Being a Lieutenant is the Best Job I've Ever Had

[MikeH]

He's not leaving the USMCR; as a reservist, he completes OCS, then some infantry basic course, then the officer basic course for his particular branch specialization (engineering officer I think). Then he goes home because he's actually just moonlighting. Every month he goes to weekend drill and once a year he does a two week exercise.

I thought he was actually becoming a full time Marine.

[ZEE]

Poor Alby

[SlowwHand]

I know Reserve guys that are gone a lot more than that, and Alby may get fooled.

[Al B. Sure!]

That being the best job you've had is a bit of an indictment of your previous jobs.

It is an indictment on previous jobs.

He's not leaving the USMCR; as a reservist, he completes OCS, then some infantry basic course, then the officer basic course for his particular branch specialization (engineering officer I think). Then he goes home because he's actually just moonlighting. Every month he goes to weekend drill and once a year he does a two week exercise.

I'm a logistics officer which fortunately probably does look good along with my finance degree for any operations job. Doesn't help me directly with finance, though.

So he's going from "I'm in an unfulfilling job BUT ONE DAY I'LL BE A MARINE OFFICER!" to ""I'm in an unfulfilling job BUT FOR A BRIEF PERIOD I WAS A MARINE OFFICER!!"?

Unfortunately yes. But I am still a Marine officer. I'll drill one weekend a month and have two weeks of training a year. Realistically, since I'll be the executive officer of a Headquarters & Services company (a billet normally beyond my paygrade but there's a shortage of officers in the reserves) in a combat logistics battalion, I'll have plenty to do on my own time beyond drill weekends.

However, Oerdin's regular job pays more than his army salary.

Oerdin was enlisted.

Alby worked a job for 6 months, carried out mechanical tasks that were assigned to him, yet somehow was not promoted? How can this be? He will definitely be better off having joined the army.

That's the only job I could get with my degree! It was the only place that would give me an interview.

My degree and GPA weren't enough to separate me from the pack so I got the training and experience to do so.

With my Wall Street contacts through the Marine Corps and words like Marine Corps Logistics Officer and Executive Officer on my future resume, I should be able to differentiate from all the other state school applicants like myself before the Marine Corps.

I thought he was actually becoming a full time Marine.

Marines are Marines.

[Elok]

...I'm not seeing the charm, here. There have got to be jobs with similar or better pay you could get into with less effort without the risk of getting your ass shot at and/or developing PTSD. Well, you're in logistics, so there's probably not much chance of those, but still. Read "Thank You For Your Service" by David Finkel (I just did), then tell us what a sweet deal the military is.

[Elok]

Also not sure how you reconcile your contempt for welfare abusers with your "look, Uncle Sam is paying me an unreasonable amount of money, soon I'll ditch them and get an awesome career" attitude.

[Ben Kenobi]

First apolyton complains about Albie wanting a Marine, now they are complaining about him being a reservist?

[The Mad Monk]

Albie, you're living your dream. Good on you.

[Hauldren Collider]

...I'm not seeing the charm, here. There have got to be jobs with similar or better pay you could get into with less effort without the risk of getting your ass shot at and/or developing PTSD. Well, you're in logistics, so there's probably not much chance of those, but still. Read "Thank You For Your Service" by David Finkel (I just did), then tell us what a sweet deal the military is.

I think you're vastly overestimating the people who get hurt physically or psychologically in the US military, particularly among rear echelon folks.

[Elok]

Among RE types, of course. But that book I mentioned said something like 500K of our troops came back from Iraq and Afghanistan with some level of injury. I think it worked out to something like one in five. Of course, some of that includes relatively mild injuries, less-drastic cases of PTSD, etc.

[rah]

I wonder what percentage of first-responders suffer from similar psychological injuries.

[MRT144]

Oerdin was enlisted but he made MORE money? What is the point of being an officer again?

[Elok]

I wonder what percentage of first-responders suffer from similar psychological injuries.

I imagine it varies widely by precinct and duty. Firefighters in Salt Lake City likely don't get it anywhere near as much as cops in Baltimore. I understand it takes some seriously horrific **** to trigger the bad cases. Like seeing your friend's body fall apart as the medic pulls him out of a bombed vehicle.

[regexcellent]

I wonder what percentage of first-responders suffer from similar psychological injuries.

Not that many. Seen one dead body seen em all.

Among RE types, of course. But that book I mentioned said something like 500K of our troops came back from Iraq and Afghanistan with some level of injury. I think it worked out to something like one in five. Of course, some of that includes relatively mild injuries, less-drastic cases of PTSD, etc.

It includes stuff like hearing loss which is nearly universal and not terribly crippling.

[Elok]

It said the most common was a specific kind of brain injury caused by getting your head rattled by a bomb blast. Something more specific than just a concussion, typically comorbid with PTSD.

EDIT: Whoops, I misremembered. It actually said that, of the two million who went to Iraq and Afghanistan, 20-30% are believed to suffer from PTSD or TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury--a catchall for "concussion that screws you up psychologically"). So, that one in five is just the psychological cockups. Many of which coincide with physical injury.