ok..who's gonna enlist now?

[TCA]

I just want to know if this comes with a chiropractor and a bottle of icy/hot?

 

[Tgace]

As someone who turns 36 this year....I wouldn't rule it out. A few more age-related irons in the fire right now, but hey, they just gave me 3 more years to think it over.
Reasoning- I chose not to go in after college; this was the era of the massive post gulf war Clinton draw downs, the economy sucked, and grad school was free. But not going in is one of the handful of major life choices I genuinely regret.

You would want to enlist you right wing, imperialist, violence loving, gun nut, jackboot, rights trampler....

 

[Isrephael]

Well, I think they're right to try this. They may use the older folks to fill positions stateside while sending the more able-bodied abroad.

Actually, in a masterful stroke of Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot, they primarily send Reservists and National Guard* into combat/forward echelon positions. I believe the underlying theory is that, since combat tours are typically short, they can stick the Reservists out there and pull them back when their tour is up. The Active Duty types tend to hold billets for three years at a time, and are therefore more suited for contracted, prolonged duties.

*No one told these folks that the Nation they would be guarding would, in fact, be the "New and Improved" Iraq.

 

[Tgace]

I was in the NG back in the 90's when the gvt. decided to start using us in Bosnia. Im beginning to wonder if that wasnt a test phase for widespread mobilization of guard and reserve troops.

 

[Isrephael]

Just exactly who is going to enlist now?

Any thoughts?

I was medically discharged from the Navy due to injuries I received while at an amphibious combat unit. If I somehow miraculously healed, or otherwise had the medical issues waived, I would immediately choose to re-enlist.

I feel that any honorable man must always ask himself the question:
"If not me, then who?"

 

[arnisador]

But not going in is one of the handful of major life choices I genuinely regret.

Me too. I always wanted to be in the Reserves, at least for a while, but couldn't fit it around grad. school. If they raise the age (and weight!) limits more, I'd do it.

 

[Isrephael]

The recuitment age has been raised to 39 officially for the reserves and the national guard as an "experiment" for future possible changes to the regular army.
I like the way they say the physical requirements aren't going to change for the older enlistees.
Way back when...they changed with your age as you served!
Why should it be any different now?

The physical standards do change as you grow older. Perhaps they were referring to the fact that they will not alter them from what they are now. If I remember correctly, the standards are the same from 35 (the old cut off) to 39 (the "must-feed-the-machine-more-troops" revamping)

When I served, I did so with all flavors of people (race, religion, sex, age, sweet, savory, sour, bitter). None of it ever mattered to me. As long as they could carry their own weight (and my weight, should I be injured), it was all good. Much like females and homosexuals, if older people can still fight the good fight, I feel they should have equal opportunity/responsibility.

 

[Tgace]

http://www.southwestern.edu/academic/classical.languages/senuniv/senior030805.html

Members of the military often served way past upper limit for induction (46). Senior centurions were typically sixty years old. Prefects in charge of camps and centurions held the office late in life--for example, M. Aurelius Alexander, who at seventy two was was in charge of a Roman fortress. Soldiers in mutinies of AD 14 had served for more than thirty years and were asking for discharges to go work their forms. Kings as well engaged in combat in their senior years: King Attalos I fought Macedonia for Rome when he was seventy-two. Hannibal was quite old when he died. Emperor Trajan died of a stroke while campaigning in his mid-sixties; Septimius Severus was sixty-five and fighting the Scots when he died at York. Older soliders would not be in the front lines, but would generally be in strategy sessions, guarding positions, or administrative positions. They still had to march with the army and carry their own packs.

 

[Tgace]

My father-in-law retired from the Army (full time reservist) as a Major. He ran an Army Reserve field hospital. He used to talk about an issue that he had with the Armys' PT standards/weight tables etc. His unit used to have some older Surgeons. Experienced, very high level people that worked in some of the best hospitals in the area. Problem is that they couldnt make standards and, by the rules had to go. Meanwhile the younger, less experienced ones got to stay because they were in better shape. The question for you guys is...if you have just been shot, who would you want working on you? The military is a very large place with lots of jobs. While there should be some standard in regards to fitness, there should be some consideration for the job these people will be doing and other factors like I mentioned above. IMHO.

 

[Bammx2]

slight subject change....

Body Mass Index.

How can you get the "higher ups" to recognise thier system of determining "body fat" is wrong?

