I posted earlier but wasn't sure if I should add on to it or repost(I'm sorry)

http://forums.military.com/eve.../m/6160058722001/p/2

I think about the Navy day and night but there are gaps that I need to fill in my plan.

quote:

Thanks I'm really considering the Navy but I have just a few more questions. I think I'm joining for the right reasons.

I have to paths to take when I graduate next year, go to College, get a job to pay for a car and insurance,and pay for college,then after Community College move out and some how pay for living on my own and get scholarships.

Or:
Join the Navy and Goto College after my four years (or after 2)

I'm in Army JROTC and we are in the top 10%. I like the camaraderie in the military ( I hope it's like that). I know it's not always going to be fun and games. I like the fact that it's a lot easier than the first option. I will get to see the world and do things at a young age.One is that it will give me a good headstart.I like the Ocean.

Now I do believe in serving my Country and I love my country. But I'm not like the Sean Hannity type nor am I the Liberal.

Now that's said I am worried I won't be able to pass a physically becuase I was born Pigeon Toed but it was corrected and I don't walk noticeably funny but if you closely watch it's
different.

So are those the right reasons to join?

I know I'm still a kid and I'm realizing that the world is a lot bigger than Texas. There are so many things that people never see and it's something I want to do.

I don't want to waste my life and I think going in the Navy wouldn't. I have trouble seeing myself now 2 years from now and not in the Navy.

Forgot to add that another reason to join is to get away(parents) but I try to not think about that reason becuase I don't know if it's a valid reason.Overall I have many reasons for wanting to join. Often when I talk to some people and they say Don't join if your not willing to go to Iraq. I agree and disagree at the same time in the Navy I'm not going for Seabee or SEAL and I know that if I was stationed in a Combat Zone I would have to face it, what am I gonna do run back to Texas? No. I can't I would have to fight becuase that's what happened in my journey in life. I just want to try to avoid a Combat zone (The Sand Box) if I can. Honestly I love my country and all I'm just skeptical one somethings but I know that when you join you do as your told and don't ask why and that's the way it is.You are apart of something bigger than yourself and it's not only you that you watch out for but your fellow service men, the guy next to me.

(I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get some bad comments now)

Questions on what it is like in the Navy

What is a typical day like on Ship/Base/Abroad?

What time do you wake up and goto Sleep/What are the schedules like?

Does the Navy really pay college and is it best to sign up for 3-4 years and then goto College after there up?

Does the Navy make you go crazy make you get Mental Disorders?

Chances of going to Iraq/Afghan if I'm a IS,IT,IA,Fire Control?

What's Iraq and Afghan like?

How much Vacation do you get/When do you get off?

When on base or abroad or even on a ship do you get freetime if so how much? Is it all work 24/7? What are weekend passes and do you get those often?

Whats the Food like/Can you bring your own belongings like Laptop?

How do you not get a Dis-Hon Discharged?

After Boot camp does the Navy get better if so how much?

Other Questions that you don't have to answer
What are the higher ups like the people in charge like?

Are there a lot of Good times as well as Bad times and does the Good out weigh the Bad?


Is it true Navy guys are constantly joking around?/What are people in the Navy like?

Is it true on vacation you can fly any where in the world for free?

What if you are Near-sighted?


Before you joined the Navy were you very Liberal?

Is it kind of hard to see life while your still in High School and trying to figure out stuff?

Would the Navy be good for some one getting a Masters Degree in Political Science/History?


The Navy appeals me I like being on ships and on the Ocean. I like the camaraderie and being apart of something bigger than you are. If I joined and I was stationed in the Persian Gulf that would be fine if I was stationed on the East Coast or the West Coast I would be fine to. Asia or Europe or Latin America that's fine with me. Being in a small cramped space that's fine. Waking up in the morning and cleaning (Which I like to do) fine with me.

I'm more of a lover not a fighter but if I have to I will I just don't want to come back with PTSD or Personality disorder?

quote:

Those that join the military and tell themselves "oh,I have to fight for my country. I've got to be on the front line" are the ones that come back with PTSD and mental illness. Get all that romantic thoughts about being a seaman out of your system before joining. It is not going to solve your financial problems.
Second the Navy pays for college if you are dirt poor , and can't pay for it yourself. If you are rich enough to get a lot of FAFSA scholarships, the Navy probably won't pay for college.
Source(s):
Movies about the NAVY
PBS documentary "Carrier"

Is what this guy said true?

quote:

Is it kind of hard to see life while your still in High School and trying to figure out stuff?

Yes it is.

Now if you realy want a career path check out NROTC programs.

