just wondering who out there is/was in the military and attends(ed) NC state. what experiences have you had since you left the military for school? or for those of you in the guard/reserves... what do you have to share?

8/9/2006 10:30:52 AM

Your question is a little too open ended. Is there anything specific that you want to learn or want to know?

8/9/2006 10:37:59 AM

I repeat, we have no intelligence!!

8/9/2006 10:41:02 AM

im not really looking for anything specific. just a discussion about current and former military members who have or are attending NC state. no real 'answer' per se

8/9/2006 10:49:14 AM

Im not former military but I have worked overseas doing intel related work. I considered OCS after I graduated to go MI but decided on Grad School instead. We'll see how that decision pans out.

8/9/2006 11:01:08 AM

i was in the army and then went to STATE. it was a cool experience I suppose. the best part was the GI BILL money though. it was i little over a $1000/month for a full-time class load. AWESOME !!!! deal.

8/9/2006 11:08:49 AM

It's been 5 years since I got out of the Air Force and I still don't regret it one bit. You lose a little bit of security as far as the steady paycheck and free medical/dental, etc. However, the freedom gained from not having to put up with the military bs more than makes up for it.

8/9/2006 11:09:40 AM

Like I said earlier, just don't tell lame stories and you'll be good to go. Some skanks might be impressed by your tattoos though.

8/9/2006 11:25:11 AM

i know its the stereotype... and i know the stereotype exists because it has happened more than once... but i am not one to use such one dimensional tactics as 'look how cool my tattoos are' or 'baby, i fought for freedom and almost died saving my country' to impress anyone... let alone dupe some girl into bed

8/9/2006 12:41:43 PM

Gunzz make more suggestions plz!

8/9/2006 12:43:52 PM

I went to State, graduated, had zero direction in life, joined the Air Force. It's been interesting. I don't like my job, and the training was ridiculous. But I've had a lot of fun outside of work and class, more than I did in college. And the medical benefits are no joke. I've had to go to the ER twice, got the flu, had five teeth pulled, and my gall bladder removed all this year, and the only paperwork I saw was the form they made me sign for my roxicet prescription. The only real disappointment is that I don't travel as much as I wanted to (I have the chance to be stationed at a grand total of four different places if I stay in, and most likely will just see two of those places over and over again).

8/9/2006 1:00:46 PM

I was in the Marines for four years ('99-'03) then started State in the Fall of 2003. I don't regret leaving or joining - the military was just a stepping stone to future plans and I wasn't looking to be in for life when I joined.

I mainly try to remain low-key about my military "career". I don't make it a point for people to know about it until they ask; even then I'll tell them I "worked" for four years before college. I've seen too many schmucks in my classes try to come off as hardasses and braggarts because of their time served. I don't want to be that guy.

I just found out a military security clearance can help you get a really nice civilian job, so I'm excited about this since I had a SECRET clearance to perform my MOS. But I'm worried because I'll finish grad school around the ten-year expiration date of the clearance.

8/9/2006 1:02:42 PM

your clearance expired within a year of your getting off of active duty. i work security clearance issues when im not deployed... sorry. i am still on active duty, getting out in 6 months. i am going to join the natl guard in NC. i know what youre talking about by not wanting to be 'that guy'. i dont want to be that either. i expect my tattoos will draw a lot of attention (which was never my intent when i got them) and that will lead to discussion about my military 'career'. have those schmucks gotten a lot of grief for their arrogance? have you gotten any at all? what did you used to do in the corps?

8/9/2006 1:14:51 PM

Tattoos are alright; they will garner attention as any tattoo would. Just don't try to work your military years into every conversation you may have with other students, that is, if you don't want too many people knowing all your business. If you do, then by all means, brag until your face is blue. Don't get me wrong, being in the military is something to be proud of, especially if you had a cool MOS with lots of cool stories. You won't really catch any shit for it, but it's kind of an unspoken rule (at least with me and other former servicemen-students I've met/know) to just be a normal college kid and leave all that military junk in the past. Would anyone else replying in this thread agree?

