Thinking about enlisting for four years, mainly just to serve in Iraq for one or two tours. While my motivation derives most from an inclination to serve, I would be a liar to say that money isn't an issue. I have gone through online information, but it is vague as would be expected with all the bonuses and allotments. My question for those who are enlisted as E-1(2) is what is your overall compensation (basic pay, housing allotment, subsistence pay, bonuses) and if possible can you itemize? I don't want to talk to a recruiter yet until I know exactly what I want so I can go in with some demands.

3/25/2007 11:15:38 AM

You don't make shit as an E1-E2. However, if you stay in for a while it's not too bad. Here is a link to the pay tables for military personnel. If you are single, you will get paid according to the pay rate and be reguired to live in the barracks and eat at the chow hall until you are an E-4 (3 years). If you are married, then after Basic training and Tech school you should be able to move off base with your wife and you'll get paid an additional 500-800 /mo. for housing allowance and an extra 270 /mo for food.

http://www.dod.mil/dfas/militarypay/2006militarypaytables/2007_Web_Pay_Table.pdf
http://images.military.com/ContenFiles/2007-BAH-without-dependents.pdf
http://www.dod.mil/militarypay/pay/bas/index.html

I was in the Air Force and that's how it worked when I was in. Not sure about the army though.

3/25/2007 11:26:38 AM

Are you going to school still? If so screw enlistment we need Lt.s bad, go for a commission.(there are 1 year ROTC deals nowadays)Also, if you have college credits w/o a degree you won't go in as an E-1, depending on your credit total you could go in as a E-3 paygrade (I thinks its 70+ hours) or E-2 pay with 24 credit hours.

3/25/2007 12:40:34 PM

You could make more money working a shit retail gig and have less of a chance of getting shot at.

3/25/2007 1:03:02 PM

If you're still in school, the navy has some programs that do not involve ROTC (no uniforms, drills, etc) and will pay you E-5/E-6 pay while in school in return for a 5-6 year commitment as an officer.

In any branch of service officer>>>>>>>>>enlisted by pretty much any measure.

3/25/2007 1:05:39 PM

Quote :

"You could make more money working a shit retail gig and have less of a chance of getting shot at."

3/25/2007 1:16:21 PM

I am graduating in May so it looks like im a little late as far as commissioning goes. What does having a degree mean as far as enlistment is concerned?

I don't want to screw over the Army, but my only reason for going is to serve in Iraq for one or two tours and then I am out after my four years, so does that have any bearing on being an officer (which I would love to be)?

3/25/2007 2:42:07 PM

^ You can still commission as an officer. You are just too late to do ROTC. Now you'll have to go through OCS. You'll likely get just as much time in the sandbox as you would if you enlisted, you'll just get paid more. I don't get the impression that you are deadset on any specific MOS or Branch so going officer may be better for you.

3/25/2007 3:01:03 PM

well, are they hesitant to send someone to ocs who doesn't plan on being a lifer?

3/25/2007 3:13:48 PM

I highly doubt it. But if you think that you would want to be an officer, talk to the officer recruiter first.

I wouldn't hide your intentions, but I wouldn't adverstise them either. Besides, why burn that bridge? Who knows where you'll be in 4 years.

3/25/2007 3:20:51 PM

^^ With the way that they need officers at the moment, i doubt that there would be any problems. But at the same time, you dont really need to be unnecessarily forthcoming about it. You just need to be ready to fulfill your contract and you can face the career issue a few years down the road.

[Edited on March 25, 2007 at 3:24 PM. Reason : ^what he said]

3/25/2007 3:23:24 PM

ok... so what is the involved with ocs and is it possible to demand being stationed at Bragg

3/25/2007 3:35:53 PM

Before you definitely go the ocs route, I would stop by and see MAJ Robertson at the Army ROTC office in Reynolds. OCS is probably the hardest way to become an officer as far as training goes. Before you even get to OCS training, you'll have to go through basic first. Then possibly AIT training (not sure here).

ROTC only needs two years to commission you, which you could get a master's degree in the meantime that the army would pay for.