The questions you asked can be answered by some reading on your part on these forums. Invest some time doing that and most of your questions will be answered.

quote:

Originally posted by GerryRM3:
Invest some time doing that and most of your questions will be answered.

He definately has read at least some stuff here.

NROTC isnt necessarily the best option, depending on grades. Too late to apply at this point as well.

"Second the Navy pays for college if you are dirt poor , and can't pay for it yourself. If you are rich enough to get a lot of FAFSA scholarships, the Navy probably won't pay for college" this is false, for one FAFSA-based funds go to poorer college students. 2)the Navy pays what they said they will, regardless of how well you manage your funds

It's apparent you have read, but you are still asking redundant questions that I really don't have the time to get through at this point. Slow down, keep reading, then go through and shorten your post by at least half.

Whew! There is a lot spinning around in your head man. Just relax a little as the answers will come in time. In the meantime I'll try to give you a little input on the stuff I know a little about:

What is a typical day like on Ship/Base/Abroad?

It really depends on the duty station. Every place in the Navy is unique.

What time do you wake up and go to Sleep/What are the schedules like?

It really depends on the job you have and where you are stationed. There is no set schedule that covers every job or station in the Navy.

Does the Navy really pay college and is it best to sign up for 3-4 years and then goto College after there up?

Do a search on the benefits of the Post 9-11 GI Bill. For me anyway, the new Bill is worth your first enlistment alone. They pay your tuition, a book fee stipend, and a housing allwoance.

Does the Navy make you go crazy make you get Mental Disorders?

If you are already a person of sound mind and character, than it is unlikely that the Navy will be the lone cause of a mental disorder.

Chances of going to Iraq/Afghan if I'm a IS,IT,IA,Fire Control?

Almost ANY rate in the Navy can go IA. On my IA assignment there were almost 350 sailors from all different rates in my battalion. We had Airdales, Surface-types, Submariners, Reservists, FTS, etc.

What's Iraq and Afghan like?

It is extremely hot in Iraq, especially in the south. Winter nights are actually pretty cold if you can believe it. Is it dangerous? Well, I was there from '07 to '08. It was pretty hectic when I first got there but you could hear a pin drop at night by the time I left. Some areas are more stable than others. I can not speak for Afghan.

After Boot camp does the Navy get better if so how much?

It gets much better, provided that you gave it your all in boot and you remmeber the ethos and work ethic that the instructors instilled in you. If not, then you will not find your post-boot time to be very enjoyable IMO.

Are there a lot of Good times as well as Bad times and does the Good out weigh the Bad?

There are plenty of good times, and some stuff that sucks really. For me the good far outweighs the bad but each individual person draws thier own experience from it. Such is life my friend...

Is it true Navy guys are constantly joking around?/What are people in the Navy like?

Sailors, for the most part, are a very unique breed. I've met some of the best people in my life since enlisting. There are some real dirtbags too. The trick is, stay away from the dirtbags and keep close to those who will mentor you and have your back. Some of the funniest and most interesting guys I've ever known I've met in the Navy....

What if you are Near-sighted?

Your vision will be tested at MEPS and they will let you know what you qualify for

Before you joined the Navy were you very Liberal?

I am originally from MA, as liberal a state as you can find outside of VT maybe. Did that affect my outlook growing up? Yes, I leaned left in my younger years. These days I am more of an independent politically. Did the Navy help to change my views? Probably. That comes with being exposed to vastly different people from all different walks of life. You get to see things from the other side of the coin if you pay attention.

Is it kind of hard to see life while your still in High School and trying to figure out stuff?

ABSOLUTELY. Thats why it's good that you are thinking about joining up. You can not put a price on life experiences. Get out and see that there is a world outside of TX, although most Texans would disagree I think!

Would the Navy be good for some one getting a Masters Degree in Political Science/History?

I personally believe the Navy/military is good for anyone trying to get thier education and get thier life going in the right direction.


Thats it man. I remember agonizing over my decision to join and worrying about every single little thing. Sometimes you just gotta take the plunge. Hope this helps...

quote:

Originally posted by Jay4481:
Thats it man. I remember agonizing over my decision to join and worrying about every single little thing. Sometimes you just gotta take the plunge. Hope this helps...

That is exactly what I tend to do from time to time. I think I just need to have a little more confidence in myself, if anything. But thank you for the response to the original poster, I found the information you gave very helpful.

quote:

Does the Navy make you go crazy make you get Mental Disorders?

If you are already a person of sound mind and character, than it is unlikely that the Navy will be the lone cause of a mental disorder.

