Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Zulethe]

Reading all of the posts about the economy and the people struggling makes me thank God everyday that I joined the U.S. Army.

Here's what I got:

1,000 a month for life after only serving 8 years (medical discharge)

Free health insurance for life.

Easy to get a government job when you get out (I had one and could easily get another one)

GI bill which is insanely good nowadays go to va.gov benefits and check it out.

Go to school for free while on active duty.

Student loan repayment program.

Guaranteed home loan.

Not only does the government have a preference for hiring vets over non-vets but so do many major corporations and businesses.

It's a three year commitment but three years that will pay you forever.

Don't get me wrong, I hated the Army but it was the smartest thing I've ever done.

It's so nice to go to work everyday knowing that I can tell the boss to shove it with no worries at all. I'm set for life.

[reactionary]

Yeah I've considered joining the Navy and going to officer school or something....not sure if I could hack it mentally, or even physically (basic training with the 18 year olds? I was in bad shape back then and it hasn't gotten any better).

I'll just keep taking and failing that FSOT every year. I wonder what i'd actually do if I passed it. Quit my job to go to the in person group interview, which if I pass MIGHT land me a job?

[loyfriend]

So we have an army recruiter here....

1st you assume you won't die or get some major PTSD disorder. But lets look at other benefits you stated.

1,000 a month for life after only serving 8 years. After 8 years, well SSI would pay about 800, and any 401k A or B would be 1k after 8 years.

Medical: The army has some of the worst medical their is. Every noww and then somene gets lucky and gets a good medical procedure, but only a few get that.

PTSD: You won't land any job with this that will be long lasting. And you will also pick up behavior modifications that may make it hard for you to fiit in.

You will be protecting Private business not the USA. Hence Shell, exon, Microsoft and so on.

GI Bill is nice you or your family can use, but most good companies have a program to let you go to school or repay loans.

Then again why repay oans when theres many programs to make them go away. You can donate money and that woudl count towards loans, you can volunteer time and that count towards student loans and many more options. If you got a medical discharge liek you said. Student loans are wiped away due to disability "Sally may law"

Any person on SSDI gets student loans wiped away.

Have loans due to teaching degree, well you can teach in Korea and still get those deductions that you get in the USA if you taught for a school district.

Getting a goverment job could be nice, I won't argue to much on this.
Of course the job could be postman and then you go postal.

Getting a home loan nice. But again useless. I know plenty of army peoepl who would get these loans but couldn't get the high amount loans they wanted.

Advice: Call your local city up. Most cities will offer cash for 1st time home buyers 10-100k. Some won't ever even ask you to repay it if you own it for enough time.

And goverment jobs: Well Obama is passing 3 year hiring freeze. Good luck getting any new job.

[cj1976]

The reasons stated by the OP are definitely worth considering, but ultimately the possible negatives outweigh the positives. The biggest negative would be dying in a pool of your own blood and piss, face down in a strange land thousands of miles from home.

[Zulethe]

[reactionary]

[Zulethe]

[Dev]

3 words - Posttraumatic stress disorder

[Zulethe]

[cj1976]

If I could be 100% guaranteed beyond doubt that I would never be anywhere near the action, then I would say 'go for it', because it sounds too good to be true.
There has to be a catch somewhere. If you look in the small print, there must be a clause about being eligible for combat if called upon.

[reactionary]

[cj1976]

Even the tiniest probability of being killed on the job instantly nullifies any perks, no matter how attractive they may seem.

[Wishmaster]

You guys are going way overboard on the "getting killed" aspect of it. The truth is that a high, high percentage of those that joined never get killed or attacked in anyway. Small percentage die? Well, then you better not cross the street, swim in tropical waters or take an airplane if you think like that.

OP, how the heck did you manage to pull off $1,000 for only 8 years? Was it related to your medical discharge? Must have been one hell of an accident to get that for life. A guy I worked with at my previous school was retired military and he got about $1,000 for 20 years in.

You are out of the military and you get health insurance for life? Wow. You don't have to pay anything per month for it? It is 100% free?

Damn, I keep reading all these military people that whine about not being paid well and having to live on food stamps, but it sounds to me like they've got it pretty good. Even the lower grade ones probably make about the same as an ESL teacher. They get to live rent free. Free insurance, like this guy and they have an excellent retirment package. Geez, pretty pampered if you ask me for the "possibility" of combat.

[bassexpander]

I always heard that you can still get pulled back into the army even several years after you finished your service.

[catman]

.......and all the brown people you can rape.