I'm 18 and now that the option is avaliable, seriously considering

>>17767521
I did eight years and left at O-5 (yeah, I came in with an advanced degree). My take on the service is that it depends on your personality. I was in a position with a significant degree of autonomy (I could technically give an order to someone with stars on their shoulder in my little domain) and it was still a tough time for me (because I was stupid enough to give an order to someone withs tars on their shoulder). If you thrive with structure, don't mind doing what you're told without asking follow up questions, and are willing to do a very difficult job for poor pay but excellent relationships than its a good decision. It was the wrong decision for me, but I know a lot of folks who could honestly say its the best thing they ever did.

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>>17767539

...

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https://www.thebalance.com/military-commissioned-officer-promotions-4055887

>>17767548
I came in middle of 2003 with everything done for a clinical psych doctorate but the internship I'd applied for. O-5 was literally two promotions during eight years when they couldn't find the people they needed. You'll never hear me saying I earned LTC, but I sure as hell didn't turn it down.

Try it out. It's not like you can't leave. Could get some free schooling too.

>>17767586
Actually you're stuck under contract m8. I did some research on the subject so I'm not totally oblivious. I was hoping for personal insight into it rather than just reading up on 2nd hand accounts or from a recruiter.

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Sure OP, I was in the navy for 8 years as a quartermaster (navigation and driving the ship) and personally I loved it. It's not for everybody, but it certainly has its advantages. Its a pretty good way to grow as a person and set a nice foundation for the rest of your life with the benefits they provide.

If there's anything specific you wanted to know, like what its like to live on a ship or what jobs I would recommend then feel free to ask.

But if you want to get a good idea of the life of a sailor watch this documentary.
http://www.pbs.org/weta/carrier/full_episodes.htm

In 2005 PBS filmed it on the carrier USS Nimitz, its 10 hours long and I think its all on that website. It covers just about every different angle of the reality of life on deployment.

>>17767654
Thanks man. Unfortunately since you're being so nice I'm about to bury you in questions.

Do you just "get used to it" with living on a ship?

Is the daily life boring or always eventful in some way?

How do you even begin deciding what jobs you would be interested in?

Could you potentially change your job later?

What kind of person thrives off of the military/sailor lifestyle?

Is there much free time or are you pretty much working all day?

Any preparations that you wished you had taken?

>>17767691
>Do you just "get used to it" with living on a ship?
You do, no option in that regard really. It's not as hard to get used to as you think it'll be. I remember before I enlisted my parents were saying "are you really going to be able to sleep in a tiny rack and live in a hold with a hundred other sailors?" But that was one of the easiest transitions. Maybe I'm just cut out for that stuff but getting used to the standard of living was easy for me, having to keep my living area tidy was harder.

>is the daily life boring or always eventful in some way
it can be as much of a grind as any other job unfortunately, when you're just taking the ship through a square grid in the ocean for weeks straight without actually doing anything it can start to feel like groundhog's day, but as with your past question you get used to it. Its your friends that make things interesting, same as any other job really. If you were working at a grocery store or something every day would be the same wouldn't it? The military isn't as bad in that regard as working in retail or working in an office.

>how do you decide what jobs you're interested in
your best bet would be to check the wikipedia page that lists all the different rates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Navy_ratings then narrow it down to a few that sound interesting to you. I could help you out too if you want to know more about some of the jobs.

>can you change your job
you can, but be prepared to deal with a huge bureaucratic nightmare and if you've been written up in the past for getting drunk or sexual harassment or something then forget about it. I'd recommend against getting written up.

>what kind of person thrives
frankly it takes all kinds, so I can't really answer that question. I found with being out to sea it kind of gets in your blood in a way, there's a fair bit of misery when you're out there but when you get back you remember all the good times you had with your friends and you can't wait to ship out again.

>free time
it really depends on your job but be prepared to work hard. With some rates it seems like they're working around the clock on a deployment, like on a carrier the flight deck crews and ordnance crews are always working very long days to get as many planes off that deck as possible. You do get free time, but you're on a ship. It's not like there's really anywhere to go. You will get a few days in port every so often though, and that's always a lot of fun.

>any preparations
make sure you're in good shape before going to basic, it's not really any harder than say a tough gym class or playing a sport with a hardass coach but if you're in good shape you might actually come close to almost enjoying it.

>>17767761
I can only think of two more questions.

What ratings do you recommend pursuing?

What's the Navy's "culture"? I understand each branch has deep traditions and such and I'm very interested. I guess this could double down as how the others conduct themselfs.

>>17767839
>What ratings do you recommend pursuing?
man that's a question I really can't meaningfully answer without knowing more about you, which ones caught your eye? What are your interests?

Right off the bat I can tell you don't go AB or BM, they get the worst of the gruntwork. AO isn't much better in that regard. A lot of people want to do FC because they have an interest in firefighting but I've known plenty of them who spent their entire days refilling air bottles or giving the same safety brief over and over. By the same token I knew people who wanted to go into the police so they went MA but you're literally just a glorified security guard. GM and FT were busy a lot but seemed to enjoy their work. IS and CT seemed to like their work too. Can't tell you much about the engineering or IT rates unfortunately. I'm a bit biased but I did quite like being a QM.

If you're hardcore you could try to be a seal or rescue diver or something along that line. I do feel I have to warn you against going in for one of the "elite" rates. If you think you can do it then by all means go ahead, but if you go in to be a seal but wash out of the training (as over 70% of candidates do) you get placed according to the needs of the navy, which means you'll get the worst scutwork that nobody else wanted for the next 4 years.

>>17767599
Nah you can get discharged pretty easily for a variety of reasons.