With his degree unless he qualifies for a rated job there is no way he's getting into OTS right now.  I'd advise him to go the officer route in either the Army or Marines.  





 

How old are you?  Too old the Marines will take a pass on you...they are overstrength, esp officer side.
Army?  If OCS, you won't have (much of) a say of what branch they put you in...   Or go enlisted and pick something relevant to your degree...put in a few years and drop a tech warrant package.

Air Force and Navy are both picky as well and are restructuring.

ETA:  AF does get extra pay sometimes...esp is having to put up with substandard (army) housing

Ah-one-two––-three-four-MARINE CORPS!

Here's my $.02....    You've got a degree, go officer in what ever branch you decide, but talk to OFFICER RECRUITERS from all the branches.  Right now everyone is doing time boots on the ground in the sand box, even us Squids.  I've got 12 yrs enlisted in the Navy, and while I love the Navy, it really isn't for everyone; that's why I say talk to all the services.  If you want to find something in your degree field, since you did pay all that money for your education, then do your homework and see which branch can offer you what you want to do.  Don't get suckered into signing something that you don't understand or get sweet talked into.  Don't mistake an officer recruiter for an enlisted one.  If you find something and decide to sign on the dotted line, any promises made verbally are null and void if they're not in writing on your contract so read carefully.  If it aint right, walk out.

Finally, if you want a chance at a good job check out USA Jobs  these are federal jobs.  Browse your area of broaden it to other states.  See what's out there, and good luck!

I am 3 months away from being done with my 4  year enlistment in the army.  I am glad I did it because it helped me out and I have some great experiences, but I can't wait to get the fuck out.  Join the air force.

Isn't that what they say about submarine warfare?

I did time in the navy and my 2 kids, one marine, one soldier. With your degree, you could get OCS. I hear officers have a pretty good lifestyle.

Let me add

Make sure you get something that will have a civilian job as you get out.

I really wanted to be a machinist and I had planned to cross
over since they would not let me be one on my 1st enlistment

I graduated top of my class in A school and they made me an E-4 (I never was an E-3)
so I stayed in that job and made it to E-5, but it was pretty closed up to make E-6

While I was in I got married and had kids so I got out, and I got injured
in the Navy so I was pretty much out of the Aircraft Mechanic field.
(and my chance to be a machinist was pretty well gone as well).

I wound up re-training myself for the IT world (that was 20 years ago).

Knowing now what I did not know then I think if I had
it all to do over again I would have become a nurse.

The medical field (at least in this area) seems far better.

A few other IT guys I know feel the same way (that we should have gone into the medical field)

Get out of KY! There are no jobs there to speak of and what jobs there are pay fer shit.



If you decide to hold off on .mil....check out Texas. We still have an economy.

I agree.  Look into FA 24, telecommunications systems engineering officer.

I've answered a couple of friends sons questions with these quips, perhaps they will help...

All the services have high tech, the differences are in the systems, applications and deployments.

All the services have educational opportunities.

All the services will provide you with a good living and a path to advancement with pride in your work.

All the services have a proud heritage and rich history.

All the services have "clean hands" technical, clerical and support positions, and all of them have combat operators that will fight and die with the best of histories warriors. The differences within each service is generally in the number of billets available. Completing the training and qualifications depend on how bad you want it. No service has exclusive rights on any particular occupational generality or subset. The Navy has EOD and fighter jets, the Air Force has a few boats and para-rescue, the Marines have radar operators and RECON and the Army has machine gunners and computer technicians. Who'd have thought...?

I chose the Navy, but after making a few short decisions very early I found that the uniforms and the customs were merely decorations and during conflict everybody pretty much learns or burns on their own. When it mattered it made no difference what service I was in, I was expected to pull my own weight. Contrary to popular belief, I did not spend my career on a big ass grey boat. I wore working fatigues then camys, continuously qualified and deployed small arms and graduated from some very high tech electronics, communications, electronic warfare schools, among other non-Navy type duties. Most of my career, I was attached to support commands within Naval Special Warfare along with a bunch of other joint services personnel. My time on an aircraft carrier is measured in days, not months.

I suggest you visit the library and read some recent history on the various services, go see a recruiter and MAKE them expose you to all the opportunities a service has to offer, not just what cookie they are pushing for the month.

Then go see another recruiter in a different part of town and check them out. I won't say they are liars, but they are liars...

My only issue with the Navy was later in my career the management/leadership time and obligations made it sometimes difficult to maintain optimum, tip top fitness levels. I had to fight to surround myself with like minded NSW buddies that still required high levels of personal fitness and wrote a POD that allowed/required it.

