Military Stuff Site

I’ll be turning 18 next August and I’m pregnant right now. I was thinking of joining the Air Force sometime next year so I can have some sort of stable career to care for my child. I was thinking about joining in a career of information systems. Do you have any advice?

Answer. You will need to check with a recruiter to make sure you meet all the requirements for enlistment, as you have many more hoops to jump through before you are accepted.

Because you would be deployable at any time, you have to keep on file with the base personnel office, three different dependant care plans: Immediate, short term and permanent.

The immediate plan is for when the phone rings and they need you to come to work immediately. You need to have someone available 24-hours a day, to be able to take care of your child for short periods of time, up to a day, for the times you need to fill in for someone else who was unable to work.

The short term plan is for when that same phone rings; although this time you are being deployed for an extended period of time, anywhere from a week to three months. You need to have someone available and willing to take on that responsibility.

The final plan is the permanent plan: If the unthinkable happens, and you are killed in the line of duty, you need someone willing to adopt your child. This is usually a blood relative, mother, sister/brother, and aunt/uncle. Again, this has to be someone willing to take on this lifetime responsibility.

I know these aren’t things happy to think about, but they are required by military regulations, and you will be required to revalidate these plans annually. Most people choose friends and/or neighbors for the immediate and short term plans, and relatives for the permanent plan.

During the period of Basic Training and your tech schools, your child will need to stay with relatives. Your time and efforts will be devoted to learning your basic military and technical skills, and you will not be provided with any time to yourself for child care. In Basic, you will be under supervision 24-hours a day for six weeks.

Today’s IT personnel are the modern incarnation of yesterday’s administrative personnel. There are those who specialize in computers and network management, but the majority is your clerk/typists that fill the much needed administrative support role in every squadron. There are approximately 10,000 in the Air Force, of which half are regularly non-deployable due to a variety of medical problems or other constraints. This means that, when a deployment requirement comes up, half the people have to do twice the work. Yes, you will be deployed, and I guarantee it will be within months of getting fully qualified in your job. That means that you won’t have that much time getting settled into your first permanent duty station with your child before you have to hand him/her over to your short-term sitter and go off on deployment.

Every career field deploys these days. Some more than others, but everyone gets their time in the “desert”. Granted, of all the armed forces, the Air Force deploys less to the “hot” spots. The Army and Marines spend the most time in Iraq, while the USAF deploys more to support locations, such as Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

You need to look at your finances and see if the pay scale will meet your needs. As an E-1, Airman Basic, with less than four months in service, you will be earning $1,178 a month (current pay, due to go up roughly 3% next year). After four months that pay goes up to $1,274 a month. An E-2, Airman, earns $1,427 a month. An E-3, Airman First Class, earns $1,595 after two years of service.

Realize the Air Force will provide housing (or the funds to acquire housing), so that will offset your monthly costs. Probably the single biggest “bonus” is that all medical needs for you and your child will be provided for while you are on active duty. If you stay in and retire, the current plan provides medical insurance for you and all your dependents for only $460 a year.

There are many other things to consider.

What are the different types of military branches? The military branches are as follows: Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines. Sub divisions include, USCG, Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine National Guards. The USCG stands for the United States Coast Guard. Each branch has the same or similar rankings across the board.

From Trainee to General, each has a place within the military ranking, no matter which branch of service that you choose to enter, the admission process remains the same. Passing a physical and written test will get you admitted into the Armed Forces.

Why Are The Different Branches Named As They Are?

Well the Air Force covers the air, the Army the ground, the Navy the sea and the Marines are the first ones called in. There are also some categories in the military that have the same function. All branches of the Armed Forces have pilots. Each one has their own special operations or “Spec Ops” for short. Special operations within the military are not for the faint of heart.

These advanced divisions are for the “best of the best”. Making a career in special operations is very demanding, but very gratifying. So the military branches have a lot of similarities in their formation. However, they also have some fundamental differences in the way that they operate and their basic training.

What Is The Difference?

The Marine Corps have the strictest and the most physical basic training out of all the branches of service. It is said that the Air Force is the easiest one as far as basic training. However any recruit that has been through basic training will tell you, basic training is rough no matter which branch you are in. The basic training of any branch of the service is rough and for good reason.

