My Experience with the ASVAB (and the Iraq war)

[Sirveri]

I was sitting there waiting for the test to begin, when of course the obvious subject came up.

Iraq.

Not even a second passed as I heard every single young person there exclaim, they hated the war. They thought it was stupid. They were all young, I was 23, the oldest 25, the youngest, 17. United, together, in their detest for this war.

One, 22 was asked, do you vote?
His response, no. It's all rigged with this electoral college thing. It doesn't matter if I vote or not. Some guy up in washington will just tell the college to change the vote and the state will go red. I wish I had the courage to tell him his vote mattered, but I didn't. I'll blame it on being too polite. Blame it on not having a opening into the conversation with the other young much louder people. Always the quiet one I was. Doesn't excuse my cowardice, my failure to do the right thing when it was needed. Maybe I'll change if I join the Navy. Maybe not. But at least I recognise it, that's a start.

11 people took the test that day. 7 white, 4 black. As we drove towards the center we passed the national guard barracks. There was a bus there. There were old people, all standing outside, like they were wishing people goodbye, safe journey. Don't get killed, you're going to Iraq. I don't know why they were there, I just noticed that nobody else seemed to notice. To care.

Maybe I can console myself, tell myself that this election will be voted in by the people whose children are sent off to die in Iraq. Whose children come home with cancer from powdered uranium. Whose Children come home and can't sleep at night because of the post traumatic stress.

I went with two people that day. The other scored a 36, 1 point above passing. I scored a 99. I know I'll be safe. We'll just have to wait and see what happens to the others. Why am I thinking of joining? Because at this point, I have nothing left I can do. No job, living off of my girlfreind. No employment prospects. No recovery in sight. It is my last choice, we'll see if it is a good one.

[burrowowl]

1. You may not get to choose

Apparently the Army has a blue to green campaign to get Navy types to change over to Army. And don't worry, they'll put you where they want to.

[Longhorn]

5. From what I understood, that program is for people

who are leaving the Army and Air Force after their enlistment is up.

[Nikia]

2. A recruiter visited me after I took it

I don't know how my score compared as I took it a long time ago. I scored high (90th percentile or higher) in everything except the tool and auto section. The National Guard recruiter visited and said that I could do anything that I wanted in the National Guard. It was my junior year of high school. I told him that I wasn't sure if I'd want to join but if I did that I was interested in either journalism or pharmacy. He called later saying that he secured a place for me in the the pharmacy tech program. I decided against it though because I was still considering a service academy, ROTC, or just going out of state without involving myself in the military.
I ended up not being accepted to the US Military academy and found that I could get enough financial aid at an out of state school without ROTC.
Later, I heard of several aquaintances complain that their teenager joining the military couldn't get into a field that they wanted. From my experience with the National Guard recruiter, it didn't seem to be that hard. Is regular military different in that?

[Wright Patman]

3. Blue to green

Yep, they will put you where they need you. And it ain't in the Navy at this point.

You just signed you life away.

It was not a good choice. Plead insanity or immediately turn gay or something.

[Sirveri]

7. I haven't signed shit.

So before you go running your fucking mouth off try and learn a little bit more about who you're talking to.

Hell even if that was the case, which I do not buy (cite please, as people like to say), it's not like I have much of a choice. Unemployed, AND blacklisted.

[Sandpiper]

4. Recruiters are lying SOBs

They'll promise you the moon if they think that will get you to sign the enlistment papers.

Don't believe a word they say that isn't in writing.

[Longhorn]

6. My son enlisted in the Marines in October.

He is finding more and more of his fellow Marines who are against this war.

The Blue to Green program, according to the article I read here on the board, is a program to recruit airmen and sailors who are leaving the Air Force and Navy and are already trained in skills needed in the Army. (I'm not defending it -- just trying to clarify.) If you enlist in a particular branch of the service, that's where you go. They don't just pull you from one branch to another without your consent.

Whether you get the job you want is another thing. My son went into the Marines on an "open contract" so all we knew is that he would not be infantry. With as ASVAB of 96, he was assigned an MOS in computer networks and will complete the second of two classes in two weeks and then be assigned to an Air Wing in Iwakuni, Japan. We feel very lucky because even if his unit is deployed, the air bases are not in the middle of the battleground so he should be relatively safe. I feel for those whose sons and daughters face danger every day. :(

[Sirveri]

8. Yeah, honestly I just need a job.

They know I'm smart at this point, and I have two interests flying (which I can't do because of my glasses), and 'highly technical shit' (mainly electronics, nuclear technology, and rocketry). So I'm guess that they're not going to waste me. But I'm glad you clarified the blue to green. One thing people fail to realise, is that the recruiter is attached to you the second you go to MEPS all the way until you get out of basic. So I severly doubt that they would just let another branch snag you after they busted your ass into shape.