Many Navy commands are fat fucks that use the PT standards as only a force shaping tool.

So, you see, even a minor lifestyle desire can be thwarted by service ideologies. It would have been nice to get paid to stay fit, as I believe I would of had a better chance at had I joined the Marines. My first "boats" were small, fast, made of synthetic materials, carried alot of attractive firepower and disintegrated when fired upon. I swim well, but I'd rather not...I would have liked an Army tank at the time. We fly jets too but the Air Force has the intelligence to store them on solid ground...The Coast Guard...I would have loved the drug interdiction, ship boarding duty. Man, the adrenaline junkie in me would have filled to overflow...

You need to know what is most important to you in your life, then research and find that priority in each service, determine its availability and whether you qualify, and then wear the uniform they give you.

Which uniform it turns out to be should be of little importance.

AF has MUCH better quality of life...and it's a different cuture than the Army.

Shit,

I enlisted with a BA in Business Management....
AF gave me a CCAF in Electronic Systems Technology and paid for my MSCIS.
With the training, contacts and experience I have gotten out of the AF it is not hard for me to find a job even in this economy.

Now, I work full time in my cvilian job and do the weekend warrior thing...

Look at this job....it can be berry berry good to you....

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/airforceenlistedjobs/a/3d1x2.htm

Army officer beats AF enlisted every time.  There is no way I'd advise him to take an enlisted job when he has a BA already.  





 

Navy can teach you the latest electronics and maintenance of that equpment or teach you how to tell where you are in the world by looking at the sun.

Personally if I had it to over again, I'd get into avaiation electronics or any electronics instead of being a boatswain's mate.  Chipping paint, being first on and last off the boat, painting, standing outside in the<insert uncomfortable climate here> ,   not having acquired a true skill while in (it was more of a craft) that didn't really translate to the civvy market that well; unless I wanted to get underway again.  

Don't get me wrong, there were times that I really loved the job, and being on a destroyer we had more diversity in our rate than the big ships that had enough personnel to do all the jobs.   Driving rhib's, landing helo's, unreps, crash and salvage, damage control, seeing the sun was great.

Join the Army and fly helicopters.

Prior Service Army National Guard and Active Duty Air Force here.

Just pick one and do it.  No better way to get away, become your own man, learn some skills, and see the world.

I did 20 in the Air Force and it was great!

Correct answer.I wish I had never left the reserves for active duty.

A shitpile.

To the OP. Dude, let me put this as bluntly as possible. Join the Air Force as an OFFICER! Accept nothing less. They get to walk around and act like they're in the military and say they do a hard job, but realistically the Air Force for officers is like a club where you can go and play eight hours a day with some of the coolest equipment you'll ever see, then tell a bunch of people, some of whom are probably smarter and more educated than you are, that have to fix the toys you just broke that they're retards because it's going to take them more than an hour to fix the writeups, refuel the plane, LOX, BPO, etc. It's important to look as smug as possible when you call them lazy. And after all that you'll be getting paid a very good wage. The best saying I've ever heard in my sixteen years in the Air Force is: "U.S. Air Force, People with a high school diploma fixing something that it took someone with a college degree to fuck up." Nowadays you've got a huge amount of college degree holders in the enlisted corps with the bad economy and all. I've got a bachelor's in Criminal Justice and another in Aviation Pro pilot and I'm Enlisted.

Seriously though, The Air Force really is a club for Officers. They get paid *FAR* better, better treatment, pretty much better everything and the treatment I've gotten is nothing to sneeze at. After getting deployed to the AOR in 2003 and 2004 I got back and was sent to Puerto Rico for a three month stint in a really nice hotel (Don't believe me? Here's the Hotel: http://www.esjtowers.com/ It's called the ESJ Towers and it's right next door to the Wyndham, ON THE BEACH!) Anyway, I spent three full months there on the government's dime and actually got paid and full per-diem to be there. Sure I had to work about ten days out of the ninety I was there, but the rest I was fishing, diving, carousing women during Spring Break, etc. The officers get even better treatment than I do and get paid about twice as much.