It is their job to break you and build you back into a killing machine that obeys orders. You have to be able to handle yourself in the nightmare of war. Things are a lot different when you are on a battlefield. You see things that change you even more, sometimes kill the feeling in your heart. If anyone thinks that war is only a game has not been on the battlefield and heard and seen the horrors of war. People’s opinions radically change after being on a battlefield. They are forever changed.

What Branch Should I Serve In?

That is entirely up to you. Most people that enter the Armed Forces will make a career out of it. Most can retire in their 30’s providing that a battle is not raging anywhere. If a battle is raging somewhere, then the age is significantly higher. If you want the sea, go with the Navy.

If you want to be in the air, all four branches offer pilot training. However you must be a college graduate to be able to pursue the pilot training. That is mandatory. If excitement and being the first in line appeals to you, join the Marines. If you want to be on the ground, choose the Army.

There is always the opportunity to advance as high as general. This takes a lifetime of staying in the military. Most will stay in the military as long as they are alive. That phenomenon is here to stay.

How Long Does It Take To Advance?

That factor is entirely dependant upon the branch of service that you are in and time served. Other things include: being able to pass a written and physical test in order to get the next rank.

They will also look at your record and decide if you are worthy of the rank, or if you have had so many busting downs that it is not appropriate to even promote you to the next rank. What is meant by “busting down” or losing a stripe” is this: It means that you have had disciplinary action taken against you that removes you from your current rank to one below it. This can really hurt you at promotion time. So think about it the next time that you go carousing out on the town.

Your actions will be held accountable and you will be held accountable for your actions. This will definitely be held against you, so don’t even think about getting a blot on your record. This record is rarely expunged and will stay with you throughout life. An employer wants to hire you, knows that you are ex military and goes through your record. Imagine the shock when he finds black marks against you on your record.

Military personnel have to face up the brunt of financial difficulties not only through their career but even after they are retired from active service. While many do who join up the armed forces with the sole intention of dedicating their lives to the country, they still have to face the harsh reality of the trouble of managing their lives and their family with their meager salaries. For this reason, loans for military retirees and active duty personnel become very essential.

The best route to take for loans for military retirees is the Department of Veteran Affairs that provides VA Home Loan Programs. This has many benefits attached to it. There are no down payments required to take this loan and it provides a funding to the tune of $417,000 to purchase a home for themselves. Even the rate of interest is quite low and is a fixed rate and not an adjustable rate of interest. This is very good when the present trend of the market and issues such as the fall of the sub prime mortgage is concerned. The veterans are also provided with the option of refinancing an existing mortgage thereby reducing the amount that needs to be paid every month. This also works in the interest of the veterans considering the sub prime mortgages. Apart from mortgage, the VA loans are beneficial to the veterans for many other purposes such as educating their children or for debt consolidation.

There are many things to bear in mind while opting for a loan for military retirees. A person planning to go this route should be aware of the proper amount that they can procure through such a loan so that it becomes easier to check on what home they can afford to buy. If this is not cross-checked, they may fall short on their requirements or may end up with a high recurring monthly payment that they could possibly not afford. So, it is best to know beforehand what they can afford and what kind of liability they need to be ready for.

They should also have knowledge about their credit ratings. Credit ratings play an important role in the allotment of loans. People with bad credit history could end up with their loans not getting approved or with a lesser loan amount. Every retiree applying for the loan should ensure that their credit reports are precise with no faults as this is very important in determining the loan that gets approved in their name.

There are three different loans being provided by the VA as loans for military retirees. These differ in the kind of interest rates that are being offered. There is the option of going in for a fixed or an adjustable rate of interest. Many now feel that considering the current trend of sub prime mortgage, it is best to opt for a fixed rate of interest rather than an adjustable rate of interest. But, even if one opts for an adjustable rate of interest for a VA loan, the adjusted rates cannot vary from the previous rate of interest by more than one percent every year to a total not above five percent for the entire tenure of the loan. So, going in for a loan for military retirees through the VA is a good option that should be weighed in with other options available before deciding on which loan to actually go in for.

High school students interested in serving in our armed forces must take an entrance examination called the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). The ASVAB is used to not only assess a recruit’s aptitude for military service, but also help identify their Military Operational Specialty - service-speak for job - if they choose to serve. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, over 722,000 high school students took the ASVAB during the past school year

The ASVAB is also used as a mandatory test for high school sophomores and juniors at hundreds of schools in 34 states. The schools that make the ASVAB mandatory share the results with the military and assist their students in their career development, regardless of whether they decide to enlist.

