navy you don't sit on a boat for 6 months. Thats why I didn't join.
Thats a lie and a half. I'm in the coast guard. I'll send you some PMs if you want. I've had a few friends who've been stationed overseas for more than six months (not by much) and on boats WAYYYYY smaller than an aircraft carrier. It was a 270ft boat in case you're wondering.
We do everything he said. Flight engineer yea, other stuff too. Small boats is where it's at though. Nothing more fun than hauling ass on the water in 8-10 foot seas in a boat that is unsinkable to go out and save somebody's life.
You can do law inforcement stuff too. Boardings on other vessels and fisheries. Oh yea... if we want we can become customs too. That means we can board your boat, tear is apart and tell you that you have 24 hours to move it away. It has its ups and downs... depends on what you want.
You can get stationed overseas too. During times of war we send our bigger boats over seas. We had 4 110ft boats patrolling the middle east waters and a few 180ft buoy tenders doing Aids to Navigation over there. It's all good but you'll probably want to know more about it.
It is very true that we are a very small service. I think right now we have about 38,000 active duty and 8,000 reserve personnel. the new york city police department has more people. And we patrol the U.S. coastline as well as some lakes (lake tahoe). You can get stationed on a variety of boats. Black hull boats are AtoN boats. White hull boats are more into Law Inforcement, Drug Interdiction, and Search and Rescue.
I'll tell you a little about my unit.
I'm at a small boat station in southern maryland. We have about 20 active duty personnel here. We stand duty either 48 hours in a row or 72 hours in a row. No we do not work all of that but it you're on duty then your normal working hours are from 0800 to 1600 (4pm). We get free food (sorta, ask me and I'll tell you more) and we get paid more for living off the base. We have two small boats. A 41ft utility boat used for various missions and a 23ft SAFE boat.
Neither of those boats are unsinkable but you'll have a hell of a time with the 23ft SAFE boat.
I'm going to end this post here after informing everyone of CEG central about my service. Sorry for the long post but I hope it answers just about everyone's questions concerning the Coast Guard.
Some things you may hear are myth and some maybe true. PM me and I'll try and get back to you.
One last thing. In this service there is such a thing as a Non_rate. You do not want to be this. If you enlist then make sure you get a guaranteed "A" School. Good luck.
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What about reserves? I have a job I can't leave for the military...but isn't the reserves where you give them like 2 weeks a year?? Sounds like a win win situation to me...really thinking about it.
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