Some people might disagree about the for sub sailors. Oh wait, you said sound mind. We obviously didn't have that when we volunteered for boats.

quote:

Originally posted by mturnb:

quote:

Does the Navy make you go crazy make you get Mental Disorders?

If you are already a person of sound mind and character, than it is unlikely that the Navy will be the lone cause of a mental disorder.

Some people might disagree about the for sub sailors. Oh wait, you said sound mind. We obviously didn't have that when we volunteered for boats.

Exactly.

You sound a lot like me when I was in college. I knew I wanted to fly, but couldn't decide whether to go to a civilian flight school, or join the military to do it. I struggled with this for a good year and didn't actually do much of anything except concentrate on school work. All of the haziness that you see--the unknowns--were all I could think of. They scared the crap out of me and made me totally indecisive.

Finally one day I realized I was going absolutely nowhere--just treading water in life. That realization ****ed me off. I was so disappointed in myself. That gave me enough to walk into the Navy ROTC office and sign up. That was almost 20 years ago. And yes, the good far outweighs the bad, but that's based entirely on your attitude, outlook, and philosophy.

Don't be the guy who's working a low-paying job in a field they don't really care about, drifting by in life, wondering "What if" and "Should I have." Man up, make a decision, and go with it. Don't look back. If you decide on the Navy, the worst that can come out of it is four or so years of service, an Honorable Discharge, and something very, very nice for your resume, not to mention whatever skills you walk away from your training with.

A lot of the questions you have are too general to be answered--the Navy is full of jobs that are entirely different in nature, and no stock answer applies to any of them. Talk to a recruiter (I'm assuming a 17-year old isn't too young), take the tests you need, and see where it gets you. You can get a lot of questions answered without having to sign on the dotted line, but making the progress toward that (potential) goal will make you feel much more confident.

Jay4481 gave you the general ideas and some very good points on your questions, I'll try my hand at some of these, fill in with my experiences. I've only been in 4 years..so far, but worked my up from E1-E4(undesignated airman to Airframer and recently crossrated to Aviation Machinist Mate-powerplants) and been to two commands in that time, now about to report to my third on the 8th.

quote:

Questions on what it is like in the Navy

What is a typical day like on Ship/Base/Abroad? & What time do you wake up and goto Sleep/What are the schedules like?

Like everyone said depends on your Rating. Myself,a squadron aircraft maintainer on a Aircraft Carrier, on the ship we worked from 0530-1800ish, 7 days a week. No Holiday Routine for us on sundays, everyday is spent working, repairing, maintaining, launching, and recovering our Aircraft. Sure there might be days where we didn't have much maintenance to do, but that just makes the day drag on forever, so it's better to stay busy to make the day pass. Getting to eat chow? maybe. I worked on the flight deck and getting to go down to the mess decks to eat usually didn't happen unless it was a no fly day. Breakfast was on us to wake up earlier to eat, but I weighed sleeping more than waking up earlier to eat.

Here's an average day for me on the ship, I was the daycheck supervisor for Lineshack (the brown shirts that do all the crazy hand signals with the pilots)

0445: Wake up, brush teeth, shave, get dressed
0515: Go to shop, start turnover, check tools
0530: Finish turnover with nightcheck, send my guys to the roof(flightdeck) to start whatever we got going on, i.e. finish/start washing a jet or two.
0550-0615: Maintenance Meeting
0630-900: Go join the rest of my guys upstairs with whatever we got going on, Let them know what jets they have for flight schedule. Write down the events of the flight schedule that we have for the day on our whiteboard, so that everyone can double check for any changes or forgets.
Prepare/inspect Jets for flight schedule. We are the first and last ones to see the aircraft so it is our responsibility to report any problems we find and make sure it is safe for flight.
0930: FOD(Foreign Object Damage) walkdown - walk the length of the flightdeck looking for anything that might cause damage to an aircraft or it's engines. This is also the time we breakdown our Jets(F/A-18E Super Hornets, single seater) from 14 tiedown chains to 6 for the first event aircraft and 9 for the later events. lugging 6 chains(8lbs a piece x 6 equals 48lbs total) on and off all day everyday will wear you out.
1030: Finish prepping Jets, (this last det to the ship we were short people in our shop so we averaged 3 jets per plane captain..there was 4 of us on days and had 9 jets flying all throughout the day)
around 1045/1100-1800: Flight ops, better have brought some snacks for inbetween launches/recoveries to get a bite to eat/drink. Better yet have your camel back with you on the flight deck.
1730-1800: nightcheck arrives, takes shift over and starts filtering upstairs to relieve us for the day. Flight Operations usually continue till 2200 or 0100.
1800: Eat dinner, shower, in bed by 1900.
Repeat.