There are problems with this practice.

First, the mandatory test gives the military the opportunity to circumvent the opt-out provisions under No Child Left Behind; a student may be forced to take the test even though he’s asked to opt out of communications with the branches of the armed forces,

Second, school administrators have the say as to whether the ASVAB results can be shared with military recruiters, assuming they require the test for their own purposes. In effect, a school administrator is placed in the role of circumventing the wishes of students who are not interested in military service, as well as their parents. A high school principal or superintendent should not be put in this position; an exceptionally vocal group of parents could get him fired.

Third, the ASVAB is given to students who have not turned 18. The military should not be contacting students who are more than a year from graduating high school. Given the passage of a symbolic act such as No Child Left Behind, the military should not be recruiting high school drop outs, or asking students disinterested in school to consider dropping out. Reporting to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on January 31, General Thomas Bostick, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, stated that the percentage of high school graduates among military recruits had fallen to a low of 79 percent.

I don’t believe we need a Congressional hearing to resolve these problems; there is nothing to be gained from such theatre. Instead, we need some solutions that are fair and easy to implement. I personally do not object to the test itself, or the idea of making it mandatory at wartime, but there should be an opt-out check box right on the front page of the exam booklet. If a student checks no, then no should be recorded in the collective database of test takers. It’s not too difficult to add one checkbox to a three hour standardized exam.

Second, if a school in need of improvement under No Child Left Behind uses the ASVAB as a career assessment tool, it should allowed to use it as a school assessment. Improvement in performance on the ASVAB should carry bonus credits towards a school’s efforts to take itself out of Need of Improvement status.

Thirdly, and I stated this in a prior column, the military should not call high school students until they have reached their 18th birthday or three months before their graduation, whichever is earlier. If we are to leave no child left behind in the classroom and make all children proficient, we should not try to leave them behind on a battlefield before they have had a chance to earn their high school diploma.

I am completing Defending College Heights, a novel about an Irish Catholic family and a college administration in the aftermath of the murder of a U.S. Army recruiter. I started work on Defending because I had connections in the higher education community who were quite knowledgeable on the issues, or had worked closely with military recruiters on campus.

In my research, I went back to pro-military as well as anti-war protests against the Vietnam War. Then, and now, there were confrontations between military personnel and civilians. Most of these protests were non-violent, but others were not. Kent State, where four students were killed and nine wounded, was perhaps the tipping point of the protest movement.

Whatever we think of the war in Afghanistan or the war in Iraq, we owe our citizens who choose to serve our respect; they made their choice and they are making the ultimate sacrifice. Unlawful attacks on military recruiters or their place of work are a crime, and will not force them to change their message. If anything, they will catch their opponent’s attention.

One Republican congressman, Todd Akin of Missouri, has introduced a bill, posted as H.R. 6023, also called the Freedom to Serve Act of 2008. Introduced in the House Judiciary Committee on May 12, the act prohibits certain forms of interference against military recruiting. Most are obvious crimes: destruction of property and infliction of injury being prime examples, but others are gray areas; even peaceful protest in front of a recruiting office could be considered interference and intimidation (those exact words are used in the bill).

The act proposes a 1 year prison term for first-time offenders and a term of three years or less for subsequent offense. There are state and local laws to protect persons and private property and the military abides by those laws just as civilians do. In effect, this bill makes certain forms of civilian protest, especially the more violent acts, a federal crime.

Akin has 26 co-sponsors, all Republicans, most from states that attract large numbers of young men and women to the military: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. However, while the bill lists several examples of acts against persons and property, none of these happened in a sponsor’s home state. This, and the gray areas, interference and intimidation, do not bode well for the bill.

I understand the most obvious intentions of H.R. 6023, to protect the rights and property of recruiters and recruits. This bill would be a great accomplishment for a conservative Congressman to bring home to his or her district. But I am uncomfortable with those same representatives mistaking peaceful protest as interference or intimidation. A bill such as H.R. 6023 would open the door for the federal courts to make those judgments.

Whatever your political stripes, you have to agree that those who cause injury or damage property should be punished. But there is a reason why these powers, with respect to private property and personal injury, are vested with the states. The states want to set the punishment that fits the crime. They don’t want the federal government to intimidate or interfere.