Basically, if you're seriously interested in going the officer route then be sure to consider all your options before you decide on one.

3/25/2007 3:49:08 PM

Quote :

"ok... so what is the involved with ocs and is it possible to demand being stationed at Bragg"

Not sure how the enlisted stationing goes, but if you go the officer route then you can request the station of your choice. Won't be guaranteed it, but there's a decent chance.

If you really wanted Bragg that bad, you could sign an additional contract that would add on another 2 or 3 years (I think) to your commitment. This would lock you in for that station.

3/25/2007 3:51:45 PM

I am pretty much 100% sure they would be fine with someone who just wants to serve 1 term in Iraq as an oficer. The military is really really hurting for officers to go over to the Middle East right now. So much, that they are pulling officers from other branches of the service and with NO combat experience to go over and serve. For instance, I am an officer in the Navy assigned to submarines. Now I personally haven't gone over (yet), but many of my friends and coworkers of the same job description have been sent (it's called Individual Augmentees, or IA's). It's basically a draft, but instead of drafting civilians they are pulling from the military sector. Anyways, I think if they are digging that deep, then they would be more than happy to send someone with a college degree who actually wants to be an army officer over.

3/25/2007 4:16:23 PM

^^^MAJ Robertson (CPT Robertson when I first met him) is the man. The guy's a former Army Ranger and a real straight-shooter - he'll tell you how it is. I was going to be the guinea pig for the 1-year ROTC program but just didn't want to extend my degree a semester. If you see MAJ Robertson tell him SPC Denton said "hi" (bald dude from Islamic history class)

3/25/2007 4:39:15 PM

Am i the only one that is bothered that this guy only wants to join to go to Iraq? It kinda makes me wonder what he intends to do or if he just wants to blow stuff up.

I know that Navy JAG members are being embedded with the Marines in Iraq. Kinda a rude awakening for a few of my law school classmates.

3/25/2007 5:40:27 PM

fuck the army

Quote :

"we need Lt.s bad"

that didnt keep them from fucking me over every chance they got, in a time of war. fuck them

Quote :

"The military is really really hurting for officers to go over to the Middle East right now"

I guess they didnt need me, a perfectly willing and capable person, no they had to fuck me over for 4 years straight.....fuck them

[Edited on March 25, 2007 at 5:48 PM. Reason : .]

3/25/2007 5:44:22 PM

Quote :

"Am i the only one that is bothered that this guy only wants to join to go to Iraq?"

No. Definitely not.

I went into the Air Force with my degree and came out of basic as an E-3. I believe the Army is the same way, and may even actually promote you faster because of the degree. I remember some of my Army classmates telling me that I could have been an E-4 when I got out of basic if I had joined the Army instead.

3/25/2007 5:51:25 PM

Quote :

"I know that Navy JAG members are being embedded with the Marines in Iraq. Kinda a rude awakening for a few of my law school classmates."

Add two Navy Lieutenants (O-3) from the Navy ROTC unit here at State (which I'm in). One's a Helo pilot (SH-60) and another is a submarine officer. The sub guy I know for sure is being embedded in the Army for counter-IED work. He'll be joining my uncle, a reserve Air Force Major.

3/25/2007 5:52:12 PM

Quote :

"Am i the only one that is bothered that this guy only wants to join to go to Iraq?"

Why should it bother you? Maybe he believes in it. I have no desire to go, but I'm not going to knock the guy for wanting to go.

^ Hell, they're pulling DIO's out of NPS to go.

3/25/2007 7:16:47 PM

as for my intentions, my father has 20+ years special forces and is currently serving in iraq in an independent position. lately i have been preoccupied with a feeling of obligation and if i am going to be in the military at all it better be for the reason the military exists

3/25/2007 7:27:17 PM

I didn't realize the reason the military existed was to police civil wars we started.

3/25/2007 7:40:38 PM

Quote :

"MAJ Robertson (CPT Robertson when I first met him) is the man. The guy's a former Army Ranger and a real straight-shooter - he'll tell you how it is."

So true. Go see him.

BTW, he's still an Army Ranger, just not serving with them right now.

