Current Events > Starting to think I'll have to consider military service.

(+) Yeah! (+)

The job market fucking sucks, half the time there's nobody looking to hire, and the other half won't take me because I don't have work experience. But since I can't get work experience unless someone hires me in the first place, what the fuck am I supposed to do? I've literally been stuck in a goddamn employment limbo since I was 18 ...and I turned 34 in October. How in the actual fuck am I supposed to get anywhere or take care of anything if nobody will give me even the tiniest chance?

I can't ply any education or skills instead either, I could never afford anything like that. Relocating at a whim isn't an option as well because I can't afford to just up and go wherever I want when I want, and even then, I've been in four counties across Texas anyway, and none of them gave me better odds then the last. What good would another move even do me?

Of course it's not like I know the first thing about military recruitment either. For all I know I don't even qualify for it. Beyond just any physical or mental requirements, I might be too old to even sign up for any branch, which would kind of suck because it's not like I would care to take advantage of any college benefits after serving, I'd just go full-career enlistment because what else would I even be good for? (And fuck every civilian employer regardless, absolutely sick of dealing with their shit.)

I don't know how much of CE has dealt with military service, so I'm not rightly sure I could ask for advice and I know full-stop that I'm likely ignorant/oblivious to certain important details about the whole process (I don't think I could even state a preferred branch just yet, since it'll likely come down to "whoever would take me"), all I know is that I'm at my wits end when it comes to this unemployment situation, to the extent I've been wishing for years that I would just drop dead already because it's clear that I'm just excess human stock until someone actually wants me for something.

Just wanting a paycheck may not be the most dignified (or intelligent) justification for enlisting, but what other choices do I even have at this point?
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Inferno Dive Dragoon posted...

Just wanting a paycheck may not be the most dignified (or intelligent) justification for enlisting

Recruiter: Well son, you're in luck because your base pay isn't your only benefit for enlisting!
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Youve been unemployed since you were 18 and your 34 now ?, I find it a blatant lie that fast food or retail would not hire you.
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Do you have a bachelors degree? If so. Get a teaching certificate and go teach in Asia.
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34? Yeah sorry to burst your bubble, but youve likely aged out with all the branches.

You need to be physically fit, to an extent. Basic training will either kill you, or make you wish you were dead. Even with the relaxed standards of the U.S military. I assume you are U.S. Opt in for one of the non combat support roles, like a mechanic or comms operator. If you have a fear of bullets being fired at you.
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What degree(s) do you hold?
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YOUHAVENOHOPE posted...

Recruiter: Well son, you're in luck because your base pay isn't your only benefit for enlisting!

I figured most benefits only applied after you left, and if you stayed for several years, didn't think they gave you anything else from the start. I don't even know what any of them actually pay, but anything is better than $0 a month.
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Offworlder1 posted...

Youve been unemployed since you were 18 and your 34 now ?, I find it a blatant lie that fast food or retail would not hire you.

I don't know how it is in other states, but in Texas they are *super* fucking picky about who they hire, retail being the worst of the two. Apparently, if you don't own/use any of the products a place carries, they automatically write you off as not being qualified to sell those same products.

It would also seem that fast food and retail in Texas is deathly allergic to the idea of training anybody to do anything. If they can't put you to task *immediately*, they don't want you. Period.
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josifrees posted...

Do you have a bachelors degree? If so. Get a teaching certificate and go teach in Asia.

I don't have any kind of education, college or trade school or whatever else. Can't afford to run right out and get one either, and they don't just hand out education for free (not in the US anyway).

At best, I have a GED. That's literally it.
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FYI, privates/corporals in the military only make 25k or so a year.
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Inferno Dive Dragoon posted...

I figured most benefits only applied after you left, and if you stayed for several years, didn't think they gave you anything else from the start. I don't even know what any of them actually pay, but anything is better than $0 a month.

nah son
DoD medical/dental is GREAT
you get free legal help
they do your taxes for you
really cheap food at the DFAC
savings/investment plans
etc

its all about waht you can take advantage of
join if you're not aged out
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34, at best the Navy might take you.
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You don't even have a baechlor's degree and you're complaining about the employment? Doesn't the government offer loans?
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KamenRiderBlade posted...

34, at best the Navy might take you.

Navy and air force have stricter intelligence restrictions, army and marines have stricter physical restrictions.
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Vita_Aeterna posted...

You don't even have a baechlor's degree and you're complaining about the employment? Doesn't the government offer loans?

Not always enough to cover it. When I was in high school trying to get loans, my parents made too much money for me to qualify for most of them, but my parents were too in debt to afford to help me.

My friend is 35 and going to college for the first time, the loans he could get only cover half of his tuition, the rest is out of pocket. Not everyone can afford that.
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008Zulu posted...

You need to be physically fit, to an extent. Basic training will either kill you, or make you wish you were dead. Even with the relaxed standards of the U.S military. I assume you are U.S. Opt in for one of the non combat support roles, like a mechanic or comms operator. If you have a fear of bullets being fired at you.

I don't really know how physically fit I am at present, couldn't even tell you if I have any pre-existing conditions because I could never afford a doctor to find out.

If getting shot at is the only thing I'd be considered good for, so be it, I likely don't have a choice in the matter.
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Vita_Aeterna posted...

What degree(s) do you hold?

None.
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pres_madagascar posted...

FYI, privates/corporals in the military only make 25k or so a year.

Still better than what I'm making now (which is nothing).
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pres_madagascar posted...

Vita_Aeterna posted...

You don't even have a baechlor's degree and you're complaining about the employment? Doesn't the government offer loans?

Not always enough to cover it. When I was in high school trying to get loans, my parents made too much money for me to qualify for most of them, but my parents were too in debt to afford to help me.

