Posted on May 11, 2015
What advice would you give your son/daughter before enlisting?
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My son is about to graduate High School. He wants to join up and serve and who am I to tell him not to. My question is what advice have you or would you give to a son or daughter getting ready to join?
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Enlisted
Advice
Potential Recruit
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 35
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1SG Jason Fitzpatrick
Best advice I could give would be something my father (retired MSG) told me long ago.
When you decide to run your brain in high gear make sure your mouth is in neutral, if your mouth isn't in neutral then turn off the sound.
If you f***up, Own up don't drag your buddies down with you.
Listen to what is being said, not the tone of how it is said, you may miss something you should be focusing on.
Best advice I could give would be something my father (retired MSG) told me long ago.
When you decide to run your brain in high gear make sure your mouth is in neutral, if your mouth isn't in neutral then turn off the sound.
If you f***up, Own up don't drag your buddies down with you.
Listen to what is being said, not the tone of how it is said, you may miss something you should be focusing on.
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1SG Jason Fitzpatrick
Thanks @SPC Charles Brown for that advice...he will understand and actually "hear" the gear comments...
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SPC Charles Brown
Just passing on pearls of wisdom learned the hard way 1SG. Or as some who know me would say "daddy was just casting pearls before swine."
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Be the gray man in basic. Don't volunteer and always remember to have fun. Not everybody gets paid to shoot guns and throw grenades or belay down towers.
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1SG Jason Fitzpatrick
I used the term "zen invisibility"... the problem is that he is like his father...I don't think that I have been invisible since day one of Basic. That is when I stepped on my Drill Sergeant's Leather Lustered Jump boots... I will use the shoot, throw and belay line. Thanks Sir!
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MSG Pat Colby
Gotta call BS on that. Put yourself out there. Not in an arrogant or brown-nosing fashion! Volunteer! Some times you end up with a shit job but sometimes you can learn something the others don't know.
As an Instructor I routinely used to ask for a group of volunteers. Those that raised their hands got a break. I smoked the shit out of everyone else.
As an Instructor I routinely used to ask for a group of volunteers. Those that raised their hands got a break. I smoked the shit out of everyone else.
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Find an NCO you trust and respect and ask them to be your mentor. Choose wisely and it will help you immensely as your new career gets under way.
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SSG Christina Watkins
When I deployed most of the food service guys had to work as transportation. Would not recommend. What I would spend a lot of time emphasizing is money management. Too many new soldiers blow their money on toys and are a financial mess when they leave. There is no reason to not have a huge, I'm talking at least twenty thousand, in the bank when you leave after 4 years and far more if you stay longer. If you get married, families have costs, but so long as he remains single he should be stashing the cash.
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1SG Jason Fitzpatrick
SSG Christina Watkins I am constantly calming him down about buying another car before he goes in. I told him that I refuse to be his parking lot! He won't be a cook.
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1SG (Join to see)
What MOS is he looking at now 1SG Jason Fitzpatrick?
Civil Affairs is the Lord's work...
Civil Affairs is the Lord's work...
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1SG Jason Fitzpatrick
1SG (Join to see) LOL, "the Lord's work..." Really? I guess the Military Police Corps could be considered "The Lord's Work as well....." Police deal with civil unrest that Civil Affairs cause.... Grand Father spent 33 Years behind a badge, I did 23 Active and I still am in the security field... It is in our blood, We are Irish Beat Cops!
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