Served your country?

bl00k · Post by **bl00k** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:18 am

I noticed that quite a few of you are or have been at one time serving your country. Thought i'd make a poll about it.

And by serving i mean being directly employed by the armed forces of the country you're living in or have lived in and can be referred to as a soldier, officier, veteran etc.

I havent. I have applied a year ago, but got turned down. I'll try again in a few years after graduating from college.

norge · Post by **norge** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:34 am

i have 2,5 year in norway and 6 months in un service lebanon
and attend exersices every year as a liason or arctic trainer
for norwegian forces or other nations.
so i have been in service since i was 17 years.

and still going on
cheers from norge

BigMark · Post by **BigMark** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:20 pm

Nope, I'm too much of a free-thinker for all that... and they turned me down thank God. I'm glad I went to college instead even if I didn't get my degree, I would have been terrible in the armed forces. Scored a 97 on the general on the ASVAB though, I could have done any MOS I wanted.

dirtbag · Post by **dirtbag** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 4:47 am

Yes, 10 + years in the U.S Navy...
Then 29 years working on an U.S. Air Force installation....
Damn. I'm getting old !

bishopmarine · Post by **bishopmarine** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:40 am

spent 7years 7months and 11days in the marine corps. i recieved a medical discharge in 2005 i have a steel plate in my left knee and four screws in it. i scored a 93 big mark good job. i had my choice of mos but due to me being a trouble maker when i was young i had to go in open contract which means they could make me do whatever job they wanted usually grunt or cook. but i ended up in avionics which is one the toughest academic mos's in the marine corps. i became an electrician working on f/a 18 hornets. i was assigned to 2nd marine aircraft wing for my entire career. was in vmfa-122 as my squadron. was deployed many times but was never in direct combat. i loved being in the marines. i believe it was what i was born to do.

Stef · Post by **Stef** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:02 pm

I was sure I had seen Bishopmarine before

:

BigMark · Post by **BigMark** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:42 pm

Bishop:

I hate to say this because I'm sure there are some people out there who scored it, but I was very surprised to find out that the average ASVAB score isn't much above 50, in the general at least. Or at least it was 10 years ago..

That being said, I doubt I could score as well now since most of what I knew about machines etc. was from being in auto shop.. 10 years ago too. I nailed the quick math section though.

bishopmarine · Post by **bishopmarine** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:57 pm

i took the asvab in the tenth grade and scored a 93 the army guy that came and administered could not believe it. we had one guy who i helped to enlist in the marines he could not pass the minimum score which at that time was 50. he took the test about 12 times never did break 50. during a very low point for recruiters they dropped the minimum to 45 and he got in. i felt sorry for him because he was really trying he just could not get it. he turned out to be a fine infantryman. he is in iraq as we speak. so i know what you are saying about the scores. i worked as a recruiters assistant for about 3 months close to knoxville tn. about 30 - 40% of possible candidates either could not pass the test or had to take it many, many times. that speaks volumes for our education system in america. i know my posts are flawed in punctuation and capitalization but it is done by choice as i am very impatient and dont want to have to proofread my posts. my son is two and a half years old and has a better vocabulary than some adults i know. but everyday i read to him and try and teach him stuff. my wife is a stay at home mom and she is great to teach him things. i think we rely 100% on our school systems for the education of our children. so we as parents are failing our children. if they are not getting an education in school then we have to step in and help.

BigMark · Post by **BigMark** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:28 pm

I think in the army the minimum score was like 35, but now that I wiki it, I see that it's terribly lower than that. Go figure. Here's a copy and paste of the wiki on the minimum scores. I'm really glad now I didn't join up, I'm sorry but a lot of people now in the armed forces don't belong there, much less flipping my burger at McD's. I guess you can't be that picky in a volunteer army, but seriously, 10-15% gets you in as long as the quota isn't filled?

Armed Forces Qualification Test

An Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) score is used to determine basic qualification for enlistment.

AFQT Scores are divided into the following categories:

* Category I - 93-99
* Category II- 65-92
* Category IIIA - 50-64
* Category IIIB - 31-49
* Category IVA - 21-30
* Category IVB - 16-20
* Category IVC - 10-15
* Category V - 0-9

The formula for computing this AFQT score is: AR + MK + (2 x VE). The VE (verbal) score is determined by adding the raw scores from the PC and WK tests (i.e., how many questions the aspiring recruit got right on each) and using a table to get the VE score from that combined PC and WK raw score.
Law prohibits applicants in Category V from enlisting. In addition, there are constraints placed on Category IV recruits. Presently, all Category IV recruits must be high school diploma graduates. Further, the law constrains the percentage of accessions who can fall in Category IV (currently, the limit is 20%).

bishopmarine · Post by **bishopmarine** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:31 pm

that is horrible. my experiences with the testing and assisting a recruiter we well over ten years ago. so i am sure a lot has changed. 10-15 and you can join that is awful. i can remember when i was on active duty we would sort of compare asvab scores and most people hovered around 70-75 these were all people that did the same job that i did.

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