My friend is 35 and going to college for the first time, the loans he could get only cover half of his tuition, the rest is out of pocket. Not everyone can afford that.

That's a really weird circumstance, and an unfortunate one.
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How do you live and support yourself now? Do you live with relatives?
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Vita_Aeterna posted...

pres_madagascar posted...

Vita_Aeterna posted...

You don't even have a baechlor's degree and you're complaining about the employment? Doesn't the government offer loans?

Not always enough to cover it. When I was in high school trying to get loans, my parents made too much money for me to qualify for most of them, but my parents were too in debt to afford to help me.

My friend is 35 and going to college for the first time, the loans he could get only cover half of his tuition, the rest is out of pocket. Not everyone can afford that.

That's a really weird circumstance, and an unfortunate one.

Unfortunately, sometimes it just doesn't work out for people. There is an unfortunate group of young people in the "limbo zone" as I call it. Where their parents make too much on paper to qualify for many low income assistance loans, but they are so in debt they can't afford to help in reality, so they kind of end up fucked, especially if your test scores / GPA are just average at best, so that limits your options too. You end up having to do community College for your first two years, and pay for it almost entirely out of pocket. And pray to a diety that you have a good enough GPA in community College to be able to qualify for more loans when you do transfer.

A lot of people in this zone tend to be better off going for trade apprenticeships.
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Isn't there a section where you let the government know that you're unemployed and your parents despite being middle class cannot contribute to paying your tuition fees?
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Rob Cesternino posted...

How do you live and support yourself now? Do you live with relatives?

Yes, I currently live with my aunt (dad's sister), before that it was my parents who have since passed away. (My dad died last October, less than two weeks after I turned 34.)

Incidentally, my dad and step-mom had served in the Navy themselves, but they were never particularly encouraging about the idea of me enlisting in the military as well (Navy or otherwise). I imagine a large part of it had to do with me turning 18 just over a month after 9/11, so they were both in a tizzy about the idea of me being involved in any war. (In contrast to their own tours where, at best, my step-mom was deployed during Desert Storm but never saw any combat action.)

All the following years with the body count *still* mounting in the Middle East didn't help their opinion. Of course for as much as they dismissed the idea of me going military, they weren't exactly the best source of help when it came to finding normal jobs either.

Like, I didn't get my GED until was 23. Why? Because they legit didn't think I would need it because "oh nobody ever actually checks if you have one". And then there's my personal favorite; Cutting off our internet access for 2 years straight because it was "just a luxury" and then being flabbergasted that I couldn't do any job applications because literally everybody only does online ones now.

And this was all years *after* my dad and biological mom thought it would be a great idea to pull me from public school after the 3rd grade and home school me and my mom, the self-designated teacher, being a high school drop-out herself after she got knocked up with my older half-sister. (Subsequently, a good number of those years getting my GED was just trying to unfuck my education to something actually viable.)

Suffice to say, practically none of the adults in my life growing up ever made any smart or helpful decisions (for my sake anyway), and even *after* I reached adulthood they never really got their shit together ultimately culminating in their mostly self-inflicted deaths, my mom and step-mom going out from heart problems because they gave zero fucks about their diets, and my dad finally succumbing to his smoking habit.

It's to a point where I don't even understand why they bothered having kids if they were going to be so terrible at actually preparing them for anything, and then blaming me and said siblings when we couldn't just "figure it out like they did" by the time they got old and ill.
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Damn TC the way you talk about your parents you sound like an entitled ungrateful brat. There is zero reason you couldn't get a job in retail, fast food, construction, cleaning, nursing home, etc. Unless you have really bad social skills and didn't really try to apply yourself all these years, there's no reason why you should have free loaded off your family all this time. At this rate joining the military would be best for you. Try calling an army recruiter to enlist.
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Might as well bump this for daytime CE.
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I guess there's not much more to consider?
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If you've never worked a day in your life and you're in your 30s then military life will be a total culture shock for you.

I'm in the Army, have been for over 4 years now. I had a fairly easy basic training unit. You don't have to go Infantry. If you score well on the ASVAB then you can do almost any job you want, ideally.

The Army doesn't ask a lot of you. Right place, right time, right uniform. All most leaders ask of you is to do the right thing.

But the Army life isn't for everybody. People find all of the creative ways to fuck up one of the easiest jobs
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You must have been one hell of an interesting interview if you went to every place in fast food and retail and not a single one would hire you.

wackyteen posted...

If you've never worked a day in your life and you're in your 30s then military life will be a total culture shock for you.

I'm in the Army, have been for over 4 years now. I had a fairly easy basic training unit. You don't have to go Infantry. If you score well on the ASVAB then you can do almost any job you want, ideally.

The Army doesn't ask a lot of you. Right place, right time, right uniform. All most leaders ask of you is to do the right thing.

But the Army life isn't for everybody. People find all of the creative ways to fuck up one of the easiest jobs

I don't know what I would be stuck having to do in the military specifically, it's not like I have a talent/affinity for special fields or anything, so I'll likely have to settle for the most menial/simple roles.
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Cal12 posted...

You must have been one hell of an interesting interview if you went to every place in fast food and retail and not a single one would hire you.

I think I've been interviewed 3 times in all these years, and each time it was the same thing;

"It's great that you're available any day or time of the week and have zero criminal record, but gosh, you've never used a cash register before and we don't feel like showing you how. Better luck at the next place."
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XXHornDogXX posted...

34? Yeah sorry to burst your bubble, but youve likely aged out with all the branches.

yeah even if he got it waivered hed have a rude awakening when he realizes he has to stay in dorms or barracks most of his first term

Something is just... Off about TC.
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