How Many Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines.......

[str8jax]

U.S. Army 4yrs. 88-92 11B(infantry)

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

11B(infantry)

Im Sorry......

[renrich]

TANG-6 months active duty-1959, TANG-49th AD-1960, active duty-1961-62, Berlin Crisis, 49th AD.

[Hunter368]

I have a question for all you guys who have served. Perhaps it is a dumb one, but I have a family member who has been the Canadian Military for around 15 years now.

Why does most guys serve in the military for such a short period of time? Most times less then 10 years it seems.

[mkloby]

I have a question for all you guys who have served. Perhaps it is a dumb one, but I have a family member who has been the Canadian Military for around 15 years now.

Why does most guys serve in the military for such a short period of time? Most times less then 10 years it seems.

The number one reason that servicemen leave the US military is due to family reasons. This is according to research done directly by the DoD.

Here's an example of my case - and I have not even finished training yet and have not yet been deployed.

Entered in 2004 - went to Quantico, VA
Nov 2005 - Transferred to Pensacola, FL
Nov 2006 - Transferred to Corpus Christi, TX
May 2007 - Transferred back to Pensacola, FL
Nov 2007 - Will be transferring to Jacksonville, NC

After I'm in NC, I'll be deploying to Iraq/Afghanistan sometime - and God knows where else.

As I said - hard on family life. If I get out before 20, you can be it's for family reasons.

[comiso90]

I have a question for all you guys who have served. Perhaps it is a dumb one, but I have a family member who has been the Canadian Military for around 15 years now.

Why does most guys serve in the military for such a short period of time? Most times less then 10 years it seems.

For me, I had a set of goals:
1. Serve my country
2. Get money for a house (VA loan)
3. Get money for college (GI bill)
4. travel
5. meet lots of people

After my 4 years, 10 months and 28 days were up, it was time to go. I met my objectives. It was time to go to college.

I considered staying in and cross-training but at the time, desirable military jobs were not plentiful, in '91 they were downsizing. I promised my self early on that if was going to be "a lifer" it was going to be as an officer but after being stationed in B.F., Idaho, I was anxious to experience college life as a civilian.

.

[ccheese]

On the other side of the coin, what makes a man stay in the military.
With me it was my "home life". It didn't exist. I quit school in the 7th
grade, tried to go to work. Best job I could find was stocking shelves
at a supermarket. Joined the Navy at 17, and instantly became a "lifer"
The good part of this scenerio is NOW, I'm getting a good retirement.
Not as good as guys who retired after me (in 1971), because of pay
raises. I've been retired for 36 years so I've gotten a few bucks from
Uncle Sugar. And..... I do not regret one minute of it.

Charles

[comiso90]

Thanks for your service Charles.

Had I stayed in, this would have been my 20th year. I sure wouldn't mind a retirement check!

[Hunter368]

Yeh my family member is thinking about retiring after about 15 years and he would get a very nice retirement package if he did......but if he stays for 20 years the package gets allot better. I think he is going to stay for 20 years by the sound of it.

[pbfoot]

Yeh my family member is thinking about retiring after about 15 years and he would get a very nice retirement package if he did......but if he stays for 20 years the package gets allot better. I think he is going to stay for 20 years by the sound of it.

As far as I know you have to do 20 to get a pension and I don't believe its changed but you do get a lump sum payment for all your pension contributions

[Hunter368]

As far as I know you have to do 20 to get a pension and I don't believe its changed but you do get a lump sum payment for all your pension contributions

I don't think he would be in the military for 20 years yet.....but then again he is 39 years old. He did start right after HS so maybe it has been 20 years....maybe he will get the increase after 25 years.......can't remember it was a month ago at the lake I talked to him and I didn't want to be too nosey in his business.

[lucanus]

Why does most guys serve in the military for such a short period of time? Most times less then 10 years it seems.

I did 2 hitches (8 years) - In the mid-70s the Corps started to OJT 0311,
etc and I got a little nervous - I know I know all services draw down
after wars (one of the US's problems is not remembering what happened
the last time), But my concern was since we were FMF, we were on-call
24/7/365 and it is hard to imagine a bigger cluster-f**k than a bunch
of Boots in a line battalion...I usually tell people that the reason I didn't
stay for 20-25 was Peace Broke Out
I did work some private security in Africa for some companies, mostly
petro-chem, but it wasn't the same as being with my Jarhead brothers.

[pbfoot]

I don't think he would be in the military for 20 years yet.....but then again he is 39 years old. He did start right after HS so maybe it has been 20 years....maybe he will get the increase after 25 years.......can't remember it was a month ago at the lake I talked to him and I didn't want to be too nosey in his business.

If things haven't changed to much if you are of a certain rank you can extend the lesser ranks it's tougher to extend

[ccheese]

I must admit, in my early years in the Navy I was extremely lucky. Came out
of boot #1 in my class.... automatic promotion to E3 and choice of school.
Went to RM(A) school in Bainbridge, Md (close to home, Baltimore). It was
their policy, number 1 in the class was automatic promotion to whatever
that persons next rate was. I did it again, came out of RM school an AL2
(E-5), also, top five in the class went right to TTY school. They didn't have
an automatic promotion policy, but the top five went to crypto repair school
at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, so I'm still in school. I came out #2, but got
no bennies. Got transferred to the USAF on exchange duty and wound up
at Wheelus, AFB in Tripoli, Lybia.

So I was very lucky, my first hitch. Re-inlisted in Port Lyautey, French
Morocco and came back to the states in Nov 1955. Got married the
17th of Dec..

It's been good to me..... the Navy, and I think I've given them 100%,
sometimes more.

Charles

[renrich]

When I was in UMT was in force and one had to serve unless ineligible for some reason. Had wanted a military career earlier and was slated to go to Annapolis but failed physical(color perception) After college graduation I could either enlist in some program or be drafted. Chose Texas Army National Guard and at that time it was 6 months active duty and 6 years of monthly drills and summer camps. Could have gone to OCS in Navy( ONI which waived color blindness) or Army with 3 year active duty obligation. In retrospect, should have done the Navy deal and possibly a career but in my infinite wisdom made the wrong choice. Got called up after Berlin Crisis and spent a year at Fort Polk training after which they released us. I was E4 and it was a waste of time. A career in the military is an honorable profession where sometimes one can make a difference and afterwards there are many second career possibilities. Hard to see that when one is young and stupid.