Military personnel are usually so busy in performing their national duties that, often, they do not find enough time for financial aspects of their life. Hence, they are more likely to find out Military Loans for urgently paying back some bills. These are especially carved out loans for them. A unique aspect of these loans is that the applicants receive the loaned amount within 24 hours in their bank checking accounts. But, at the same time, they must carefully borrow the amount for evading the debts.

Because of their status as military personnel, they are not subjected to any credit checks, even if they may be having a bad credit history of late payments and defaults. All they need to do is to fill the loan and personal details in an online application, and it is instantly approved. They can borrow anywhere from £100 to £1500 for 14 days, until their next payday. This means they should be repaying the amount at the time of getting next paycheque. But, they also can rollover the loan for few weeks after paying the interest charges.

While military loans are meant to serve the urgent monetary needs of the applicants, a draw back of high interest charges also is associated with it. The rate is high on the small borrowed amount and that too for a very brief period of two weeks.

It is, therefore, advisable that you must ensure repaying of the borrowed amount at the time of getting the next paychque, so the interest payments do no accrue against your name. You should avoid delaying the repayment, as it may involve penalties as well.

It is possible to find out military loans at competitive and lower rate of interest once you have browsed the internet for researching as many such offers. But study the terms-conditions involved in such offer. You must avoid falling into a debt-trap by ensuring timely repayment.

Availing quick financial help is quite easy for a person with a civilian background. But that does not mean that it will be the same for those in the military. If you are from the military and is now facing severe financial crunch, you can acquire the finances by applying for military payday loans. The loans infact are laced with feasible terms and conditions, which makes it easy for you to derive the finances even at the time of active duty.

As the name suggests, these loans are only meant for those individuals who are in the military and are looking for quick finances to take care of their urgent needs. These are short term loans which can be availed without pledging any asset as collateral. in fact the loans have been carved out keeping in mind your prevailing circumstances. Since the amount is required to disperse the urgent needs, lenders approve the loans without checking your credit history. This implies that even with a bad credit status, you can access the loans.

The loans basically are approved on the basis of your monthly income you draw. Through these loans, you can acquire a maximum amount of up to £1000 to meet the needs. The amount availed has to be repaid within a period of 2- 4 weeks. With the support of these loans, you can easily disperse emergency needs like clearing medical bills, store and other utility bills, credit card dues, paying school fees of child and so on.

The application process of the loans does not take too much time. All you have to do is to fill a simple online application form with all the details such as income earned, residential address, and bank account details. Once the personal and financial details are scrutinizes, the approval comes instantly. The amount borrowed is directly transferred in to your bank account.

Although the loans are advanced without any security, interest rates on the loans are quite reasonable. Further on comparing the rate quotes, you can easily come across lenders offering the loans at cheap rates.

By availing military payday loans, now you can take care of all your monetary needs in a convenient way.

Over the years fashion trends have seen an increased interest in wearing military clothing or apparel items that imitated it closely, but why this preference in terms of clothes when there are so many brands fighting to get the buyer’s attention? Well, one thing we have to mention here is that military clothing is usually made according to a specific pattern, a standard of quality and specificity, which means that they are designed on special order. Men are usually attracted by military clothing as it actually represents an epitome of manhood, and it is easy to feel safe and powerful when wearing such professional equipment.

The greatest advantage of military clothing is that it is tough, since the design features include high resistance to combat conditions, which means they are created to be used for long periods of time in harsh weather conditions. For those people who don’t have anything to do with life in the army, military clothing works just fine as it can be of great help for anyone who spends a lot of time in open air: going hunting, playing paint ball or simply angling. So, enthusiasts of outdoor activities may benefit from a great way to be fashionable and very comfortable at the same time.

What is military clothing like after all? First of all there is one element to be taken into consideration: clothes worn by troops have to meet special conditions since body armor and ammo are carried on. Such combat items generate heat, therefore, military clothing has to release it somehow before discomfort levels are reached. Consequently, most military jackets have some special panels made of stretchy materials, placed on sides and under the arms, which enable adequate heat elimination. The favorite materials used for the manufacturing of military clothes are fleece and gore-tex: the former to keep warm and the latter to ensure rain and wind protection.

Furthermore, military clothing is expected to be worn in all sorts of conditions, and special technologies are used to guarantee a minimum bacterial infection risk. Some items of military clothing actually include a silver lining in their structure; this consists of silver ions that have an antimicrobial action preventing the potentially dangerous bacterial outgrowth triggered by perspiration. Arm and side pockets for multipurpose usage are another great advantage such clothes bring to the user; they are easy to access and serve you at all times.

