Strongly considering military

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Been a long time since I've posted something on here about myself.

Long story short, live with my mom and sister, sister is a prostitute, mom is an ex-prostitute, they work together to manipulate more out of men etc. Sister is safe working as an "independent contractor" in a state where prostitution is legal. I've never been able to get a job, money changed my sister and now instead of being my friend or even family for that matter she just barks at me to do all the housework and make sure everything is spotless before she gets home (In a really mean, I'll kick you out way.).. which I only have to do once but I do multiple times a day to prevent her bitching at me.

So now, my mom and sister are too busy to acknowledge that I'm a person in need of a little extra help when it comes to jobs. I don't drive and I was never taught anything about proper resume/interviewing/job etiquette. I've always been really strong in a sense of emotional strength and physical strength. I absolutely love things like hiking, camping, fishing, and while I've never really bothered with weapons I have used compound bows.

I have been recommended to the military branches by multiple veterans that I've known throughout my life, they say it would be perfect for me but I'm on the fence right now. Here are my concerns though:

- I don't test very well and I'm worried that my ASVAB scores might be a little low for the fields I want to enter into.

- I'm worried that I might not be able to get anything near the job I would want and end up being put into infantry. I realize this isn't the end of the world but I kind of wanted to get out of the military with skills that pertain to civilian life. I don't mind the stigma of being a "soldier that never fought".

- I'm only worried about the 8 years of service thing if I can't get into the type of job that I would like, other then that I don't mind.

- I'm worried that my mom and sister would want to take any money I could possibly make and gamble it or do something stupid with it.

If anyone could share some experience with me I would really appreciate it. Also, I have my heart set on the army, I've made this decision after reading MUCH about the history and information I could find about all branches of the military. If I had to be infantry I would be most comfortable as a ground troop.

trust me, you won't want to be deployed repeatedly to the same hellholes, with barely any break in between. the combat pay won't come close to making you whole. the coast guard seems the most user-friendly of all the services, do give your local coast guard recruiter a chance to make his case to you.

This article titled ASPERGER SYNDROME IN MILITARY SERVICE at least provides something to read.

Thanks for the replies, I'll consider it and I'll be giving that article a read.

I was always under the impression that those with ASD couldn't legally serve in the military. I could've sworn I've heard that somewhere before.

i was aspie [in retrospect] and i served with many other aspies. granted, this was back in the early 80s. autism was grounds for rejection back then also.

You definitely know the problem boundaries, Tsproggy. Some observations:

1) Air Force and Navy have higher-tech training programs transferable to civilian employment. Army is big on munitions and battle tactics, which of course are useful only for career soldiers (those who spend 20+ years in the military). If you're 100% set on Army vs. other branches, then be prepared to commit for decades or face becoming an unemployed, possibly homeless veteran. Good "ratings" to "strike for" include cryptography, data security, and telecommunications hardware technicians.

2) Once enlisted, make certain to visit your military outpost bank and create a separate financial account for your Direct Deposit if so far you've had a joint account with anyone else. This ensures only you may withdraw your funds.

If you decide to join, don't disclose the AS, there are no accomodations they can make for it and it might legally obligate them to disqualify you. At the same time, there's no way they can even tell if you have a medical record floating out there.

If you join the army, you might as well accept that what you do won't translate into civilian employment qualifications. Not to say the experience won't be useful, just that the paperwork won't add up that way. In my case, I was a medic, in civillian it means EMT-B which means get in line with all the other guys who want to drive an ambulance.

I think you have to finish a full 4 year enlistment to get the GI bill, don't get bonus happy and sign up for 5 or 6 years (just my advice). If you ever figure out what kind of career field you want to go into while you're in, you can put the GI bill to use when you get out.

If you're going to get screamed at, you might as well get paid for it.

Good advice here. See if you can get on-base housing in the barracks. Get your own bank accounts.

Then you'll be independent.

Follow your mom and sister's footsteps, and get into the gay video market if you're attractive enough. Then create your own website, write a book, and say you get more men than they could ever get.

or not...

While I tried to get into the military and failed because of a physical problem (which actually never became a problem) and I think it's a great opportunity for people and I'm very pro defense, I do want you to consider a few things.

1. How are you with following directions that seem absolutely illogical and ridiculous when you know of a much simpler and better way to do something? ie; you're told to do something in a way that will take you two days, it's something you are very knowledgable about, and you can easily see how to do it in eight hours or less? Do you follow the orders and keep your mouth shut and do it anyway?

2. Basic Training. Six weeks of unrelenting hell that is designed to break down even alpha male jocks and turn them into soldiers. While right now you may see the purpose of boot camp and know that it's all physical and psychological techniques and why they are being done so you are sure you can withstand it without problems, so does everybody else who goes. It's hell for them too and something you need to really consider is that it's not just like an eight hour work day hell that afterwards you can go home and relax or at least get a decent nights sleep before you start another day of hell, but it's constant, unrelenting hell that lasts for six solid weeks, day and night, with sudden changes in plans, surprise 20 mile marches in a rainstorm when you have just laid down to fall asleep after being up for20 hours and are dog tired from everything else? You will still have to experience it and it will still be that bad while it's happening and there is no way to make it stop or opt out once you start it.