3/25/2007 8:28:12 PM

Yes, def go talk to the Army ROTC guys just to get all of your options. When I was in AFROTC, they had the Army guys come over a couple times asking for some of us to go Army. They promised us all sorts of stuff to include: additional pay while in school, back pay for any college course work we had to pay thusfar in our college career, scholarship to finish school, MOS of choice, and I think they may have even offered for us to sleep with their wives/daughters

3/25/2007 10:41:42 PM

Quote :

"as for my intentions, my father has 20+ years special forces and is currently serving in iraq in an independent position. lately i have been preoccupied with a feeling of obligation and if i am going to be in the military at all it better be for the reason the military exists"

as much as i disagree with the war and hate this administration which has completely botched it and fucked everyone in the ass for their own profit...

at least kbutt5 is willing to actually go and do something while the rest of Soap Box College Republican Chickenhawk Cheerleading Strike Force I sits on their ass in the comfort of their own homes (or parents' homes!) and blogs about how democrats == terrorist sympathizers.

3/25/2007 10:59:23 PM

BUDDY. DON'T BE FUCKING STUPID !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1.11.1.1..1 I WAS IN THE ARMY FOR 4 FUCKING YEARS. IT SUCKED ASS. (NO HOMO, B). DON'T BE STUPID.

THE PAY IS BULLSHIT. YOU'RE STAYING IN SHITTY HOUSING AS AN ENLISTED PERSON, ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE A FAMILY. not that I'm a snob or anything, but there is no way I could stay in a bullshit community with fucked up little kids living off government substinences and parents with fucked up levels of education and from some of the most rural areas ever.


dude, you can do better. you can come up with a better plan. i was young and stupid, but i understood that politically while I served there would be peace and no foreign invasions. i got out right before and dear God I love George Bush, but I got out just after he came in office and his agenda was sort of obvious . . . . and I'm not judgemental on this train of thought in my opinion George Bush is a prince of a man. God Bless Him.

3/25/2007 11:01:28 PM

They didn't offer you a MOS of choice since an officers doesn't have a MOS
You are branched, and to my knowledge they still can not gaurentee you a branch though I think 90% of ROTC grads get their choice.

Do OCS, 9 weeks of Boot, 14 weeks OCS. You get paid as a E-3 through basic, E-4 in OCS.

Stationing is up in the air, you pick where you want to go, but that is rarely were you go. However, since the 82nd is at Bragg you have a little better chance since not everyone wants airborne. If you select Infantry branch, opt for Airborne and Ranger school, you have a pretty good chance of getting Bragg, but meh it would be a lot of luck too.

If you really want to server your country do OCS, we need jr. Os bad. And they care if you only want 3 years in lol, they just want boots in Iraq.

3/25/2007 11:02:42 PM

Quote :

"civil wars we started."

your ignorance is evident in your lack of knowledge concerning Middle Eastern history; though, I expected as much when I typed that.

[Edited on March 25, 2007 at 11:06 PM. Reason : one too many "though"s]

3/25/2007 11:03:42 PM

Quote :

"BTW, he's still an Army Ranger, just not serving with them right now."

Does not compute, if he is currently here at State he is former. Once his time is up here he can go back to batt.

3/25/2007 11:14:48 PM

^ if you wear the Ranger tab, youre a Ranger.

end of story.

3/25/2007 11:20:06 PM

^ Negative

3/25/2007 11:21:09 PM

^ fuck you. and shut up.

3/25/2007 11:23:34 PM

Quote :

"spöokyjon: civil wars we started. kbutt5: your ignorance is evident in your lack of knowledge concerning Middle Eastern history "

yeah, fool. dont you know its the Shi'as and the Sunnis who started the damn civil war.

hell, if it's anyones fault, it's Saddam Hussein's for not giving up the WMD's and forcing us to kill his ass in the first place. If he had just behaved like we wanted him to, he could still be enforcing civil obedience in the former Republic.

