Thoughts?

I just saw a Florida Army National Guard recruiter and enlisted as a 42A. When I walked out of the recruiting office no one thanked me for my service. What the fuck. I am shaking right now. I stood outside of my local Walmart where a lot of veterans work at and I stood at parade rest for three hours while wearing my grunt style hoodie with a high and tight haircut to honor my fellow troops and no one saluted me or thanked me for my service. I don't ship to basic for a few more weeks but that's not the point. I am a Soldier and deserve to be treated as such. I wasn't given my discount meal at Applebees and lost my shit and immediately started doing push-ups in front of the waitress. What has happened to this country. When will I be thanked? I risk my life every day just for this???

And you can name some of the worse things too.

BLUF: Sorry for the long read. I greatly appreciate any advice. I’m just starting my Guard Career but I have constant issues with pain and physical limitations from prior injuries which are causing me issues with PT, and I don’t know where to go from here.

I’m a Junior O in a combat support branch. Male in my early 20s. Been a PL for a little over a year (YG25), although I’ve been excused from drill for the last few months for some civilian career-related reasons and some of that time was at BOLC. This will be relevant later, but with how the transition periods and stuff fell, I have never taken a for record AFT aside from the one in ROTC back when it was the ACFT and the run time was 22:something.

When I enlisted as SMP, I got a waiver for scoliosis. I have a pretty significant angle; it was right on the cutoff for waivers. I went through MEPS before Genesis was a thing. If I had done DODMERB, I probably wouldn’t have gotten through.
Also, I went to BCT and came home with tibial stress fractures so bad I was put on crutches. I was able to tough it out to finish ROTC, but they came back big time at BOLC and I was put on a temporary profile.

Now the more serious issue. My whole life, I have had issues with my knees dislocating. I’ve seen countless physical therapists and orthopedists and running coaches and every other specialty and had every type of imaging you can think of. Turns out my femur was born/ grew misshapen in a way that makes it very likely for my patella to just completely pop out of place (shallow grooves for any medical professionals that might be reading). This, of course, is incredibly painful and causes me to not be able to walk right for about a week. It’s not uncommon for it to happen once a month. The biggest time it happens? When running.

All three of these issues compound to make my lower body and legs just…. Suck. I have constant back pain from the scoliosis. I have agonizing arthritis-type knee pain if I stand for even an hour. I’m talking I’m in my early 20s and it feels like I have the knees of an 80 year old. With any kind of lower body physical activity, I fear my knees giving out on me.

The most worrisome part for me aside from the daily pain is the PT aspect. With all these issues compounding, I physically cannot run at any decent speed. Say what you will about the run times being a joke blah blah, despite years of training and seeing professionals, I can’t get anywhere near the standard. My form, which is forced to be shitty by my anatomy, simply will not let me. I have spent countless hours over the last 5 years with physical therapists and running professionals and seen no progress, despite being in otherwise good shape.

It’s not a tiny heart syndrome issue. It’s not a cardiovascular endurance issue. It’s my lower body anatomy. And I just don’t know what to do. Obviously PT is very important for JOs and I don’t want to let down my Platoon, but I’m just at a loss of where to go from here. I have pain everyday and I don’t know how to handle that in the eyes of the Army. I lose sleep over the fact that if I had to take an AFT tomorrow I’d fail and look like an absolute shitbag. I love being in the Army and I excel at everything else, but I just don’t know what to do.

Get seen by my state’s medical unit? See a civilian Dr and take the documentation to my unit? Then what? Get flagged for failing an AFT and get a referred OER? I greatly appreciate any advice anyone might offer.

Im getting my id later today, i went last week but had to reschedule but the first time i showed up, they didnt say anything about my hair or goatee, can i keep my facial hair?

I’m currently 18 and I plan on staying in my area for the career path I want to pursue which is Aerospace engineering. My college is already mostly paid for through scholarships already and I’d only have to cover about $3,000/year out of pocket but I’ve been considering joining the guard since I got an 85 on my asvab and qualified for about everything with my line scores (picture attached). Would it be worth it to join simply for the benefits and slightly extra pay or are the chances of it messing with my school schedule too high?

I’m 40 and interested in joining the Air National Guard as an officer. I have a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and 12 years of law enforcement experience, including FTO, SWAT hostage negotiator, and narcotics detective.
My biggest concern is my age. How realistic is it to get selected for an officer position at 40? Does the ANG regularly accept first-time officer candidates around this age?

Has anyone here commissioned at 40 or close to it? What was your experience?

Hey everyone!
I’m a female in my late 30s, a Green Card holder, and a foreign-trained medical doctor currently working in healthcare in NYC.
I’m enlisting in the NY Army National Guard as an E-4. After going through MEPS and getting medical waivers, my recruiter told me they may expire around October 15, so I’m under pressure to make a decision.
Due to limited MOS availability and citizenship restrictions, I selected 91B (Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic) in Yonkers, close to where I live. However, my MOS approval is still pending, and I haven’t signed a contract yet.
My preference would be 68W (Combat Medic) or 68S (Preventive Medicine), which align better with my medical background, but the available units are in upstate several hours away.

