question for those in the military or previously served

jserio · January 22, 2009, 11:39:00 PM

i've been contemplating joining the local national guard. the term "signing bonus" kinda caught my eye. however, i think i may have a slight problem. my hearing. i can't pass a hearing test at a civilian doctor hence i wear hearing aids. will this factor keep me from enlisting?

spc · January 22, 2009, 11:41:01 PM

Med standards are constantly changing and the guard is very flexible. It's worth going down to see a recruiter and maybe spending a morning at MEPS getting their opinion.

jserio · January 22, 2009, 11:43:49 PM

i've emailed a local recruiter but since it's almost 2am here, i doubt i'll hear back before tommorrow. just thought i'd throw the question out to my gstwins folks. i got denied entrance to the marines in 1999/2000(senior year) because i failed my hearing test at MEPS. but that was nearly 10 years ago and in arkansas at that. so i dunno, maybe things are different now or different here in ohio.

godzillaburritomeat · January 22, 2009, 11:57:24 PM

Quote from: spc on January 22, 2009, 11:41:01 PM
Med standards are constantly changing and the guard is very flexible. It's worth going down to see a recruiter and maybe spending a morning at MEPS getting their opinion.

+1. It never hurts to try. Never know, they may let you enlist. Think I might go back to active, the bene's are really nice to have. And that bonus is always nice to have lol. I could probably buy a new gs with that instead of an old one lol

spc · January 23, 2009, 12:08:52 AM

shaZam! with the kinda Bonus they'll throw at you for the right MOS, you could buy a new Ducati.

Jserio: don't expect to hear anything for a few days, when you email through the site it goes to NGB, then to the State, then to the MSgt over whatever recruiting sector you fall into geographically, then to your local recruiter who has to fit you in between fully loaded assaults on all the area high and tech schools.

I know a lot of the Ortho and PMC standards have loosened up, but I don't think hearin has since I was in. At the very least you will be DQ'd from any combat arms job and a handful of others.

Give your local recruiter a call and set up a time to sit down and talk.

yamahonkawazuki · January 23, 2009, 12:21:19 AM

Lemme ask this, what is involved in the meps hearing test or entry test ( whomever it falls under)
and jserio. my pre-emptive salutes. and bowdowns and whatnot, even if you dont make it in, youre tryin, that gets my respect mroe than anyhting

godzillaburritomeat · January 23, 2009, 12:32:07 AM

Yeah i was infantry before (11C ftw!), think if i enlist again i'll go combat medic or something. Something i can use when i retire, yanno? That and i'm not QUITE ready to sit behind a desk all day. Plenty of time for that when i'm a CSM

. jserio, if you want to enlist don't do it for the money, there really isn't that much to be made in the military. The bene's and early retirement are effing sweet though. I hope they waiver you though man. I think anyone who's willing should be allowed to have SOME role to serve their country.

spc · January 23, 2009, 12:39:38 AM

Yanno 11C doesn't actually exist anymore C and M were merged now it's all 11B
Besides, what kind of oxymoron bullshit is 'indirect fire infantryman'?

Sorry, fuckin with grunts comes naturally to S2 guys. They gave us a course on it

yamahonkawazuki · January 23, 2009, 01:01:52 AM

Quote from: godzillaburritomeat on January 23, 2009, 12:32:07 AM
Yeah i was infantry before (11C ftw!), think if i enlist again i'll go combat medic or something. Something i can use when i retire, yanno? That and i'm not QUITE ready to sit behind a desk all day. Plenty of time for that when i'm a CSM . jserio, if you want to enlist don't do it for the money, there really isn't that much to be made in the military. The bene's and early retirement are effing sweet though. I hope they waiver you though man. I think anyone who's willing should be allowed to have SOME role to serve their country.

aye, even teh 4f's those who want to but fail med in one way shape or form. sure not combat qualled, but can do other htings, to free up those who can fight if need be

godzillaburritomeat · January 23, 2009, 01:27:45 AM

this coming from the "military intelligence" guy? You guys run around sounding off with "airborne s2" or somesuch?

. Bleh @ no more 11C. they're all bang-bang's now eh? Weak.

spc · January 23, 2009, 01:39:36 AM

S2 sound off? f%$k no! that would require we not be hungover as all hell

Nothing gets the brass quite as riled up as the entire S2 enlisted staff coming in still drunk from the night before.