3/25/2007 11:25:50 PM

Quote :

"BUDDY. DON'T BE FUCKING STUPID !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1.11.1.1..1 I WAS IN THE ARMY FOR 4 FUCKING YEARS. IT SUCKED ASS. (NO HOMO, B). DON'T BE STUPID. THE PAY IS BULLSHIT. YOU'RE STAYING IN SHITTY HOUSING AS AN ENLISTED PERSON, ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE A FAMILY. not that I'm a snob or anything, but there is no way I could stay in a bullshit community with fucked up little kids living off government substinences and parents with fucked up levels of education and from some of the most rural areas ever. dude, you can do better. you can come up with a better plan. i was young and stupid, but i understood that politically while I served there would be peace and no foreign invasions. i got out right before and dear God I love George Bush, but I got out just after he came in office and his agenda was sort of obvious . . . . and I'm not judgemental on this train of thought in my opinion George Bush is a prince of a man. God Bless Him. "

don't be a stilleto, B.

3/25/2007 11:26:27 PM

^^^Damn fucker. You are wrong it's that simple. A tab simply indicates completion of ranger school. The scroll indicates an army ranger. Hence the saying "The tab is a school, the scroll is a way of life". He is NOT currently a ranger without the scroll. Shit, people in the air force and navy have the ranger tab.

[Edited on March 25, 2007 at 11:45 PM. Reason : ^]

3/25/2007 11:29:53 PM

Quote :

"George Bush is a prince of a man. God Bless Him. "

long live Prince George.

3/25/2007 11:30:22 PM

Quote :

"as much as i disagree with the war and hate this administration which has completely botched it and fucked everyone in the ass for their own profit... at least kbutt5 is willing to actually go and do something while the rest of Soap Box College Republican Chickenhawk Cheerleading Strike Force I sits on their ass in the comfort of their own homes (or parents' homes!) and blogs about how democrats == terrorist sympathizers."

hey man, I'm not sitting on my ass. I'll be out there soon. Maybe not Iraq, but I'll be leading folks.

3/26/2007 12:10:50 AM

^ That is a scary, scary thought

3/26/2007 12:19:19 AM

^What I'm doing?

3/26/2007 12:31:07 AM

Quote :

"They didn't offer you a MOS of choice since an officers doesn't have a MOS You are branched, and to my knowledge they still can not gaurentee you a branch though I think 90% of ROTC grads get their choice."

No 90% do NOT get their choice. How many people go ROTC/OCS and WANT to end up the Quartermaster Corps or AG or some ghey shit like that? Some schools are guaranteed slots for certain branches. The rest are allowed to pick a top 3 and are tossed in a giant national lottery. If you're SMP with the National Guard you can find your own slot and things can be much easier.

Quote :

"Do OCS, 9 weeks of Boot, 14 weeks OCS. You get paid as a E-3 through basic, E-4 in OCS. "

Your pay in basic is determined by college credits - I think 30 will get you E-2, and 60 (the minimum to actually apply for OCS I believe) will get you E-3. You must have 90 credits by the time of your commissioning. You should have some degree to stand a chance at promotion to CPT down the road. If you have a degree when you enlist for the OCS option you should come in as an E-4. During OCS cadets get paid as E-5s (I think).

As a side note, if you don't have any college credits JROTC during high school for any length more than a couple years should get you E-3 pay as well. This is just for regular enlistees - if I recall correctly you MUST have 60 credits to apply to OCS, and 90 to actually receive the commission. This is so NG/Reserve cadets could do OCS on weekends and get the required 30 credits over the course of a year while doing OCS for monthly drills. If you complete OCS but do not have the credits you will get a certificate of completion. It's good for a couple years but you can "re-up" it. Once you get the requisite credits, present both to the proper authority and they'll hand you a butterbar.

It's been awhile since I was really "in the know" concerning commissioning programs and things may have changed but that is all correct to the best of my knowledge.

Quote :

"^^^Damn fucker. You are wrong it's that simple. A tab simply indicates completion of ranger school. The scroll indicates an army ranger. Hence the saying "The tab is a school, the scroll is a way of life". He is NOT currently a ranger without the scroll. Shit, people in the air force and navy have the ranger tab."

