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Ok, I have the Navy and the Army calling me wanting me to join up because I did their practice test and made an 82(whoopdey do, a low B), found out though that the national average is like 42. And now I'm wondering which to join. I plan on becoming a journalist in either one, its just hard to choose. Senior year in high school is like crossing the Rubicon, everything changes and there is no turning back.

Duh, Army. They make free computer games.

FaxModem1 wrote:Ok, I have the Navy and the Army calling me wanting me to join up because I did their practice test and made an 82(whoopdey do, a low B), found out though that the national average is like 42. And now I'm wondering which to join. I plan on becoming a journalist in either one, its just hard to choose. Senior year in high school is like crossing the Rubicon, everything changes and there is no turning back.

I think that nearly all the Navy journalists do tv work. I know we had a tv studio that they ran on both the ships I was on. Plus there was at least one radio station they did stuff on.

FaxModem1 wrote:Ok, I have the Navy and the Army calling me wanting me to join up because I did their practice test and made an 82(whoopdey do, a low B), found out though that the national average is like 42. And now I'm wondering which to join. I plan on becoming a journalist in either one, its just hard to choose. Senior year in high school is like crossing the Rubicon, everything changes and there is no turning back.

Army! You can be like Joker from Full Metal Jacket =)

My friend took that test as well, her high school made everyone take it. She scored in the 99th, and when she told me that she had seriously considered it.. I fell on the floor in a spasm of laughter. She's one of those girly-girl asians. I mean, I took her paintballing once and she was putting on makeup in between matches

Navy. Best cooks in the military.

I had the AF all over me, I finally got the Army and Navy off my back by saying, "If I join anything, it's going to be the Air Force." Heck, the recruiter came by my house, twice. I think it all had to do with me making like a 92 or 93 on my ASVAB.

FaxModem1 wrote:Ok, I have the Navy and the Army calling me wanting me to join up because I did their practice test and made an 82(whoopdey do, a low B), found out though that the national average is like 42. And now I'm wondering which to join. I plan on becoming a journalist in either one, its just hard to choose. Senior year in high school is like crossing the Rubicon, everything changes and there is no turning back.

Well, a really good question is which could you live with if you didn't get to be a military journalist. In these times there's no guarentee that you would get the job you wanted and you'd still be obligated to serve your hitch.

Trytostaydead wrote: Army! You can be like Joker from Full Metal Jacket =)

Joker was a Marine.

I scored in the mid to high 80's on the ASVAB which I guess was much better than average but nothing terribly great considering how easy the test is. Im sure I did poorly on the mechanical part since at the time I could not fix anything to save my life.

*looks at all these people bragging about high ASVAB scores when he got a 73*

Fuck it, I'm gonna have bars anyway...

As for Army vs Navy, well, I know Navy has the JOs as a rating, that do all sorts of things like write stories, do TV, radio (I guess anyway) and probably even more, and then the PHs (IIRC) that take pictures. I would imagine the Army has their own counterparts as well.

So, it depends. Wanna be in the dirt or on a ship? Granted you can probably get shore tours and office assignments to keep you on shore and out of the dirt, I would imagine. But if you're gonna do that, might as well take a civvie job.

Oh, and AFAIK, the Army will promise a job and you'll get it, whereas the Navy will do it's best, but it goes under "needs of the Navy" (though that depends on ASVAB scores and boot camp performance as well as open slots at your A school, IIRC). But that could be out of date and/or I could be remembering it wrong (I got Army, Navy, and Marine recruiting info kinda jumbled together in my head) so you should definately check it out for yourself.

What is this test about? Is it a physical one or is it one on science and stuff?

Oh, and AFAIK, the Army will promise a job and you'll get it,

No, all the branches have the "as the needs of the service requires" clauses and given the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan they are being exercised.

2000AD wrote:What is this test about? Is it a physical one or is it one on science and stuff?

The ASVAB? It's like an SAT for the military, but instead of just Math/English it has mechanical, electrical, and some "crypto" portions, as well as probably other stuff I don't remember from two and a half years ago.