C and M got killed a long time ago. It's all B now with the enlistment option still being termed 11X even though there's only one 11 series MOS now

Jserio, f%$k knows what the MOS is now and it'll change in another 6 months when they reorganize everything, but if you have any formal machining training you might be able to MOSQ without attending an AIT.

godzillaburritomeat · January 23, 2009, 01:47:53 AM

damnit terry, you're ruining my perfect civvie existance. I now miss the drunken debauchery that was an infantry platoon! I haven't been to a kick ass party since i ETS'd. argh!

GI_JO_NATHAN · January 23, 2009, 01:36:29 PM

You'll probably be disqualified for your hearing if you have to wear hearing aids, but I've seen people get in that didn't think they would. So if it's worth it too you take a chance and see. All they can do is tell you no. The bonuses are great, of course you should never join just for a bonus, but if it's something you want to do anyway it only makes it better. Just keep in mind they can take forever to get, and they split it up so the most you'll ever see at one time from a reserve component is 10k, a little over 7K after taxes. Depending on what type of job you want to do I would recommend the Army Reserves for ease of going into the Regular Army if you ever choose to later on down the road. Although I am pretty biased being a Reserve Recruiter and all.

11C is still around to the best of my knowledge, they may have combined them for the Guard to make things easier but not the RA.
One thing to keep in mind when going back in as Prior Service, is that you can't just pic any MOS you want, if you don't want to go back in your previous MOS you generally have to choose between 11b, 88m or one of a select few other jobs the Army really needs to fill at that time.

godzillaburritomeat · January 23, 2009, 02:37:03 PM

even if i got an 80 on the asvab? i don't really want to go back in as a charlie, but if i have to i'd definately take that over a truck driver -shudders-. that's almost as bad a being a cook. I'd really rather do combat medic or engineer. i hear the engineers do some pretty awesome shaZam!. and hey, medic would be awesome too. not only do you get to help your buddies, and medics usually get pretty close to the platoons their placed with, but it's good to have after you get out. If i had a choice i'd probably go medic. Other than that, back to being a charlie

. From what i understand though, prior service usually gets screwed on the bonus when they try and enlist again. Usually cause the recruiter thinks "oh they got out, now they're desperate and want back in. Easy score". I'll be damned if that's gonna happen to me though. I got buttsecksed on the bonus the first time i enlisted. i got like 3k. everyone else in my platoon got upwards of 10k. highest got around 17k. i was piiiiissed.

spc · January 23, 2009, 02:55:04 PM

Hmmm, maybe the C&M is a guard thing.

If you really want a new MOS join a different branch. No other branch recognizes 11 series training. The last time I spoke with an Army Rec he said I could pick any job, but my best bonus would probably be staying 96B.

jserio · January 23, 2009, 03:13:39 PM

got an email from a recruiter. said he couldn't technically disqualify me through an email. then said that if i could pass the hearing test i'd be able to join. i'm like wtf? I just told you i couldn't, at least not the last time i took a civilian hearing test for work.

it bugs me though because that's the only thing physically or mentally wrong with me. no other employer i know of can say they won't hire you strictly because of your hearing disability. you'd think they'd have something i could do to serve my country. geez.

frankieG · January 23, 2009, 03:26:24 PM

if they still do the same hearing test in the booth u can just fake it to make it

spc · January 23, 2009, 03:34:22 PM

True enough, I just randomly hit the button and they never said anything.

jserio · January 23, 2009, 03:44:21 PM

yeah. last time i went, it was a booth. like ten of us in the booth. my earphones however had static. they didn't believe me. sent me to get my ears cleaned out. came back and had me sit in the same spot, same earphones, same static. my hearing was alot better 10 years ago. i know i shoulda passed. the doc that said i was disqualified was sitting almost ten feet from me and had a low voice and i still heard him. my recruiter at that time tried for a waiver but it was denied. but like i said, that was about ten years ago.

jserio · January 23, 2009, 03:48:58 PM

here is the response i just got back.

oh well. guess it's not for everyone eh?

Dear Justin,

Unfortunately there are no available options if you do not meet the
standards for enlistment. We cannot however disqualify you for service
through email as you would need to actually take the hearing test and fail
it to be disqualified.

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question for those in the military or previously served