Hi All,

Given that most enlisted soldiers leave the military well before reaching retirement, are they given enough help, either before or after separating from the military, with finding jobs or getting into colleges?

Thanks for your thoughts.

quote:

All,

Given that most enlisted soldiers leave the military well before reaching retirement, are they given enough help, either before or after separating from the military, with finding jobs or getting into colleges?

I'll jump on this since I was just enlisted and I just seperated.

In regards to "getting into" college, the military doesn't do much for you here. I went to the most technical schools the coast guard offered and was in school for well over a year learning electronics, radar theory, weapon systems and so on, and I did it because I was told "you receive college credit for the schools you go to". So I told myself, WOW, I will get college credit for schools that I attend and I will be paid to attend them (paid to attend I mean my regular pay check), so I said SURE! sign me up for the most difficult, technical, and long school, that will give me the MOST credit since I want to get a degree eventually.

I go through the schools, learn a lot, and I leave the schools. Every unit has an "educational service officer", and after talking to a few, I discovered most were worthless, and I had to go to a larger base where some people had the job of "educational service officer" be their SOLE job, and not just a collateral duty. I talked with them and I get a trascrpit and I get about 90 credits only to find out that they are ALL PASS OR FAIL!!!!

I look at the trasfer policy's of EVERY SCHOOL I AM INTERESTED IN, and NONE accept pass/fail credits. I was/am so mad about it. I was a few classes away from a degree but no school will really accept them. There are a handful of no name schools throughout the country, but nothing local to me, and when I say handful, I really mean a hand full.

I am currently attending a community college and i'm trying to get enough credits to transfer over into a state university, enough about education, now about the job stuff.

Basically the answer to "does the military help you find a job when you get out", is no. Some companies (like the one I work for), look for prior service people to work for them, however it's all work that the company is doing and the veteran. With that being said, I didn't feel that it was the military's responsibility to help me find a job when I seperated. I saved up enough vacation that I was paid from the service for quite some time before I started working again, and if need be, I could have received unemployment, so this wasn't an issue with me.

Back to the college thing. The military recruiters will ALWAYS advertise being able to go to college while you are in the service. This CAN be true. Some officers have programs available where they will foot the bill (and you will keep receiving your regular pay) to go to school and get a BS or a MS, and upon completion you owe like 5-10 years of service depending on the deal you have. There is deals like this for enlisted folks too, but they are hard to get. Each service has it's own programs, and had I stayed in the military and already had a AS/AA, and had I been promoted to E-6 (seperated as an E-5), I could have applied for a program to get my BS in a degree of THEIR choosing, and I would have to guarantee several years of guaranteed service following.

I tried to take college courses while I was attached a "normal" unit, and I found it nearly impossible. I managed to take 2 distance learning courses (Intro to Astronomy and Intro to Psychology). I tried to take Intro to Philosophy, however I was very busy during that perticular deployment and received an incomplete. The classes were free of charge to me, provided I passed (which I didn't pass my philosophy one, and I had to pay about $400).

Hope this answers your question

Ogi

Ogi,

Thanks so much for your terrific response. Anyone else?

DaveinSD


I'll jump on this since I was just enlisted and I just seperated.

In regards to "getting into" college, the military doesn't do much for you here. I went to the most technical schools the coast guard offered and was in school for well over a year learning electronics, radar theory, weapon systems and so on, and I did it because I was told "you receive college credit for the schools you go to". So I told myself, WOW, I will get college credit for schools that I attend and I will be paid to attend them (paid to attend I mean my regular pay check), so I said SURE! sign me up for the most difficult, technical, and long school, that will give me the MOST credit since I want to get a degree eventually.

I go through the schools, learn a lot, and I leave the schools. Every unit has an "educational service officer", and after talking to a few, I discovered most were worthless, and I had to go to a larger base where some people had the job of "educational service officer" be their SOLE job, and not just a collateral duty. I talked with them and I get a trascrpit and I get about 90 credits only to find out that they are ALL PASS OR FAIL!!!!

I look at the trasfer policy's of EVERY SCHOOL I AM INTERESTED IN, and NONE accept pass/fail credits. I was/am so mad about it. I was a few classes away from a degree but no school will really accept them. There are a handful of no name schools throughout the country, but nothing local to me, and when I say handful, I really mean a hand full.

I am currently attending a community college and i'm trying to get enough credits to transfer over into a state university, enough about education, now about the job stuff.

Basically the answer to "does the military help you find a job when you get out", is no. Some companies (like the one I work for), look for prior service people to work for them, however it's all work that the company is doing and the veteran. With that being said, I didn't feel that it was the military's responsibility to help me find a job when I seperated. I saved up enough vacation that I was paid from the service for quite some time before I started working again, and if need be, I could have received unemployment, so this wasn't an issue with me.

Back to the college thing. The military recruiters will ALWAYS advertise being able to go to college while you are in the service. This CAN be true. Some officers have programs available where they will foot the bill (and you will keep receiving your regular pay) to go to school and get a BS or a MS, and upon completion you owe like 5-10 years of service depending on the deal you have. There is deals like this for enlisted folks too, but they are hard to get. Each service has it's own programs, and had I stayed in the military and already had a AS/AA, and had I been promoted to E-6 (seperated as an E-5), I could have applied for a program to get my BS in a degree of THEIR choosing, and I would have to guarantee several years of guaranteed service following.

I tried to take college courses while I was attached a "normal" unit, and I found it nearly impossible. I managed to take 2 distance learning courses (Intro to Astronomy and Intro to Psychology). I tried to take Intro to Philosophy, however I was very busy during that perticular deployment and received an incomplete. The classes were free of charge to me, provided I passed (which I didn't pass my philosophy one, and I had to pay about $400).

Hope this answers your question

Ogi[/QUOTE]