What would happen if many in the US Military simply resigned?

Benefit to them: If US military volunteers would just resign, their risk of war zone deployment or any further service would be over! The military’s “back door draft” (Inactive Ready Reserve) policy subjects them to be called up, again, for active duty service even after their current enlistment periods are over. They could just refuse to serve and go through the judicial process instead of being subject to more active duty time. In such a circumstance, the ACLU would work to jettison their court-martial cases into civil courts where many judges would understand their confessed foolishness for enlisting in the first place. Once that precedent is set, if it is not already set from the Vietnam era, all future cases could refer to existing precedent.

The result: Probable suspension of any jail periods due for violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice including dereliction of duty. Our military members could then return to their families and get on with their lives. The American people, via Congress, would probably not withhold their military benefits whether in agreement with their resignations or not. It is a likely scenario, if our service members would just get over their egos and concepts of Duty, Honor, Country.

Why would they resign to face due process and potential prison terms? Envision a mission left unfinished because the American electorate quit the mission. Imagine being required to accept the deaths of your comrades and your own limbs lost in battle, for no gain, after being ordered to withdraw from the battlefield before real victory is achieved. Why would they not resign, in such a circumstance?

The best way to enact a new military draft is to get our current volunteers to resign. The best way to get our volunteers to resign is to ignore and subvert their majority political wishes during wartime.

Voters only have the three choices below:
1) Don’t vote to ignore our troops’ majority political wishes, during wartime.
2) Vote against What Our Troops Want so they fail in their current mission and resign.
3) Align your votes with What Our Troops Want to provide real voting support of them.

There are no other options. Voting as the majority of our volunteer troops vote is not subjugation to our military, as the Nazis required. It is proper alignment and support of them with your votes. It puts the most important right you own (your right to vote), which they protect for you, into action and enforces your verbal support of them. Objective understanding of their political wishes is required as well as making the following decision. Is what you want or is what our troops want, during wartime, more important? What those majority troop political wishes are, and when they change, is what matters … so your votes don’t subvert what our troops want.

The next US military draft will likely include females so offer up your daughters to Uncle Sam. Vote for option two above, or don’t vote at all, and usher in a new military draft. This is simple, my dear Watson.

When we judge our military members no longer deserve our voting support, we will publish a new website on the theme of Subvert Our Troops.

Votes affect morale (on both sides) – Connect the Dots!

Modern armored tactics involve the combined use of infantry and military tanks for ample maneuvers on the battle field, with the elements in the system being included in a mutual support circuit. The first military tanks were used during the world wars and ever since the history of military tactics has changed completely. Each country relies on certain types of military tanks, and though the models and the manufacturers are facts of public knowledge, national security prevents the disclosure of too complex information about the military tanks whereabouts. They were the invention of the British army during World War I and have been imported afterwards at the international scale.

The great advantage military tanks brought is the ability to cross very rough terrain areas at high speeds while also firing. The level of heavy armor that is part of the design ensures a high degree of survivability for the soldiers that operate military tanks in the conditions of breakthroughs in the enemy areas. It is highly uncommon that such special units be used individually; most of the time military tanks are part of armored divisions or combined forces that work together in combat. One main reason for the inadequacy of individual use is the existence of anti-tank artillery, and anti-tank bombs that were created as the main defenses against combat breach creation.

In a top of the most versatile weapons, military tanks occupy a top place due to the ability to cause damage to low ground targets on the battlefield. The current tendency in our society is to invest in less conventional warfare; yet, all countries keep military tanks high in their preferences for defense and offense weaponry. Throughout a century of changes and technological development, military tanks have been improved with every more advanced armored systems, and maintenance costs are anything but low.

Owing to the high protection technologies used in the design of military tanks, such war machines are able to remain undetected on the battlefield; furthermore, they are also pretty difficult to engage and destroy a target given their strategic mobility. However, defense properties cannot be increased at all levels: for instance, higher mobility is achieved by adding less heavy armor. Or on the other hand, advanced armors are used when mobility is not considered a crucial element for the operation. Consequently, thanks to the overwhelming presence on any battlefield, military tanks will continue to be used as long as there are wars to fight.