I was an electronics technician in which I fixed cryptographic equipment that allowed information to be transmitted securely, whether it be by a radio, telephone, or computer. Hence, a reason why I don't brag because I didn't have a cool MOS with cool stories...

8/9/2006 1:43:34 PM

Best story about "That Guy."
My roommate sophomore year told me this story.

He was in a graduate level history class during a discussion about the Vietnam War. The professor decided to start some seminar style lecturing regarding people's opinions about the Vietnam War and public policy.

After a couple of the typical responses, "I think the government lied," and, "Looking back makes it easy to criticize, but they did the best they could...."

The professor called on this Air Force ROTC guy in uniform and asked him what he thought about it. He redirected discussion to the topics of the military heroes of something along the lines of, "I don't think people give them enough credit for serving their country and they were right and will always be right and I think it's places like these that make people ungrateful," you know, really putting himself out there as king shit.

The professor enjoyed the challenge and called on another student who was lifelong education and he said, "I think we should take things more objectively and realize it was a complicated circumstance."

The Air Force guy spoke up, "And how would you know what it means to look at something that way? I'm in the military and been through training to learn about this conflict."

The older man responded, "It's probably because I've been there and done that."

The next class the man came in uniform as a Brigadier General. He apologized for not having enough time to change, but he had to make the drive from Ft. Bragg during his day job to come take his lifelong education classes at State.

8/9/2006 1:49:25 PM

Worst "pwnage" evar.

8/9/2006 1:57:59 PM

Another reason not to brag is because the ROTC punks will brag enough for all the actual servicemen that blend in.

And they've never seen a day of military life.

8/9/2006 1:58:08 PM

my cousin went into intel out of college, mostly b/c the offers he got from them were much more promising than any other job prospects. thats what he gets for minoring in arabic.

8/9/2006 2:02:21 PM

^ hahaha no kidding.

Seriously though, I'm surprised that cadet didn't notice that the guy had the military look and bearing. Plus, he's in the AIR FORCE. Not like he knows anything about combat anyway

8/9/2006 2:04:10 PM

i suppose i could have cool stories to tell based on my MOS's. i came in as infantry and was in 3rd ranger Bn at benning. then i reclassed to interrogator, went to DLI in CA and learned arabic... graduated with a 2+/3 and came to bragg where i am in 3rd special forces group. however, upon leaving active duty, im going to warrant officer course and flight school because im going to fly apaches for 1/30 in raleigh. sure, ive got my war stories... but, like you said (in spite of how cool it may or may not sound) its something to be proud of, but nothing i have to beat my chest over and brag about. if someone is interested, theyll ask and ill divulge enough appropriate information... but i have no intentions of wearing my service as a red badge of courage that i need to show everyone i meet. i am not my job is how ive looked at it.
- agreed, air force sucks
- have any of you deployed during OIF/OEF?

8/9/2006 9:29:43 PM

Hey now, let's just take it easy on the Air Force. It's just a different mentality. You guys think we are a bunch of pussies for not wanting to blow things up, and we think you guys are a bunch of idiots for wanting to sleep in a tent 9 months out of the year. Why can't we all get along?

8/9/2006 9:37:58 PM

Because you guys don't live anywhere they don't have A/C and you used to take your PT test on a STATIONARY BIKE

8/9/2006 9:51:16 PM

ive met a couple of cool air force personnel. they were CCTs though, at firebases in afghanistan. other than that, a majority of the AF ive met are like the cool kids in HS. they havent a clue whats going on or what they are supposed to be about... but they look good doing it. of course, the army is just a bunch of gun toting, drunken, womanizing morons.

8/9/2006 9:54:32 PM

^No shit man - the AF has so many hot women it makes me want to

8/9/2006 9:56:28 PM

except for the fact that they tend to be nuts... marine females are generally hot too.