Think long and hard about how you'd feel about being a grunt or a Seaman. Cause if you don't get a field dealing with journalism, you might become one of the above. Hell, even if you become a military journalist, you still might be out there with the grunts.

where are these practice tests?

Stormbringer wrote:

Oh, and AFAIK, the Army will promise a job and you'll get it,

No, all the branches have the "as the needs of the service requires" clauses and given the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan they are being exercised.

Ah, ok. When I was in the thick of it, it was pre-Iraq and Afghanistan wasn't too big.

As for koji's question...I think the recruiters have some. Maybe your school guidance department as well (mine did) and if you have a JROTC unit around you could try asking them.

My school offered them, but I didn't take the ASVAB because I didn't really want recruiters hounding me when I had very little interest in military service (and, with Bush's shenanigans regarding benefits, that's down to zero).

In the Navy you die with a full belly.

The Duchess of Zeon wrote:In the Navy you die with a full belly.

Evidently, only on subs...

*still gagging on NAS Jax's idea of "chicken" two months later*

Though the JFK's temporary galley was pretty good...

RogueIce wrote:

The Duchess of Zeon wrote:In the Navy you die with a full belly.

Evidently, only on subs...

*still gagging on NAS Jax's idea of "chicken" two months later*

Though the JFK's temporary galley was pretty good...

She said full, not a damn thing about the quality of the filler.

Stormbringer wrote:She said full, not a damn thing about the quality of the filler.

Well, while you might have a point there, generally speaking, if it's not good, I don't tend to eat a lot of it. But that's just me.

RogueIce wrote:*looks at all these people bragging about high ASVAB scores when he got a 73*

I got an 85 on that...a friend of mine got much higher.

Ohhh shit, don't get me started on the ASVAB.....

I made a 96 on that damn thing....and I wish I never took it (though I had no choice in the matter). The very day they got the damn thing in, I got hounded with letters and calls from recruiters. It got to the point where I drove down to the recruiter's office and chewed their asses out for it. Even went as high as the asshole's CO to get this shit to stop. I don't want a fucking career in the damn military, especially after seeing some of the shit my father had to put up with. I am not an ass kisser, nor will I ever be.

FaxModem1 wrote:Ok, I have the Navy and the Army calling me wanting me to join up because I did their practice test and made an 82(whoopdey do, a low B), found out though that the national average is like 42. And now I'm wondering which to join. I plan on becoming a journalist in either one, its just hard to choose. Senior year in high school is like crossing the Rubicon, everything changes and there is no turning back.

If you want to be a journalist, ensure you bring along a friend (or friend's father/uncle) who was also once a recruiter to ensure you don't get screwed over. Recruiters are slicker than used car salesman, so unless you see what you want in writing, don't sign a thing.

Oh, and don't join the Navy...

jegs2 wrote: Oh, and don't join the Navy...

Hey....

jegs2 wrote: If you want to be a journalist, ensure you bring along a friend (or friend's father/uncle) who was also once a recruiter to ensure you don't get screwed over. Recruiters are slicker than used car salesman, so unless you see what you want in writing, don't sign a thing.

Good advice. If you're going into any service for a specific job make sure that you get a contract that makes that job as garunteed as possible. If it's a job that they value highly they are less likely to screw you because they want you in that job but if it's something that they aren't too concerned about or that is well staffed they are more likely to play a little fast and loose with you.

Common stuff is that you can try and sign up for an open school while in bootcamp. You can strike for that job when you hit the fleet etc...

They are both true on a certain level but don't count on getting what you want. If you're in boot and you don't get what you want they already have you there so you are sort of screwed (not as bad as you think but still not good). Striking for a job is especially tough. You have to do it on your own time while you are a very junior person who is likely getting his ass busted on all the shit jobs. I've known people who've done it but it can be very tough. It generally helps if you have people around you that support you trying to strike but you can also run into people who are trying to hinder you because if you are successful that's one more person out of their workforce. There's also the "dick" factor. Some people are just dicks and will screw you just because they get off on it. None of this maters if the job you want to strike to isn't even available on whatever ship/base you get assigned to.