Joining Army, MEPS Next Week

[quote]Cgunz wrote:

For example, I was told by multiple people just graduating from my base we would have our own kitchens in AIT, but that no one had any cooking utensils. So I showed up at AIT with pots and pans and shit. We did not have kitchens. [/quote]

LOL! Good job!

[quote]
Here’s my only advice:
…always volunteer to serve food if you can–I always did that and would sneak tons of sausage while the DIs weren’t looking.[/quote]

Sausage, eh? I bet you were big hit with all the boys!

OP, I’m not sure I would follow this advice.

[quote]
Oh, and fuck all the advice about the DI not learning your name. I always volunteered and was in charge of the group all through basic and AIT. [/quote]

OP, the only time you should volunteer is for leadership positions.

Don’t volunteer to clean shitters or the like.

[quote]inkaddict wrote:
I went to ‘A’ school at Pensacola 10 years ago. I can’t recall what the gym was like there, as we did our PT outside, and I think I made it to the gym a few times, mostly for cardio back then, before I was bit by the Iron bug. It’s probably still a lame base, with lazy Navy folks’ pretending they can drill around the base. You’ll hear the thundering sounds of the Marines marching to class in the morning, and the roar of the little trainer jets flying in and out. It’s pretty laid back, and the beaches there are great.

What’s that MOS by the way? I’m not familiar with Army MOS’[/quote]

Haha having been stationed in P-cola recently, I can say it is NOT a laid back base anymore, bunch of stuck up higher-ups for the most part, 90% of them more intent on powertripping than being good leaders. Pensacola itself would be ok as far as military towns go, if us Marines were allowed to own POVs there. Taxis suck. Yes the beaches are nice, except for the jellyfish haha.

OP, best advice I can give is, be prepared for anything, because almost nothing is what you imagined it would be like. And just live life one day at a time, thinking too far ahead can be a tad overwhelming, and it’s pointless; I mean the stuff you have no control over…obviously plan ahead financially and such.

You are going to be going to MOS school at Corry Station, which is a small little base outside of the main Naval Air Station at pensacola. Corry Station isn’t too bad, it isn’t near the water though. I went through the Marine Corps version of your school back in 1992 at Corry Station, so I have no idea how the barracks are. It is a Navy base. I remember the chow being pretty good. It had a pretty large weight room, but all we (the Marines) did is mostly run every day so I didn’t use the gym very much. All five services go to school there, along with some international students. Each service had it’s own building around a quad. The Air Force chicks back then were pretty easy, every Marine I knew scored with one.

You are going to be a SIGINT collections operator. Everything you will do is classified. Your main job is to collect enemy electronic signals, process them, and analyze them for signal strength, transmitter location, frequency, ect. and provide that information to the all-source analysts who will combine your products with other intel collections products and figure out what the enemy is up to.
SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) is one of the largest sources of intelligence on the battlefield.

The biggest challenge for young folks is staying out of trouble and maintaining your security clearance. You are going to be working at a Top Secret level. You can have your clearance yanked and kicked out of your MOS for simple things like underage drinking and going into too much debt. You are supposed to be a little bit smarter than the average soldier, so you will expected to act like it.
I have worked with several Army SIGINT units in my career, and they are all pretty good. It is a good MOS, there are a lot of opportunities for you on the back side of your enlistment.
Good luck.

Thanks for the info BH6. Really appreciate it. Too bad the base isn’t close to the water, ha ha.

as a bunch of the posts above stated…

-one day at a time

-dont worry about lifting

-spend time actually studying, you are going to have classes and dont underestimate them.

-eat what you can and as much as you can… the food in the chow hall is not bad at all

-try and stay under the radar, at least for the first half or so

-BH6 was spot on with regards to the security clearance and getting into trouble

  • good luck it will be over before you know it