Military work?

Since I've been having trouble finding work, I've considered perhaps looking to join. Surely they have work for me. I also would like to get a federal job one day...so it might help me in the long run. Since I had cancer in 2005, I'm in desperate need of medical insurance...so joining would also cover that, I presume?

Is there a preferable branch of the military? I honestly don't know much about any of them.

KG

Find more posts tagged with

Save $250 on 2025 certification boot camps from Infosec!

Book now with code EOY2025

Button

Comments

Illusionking

A friend of mine had attempted to get in IT position in the Army, but due to the background check, had his less than savory background he wasn't permitted the security clearance to maintain an IT position so he chose combat medic......

As far as which branch, I've heard (in easiest to difficult):

Airforce/National Guard
Army
Navy
Marines

That's based on what I've heard, not on my experiences.

KGhaleon

Then Marines sound interesting.

I'll do some research on each of them. If I don't make any progress job-wise soon, I'll probably contact a recruiting agency.

KG

georgemc

KGhaleon wrote:

Since I've been having trouble finding work, I've considered perhaps looking to join. Surely they have work for me. I also would like to get a federal job one day...so it might help me in the long run. Since I had cancer in 2005, I'm in desperate need of medical insurance...so joining would also cover that, I presume?

Is there a preferable branch of the military? I honestly don't know much about any of them.

KG

As an Air Force retiree, I'd definitely recommend the AF. My reasoning behind this is because the Air Force in general tends to have better people programs, and just tends to treat people "better" than the other services. Ask around and get a variety of opinions before making any type of commitment. If you decide to join one of the military branches, do make full use of your education benefits (Tuition Assistance especially) while you're in.
In the Air Force, IT related career fields include (not all inclusive):

3C0X1 = Computer Operator = more likely to work with servers, etc.
3C2X1 = Information Systems Control (Tech Control) - more likely to work with routers/switches
(Cisco) and telecommunications, NET Promina, etc.
2E2X1 = Computer/Switch Technicians(???) - more likely to work with with telephone swtiches, routers/switches (Cisco), NET Promina, and Cryptographic equipment.

3AXXX = Administration - Work as Workgroup Managers / Client System Administrators.
(basically desktop support). These guys were once just strictly admin support (think
secretary) and it's possible that's what you'll end up doing.

BTW, I retired as a 3C271.

George

justus1

And as a current information security officer in the Navy I would definitely recommend the air force, didn't see that one coming did you. There are rumors that they are coming up with infosec positions. The Navy is fine and all, but if you want reduced stress, go with the air farce.

KGhaleon

I have heard good things about the air force. I don't mind selling away a couple years for some good experience, but do you generally have to pay anything? Do I need to pay for training and etc?

KG

justus1

You never have to pay for a thing when you join the military, if someone tells you otherwise they are lying, there is an annual uniform allowance for maintenance, housing allowances, food allowance and a lot of other perks to make up for the kind of sub par pay. The best advice I would give would be to check out www.airforce.com and perhaps contact a recruiter. With current DOD requirements such as the 8570 directive to have infosec people certified at no cost to the employee.

networker050184

As someone with Army experience I'd say join the Army. The Army is the largest service and has the most oppourtunities. It is harder than the AF from what I've heard, but its not bad. Also the AF is reducing its size at this time and the possibility of you getting a lot of college and bonus money for joining is low. On the other hand the Army is hurting for people and are more willing to give you what you want to join.

The jobs I'd suggest for the Army are

25B information systems: they do everything form helpdesk to server admin, some of them get to do networking and COMSEC/security. this one has the most oppurtunities for a variety of IT experience

25N Joint network node: this is what you want if your into routing, switching, callmanager, pbx, NET, modems, fiber and a little security such as firewalls and ids

25U communications systems: stay away unless you like radios........

Like an earlier poster stated if you have a bad background you aren't going to get any of these jobs. Good luck in what ever you decide. If you do join the Army though, make sure you go AIRBORNE!!!!!!!

wastedtime

As a person who has been army for going on 6 years now I'd say try the Air Force. Although that just may be us non-Air force guys seeing greener grass over there. Army is alright if you like to deploy and last I checked you can get job of choice guaranty.

I am a 25B and for the most part jobs in this area seem to be going away from servers, and LAN management. 4 years ago you could see 25Bs along with other signal MOSes running Node centers. Now that has mostly gone to the new 25N MOS which I still don't know a lot about other then a lot of 25Fs got mandatory reclassified to it. But 25B are suppose to be the Server, routing and switching, and information security people. But I don't see many slots for them doing that kind of stuff instead I see IMO positions which is basically first line support to the users and equipment, and maybe some file servers you have to manage.

25U is supposed to be like your all around signal person. They are suppose to know routers, switches, radios, computers, among other stuff but all I have ever seen them do is radio stuff.

33W is another option though and instead of being signal you would be MI. They are supposed to be system admins, electronic maintenance, satellite operators and more. So that is another one to look at.

Remember though your MOS and job can be 2 different things. I've seen satellite operators that have never worked with any of the equipment. I've seen signal maintenance that for the first year at my duty station I thought was a 63B (Light wheeled vehicle mechanic).

I hope I haven't given you a bad outlook on the army as for those who are proactive about there career this can be a real good place to be. An I have seen people get out making some good money.

Well got about 2 months left of this deployment. 1 year 1 month down.

moss12

why would you fight a war that has no meaning ? try to stay alive.

justus1

Ahhh, here we go, another bleeding heart.

blargoe

STOP IT. KGaleon has a legit question and asked for advice, please take your political rants elsewhere.

justus1

Word!

