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NilesQ
Joined: 27 Nov 2006
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 Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:17 am Post subject: Can you join the US Army in Seoul? |
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| Is there a recruiting center here where you can show up and sign up? |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:22 am Post subject: |
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| Yes. There is a recruiting office. If you are either a US citizen or an Immigrant Alien (aka "Green card holder") for the US, you can begin the enlistment process. If you are not in either of those two categories, you cannot enlist in the US Armed Forces. |
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NilesQ
Joined: 27 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:26 am Post subject: |
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| CentralCali wrote: |
| Yes. There is a recruiting office. If you are either a US citizen or an Immigrant Alien (aka "Green card holder") for the US, you can begin the enlistment process. If you are not in either of those two categories, you cannot enlist in the US Armed Forces. |
Would you know if they send you back to the states for basic, or do you have to pay your own way? |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:45 am Post subject: |
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| A friend of mine did it recently. They don't get that many recruits here, so it seems like they are very accomodating. Of course it's the army and they can still screw you out of things they promised anyway. My friend didn't have that much money so I assume they paid his way back to the US for basic. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:08 am Post subject: |
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| NilesQ wrote: |
| Would you know if they send you back to the states for basic, or do you have to pay your own way? |
If your current residence is in Korea (as in here on a valid visa other than a tourist visa), then the Armed Forces will provide you transportation to your basic training site. It's no different in the US. If the enlistee resides in Chicago, the military's not going to pay for him to travel from Key West to Great Lakes.
| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
| Of course it's the army and they can still screw you out of things they promised anyway. |
If the promise is in the contract, it's binding. If the military, for some reason, is unable to honor the offer, the enlistee is offered a choice of something in lieu or of an entry-level separation.
Recruiters who play fast and loose with the laws regarding how to conduct recruiting and enlisting find their careers over much sooner than they hoped.
One should also note that enlistment isn't an instant process. There is an application to submit, a battery of tests to pass, a background check, and a few other things. The prospective enlistee is looking at a few months, minimum, for this to happen. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:11 am Post subject: |
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| CentralCali wrote: |
| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
| Of course it's the army and they can still screw you out of things they promised anyway. |
Wrong. If the promise is in the contract, it's binding. If the military, for some reason, is unable to honor the offer, the enlistee is offered a choice of something in lieu or of an entry-level separation.
Recruiters who play fast and loose with the laws regarding how to conduct recruiting and enlisting find their careers over much sooner than they hoped. |
I mean that they could promise you won't be sent to Iraq, and then send you later. They can certainly promise something and not put it in the contract. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:19 am Post subject: |
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| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
| I mean that they could promise you won't be sent to Iraq, and then send you later. They can certainly promise something and not put it in the contract. |
They can't promise not to send you to a combat zone. The enlistment application and the enlistment contract itself both specify that the enlistee is subject to assignment in a combat zone.
Also part of both the application and the contract is the statement that the only promises made to the enlistee are those written in the contract. The enlistee must indicate by that statement that they have read and do understand that.
This is not a theoretical discussion for me. I worked in the administrative field in the military for a long time. During the course of my career, I met exactly one other individual besides me who had a legitimate breach of contract. Both of us liked the proffered solution the Navy had for us and we continued our careers. In our case, it was a simple funding issue and we had to wait a couple of months for our Class "A" training course to start. We actually got a better deal out of it than what we initially signed up for. Every single other person I met in the military who said they had a breach of contract in reality did not.
It's quite easy for someone to accuse a recruiter of lying when the recruiter is not present to defend himself. The funny thing about it, though, is the accuser's own signatures and initials on the application and contract show the real story.
This post brought to you by a PN1 (Retired), US Navy |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:34 am Post subject: |
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| Alright, I stand corrected. I guess recruiters always are up front about every detail when you're joining the military, and you can take them for their word on everything they say. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:42 am Post subject: |
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| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
| Alright, I stand corrected. I guess recruiters always are up front about every detail when you're joining the military, and you can take them for their word on everything they say. |
Your sarcasm is unwarranted. "Their word," as representatives of their component is the written contract. And the recruiters I know personally did not lie. There are, of course, those who did lie and cheat. Do you ever read the news? There stories are there, with nifty headlines: Recruiter Sentenced to X Years or Recruiter Awarded Dishonorable Discharge. |
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Easter Clark
Joined: 18 Nov 2007
Location: Hiding from Yie Eun-woong
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:59 am Post subject: |
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| When my brother went into the Air Force, he said there was so much paper work to sign that it would've been impossible to read it all. He said he knew at that moment that he was signing his life over to Uncle Sam, which is really what you're doing when you join up. |
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kimchi_pizza
Joined: 24 Jul 2006
Location: "Get back on the bus! Here it comes!"
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 2:46 am Post subject: |
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If you are serious there are a number of benefits and options you can chose. Make sure you do your research. Such as (and this may've changed since I enlisted 20 years ago (man, THAT long ago?!), do you have any outstanding tuition bills. They should pay that off. You have a B.A. I assume? You may be able to go in as an E-4 Specialist (higher pay grade and rank).
Depending on your MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) you can ask to be sent to a specialized schools after Basic Training before being sent to your regular duty station for example if you go M.P. then you can ask for Accident Investigator school, M.P. Investigators school, K-9, jump school, Air Assault, Ranger, S.F. etc., etc. You might even be able to go directly to...ah, what's it called?....anyways, use that degree to earn the rank of Corporal and after a year or two, Sergeant. Make that degree work to your benefit and give it serious thought. Good luck. |
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reactionary
Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Location: korreia
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 3:30 am Post subject: |
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| i thought if you had a BA you became an officer?! i once thought of joining the navy post college...guess considering how ignorant i am it's a good thing i didn't |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:07 am Post subject: |
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| reactionary wrote: |
| i thought if you had a BA you became an officer?! |
That's one of the qualifications for entering some of the commissioning programs. There are some commissioning programs that do not require a degree (LDO, some CWO programs).
What confuses a lot of people is that those who graduated from ROTC programs and the Federal Service Academies are commissioned upon graduation. |
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NilesQ
Joined: 27 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:53 am Post subject: |
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| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
| CentralCali wrote: |
| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
| Of course it's the army and they can still screw you out of things they promised anyway. |
Wrong. If the promise is in the contract, it's binding. If the military, for some reason, is unable to honor the offer, the enlistee is offered a choice of something in lieu or of an entry-level separation.
Recruiters who play fast and loose with the laws regarding how to conduct recruiting and enlisting find their careers over much sooner than they hoped. |
I mean that they could promise you won't be sent to Iraq, and then send you later. They can certainly promise something and not put it in the contract. |
If there is a contract, no matter what is said at anytime, I would only expect what I am contractually guaranteed. People paint a pretty picture, embelish, promise things they aren't sure they can deliver, and sometimes flat out lie when making deals. That is why contracts exist. Anyone who teaches in Korea should know this. We are open on Saturdays but you probably wont have to work on Saturdays = you will be working on Saturdays as your contract states you may have to. |
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cbclark4
Joined: 20 Aug 2006
Location: Masan
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:24 am Post subject: |
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| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
| Alright, I stand corrected. I guess recruiters always are up front about every detail when you're joining the military, and you can take them for their word on everything they say. |
The law is the law, whether it is civil law common law or military law.
What is on the paper is what is promised.
If it ain't on paper it ain't worth the paper it's not written on.
It's not my fault if you paid a dime for my two cents worth. |
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