Was choosing your branch of service everything you thought it would be? Did you expect more or less?

I went Army for afew reasons. My father and other family were Army vets also I wanted a wider variety of Places to live and a Bigger choice of MOS's. I knew I wanted to deploy to the middle of nowhere and not be on a big base with coffee shops and McDonald's. Fort Drum made it happen

I am very happy with my decision to join the Army. It was my top choice and I have not regretted it at all. When I walked into the recruiting station my recruiter asked me why the other services had turned me down... it took a couple seconds to realize that many people at the time we're only joining the Army because the other Services had turned them down. Keep in mind that this was when you could get a waiver as long as you had less than 2 felonies.

It has presented many challanges and I have been able to serve in several leadership positions that would not have been available to me in some of the other services. It was an e as y choice and I would make the same one again.

I'm happy being in the army no matter how it ends up. It's great knowing I'm apart of something HUGE.

I chose the Navy because, I was offered a huge incentive to join. I expected exactly what I experienced. I am glad I did my job. I learned a skill and also earned my degree after I left.

To be honest I had a hard time getting in touch with the AD AF recruiter at my station. But my older brother who was already a Sergeant in the US Army recommended going for either the Air Force or the Navy.

In the end I was happy with how things turned out. There was nothing I wasn't warned about or didn't expect and I ended up with a contract I was very happy with. And I chose the right branch for me to be in since AFSC/MOS/Rating does more of the fun stuff than the versions in the sister services.

The choice to join was easy and I got out of it what I had expected. On one side of my family is all Navy people. i wanted to do something different. it was about what I expected from their experiences.

Not at all. The Army was my first choice and I have absolutely no regrets.

The branch was everything I thought it would be, but the MOS was suspect. I could not, and still can not, understand why I was placed in the job specialty that my ASFAB score showed I was LEAST apt for and by a wide margin.

My scores were good across the board, which led the the odd situation where in most of the units I was assigned to I ended up doing tasks outside of my 13B MOS. I'd give a rough estimate that I worked outside of my MOS for 70% of my career, which did not sit well with some members of my units who thought I was making those decisions, which was not the case. Admittedly I did not turn those positions down, but in the end it was the decisions of individuals above my grade who controlled the situations. One thing that helped me in those situations is that I always scored high on my SQTs even though I spent most of my time NOT doing the job those tests were supposedly qualifying me for, usually scoring in the top 5 - 10% of my units, which is one of the reasons my unit commanders continued to let me work as I did.

If I had it to do all over with what I know now, I don't know if I would choose the Army . . . but if I did I would not have let the idiots in the recruiting station steamroll me into a MOS I was not suited for. I believe I had a successful military career, but I wonder if those same idiots had placed me in a MOS better suited to my abilities according to the ASFAB scores if my career would have been even better.

I loved the Army, still do. But I did not and never will love the recruiting process, which I think screws a hell of a lot of potentially great soldiers like myself.

I actually thought about joining the Marines. I am satisfied I joined the Army!

My Dad was a mustang Korea (armor)and Vietnam (aviation) era Colonel. Poor guy was city bred and got stuck with a wild eyed country heathen for a son. I hated the Army growing up as a stay at home army brat.

Then I grew up. I moved out. The wind blew North Pole cold on the ranch shack and the Texas Sun actively seemed to be trying to kill me in all summer. Round steak (grilled bologna) and Stroh's celebrations were the best we could do since the oil patch dried up that first year out of school.

My Dad and a whole bunch of farmers I respected were Korea and WWII vets from the Army. Their stories called this wandering lad home. I'll never regret my 11B1P time, but I'd have re-upped in the combat engineers if I'd stayed unbroken.

No regrets. Best decision ever made other than my marriages.