Kasor

I got many friend that was in the Army before, but USAF got the BEST IT job in the military service. For IT, you got for USAF. They got the best IT enterprise system out of the DoD.

networker050184

Like I said before good luck getting what you want from the AF right now. They are reducing their strength. The Navy and AF have put in programs to retrain people for the Army. If your goning to join and want garunteed options the Army is the way to go right now. I have worked with the AF IT guys, not impressed though.....

mrhaun03

KGhaleon wrote:

Is there a preferable branch of the military? I honestly don't know much about any of them.

KG

I haven't read any of the other people's posts yet, but I hear the Air Force is where to go. Every friend I have in the military said the Air Force gets everything they want. No one likes them, cause they get everything. I don't know from exp, but that sounds like the place to be. Personally I would go to the Army, but thats just me.

mrhaun03

blargoe wrote:

STOP IT. KGaleon has a legit question and asked for advice, please take your political rants elsewhere.

Seriously...I don't agree with the war either, but we're not here not talkin about the war. Give the man some advice for a job.

wastedtime

From what I have seen it depends on the person in military. A lot of people I have seen have the idea that they got trained by the military and worked IT for a few years so they don't need to continue there education. You may want to take a look at https://www.cool.army.mil/search.htm for how army deals with certs in different MOSes. It will tell you what certs count toward promotion points, what will be funded through G.I. bill or what they have that you can do CBT for education.

networker050184

The COOL site is wortheless in my opinion. For my MOS all it had was some electronics certs which really didn't have much to do with my MOS.

mikej412

I was Army Infantry -- so I'd recommend the Air Force.

The Navy would be my 2nd suggestion if you're looking for technical training and experience.

Remember, the military tries to honor their enlistment promises, but the enlistment document you sign probably still says the military can do whatever they want with you.... and if you fail your advanced training course you might wind up driving a truck in a warm sandy climate.

Kaminsky

Apart from the great technical experience you could get, lets not forget the military is a hella lot of fun.

As an ex British army grunt, I will always be thankful for the personal character strengths it gave me which serve me to this day. I have three kids now and I would happily recomend it to them for a few years after they finish school. You find out an awful lot about yourself in any military. What your capable of and what you are not.

My younger brother enjoyed it so much he stayed in for 23 years and has now retired at 40 with a pension for life of £1300 ($2600) every month before he gets out of bed.

With the money budgeted to the US military, and if you get into IT, you would be dealing with state of the art stuff on a mission critical basis which would be kinda cool rather than just being the bod who does IT in the local company trying to work miracles keeping the computers/network going with no more resources than bubblegum and string year after year.

Whether you can actually perform the job of a soldier in war would be something you would need to assess as you go through basic training. Every recruit in every miltary service throughout the world has to do this same thing for themselves before they continue on. This can't be dictated by anyone. Bleeding heart or not.

It may be worth having a good think about.

empc4000xl

cabrillo24 wrote:

Even though I loved and appreciate the technical experience I recieved in the Navy I wouldn't recommend the Navy for advancing your technical knowledge and experience. The IT rate is combined with telecommunications and every command is not up to the same standards in terms of technology. In addition to that you will start off as a relatively low rate, so you have to endure a lot other responsiblities that have nothing to do with your rate, but everything to do with being a sailor (sea and anchor details, replenishment at sea, mess duties, general quarters stations, store onloads etc) Additionally you are not guaranteed to work on IT type work, being a lower rank you are usually delegated the responsibilities no one else wants to do (even though they say this is part of training) such as: message traffic, field day, berthing cleaners, publication inventory. I was very fortunate that I had a first class who took me under his wing, and there was a high turnover rate of senior personnel which gave me an opprotunity to step up into higher roles of responsiblity but I know this isn't the case with most people.

If you could get into the the CTN rate, you'd be more involved with computer network defense, and it's a relatively knew rate, but very interesting (no sea time requirement as of late and automatic advancement to E4).

I wanna agree and disagree with you. While you will have to do all the sailor stuff getting training is usually not that hard if you have enough hustle and will to get it. The IT rate is a lot of shady cats(your hearing this from the goats mouth,lol) and I really didn't like dealing with a lot of people down there, but due to a lotta my gear being down in radio I had to work with them on a daily basis. This eventually got me into doing a lot of IT work. My main disagreement is that when you join a branch of the military you just dont want to do IT. You might wanna get out there and do other stuff. VBSS, Sea and Anchor. .50 cal gunner. Do a tour in SPEC war for IT support. You can do a bunch of things if you take advantage of them. If you really just want to be the neerdy type and just be in a server room the military may be for you, you will be called upon to fight fires, flooding, small boat attacks. It could even be as lame as bringing supplies on board or paining some unknown part of the ship. But all of this combined makes you a complete person.

KGhaleon

It seems I have to pass this ASVAB before I'll even be allowed into BMT, so I'm in a bit of trouble. I'm terrible at math and haven't done any in years.

The airforce appeals to me right now, so I'm aiming to try there. I'll just have to pick up a ASVAB book and study.

KG

networker050184

The ASVAB isn't bad, but you better get a good score if you want to do IT work in the military. Make sure you study or you will end up being a cook!!!!

KGhaleon

I'm going through some old math books and online practice tests, the math scares me. ^^
I'll pick up an ASVAB book at a bookstore sometime this week.

KG

druid318

My brother joined the national gaurd and was told he would be trained as artillary (what he wanted). They trained him as artillary and are now retraining him as infantry due to need for that job type.

Even if you get trained as an IT guy you might end up with a rifle in your hands. I would recomend the Air Force or maybe the navy.

KGhaleon

gah, I just spoke with a recruiter and got some bad news.

I had cancer back in 2005, but managed to remedy the situation with a couple surgeries. I'm in perfect health now but the recruiter says it would disqualify me from joining. Is this true?

I googled and it sounds like it might be fine as long as I provide paperwork showing that there aren't any further medical problems.

Can anyone confirm this?

KG