I could right now make right around $50,000 per year as an E6 (This includes BAH which for where I am is very high, your BAH on active duty will probably be significantly lower as seemingly all military bases are where it's the lowest). An officer with four years in will probably be right around an O3 and will be making easily 1.5 to 2 times what I make. Add in flight pay for the fliers and it's closer to twice. They work maybe, MAYBE twice a week, the rest is spent enjoying themselves. And by work I mean flying a plane, which is hardly work if you really think about it, but boy don't point that out to them, they'll scream about how hard their job is in the desert getting trucked from their air conditioned room, in an air conditioned car, to their air conditioned airplane where they can act like they're getting shot at, while those of us on the ground are ACTUALLY getting mortared, sniped at, and shot. Then they'll cry about the twelve hour day spent flying every third day while the worker bees got to work twelve hour days every day in 115 to 125 heat. Oh and you'll get to think up about the stupidest possible rules for everyone else and they have to follow your orders! Think it's a good idea for people to run around the flight line which is 100 yards from the highway where targeted killings happen every day while they're under lights wearing bright reflector belts? (Which make great sniper targets!) Do it! Then throw them an Article 15 if they dare take their designator... I mean disco belt off. Want them to stand in formation at attention under the hot sun in 125 degree heat for an hour so you can hand out attaboys to people most of those in formation don't even know or care about, but they're your friends? It's your decision to make! Give 'em two hours so your friends with the attaboys can feel truly honored!

So be an Air Force officer. Army and Marine officers many of whom wind up right there in the shit with their guys having bullets whip past their faces. Navy guys are on a ship with thousands of other smelly guys. Air Force officers get the best of all worlds. Sure I'm a bit cynical, but any Air Force Maintenance guy will happily attest to everything I've said.

  The situation wasn't much different in 1979 for me. No jobs, etc. I went in am I'm glad I did.

I got an 88 on an  hour of sleep. I guess I fail.

Currently enlisted AF. I have a degree and want to go to OTS. However, like a previous poster has mentioned, the AF is restructuring and are not taking boards for officers.  

I also recommend the AIr Force for the same reasons posted. Basic is 8.5 weeks now, but is not that hard. Food and facilities are nice, especially if you get a good job.

Do it.

I have thought a few times through my life about joining up, and I really think I should have.  I feel I 'wasted' my 20's by bouncing around from job to job with no real goal or direction in my life.  I think I would have benefited from some military service.

yeah, pretty much BUT talk to an officer recruiter besides an enlisted recruiter. You already have the degree, put it to good use

Wow, I was totally in your shoes just a few months ago, and then I just joined the Air Force. I ship out Dec. 29. PM me and I will give you my phone number if you wish, and maybe I can help you.

It's all in what you want to do...I like to fly a desk and then go out and get my hands dirty...
Becoming an NCO in a comm career field in the AF can lead to a high paying career on the outside.

Most of the people who served under me as an active duty NCO are making excellent salaries (the one who got the 2 DUIs....McDonald's perhaps?).

I'm currently in the ANG, and have had, and continue to have a lot of interaction with the Army.
I don't want to be an Army officer...it's NOT for me...it's for some people...but it's NOT me.

I like being an NCO in the ANG...I like making things work. I like training and leading technicians.  

As I mentioned, my civlian career is VERY lucrative

Go Marine Corps.

My grandpa gave me a hard time because I joined the hardest and most intense and physically demanding service.

He was in the AF (A 1950's fobbit, pogue extroardinaire)

Nobody will ever tell me I shirked my responsibility by taking an easy way out.

It will be a real shame to put your hard earned degree to waste, you need to persue a commission.

I'm one for challenging myself, so I chose the Marine Corps.

If I had gone with one of the other branches, I knew I would spend my entire life wishing I was a Marine.
I promise they will make you earn it.

I've only been in a bit over 6 yrs, not all but some of the O's I've encountered the above statement is VERY true

My dad was a Master Sgt. in the AP in the USAF for twenty years. He told me the SAME DAMNED THING. He was right. I should have gone in for a few years, sucked it up and gone on to a Federal career. Oh wait- many years later, I am in a Federal job, that is forever hamstrung by coworkers and subordinates who are veterans who can't do shit and won't do shit, but got the job simply because...THEY'RE VETERANS!!

But I digress. Dad always said that “If it ain’t air-conditioned, it ain’t Air Force, and I ain’t going.”

Of course, my son is joining the US Marines…go figure…ships out in Dec/Jan....does NOT want to take the easy way out. This is the kid who wanted to join the ROYAL Marines....

PM me I might have something for you.

There ain't a magic job out there.
If you want a "great job" you don't need the military.  Just get your ducks in a row and go get your dream job.
You're not the first guy to leave home and get a job away from mom and dad.

If you want an exciting job, join a combat arms MOS.
Determine your needs and wants and then go talk to recruiters.

You have a degree so I would suggest you use that to your advantage and try to become an officer.
Check out www.armyocs.com if you are serious about becoming an officer in the Army.
www.usnavyocs.com if you want to find out more about becoming an officer in the Navy.
Also, don't rule out the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard officer candidate schools.

