Going to the recruiter on Thursday

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dlippert

New Member
I am just finishing up my first semester in college, and realized that I have little or no attachment in my life and basically no purpose. I have always been strong academically and physically, and I have great pride in our country and military.

Thus, I decided on joining the service. Without speaking to a recruiter, I believe that I am going to take a semester off of school and go to BMT to join the National Guard. I will then finish college, then probably go into active duty (depending on my experience in the Guard).

Now, I just have a few general questions. If you're willing to give me answers, that would be awesome. I'm sure the Recruiter will have these answers, but from what I have read you should go into the recruiting office with AS much knowledge as possible.

-Will I be able to start bootcamp in late Jan or early Feb, or is it more seasonal?
-How long is most AIT training, 5-8 weeks, or longer?
-How long does BMT/AIT take in total?
-Is it easy to go from Guard duty to Active Service as I'd assume?
-Supposing I score well on my ASVAB (I scored a 26, 89th percentile, on my ACT, and 93rd percentile on my PSAT), will I be asked to go into a more specific AIT, and possibly a greater pay grade?
-Once I graudate college, will I then become an officer, or would I need training?
-I've read various answeres to this question, but what kind of shape should I be in going in? I run for 10:00/day and do 2x25 pushups and about 200 crunches, would I be more then okay if I continued that and increased it going into BMT?

Thank you very much for your help. I am excited to enter, but weary of being taken advantage of. If you'd like to answer one or more of my questions, it would be greatly appreciated. It will be an honor to serve my country that has served me so well.

Thanks again (this is a wonderful resource)
 
i'll answer what i can, i'm not very familiar with the NG.

bootcamp depends on when you sign up. they'll usually try to schedule you asap, where ever there is an open slot. AIT completely depends on your MOS. the MOS i'm looking at could take me anywhere from 6 months to 2 years to complete. but there are others that can be completed within 6-8 weeks. i found the ASVAB not very difficult at all. the only things i needed brushing up on was the parts of an atom (2 years of calculus based chemistry and i forgot the parts of an atom, go figure). i noticed that even though i scored very well on my ASVAB (90s) the recruiter still failed to mention all of my possibilities. it was not his fault, it's just that the door was wide open. i was set on going into aviation, possibly being on a helo crew or something to that effect, until i saw a different army recruiter and he mentioned intelligence. after that i decided i wanted to work HUMINT. i know if you join the army with a 4-year degree they will give you the rank of e-4 after completion of basic. as for officer training, you still need to apply and test for it. they don't give you anything unless you ask for it, so ask. when it comes to running, 10 min a day isn't enough (i'm guessing that's about 1.25 miles or so?). i'd suggest trying to push yourself to run at least 2 miles a day, increase the pushups to at least 100 a day (sets of 20-30), but the crunches are a good number. tons of running, so i kind of want to emphasize that. btw, i suggest researching different jobs in whatever branch you want to join before going to a recruiter. it makes their job easier and you can develope questions before you get there. know what you're getting into so you don't get shortchanged when you sign that contract. good luck!
 
well it might be different from us but the main things to concentrate on is upper body strenth...

id say to be sure do between 2 1/2 mile - 3 miles a day...that way you know you can do a fair bit....but apart from that oncentrate on sit-ups, pressups, pull-ups (overgrasp) and maybe weights depending on how skinny you are :lol:
 
dlippert said:
go to BMT to join the National Guard. I will then finish college, then probably go into active duty (depending on my experience in the Guard).

-Will I be able to start bootcamp in late Jan or early Feb, or is it more seasonal?
-How long is most AIT training, 5-8 weeks, or longer?
-How long does BMT/AIT take in total?
-Is it easy to go from Guard duty to Active Service as I'd assume?
-Supposing I score well on my ASVAB (I scored a 26, 89th percentile, on my ACT, and 93rd percentile on my PSAT), will I be asked to go into a more specific AIT, and possibly a greater pay grade?
-Once I graudate college, will I then become an officer, or would I need training?
-I've read various answeres to this question, but what kind of shape should I be in going in? I run for 10:00/day and do 2x25 pushups and about 200 crunches, would I be more then okay if I continued that and increased it going into BMT?
Click to expand...

Hey, I have one suggestion. Instead of joining the Guard, why don't you just join Reserves? You may want to check into it, but you get more benefits being that The Army reserve and active component are federal units whereas the Guard belongs to the State where you reside. Check your options well before you sign up and RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH.

The recruiter will not tell you everything you want to know, because often times they are meeting quotas (min: put two people in a month) and they have certain jobs they have to fill. So like EGOZ said, they may want you for a particular field and not disclose all of your other options.

Research the www.goarmy.com website well. It's got information on what BCT is like, the jobs available, etc..

IF you want more information on a particular topic, go to www.military.about.com. This website has practically anything and everything you want to know about the military including detailed MOS descriptions, what to expect at Basic Training, and things recruiters don't want you to know.

Good luck
 
-Will I be able to start bootcamp in late Jan or early Feb, or is it more seasonal?

You will be able to start then, it is seasonal, and recruiters are looking hard for people in those months. A "quick shipper" is like gold to a recruiter.

-How long is most AIT training, 5-8 weeks, or longer?

AIT is from 8 weeks to a year long, depending on the MOS. Military Intel Linguists go to school a LONG TIME

-How long does BMT/AIT take in total?

Basic is around 9-11 weeks with reception station added in...AIT, see above.

-Is it easy to go from Guard duty to Active Service as I'd assume?

It IS NOT easy to go from Guard/Reserve to Active. You must be released from your Guard/Reserve command before you go back to MEPS and join the Active. The Reserve Forces have a mission and strength requirments too...they cannot affortd to release anyone who wants to change to the active component.

Also, when you go back to join the active Army, your job choices will be very limited, most likely the MOS you already hold. They won't want to send you to another AIT and spend the money for two school slots for one person.

-Supposing I score well on my ASVAB (I scored a 26, 89th percentile, on my ACT, and 93rd percentile on my PSAT), will I be asked to go into a more specific AIT, and possibly a greater pay grade?

If you have JROTC in High School, or some community college (or any college) credits (I can't remember exactly how many) you can join as a higher rank, up to PFC. Test scores will not get you a higher pay grade.

-Once I graudate college, will I then become an officer, or would I need training?

You must attend a commissioning source...ROTC, Service Academy, OCS...to be an officer.

-I've read various answeres to this question, but what kind of shape should I be in going in? I run for 10:00/day and do 2x25 pushups and about 200 crunches, would I be more then okay if I continued that and increased it going into BMT?

If you can run two miles in less than 15:00...do 50 push ups in 2 minutes,...and 50 situps in 2 minutes...you will do fine in Basic...as a matter of fact, you may come to the attention of the drill sergeant's in a positive way because you ARE in shape to start...work hard to improve...try to max the test for graduation...honor graduates do get promoted.
 
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