which military ANYWHERE in the world will take me after my mistakes :-/

[Waylander]

I would interested to know if it changes anything if one has served before in another country.
Not that I am interested but there should be some green card people which served before in whatever country they come from.

I also know from a german first lieutnant who joined the UA Army. Do such guys have to start like everybody else?

 

[kato]

The powers that be figure it's a volunteer Army, and if they really don't want to be there, then they're not doing anyone any good keeping them.

For comparison with a non-volunteer army, we permanently dropped only one out of 144 in the company. Because he died. Two guys filed for conscientious objection but had to serve out boot as auxiliary medics for their platoons till their application got passed (after boot).

 

[UK_Army]

Best just talk to the recruiting office direct and ask the question - anything else may be outdated or incorrect information. If the answer is a "no" then you can always come back once you've had the tattoos removed if you can.

The British army website doesn't list tattoos as an issue - not sure about the FFL,

Ian

I agree with you on this fella! He should consider your suggestion. I think it is not going to be a big issue. Don't you think?

 

[StobieWan]

I agree with you on this fella! He should consider your suggestion. I think it is not going to be a big issue. Don't you think?

Actually, I just gave up and did the bloke's research for him and found this:

Joining the british army with tattoos? - Yahoo! Answers

if that's accurate, then the answer for a facial tattoo is a resounding no.

Ian

 

[sgtgunn]

I would interested to know if it changes anything if one has served before in another country.
Not that I am interested but there should be some green card people which served before in whatever country they come from.

I also know from a german first lieutnant who joined the UA Army. Do such guys have to start like everybody else?

Previous experience in foreign militaries doesn't officially provide any benefit in joining the US Armed forces. I've served with several soldiers who had prior service in foregin militaries (Britsh Army, IDF, Candian Army, French Foreign Legion, Irish Army, etc.) and they were treated as non-prior service applicant. The only exception is if you attended a US military school while serving ina foregin military (like US Airborne or Ranger school) you still get credit.

Adrian

 

[joeroot]

US Army policy on tattoos for procurement is fairly lenient - for a facial tattoo you would have to get some kind of exception to policy.

I did enlist a young man who had a major league baseball team logo tattooed on his neck below and behind his ear, and tattoos on the back of his hands. It required an exception to policy signed by our commander, who had to view the tattoos and rule that they were not "prejudicial to the good order, morale, and reputation of the Army, etc."

You can always get it removed - painful and expensive though.

As a US military recruiter, one thing I would like to clear up is the impression that because of current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan that the US Armed forces have lowered their enlistment standards. This is simply not true. There was a bit of scare in 2005ish where there were some dire predictions about falling recruiting numbers in the media, and the US military did beef up its recruiting efforts as a result - by increasing bonuses, fielding more recruiters and spending more money on marketing rather than any significant relaxing of standards. Ultimately this proved to be a boy who cried wolf scenario, the serious recruiting problems never materialized and by 2007-8 many branches were exceeding end strength.

Standards do change a little periodically. Typically they are a little more relaxed at the start of the fiscal year, and as branches begin to meet their recruiting targets as the year progresses, standards are tightened up.

Right now it is as difficult to join the US military as it ever was. ASVAB score requirements (the standardized aptitude test to join any branch of the US Armed Forces) are up, GEDs are generally no longer accepted in lieu of High School Diplomas, and waivers for conduct, etc almost non-existent. Enlistment bonuses are also pretty much gone as well.

A Pentagon Study has determined that 73% of American 17-25 year old are unfit for military service.

•Medical/physical problems, 35 percent.

•Illegal drug use, 18 percent.

•Mental Category V (the lowest 10 percent of the population), 9 percent.

•Too many dependents under age 18, 6 percent.

•Criminal record, 5 percent.

The real # is probably higher since most branches will only currently accept people in Mental Cat III or up, and some only want Cat IIIA and up (Air Force) or Cat II and up (Coast Guard).

A RAND Corp. finds that about ~ 30% of the adult US population is in Cat III and Cat IV which rules many of them out for military service in addition to the 9% of Cat V.