3. Deployment. While right now isn't the worst time in US history to be in the military (Viet Nam, WWII) it's also not the best. This isn't the cold war military of the 80's that I wanted to join, with the college opportunities, the advancement into high tech fields with jobs that are almost exactly like civilian jobs except with a different dress code and protocol. Even if you aren't in the actual infantry that doesn't mean you won't be in a combat zone or near one or having to deal with very harsh conditions overseas. There is a good chance you could end up overseas in Europe or even somewhere stateside where you have a pleasant job, there is an equally good chance you could end up in the sandbox.

Not everybody who goes over there has a bad outcome. Let me tell you two different stories of people I know and their deployment.

One girl I went to school with and who is still a good friend of mine is retired military and she spent a lot of time over there during the first Gulf War and afterwards. The conditions were very harsh but she said she managed it because everything was laid out for her to do and all she had to do was follow orders. She was not the most mentally stable person to begin with, which is probably why we were such good friends in high school. She was in the small group of close friends who helped me learn to be "normal", as we called it back then. She also married my ex husband and had a mental breakdown when he shot that boy a couple years back, right in front of her, and I had to go get her from Mississippi and she stayed with me for a couple weeks and finally got somewhat back to normal. So, she was a bit pequilar in school, perfectly ok during about a 20 year military career spent overseas in either the Middle East or Alaska, having a very high pressure job to do with aircraft and airports they set up, sort of like an air traffic controller but with more at stake, and then lost it when her husband shot some low life in front of her. I'm telling you this to show that some people who have trouble with some things won't have trouble with the military things. For her, the fact that all decisions were taken out of her hands was very comforting and following orders allowed her to do things that really surprised me that she ended up doing, because I honestly wouldn't trust her to drive in rush hour traffic in Bham.

A guy I know, a regular NT, alpha male type was a weekend warrior. Jock and popular in high school, married with kids and a good job, volunteering in the community, nice, regular responsible guy, he joined up right out of high school. He did fine with his regular drill weekend and his summer commitment and then the first Gulf War came and he went over there for quite a while. He came back with a drinking problem and not exactly all there, but he kept his job, kept his marriage, kept his leadership positions in the community, etc. Then this new crap happened in 01 and he got deployed again for a long time. He would go for close to a year, come home for six months, go again for close to a year, etc. During this time his marriage fell apart and he went crazy. He came back this last time from deployment, a few years ago crazy as a sh*thouse rat. Divorced his wife, and then went completely insane from time to time. Still in the military though, he kept that hidden from them. Until that one night he got drunk with some other people and an assault weapon was involved and they kicked him out of the military. He now does ok for the most part, kept his job, drinks a lot though, but from time to time that shell shock flares up again and he gets these crazy delusions. The last one was that his dog told him the alarm guys were space aliens. So, he was a normal guy until he went over there and all that stress drove him out of his mind. He will admit it too, when he's normal.

So, there ya go. That may or may not tell you anything, it's all up to chance really, how you'll do. You may be like the girl I know who did great with it because she followed orders or you may be like ole boy and go nuts or you may end up somewhere in between.

Either way, it's your decision and remember this, if you mention AS, or anything they think could be a problem, you stand a good chance of being PDQ'd and while there is an appeal process (I went through it for several years over mine) there isn't a good chance of overturning that.

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I'm giving it another shot. We will see.
My forum is still there and everyone is welcome to come join as well. There is a private women only subforum there if anyone is interested. Also, there is no CAPTCHA.

The link to the forum is http://www.rightplanet.proboards.com

Someone I used to play airsoft with joined the military. Supposedly Airborne. He refused to go up a hill on a suicide mission, and got demoted from gunner to assistant gunner, then demoted to working in a gym on base, where all he does is sit around and watch for people who are AWOL. Also saw a bunch of his friends die and a bunch of death in general. Another person I used to play airsoft with joined the National Guard, and guarded bases domestically (was an MP.) Now he's in Afghanistan, though, and I'm assuming he's seeing actual war now instead of messing around on base. Oh what else, one other person I airsofted with. He got shot in the back with friendly fire and is on disability now and just sort of sits around his house all day and is a loser like me, but gets paid disability.

Also, they dropped a lot of GI Bill stuff in the recent budget cuts.

From the people I know's experiences, I can't say it sounds fun myself.

Served in the Australian Army. If I had my time again, I would pick the Air Force, less BS, more respect for people with a brain. The whole way through officer training, not a single thought was given to encouraging thinking. Just memorising tabulated data and walking long distances with a pack. It has its moments but for the most part the army has a culture I never really fit in with.