You are correct and incorrect, but you're mostly just splitting hairs for the sake of being a douchebag. Upon the completion of Ranger school, the serviceman in question is awarded the coveted Ranger tab, worn on the left shoulder, above the unit patch. The unit patch for any of the Ranger battalions out there is the Ranger scroll. Rangers serving on active duty, in a Ranger unit, wear both the tab and scroll, and maybe even an Airborne tab for good measure, who knows. As with other unit patches, the Ranger scroll can also be worn on the right shoulder as a combat patch. I'm guessing MAJ Robertson has earned this right, but has to wear ROTC insignia instead, so he does not CURRENTLY wear a Ranger scroll anywhere on his uniform.

HOWEVER as an Infantry officer I'm pretty sure he wore the Scroll at some point. Though he's not currently assigned to a Ranger battalion, once a Ranger always a Ranger. Go ask him the Ranger creed and then tell him he's not a Ranger and he'll calmly explain the same thing I just did.

/words

[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 1:29 AM. Reason : .]

3/26/2007 1:24:37 AM

^ Exactly.

3/26/2007 6:14:25 AM

okay...what about physical requirements? I am in pretty good shape, but I do have asthma which I have an inhaler for. haven't been hospitalized since i was 10 or so. ive read different accounts but i think i could make it through basic if i had my inhaler on me. what do you guys think?

3/26/2007 7:20:53 AM

^^^ Not exactly I'll go into detail later.

Quote :

"but I do have asthma which I have an inhaler for"

You sir, are disqualified from all branches. They might be desperate but in the late 90's even mentioning asthma at MEPS fucked up any and all chances. Might be able to waive it now but I would be very surprised.

3/26/2007 7:47:53 AM

Quote :

"In any branch of service officer>>>>>>>>>enlisted by pretty much any measure."

3/26/2007 8:20:20 AM

Quote :

"You sir, are disqualified from all branches."

pretty much

3/26/2007 8:28:01 AM

^^^^^^

Quote :

"Rangers serving on active duty, in a Ranger unit, wear both the tab and scroll, and maybe even an Airborne tab for good measure, who knows."

You can be a ranger without completion of ranger school ie. you don't have a tab. Before you are sent to the school you are already wearing the scroll and beret. This is only for the enlisted, if I remember correctly all officers that are selected for batt were already tabbed. If you are enlisted and don't have a tab you will never be placed in a position of leadership. You are still a ranger and assigned to the 75th.

Quote :

"I'm guessing MAJ Robertson has earned this right, but has to wear ROTC insignia instead, so he does not CURRENTLY wear a Ranger scroll anywhere on his uniform. "

Nor can he wear the beret. Don't take my comments as a personal attack on him or his service.

Quote :

"Though he's not currently assigned to a Ranger battalion, once a Ranger always a Ranger. Go ask him the Ranger creed and then tell him he's not a Ranger and he'll calmly explain the same thing I just did."

I'd be suprised if asked, "Are you an Army Ranger?" that he responds with a yes. I know for a fact that wouldn't fly for the enlisted. It would also depend on who is doing the asking.

Quote :

"once a Ranger always a Ranger"

Yes, but that statement has more to do with the ranger community and the respect earned for your past accomplishments.

[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 9:07 AM. Reason : .]

3/26/2007 8:46:50 AM

Quote :

"okay...what about physical requirements? I am in pretty good shape, but I do have asthma which I have an inhaler for. haven't been hospitalized since i was 10 or so. ive read different accounts but i think i could make it through basic if i had my inhaler on me. what do you guys think? "

This isn't an automatic disqualification, but it is pretty serious. As long as you can make it through basic without having to use it, you're fine. I know this because my brother-in-law has asthma and thats what his recruiter told him and he went ahead and joined the Army. Just got back from Iraq this past weekend actually

3/26/2007 8:59:48 AM

i think recruiters have a party every time they get a college grad to enlist instead of going to OCS

3/26/2007 9:09:19 AM

^^so they dont count it as a fraudulent enlistment if you have an asthma attack during basic?

3/26/2007 9:41:48 AM