Most ratings are 12 on 12 off, but there are some jobs like Engineering or the Catapult/arresting gear guys that work longer than 12hrs. Aircraft carriers are floating cities but like any city it has it's problems with theft and such, so alway keep your stuff locked up. The ship did have self service laundry so you could wash your civilian clothes, no uniforms.

When We aren't aboard the ship and back on the beach, as we call our base, daycheck works from 0630-1600 Monday-Friday. but never got out till about 1730. Fridays were our one chance of getting off before 1700. Nightcheck would come in at 1530 then leave whenever they got done with all their maintenance, usually midnight or 0100. On the beach besides launching/recovering jets we also did wash jobs on jets, routine maintenance, collateral duties (tool control, training jackets, keep publications updated, to name a few)

Example of on base schedule
0500: Wake up, brush teeth, shave
0530: Hit the road and head to work - I lived off base
0600-0630: Check tools, Pasdown log from night check - see what maintenance was or was not completed.
0630: start pre-operation inspection on support equipment, uncover aircraft for flight schedule
0700-0715: Maintenance Meeting - Layout of what needs to get done for the day
0730-0745: FOD Walkdown for our section of the flight line.
0745-1530: Maintenance, Flight Ops vary from day to day. Some days we would start at 0900 others at Noon, and a few at 0830 or 1400.
1530-1600: Shift change or if it's a Monday, Training from 1530-1700, Tuesday Day check PT from 1500-1600. Wednesday Night check PT 1500-1600, Thursday Day Check PT 1500-1600.
Somewhere around 1700-1730 My day would end.


How much Vacation do you get/When do you get off?

2.5 days per month, Best idea is to save them up. You can request leave whenever, but it depends on your command's schedule especially if you are attached to a sea duty command, such as a ship or sea duty squadron. Most you can at once is 14 days, anything more is a case by case basis.

When on base or abroad or even on a ship do you get freetime if so how much? Is it all work 24/7?


Free time eh? After work, but keep in mind on the ship free time can cut into your sleep time so you need to make sure you don't stay up too late. If it was work 24/7 pretty sure we would all be zombies. That's how it was working the 18-20 hours in the Catapults, everyone said we always looked like zombies coming into the berthing.

Whats the Food like/Can you bring your own belongings like Laptop?


Laptops, PSPs,dvd players, mp3 players are life savers! jsut make sure you keep your stuff locked up when you aren't using it. The food is....not too bad sometimes, you really have to try it for yourself to make your own judgement call.

How do you not get a Dis-Hon Discharged?

Don't be a dirtbag.

After Boot camp does the Navy get better if so how much?


Yes, slowly, but it does. The 1st year to 2 years suck as thats when you spend most of your TAD(temporary assigned Duty) time doing things like working on the mess decks on a ship taking trash out, washing dishes, cleaning up after other sailors, etc. Or on the beach driving fuel trucks. Once done there it does get better, like any job being the new guy sucks and you always get stuck with the crappy jobs, but keep your head up and don't take it too serious and you will be fine.

Other Questions that you don't have to answer
What are the higher ups like the people in charge like?


They vary personality wise, Most of our Officers were pretty cool, My last chief was a great person, always looked out for all of us in the shop. He hated being behind a desk, so every now and then you would see him helping us move a jet, wash a jet or even tie down one on the ship during flight schedule.

Are there a lot of Good times as well as Bad times and does the Good out weigh the Bad?

I agree with Jay on this, there is a mix of both, I focus more on the good times I've had than the bad. The bad are way in the past and mostly forgotten about. What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger right?

Is it true Navy guys are constantly joking around?/What are people in the Navy like?

Where I've worked, we do joke around a lot, but at the same time these are probably some of the best people you will ever meet, there's always a ***** somewhere, but just brush them off and go about the day. I've met a lot of good friends since I've been in and still keep in contact with a few.

Is it true on vacation you can fly any where in the world for free?
No, I don't know where you heard that.

What if you are Near-sighted?
I'm near sighted, which reminds me I need to go sign up for laser eye. But yes they will check your eyes again in bootcamp.

Before you joined the Navy were you very Liberal?


I don't follow politics, lived my life one day at a time.

Is it kind of hard to see life while your still in High School and trying to figure out stuff?
I kind of follow this question..If you do your research and figure out what you want to do with your life and choose the military then pick the job you want, you should be fine. My choices before even graduating were either military or go to college, I don't think I would survive another 4years in school with homework.

I enlisted at the beginning of my Senior year in 2004, left for boot 3 weeks after graduating in June 05'.