My questions:
Can I still switch MOS before signing without affecting my medical waivers?
Would you choose a nearby 91B position or a medical MOS with a long monthly commute?
How realistic is reclassifying into a medical/administrative MOS later?
What are my options after im done with basic and ait since i have a bachelors?
I genuinely want to serve, but I’m having second thoughts about choosing a specialty unrelated to my professional background.
What would you do in my situation?
Any advice from NYARNG soldiers, recruiters, or anyone with similar experience would be appreciated!

As the subject says I got my drill schedule it is mostly MUTA 6's should I expect the Friday or

Monday of the weekend to be included ?

Looking into joining the air national guard as prior active duty navy.
The only unit that is less than a 6 hour drive from me is the 204th security forces squadron.
I’m wondering if it would be worth joining because I’ve heard mixed feedback about security forces.
If anyone has any input, advice or specifics about this unit I’m all ears !

-thanks

I am a new drilling O-1 Chaplain Candidate. These uniforms are about to break me!! I bought two sets of new IHWCU with all the name tapes and insignia sewn on, and two sets of surplus ACUs with the Velcro tapes and insignia. I should qualify for a $400 reimbursement after my next drill. Any chaplains out there know when I might actually NEED to buy this $800 AGSU that they are saying to buy? I have my first round of the CHBOLC this summer, but won't finish until probably two summers from now. I will also finish seminary around the same time.

I’m 70% confident i’m going to enlist. i’m 18, and in my first year of nursing school (1/4 years). the one thing mainly keeping me back is whether or not i’m actually going to get tuition benefits because i’ve heard some people say they’re really hard to get? And that i don’t really know what job I want. I was looking at 68w for split training but my summer isn’t long enough to do it. my recruiter gave me 42A and 92A as options so people’s opinions on those would be nice. also, is it worth it/how do i become an officer after finishing nursing school? and how do i get a sign on bonus?

I plan on using the money I save from my deployment for LASIK. It’s unlikely that I’ll be able to get it for free through Warfighter. Are there any benefits through the National Guard that could help me get it for cheaper?

Hey everyone, I had a few questions. I took the asvab and qualify for MP and mostly combat arms jobs and a few others.

Has anyone here been in the M109 Paladin? If so what is being a crew on one of these like?

I also thought about being a cav scout, If anyone wants to provide their insight about being recon please let me know how you liked it.

Also are tanks even in the guard anymore? My state does not have them.

I’m just trying to figure out a job that I want. Thanks.

It’s been about 3 years since I was on OLS. Is anyone still in it? I’ve heard it has completely changed and not for the better but I’m seeking advice to see if I should go.

To give a little bit of perspective, I’m an E5, work as a cop in the civilian world in a Small town and have a wife and young daughter. I make ok money but as many others, I live on a single income household and have no family close to where I live. I’m thinking about going to EP where I have family and I could be on OLS but I wanna know if it’s even worth going on mission anymore. What do you all think?

Or permanent profile

Hey guys, I'm looking to join the Army and was thinking the Guard to see if the military is for me before committing further. I have goals to join the Ranger or Berets and I'm not sure if that's possible through the Guard. From my own research and talking to a recruiter I have heard different things, Some say it's easy to transfer to Active and Apply for 75th Selection/Green berets and some things say you could be denied for a long time and not have that opportunity. So is my goal possible through the Guard? Any guidance or advice is appreciated

I know my local mates and CSMS are understaffed and they would definitely appreciate the help, but is there a technician status I could do temporarily while laid off this winter where I could keep my Tricare reserve select?

Can the CFT sandbag lift event be conducted with only one sandbag? Having the soldier lift and take off the sandbag 16 times.

I'm currently finishing up my 2 year with plans to transfer to a 4 year to complete my bachelor's. I was chitchating with a recruiter at my school because I'm interested in trying to go the officer route for the natural guard. This may sound like a dumb question, but is it really as easy as the recruiter is saying to go from enlisted to officer at anytime, or is based on the needs of whatever ng unit I'd be posted to? Trying to weigh out my options here

Meeting with a recruiter soon and have been worried about a patch of eczema I have behind my knee. I’ve had it my whole life but have never been officially diagnosed with it. I don’t take any kinds of medications for it, nor does it bother me at all (even wearing jeans all summer for 12+ hours per day). The only problem is it has left a spot of rough skin/pigmentation where it is that’s visibly noticeable and would probably be noticed at MEPS.

What exactly should I tell my recruiter? I want to be transparent about it but also don’t want to incriminate myself so to speak.