I wasn't deployed, I got out before things started happening in Afghanistan.
Bopkasen wrote:
If most aspies were working in the military, I was wondering whether Air Force is the major choice.
The Air Force promotes on job ability, which is great for technically-minded Aspies. As a soldier in the Army, you're expected to become a leader (non-commissioned officer), and your job expertise isn't such a high priority. In fact, the Army stresses interchangeability among soldiers. All of the following is based on my experiences as an enlisted soldier, I couldn't give a good summary of what to expect as an officer (although I have quite a few subjective opinions!)
Some good points:
Very routine; 6 AM salute the colors, 6:30 to 7:30 Physical Training, 9 to 5 (depending on your job type) typical duty day with lunch if you're lucky, while some jobs need sustained 24-hour operations, so you could pull a night shift somewhere, then there's extra duties like CQ or Staff Duty where you pull an all-night shift
after your duty day is over, but you get the entire next day off, and of course there are field exercises where you might go to the field and train for anywhere from a few days to a month out in the woods or a desert environment.
Everyone is treated the same and with the same degree of forgiveness (if you're prone to screwing up from time to time. You just have to take the tongue-lashing and then you're good to go, so long as you don't disrespect the chain of command by losing your temper);
Insulated community - most Army posts are small towns unto themselves, and being a soldier means you know a very great deal about every other soldier you come across, although it could be the first time you've met. Everything you need (except decent dates) can be found on post, and people look out for eachother for the most part;
Camaraderie - you'll share some very wonderful, intense experiences with people from different parts of the country and you'll form bonds of friendship that you just can't experience anywhere else; you'll literally make honest, true friends for life. For those of you, like myself, who have trouble figuring out who your true friends are, the Army puts things into a special perspective where it's easy to see who you can trust and depend on, and who you can't. You'll make true friends that will last a lifetime.
Some not-so-good points:
When you have a meltdown, nobody understands why, even if you explain it to them. Expect to be counseled the first time, and progressively greater punishments for each instance afterwards. If you check yourself in for Anger Management counseling, as just one example, they'll typically leave you alone. It's more about appearances, that you're trying to do something about it, than actually getting help for your condition;
If you plan to stay in for a longer period of time, they will expect you to become a Sergeant (NCO), if you don't they'll think something is wrong with you. I personally couldn't rationally take on the responsibility of ensuring the lives of my troops, I just knew I didn't have it in me, but your case may be different. If you aren't promoted to Sergeant within a reasonable time frame, like 8 years, they won't let you stay in;
Sometimes when you arrive at a new unit you won't be put to work in the job you trained for, but could end up as the armorer, in the mail room, handing out basketballs at the rec center, etc. The army doesn't hire people to do jobs like lawnmowing and cleaning floors because there are always extra soldiers, more soldiers than official jobs to fill. But it also depends on the job you trained for. If yours is a job field that isn't easy to get into you can expect to actually be put in a position to do your job. Exceptions apply, and logic typically doesn't. By contrast, the Air Force people I encountered always scoffed at the idea of mowing lawns or dishing out food in a chow line. They have civilians for that stuff.
I want to make it clear that the following paragraph doesn't indicate every unit, duty station, and soldier you will encounter in the Army. I had wonderful experiences in Military Intelligence as a linguist (if you go this route, get linguist in your contract when you're enlisting). When I was in Aviation, well, just read on:
If you find yourself at a duty station where everyone is absolutely irrational, puts appearances before job quality, ensures they always look good compared to everyone else no matter the cost, spread rumors about other people to see them take a fall (no evidence typically necessary), and find your CO's negligence seriously injures or kills his troops because he didn't want to actually open his mouth and admit that he didn't know what was going on, just keep your mouth shut and act like nothing is wrong, unless you have proof of wrongdoing and the support of others who will corroborate your story. (Yeah, I'm a little bitter about this still so many years later. A bad statement on an officer's OER will kill his career, so don't be surprised if he moves quickly to cover up any negligence. Just pray that he learned his lesson and becomes a better leader for it).
That was a lot more than I had planned on writing. As for the Air Force, I've known a few who were stationed on Army posts to provide weather information to Army aviation units. They're laid back, 9 to 5 types who stress job knowledge over anything else, complain when their cable goes out or they are moved into a room without a full-sized fridge or wall-to-wall carpeting (they actually get paid a few hundred dollars extra a month if they're forced to live in quarters not up to Air Force standards), and seem to enjoy and expect quite a few entitlements compared to your average Army soldier. Not that I'm saying that's a bad thing, they just don't know how good they have it by comparison, as far as living quarters and working environments go. That being said, I wouldn't trade over, because of the camaraderie and raw experiences you have as a soldier. In the Air Force, it seemed to be much more politically-driven, and perhaps a bit less forgiving of what could be attributed to Aspie screw-ups. A more socially-oriented environment, where the Army likes hard workers and generally won't judge people too harshly for not fitting in socially.
I hope this was of some help to someone. Sorry for the length of the post, I hope you found it informative.
11 Dec 2007, 10:50 pm