Military isn't the only option. If you are willing to move, I would suggest that you check out www.usajobs.gov for federal jobs if you haven't already.

Good luck.

I barely passed.

I did that

I suggest you talk to the recruiters, ALL OF THEM. See what deals they have to offer and go from there.

I have never regretted serving. Was in the Army. Any branch will do of course.

I do have to point out that there is a chance of you being killed. I'd hate to hear that you ended up dead because you were tired of living with your parents. Even more, I'd hate to hear that others ended up dead.

You want to serve, then by all means, serve. But don't end up dead because you were bored and frustrated.

I joined the Army in 1989 when I was a 19 year old kid. I was lucky and went for the Warrant Officer Flight Training program or "highschool to flight school" as they call it. I got out after 6 years in 1995 as a CW2. I was young, stupid and single, now I'm only one of those things

It was a great experiance and I would recommend it to anybody and as a matter of fact I think military service should be mandatory like it is in some other countries. You are a little bit different in that you went to college and have been out there a bit but it's a great way for people to get some real life skills and develop some independance in a structured environment.

Whatever branch of the service you select make the most out of it and pick a job that you will enjoy. As for being deployed...if you are single and without kids who cares? I don't mean this to sound macho or anything but back then I wouldn't have been able to stand being at home while others were in harms way. I was single and stupid, I didn't really have much to loose and looked at things as an adventure and challange. I thought about this the other day and thought if my situation were different I would have gone back in and spent several tours in places.

My life has changed now, I'm 40 with a wife and child and have a different view on mortality and responcibility. My advice is to do it, travel and meet some of the best people you will ever know. People who you are willing to do anything for and are willing to do the same for you. Even if you only spend a few years in it is a great experiance and will open some doors for you in the future as well as it gets it out of your system now. You may find that you like it and want to stay in or you may find where you would rather settle down once you're out.

I'm only a few months from getting my BS in Civil Engineering; the choices I've left myself are a MS in the same or joining the Marines...

As a Army vet, I concur.



 

and ugly chicks look hot after 6 months

+1     11A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL-OtsN9VdM

I'm currently in the Army as a 31Bravo ( Military Police ). Joining the army was definitly an eye opening experiance and I have been in for over two years. Right now I'm in South Korea working in a garrison unit. If you want my advice draw up a list of all the branches. Then make a list of pros and cons for each one. Decide what exactly you want to get out of the military and what skills your looking to learn and using that make your pros/cons list. Talk to a recruiter from every branch to see what all they can offer you. The army is great but like all professions it has its ups and downs. If your looking to use mostly your mind I would say Navy, Airforce, or a military intelligence job. Its all about what your personality is, what you want to gain from being in the military, and what your planning on doing after the military. I love being a cop and I joined the military cause most deparments substitute the college for military police experiance. Hope I helped.

Any branch of service is good. It will be a lifestyle change for sure and a surefire ticket to independence. My experience so far has been great.

Since you have college get into Officer Candidate School (OCS) and get your commission. Prestige, better pay, and all that jazz.

Military service has its ups and downs, highlights and downfalls. Overall it is a great experience. Sign up for as little time as possible, you can always reenlist.

I was instructed at the Benning School for Boys; at my IOBC to avoid marines since they will take 50% casulties before thinking about taking another course of action.  I've been man enough to not reinfoce failure and will continue to do the same....OEF, OIF, OIF, OEF upcoming

AF, as an officer.

Former field-grade here.

If you aren't a Fighter Pilot in the AF, you ain't shit, so they'll treat you like shit.

Unless your gonna do 20 dont go combat arms..aint much use for ole trigger pullers in civvie life......Ive loved it...but my advice as such as I would give to my own children, would do something techno....get some educmecation out of it, just incase you decide to get out.....

Put your resume up on Monster jobs.  That should generate a little interest, from recruiters who can get your name out there if nothing else.

GTFO of Kentucky if there's nothing there for you.

I wouldn't be in a big rush to join the army.

Not gonna lie:

I hate being a civilian ~27-29 days/mo. I fucking hate it. It makes me sick. The only reason I tolerate it at all is because my goal is to become an officer.

My suggestion to you is to enlist and become an officer. I'm not sure what the process is for guys enlisting with their degrees already.

When I get back from the next deployment I'll have some course requirements left for my degree, and I'm going to tack on ROTC if I can.

I'm not a military guy but I came to Texas from Michigan looking for a job. I work in san Antonio which is booming right now.
The population is growing down here. So unless dead set for going into the military you should check it out down here.