Have you ever wondered what it's like to be in the US ARMY?

Hey, Gents and ladies.
I just wanted to share the information I have from being in. I know there are a few other service-members in the sythe community, but I haven't seen a thread like this. I'm aiming for this to be an AMA-type thread, but with the purpose of getting YOU information that YOU want. I honestly feel like if you don't have a plan in life, the Army is a great way to start.

I'll start by some random facts that aren't too personal about myself.

I've been in 5 years all Active duty since the date of the thread was posted.
Sergeant rank.
Married.

 

Do military guys really propose to girls super fast or is that just a joke?

 

This is DEFINITELY a thing and there's a "good" reason behind it. I'll start by saying some needed facts\background info.
The military provides you with a place to live, regardless if you're married or single. They also provide you with a place to eat, called the DFAC (dining facility). Which has typical hours of 7-9a, 11:30-1p, 5-7p. If you missed it, you're probably ordering doordash.
If you're single, you will be put in the barracks, which is usually a 14x14 foot room shaped like a motel, usually share a bathroom\kitchen (ours dont even have stoves, and only has mini-fridges). You're not allowed to have women stay the night, technically. People do it regardless. So since single 18 year olds are put in the barracks.

What does that mean for married people?
They provide you with an allowance to afford your spouse a place to live.
Being married in the Army immediately changes your pay.

I'll be generous, and use the rank of PV2 in my example. Which is the Second rank on the enlisted side of things, that you get 6 months automatically after being in the army. Along with providing a brief description of the automatic ranks in the military below.
One little side note, Most people come into the enlisted side as a PVT. However, if you do JRTC you can sometimes join as a PV2\PFC. Also if you bring a friend in with you they normally give you PV2 when you come in as well. Any of these early promotions do not alter when you'll get your SPC. For example, Came in as a PFC because of JRTC during highschool, your automatic promotion to SPC will still be 2 years. At earliest 18 months with a promotion waiver. If you're a good boy, that is.

Private (PVT)- Entrance
PV2 (Private Second Class) - 6 months automatic
PFC (Private First Class) - 1 year automatic
SPC (Specialist) - 2 year automatic

So, a brand new PV2 who just completed basic training and his AIT (job school) and probably has 6 months in the army makes
$1,884.00 a month. So after taxes probably 750$ twice a month.

The thing with being married in the military is, if you're married you get BAH\BAS. Basic allowance for housing and Basic allowance for subsistence. These entitlements are non-taxable, and Bah does change by zipcode. (BAS is usually pretty = across the board)
Where I live, it is currently $1607 for BAH and 369$ BAS

So that brand new PV2 who married Mrs. Pepper at your local Strip club is now making

1884.00 (Base pay)
1607.00 (Bah)
369.00 (Bas) BAS is the "food allowance" since when you're married you're no longer allowed to eat at the DFAC/chow hall.
= 3860$ a month.
~1780 twice a month.

As you can see, this is a huge increase.
It doesn't matter if the girl\guy you married has a place already, it doesn't matter what the rent is.
Married Soldiers get a flat-rate BAH dependant on the ZipCode of their duty station to afford housing.
Even if they aren't spending any of it on housing.

This gets even crazier in certain places, like Alaska, Germany, Korea. Some places have COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) And you received an extra 495$ for yourself, your wife, and any child over 13. So for the example given above, an extra 990$ a month.
(Single soldiers receive COLA too, but only for themselves)
Some people even try and play the system and do a "contract marriage" which pretty much just means you're obviously not in love with that person, but you are on paper. And you agree to share the extra money you'll be making.

But yeah, that's why young adults in the military will propose fast to their "Significant others".

Keep in mind that once you reach the rank of Staff Sergeant (Ehh, roughly 5-8 years in if you dont fuck up) you get a single rated BAH, (married is 1607, single is 1300ish here) that allows you to move out of the barracks because you're a higher rank.
Those places that have COLA only give you the single BAH to you at Sergeant First Class and above, which is 8-15 years in.


Sorry, there was a lot of explaining. Hope I answered your question.