8/9/2006 10:05:42 PM

^i tend to think of them as more scary than hot. and 2/3s bulldykes

8/9/2006 10:15:21 PM

^^^^^ Hey, that bike test was tough, it took forever (around 8 minutes).

^^^^ You can't gauge the average Air Force guy according to the CCT's or PJ's, they're a different breed. The majority of us just want to do our time without getting shot at...or inconvenienced for too long.

^^ agreed, I've seen quite a few at Cherry Point.

[Edited on August 9, 2006 at 10:22 PM. Reason : ^]

8/9/2006 10:21:45 PM

Quote :

" have any of you deployed during OIF/OEF? "

JCASHFAN is a Captain in the Army on a tour in Iraq presently.

8/9/2006 10:25:38 PM

i'm sure poopface was there

8/9/2006 10:31:42 PM

Quote :

"i suppose i could have cool stories to tell based on my MOS's. i came in as infantry and was in 3rd ranger Bn at benning. then i reclassed to interrogator, went to DLI in CA and learned arabic... graduated with a 2+/3 and came to bragg where i am in 3rd special forces group. however, upon leaving active duty, im going to warrant officer course and flight school because im going to fly apaches for 1/30 in raleigh."

Sweet. That's a cool mix of jobs.

[Edited on August 10, 2006 at 12:10 AM. Reason : i wanna do the opposite...Hornet WSO, then FAC, then back to school to be a pilot]

8/10/2006 12:10:07 AM

Quote :

"just wondering who out there is/was in the military and attends(ed) NC state. what experiences have you had since you left the military for school? or for those of you in the guard/reserves... what do you have to share?"

what are you, a spy?

all i know is that we were instructed to report suspicious characters asking open ended questions about military matters, directly to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

8/10/2006 3:39:47 AM

Quote :

"Because you guys don't live anywhere they don't have A/C and you used to take your PT test on a STATIONARY BIKE"

And let me tell you how PISSED I was when they stopped doing that stationary bike test.
I like having A/C. I've never pretended I could hack it in a war zone. I admire the people who are in the other branches, and I don't really care that we get made fun of for things like desk jobs, air conditioning, and easier PT standards. Because if I didn't want those things, I would have joined another branch.

8/10/2006 8:39:59 AM

there are members of the af though that do believe they are badass for being in the af. there is also a notion that the af has 'smarter' people in it. i would say you might have fewer dumb people, but on the whole, no more smart people than does any other branch. im only basing this off of my interaction with af personnel at DLI in ca... lots of kids who dont know what they are talking about because theyve been in for 6 minutes and havent even been to a permanent station yet. its just funny.
- go ahead, report me to ncis, they are incompetent anyway.

8/10/2006 9:15:24 AM

There is a former military intell/ranger/82nd Airborne guy in my law school class. He is so freaking badass he makes Jack Bauer look like a girl.

He does not talk about it much, but occasionally will tell us a modest story.

8/10/2006 9:23:20 AM

lol

8/10/2006 9:36:07 AM

i know what you mean... but lets not compare real people against fictional characters

8/10/2006 9:43:24 AM

Now is not the time to join the Air Force as an officer. Not unless you want to be given a pink slip and reclassed into the Army.

8/10/2006 12:13:43 PM

my friend is in AFROTC, and he was telling me about the AF officer thing, how they have too many right now, and they are actually offering those under scholarship the deal that they can walk away, not repay the government anything, and not be obligated to serve.

speaking of intel though, I would like to know some info on this too, not actual military intel positions, but im looking to go CIA or DIA after college.

8/13/2006 6:58:14 PM

^ What specifically are you interested in doing for them? (ie: Operations or Analysis etc.) Having just a poli sci degree will make it difficult to get a job straight out of school unless you have extensive knowledge and experience in a strategic language, region, or subject. Well, that is unless you get really lucky. I've worked and spoken with members of both organizations so let me know what you want to know and I'll see if I can answer.