When I first enlisted...back when duran duran still had a job.......ack!
I had to have the body fat test because the system they used,age and height,said I should have weighed no more than 180lbs.give or take a bit.
I weighed 208.
So they break out the TAPE MEASURE and measured my neck and waist.
I JUST made it! With the caliper test(which far more acurate) I had 10% body fat.
Now....I weigh 245...and have 10% body fat!
Are they actually just trying to save money on material for clothes or just cheap ******?!

 

[bignick]

I may be a bit more into hugging trees than some of the other people on this thread...but I think this is a good thing. It helps allow the military to remain an all-voluntarily one and despite anyone's feeling on subjects like drafting, any type of organization works better when all of its members want to be there. Personally, I'd thought about joining the Air Force because one of my goals in life is to get a pilot's license and I figured that would be a good way to get one while actually doing something productive. But then I found out that they like it if the pilots actually fit into the cockpit...so I figured college and a job or grad. school was a better choice for me.

 

[arnisador]

Yeah, I knew someone booted out for being too fat by weight and by tape who was in fine shape for his body shape.

As to age, didn't a 70+ dentist get recalled, or volunteer, for Iraq?

 

[Bammx2]

just a quick note...

The army is denying entry to us "older" guys just because they don't have a high school diploma or college.
Some people quit high school due to circimstance BEYOND thier control,but still took it upon themselves to try SOMETHING and get thier G.E.D....
now it counts for squat.
Once again...
the army thinks its doing so great,they can deny damn good people based on such trivial criteria.
Gee...why did they raise the age limit anyway?
Cause no one is enlisting!

 

[Satt]

Well, I just have another 2 weeks in the Navy and I am SO GLAD to be getting out. I did a 6 year enlistment and I hope that more and more people start deciding to reenlist so I never have to worry about getting called back. There was a comment earlier about there being a mandatory 8 year enlistment. I don't see that happening. What they try to do is hold a good job over your head and say you can't get that job unless you stay in for so long. That is why I did 6 years, in order to work on electronics. Also, someone made a comment about older folks being able to join, but just staying home while the younger people went out and fought. Well, while I would agree that would be good with doctors and certain high skill level jobs where they would still get some respect; just letting them suck up all the good shore duty billets would make a lot of people angry. But even though I have decided to separate and I don't like the military personally, I can't say I didn't get a lot out of it. So if anyone is thinking of enlisting then go for it. If I could make one suggetion though. Make the government pay for your college!!! If you start to go to college, most have an officer recruiting office there where they will pay for your college if you join for a few years afterward. (ROTC) That way you get paid more and get you more respect. But no matter what you do in the military, like it or hate it, you will get something good out of it. Well, I said my 1 cent.

artyon:

 

[Isrephael]

As to age, didn't a 70+ dentist get recalled, or volunteer, for Iraq?

Specialized, professional types are immune to the age limitations: Physicians, Dentists, Psychiatrists/Psychologists, Chaplains, Lawyers, and the like are so needed that they can get pretty much any waivers they wish.

 

[Sapper6]

to cover most of what i read in the last couple pages, yes, guard recruitment is down, IN MOST STATES. some states are doing much better than others, but as a whole, it has declined. i will also confirm that yes, the Air Force and Navy are doing much better with numbers and recruitment than the Army Reserve and Guard. the biggest reason for this is because they are only doing 120 day rotations into the theater (combat zone). and i would hardly say they are going to combat. most of the AF and Navy guys i know over there are never even stepping foot into Iraq. most are stationed in Kuwait and the sea ports. so of course they are doing better. 120 days in kuwait? i'd do that standing on my head. and they get paid just the same as the troops in the hot zone, and they should. because being away from home just sucks ***! the Army and Corp are doing all the work in country. fyi, the Army National Guard makes up 46% of troops on the ground in Iraq. hardly the "weekend warrior" we were once referred to as being. take what i have said as the truth, because it is.

and the bonuses to enlist/re-enlist in the National Guard are sky-rocketing as well. $10,000-15,000 up-front, lumpsum, for a 6 year enlistment. free college, $30,000 GI Bill, college loan repayment, VA home loan guarantee. so what's the catch? spending 18 months in the desert.

 

[Tgace]

Vietnam was the start of the whole National Guard stigma. During WWII some of the units in the heaviest fighting were NG.