 

Honestly great answer. I thought it was a meme and just that army guys were desperate to get married in case they got killed or something

 

I forgot to mention that LITERALLY one of my privates i'm in charge of just married a guy from another workplace to get BAH and get out of the barracks.

 

What is the day of a military soldier essentially?

 

So, this definitely depends on your job. But, I'll give two examples.
Before the examples, please note that there is a Garrison life, Field Training, and Deployment.

For example, my MOS (Military occupational specialty) aka job is 13J. Fire Control Sergeant.
My job is to calculate the data needed to shoot artillery systems such as the M777. You can see the M777 and it's impact in this video.

The people here are 13B's, which simply operate that system.
Like I said, my job is to do the math and send them that data to accurately get those rounds on a target.
Because this is a combat job, Most other combat jobs will follow this same type of schedule.
I've give my exact schedule on a day-2-day basis.

Garrison Life (Meaning not in the field, or deployed, when you're home at your base)

First hit time is PT for me, usually always.
Even thoo it's a 6:30am report time, I show up at 5:45am to check my soldier's rooms.
And they're expected to be where we're doing PT by 6:10am ish. Usually everything is 15 minutes early, and then you just wait. "Hurry up and Wait" Motto of the military.

6:30am-7:30\8:00am Physical Training (PT). Either with your section, which is 6-8 guys, or your platoon. (4 sections)
Hygeine\Food - Released After PT, usual report time 9:30am at the workplace.
9:30-11:30 "Work". Mondays is always vehicle maintence. Inspecting our army equipment etc.
11:30-1p lunch.
(this is where it gets tricky)
1:00p-3/4/5p. Release time usually is dependant on tasks that have been finished or not. These tasks can vary, literally anything.

Field Life: Because of the nature of my job, I can't just go in an office and shoot artillery, right?
So to keep us trained and proficient, we have Field training. Several times a year.
I'd say on average, fields will be 1 week or 2 weeks long, every 2 months.
Fields are what most people think the "army" is as a whole. And yes, they do suck.
Not only is it for training, they also certify you to be able to do your job (For my job) during them.
Fields are usually 5:00am everyday, and maybe MAYBE if you're lucky you went to bed at 12am that night.
4 hours of sleep a night, at best. For a week. MAYBE TWO.

with rotating shifts through the night pulling security in the snow, sitting\laying behind a light machine gun for a hour while your friends sleep and you hope that your battle buddy is going to wake up and replace you. Along with this, the days are stressful, it's not simple. The constant moving of artillery pieces for "survivability training" making you exhausted all throughout the day.

(Note: There are some training centers in the US, called NTC\JRTC. They are rotational and you usually go once a year to one of them, MAYBE both of them. These are 25-30 days long, and pretty much just a giant field. They allow BIG ARMY grade\judge your workplace on well they do their job) These fucking suck.

Deployment life: Well, I've never been deployed overseas to Iraq\Kuwait\Afghanistan etc. I've heard from my peers its very similar to the field. For 9 months. Because your life is actually on the line. You're no longer pulling security starring at a random treeline in the united states, you're actually watching for enemy. It's very easy to get in trouble here, as long as you do something bad.


For the start of the new year, I actually wanted to log all the hours the army requires me to work. I think I get paid a decent amount (53k\yearly) for the amount of work I do. But sometimes it doesn't feel like its worth it. Because we also get 30 paid vacation days a year. I have like the next 17 days off, lol.


To keep it short-ish, Second example is if you're like a paper pusher\anything medical\or pretty much anything non-combat related. You very rarely go to the field, maybe a week out of the year. Most medical people don't even do PT. (still required to pass a PT test)
This all translates into a normal 8\9:30-5\6pm job.

 

Damn! that many hours of sleep compared to hours of work.

 

How do you feel about the US army invading foreign countries and killing innocent people who are defending their homelands?

 

Ehh. Hardly happens.

Geneva Conventions prevent this.

 

Well it happened in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Vietnam, etc... In fact, the US hasn't fought a defensive war since 1812.

 

I have always wondered what kind of food do people in the military eat?

 

pretty sure its regular home food when they are on the barracks, when in the forest etc its dry food (ready to eat) where u just put water in it and boil it with portable stove, tastes disgusting.