Asthma? Can't join. Food or Insect Allergies? Can't join. Eczema, Psoriasis or Dermatitis? Can't join. History of head injury (there goes all the High School football, hockey and lacrosse players) depression, mood disorders, or addiction? Can't join. Too fat? Can't join. Too thin? Can't join (not kidding) Too Tall or Short? Can't join. Too blind or deaf? Sorry! Heart murmur you never knew you had? Can't join. Criminal background? Sorry. Too many speeding tickets? Can't help you. Single parent too many kids? To many tattoos (depending on branch)? ADHD? Cutter? Faint at the sight of blood or needles (more of these than u think)? The list goes on and on. I spend more time saying no to applicants than any thing else these days! And the worse part is we still lose a lot of kids in Basic Training. They get injured easily - stress fractures in particular are real problem (not enough milk, too much coke growing up), or the simply can't hack being yelled at (first time for some of them) or being away from home.

Adrian

Adrian

to be exact this is untrue if you have asthma you can take a pulmonology test for your lungs and if it shows you can make it the army will sign you on at the same the only things that determin you cant join is a history of chronic depression which includes cutting a criminal record or physical problems that keep you hindered so please learn your info before you say stuff i just asked a recruitment station and this was the US Army

 

[sgtgunn]

to be exact this is untrue if you have asthma you can take a pulmonology test for your lungs and if it shows you can make it the army will sign you on at the same the only things that determin you cant join is a history of chronic depression which includes cutting a criminal record or physical problems that keep you hindered so please learn your info before you say stuff i just asked a recruitment station and this was the US Army

I happen TO BE an Army recruiter and have been one for the last 2 1/2 years, so safe to say, I know what I'm talking about.

According to DODI 6130.4 MEDICAL STANDARDS FOR APPOINTMENT, ENLISTMENT, OR INDUCTION IN THE MILITARY SERVICES DATED 4/28/2010, an applicant is permanently medically disquallified if they have:

"d. Airway hyper responsiveness including asthma (493.xx), reactive airway disease, exercise-induced bronchospasm (519.11) or asthmatic bronchitis (493.90), reliably diagnosed and symptomatic after the 13th birthday.

(1) Reliable diagnostic criteria may include any of the following elements: substantiated history of cough, wheeze, chest tightness, and/or dyspnea which persists or recurs over a prolonged period of time, generally more than 12 months.

(2) Individuals DO MEET the standard if within the past 3 years they meet ALL of the criteria in subparagraphs 11.d.(2)(a)-(d).

(a) No use of controller or rescue medications (including, but not limited to inhaled corticosteroids, leukotriene receptor antagonists, or short-acting beta agonists).

(b) No exacerbations requiring acute medical treatment.

(c) No use of oral steroids.

(d) A current normal spirometry (within the past 90 days), performed in accordance with American Thoracic Society (ATS) guidelines and as defined by current National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) standards."

In Layman's terms if you have any history of Asthma past age 13, and/or currently use an inhaler (oral steriods) or even just HAVE ONE for emergencies, you are disquallified. It is possible in some cases to get a waiver if you have no history of respiratory issues in the past three years, take no medications, and pass a test with a "current normal spirometry" in the past 90 days. These are very difficult to get, and 9 times out of 10 it's a NO. Most recruiters won't touch cases like this since it involves a huge amount of paperwork and leg work with a very low chance of a return (enlistment).

Staff Sergeant Adrian Gunn
Recruiting & Retention NCO

 

[StobieWan]

"d. Airway hyper responsiveness including asthma (493.xx), reactive airway disease, exercise-induced bronchospasm (519.11) or asthmatic bronchitis (493.90), reliably diagnosed and symptomatic after the 13th birthday.

Staff Sergeant Adrian Gunn
Recruiting & Retention NCO

The UK has very similar restrictions - I was turned down for the RAF over post pubertal asthma, and at the time was advised that as all the armed services had similar restrictions, that was pretty much game over for me. Additionally, the emergency services in the UK run fairly similar restrictions from the same guidelines so fire/police/ambulance may be off limits on those grounds as well.

Ian

 

[ItsEden]

You can remove it..(by laster and etc')
But i dont think that should do problems in the military..