8/13/2006 7:56:41 PM

Navy Flight school is the way to go!!! Seriously.. I make just under $40K a year and study maybe as much as I did in college but I fly 5-10 hours a week!.... Fuckin Awsome!!!

8/13/2006 8:48:13 PM

Quote :

"im only basing this off of my interaction with af personnel at DLI in ca... lots of kids who dont know what they are talking about because theyve been in for 6 minutes and havent even been to a permanent station yet. its just funny. "

Those type of people didn't usually last very long at DLI, from my personal experience. But they certainly were a source of amusement/annoyance. This job seems to attract a lot of weirdos, but I can't really compare it to anything else since I've never had another job.

[Edited on August 13, 2006 at 9:15 PM. Reason : opsec bleh]

8/13/2006 9:12:09 PM

^^stay away from advanced jet NFO school, though. i bet i average 60+ hour weeks, and 80 hour weeks aren't unheard of. oh, and we get scheduled for flights and graded sims on sundays.

8/13/2006 10:14:25 PM

that blows man... a buddy of mine from UVA just selected that... I think I'm going helos in Whiting

8/14/2006 12:52:34 AM

military intelligence= oxymoron

8/14/2006 1:10:56 AM

AHAHAHAHHA I'VE NEVER HEARD THAT BEFORE, YOU'RE FUCKING HILARIOUS

8/14/2006 1:31:21 AM

HAHAHAHAAHA SOOO GOOOOD
funny jokes

8/14/2006 1:45:41 AM

mocking people who use played out jokes is so 2003


...

8/14/2006 3:50:59 AM

Quote :

"my friend is in AFROTC, and he was telling me about the AF officer thing, how they have too many right now, and they are actually offering those under scholarship the deal that they can walk away, not repay the government anything, and not be obligated to serve. "

I hadn't heard about the scholarship and AFROTC deal, but it makes sense. They did that sort of thing in the early 90s to get rid of some excess personnel. There's a lot of people in the Air Force that are being given the option to either transfer to the Army or they are just getting laid off. A lot of jobs in the Air Force can be contracted out to people for a lot cheaper.

8/14/2006 10:39:34 AM

the only people i know personally who have gone DIA or to 'the agency' are former military... so it was pretty easy. mostly because you network with other former service members. i couldnt offer any info about how easy/tough it might be to get in without some sort of background in anything. personally, i wouldnt want to go that route. i do not like my present job and really dont feel like trying to find out if ill like it working in the civilian side. i would never go CIA on principle. the CO's ive worked "with" all suck. i think ive met 1 or 2 down to earth agency guys... the rest think they are special. fuck that, i already work with egos, at least the ones i am around right now have some sort of justification. of course, there are aspects of the field that im sure are interesting... but being that im rather 'specialized' in one area of it, it would be tough to get out of that and into something else... i have yet to hear about or see anything agency related that blows my socks off. of course, it will always be a fall back if i ever desperately needed a job/career.

8/14/2006 11:58:13 PM

My dad was in the Army for 30 years and is a retired Sgt. Major.
There is nothing that could ever make me join the military, after what is has done to him. He has PTSD, insane health problems rooted from the military, and can be incredibly violent due to his time there. I was outright guaranteed admission to UNC if I pursued an ROTC scholarship program there and the ROTC lady at Duke hinted at it as well, and my grades are not stellar enough to get into Duke on their own. I could have had the large majority of all of my college paid for, my older brother was also offered a scholarship to Univ. of SC and he would not accept either. I just do no think the current state of affairs in the world makes the military anything I could ever consider, not to mention having a commander in chief who I disagree with for a multitude of reasons.

I don't know if it varies from service to service or school, but there was a guy in my Chem lab this past spring, he was in Afghanistan last summer and he is on that GI Bill or whatever, I guess, and he said they really do not give you that much money to pay back/for school.

This is all on top of the fact that I would die in Basic Training. Too much of a puss to fire a gun, and I know I would get yelled at like crazy and cry all the time.

8/15/2006 12:21:59 AM