Saturday, June 25, 2005
Lately I've been trying to sketch out a plan for my life in my head. The rough stuff has been there for a while. I'll finish getting my bachelors degree while I'm in the military so that when I get out I can go straight out and get a job. I have my G.I. Bill education money so I can go for a masters degree if I want, or I could save that money for use by my family in the future (it can be used by yourself, your spouse, or your children). The military might make me stay in for another 4 years since it's war-time and they have the right to keep me for a maximum of 8 years (4 of which is covered by my initial contract), so I might join National Guard or Reserves for the remaining 4, or just stay active duty and do it as a recruiter (as you don't deploy and you have some say in where you live).
However, my future doesn't just start 3 to 7 years from now. I don't want to just sit around and twiddle my thumbs until I'm done with the military.
My short-term goal is to look as squared-away as possible so I can get a waiver from PFC to Specialist. I stand a pretty good chance. I'm confident that I'll be promoted in 6 or 7 months. After that I should have enough promotion points to get promoted to Sergeant. I just have to wait for the 4-months time in grade (the amount of time you've been of your current rank) requirement necessary with a waiver (It's easier to get that waiver though. There's no limitednumber of SPC-to-SGT waivers that your Commander can give.) So the jist is that by next summer I'm going to try to become a noncommissioned officer. I'll be payed more, I'll be able to do more things, I'll have more options, and I'll have more to offer.
I could sign up for recruiter duty during my initial contract, which is something I think I would like to do. It gives you some choices on where you'd like to live and work and they give you a housing allowance as well as a sustinance allowance. So it lets you live like a normal person to some degree. You also get extra pay for recruiter duty (cause it's like, hard). However, the choices are somewhat limited and I'm sure it's more complicated than it seems. I wouldn't be able to do it for another year anyway, so I'll probably wait until I make SGT either way. It could be my ticket to planning things out a little.
Still though, the Army isn't partial to giving you any kind of control over your life. :-p I think they have a secret policy that you will work where it is least convenient for you and you are required to marry another service member or some bimbo from some tiny town near an Army post who will marry you after knowing you for only 2 weeks just so she can share your Army benefits. You must also make no plans for your life whatsoever, but instead collect useless souvenires and pick up ugly Army lingo and habits that will brand you as ex-military for the rest of your life. :-p
Oh well, at least I'm in shape!
However, my future doesn't just start 3 to 7 years from now. I don't want to just sit around and twiddle my thumbs until I'm done with the military.
My short-term goal is to look as squared-away as possible so I can get a waiver from PFC to Specialist. I stand a pretty good chance. I'm confident that I'll be promoted in 6 or 7 months. After that I should have enough promotion points to get promoted to Sergeant. I just have to wait for the 4-months time in grade (the amount of time you've been of your current rank) requirement necessary with a waiver (It's easier to get that waiver though. There's no limitednumber of SPC-to-SGT waivers that your Commander can give.) So the jist is that by next summer I'm going to try to become a noncommissioned officer. I'll be payed more, I'll be able to do more things, I'll have more options, and I'll have more to offer.
I could sign up for recruiter duty during my initial contract, which is something I think I would like to do. It gives you some choices on where you'd like to live and work and they give you a housing allowance as well as a sustinance allowance. So it lets you live like a normal person to some degree. You also get extra pay for recruiter duty (cause it's like, hard). However, the choices are somewhat limited and I'm sure it's more complicated than it seems. I wouldn't be able to do it for another year anyway, so I'll probably wait until I make SGT either way. It could be my ticket to planning things out a little.
Still though, the Army isn't partial to giving you any kind of control over your life. :-p I think they have a secret policy that you will work where it is least convenient for you and you are required to marry another service member or some bimbo from some tiny town near an Army post who will marry you after knowing you for only 2 weeks just so she can share your Army benefits. You must also make no plans for your life whatsoever, but instead collect useless souvenires and pick up ugly Army lingo and habits that will brand you as ex-military for the rest of your life. :-p
Oh well, at least I'm in shape!
