Military advice

[Krapdavid]

I took the asvab and got a 94 I'm in the dep I have my boot camp date but my recruiter said that the time slot has no intel openings so we tried to move it back.

[RocketCutlass]

Tell him your not going unless you get what you want. You are not commited till you get on that bus believe it or not.

[Krapdavid]

Good to know. He made it seem like if that mos was off the table tough luck.

[RocketCutlass]

Well if you are really not qualified then you will have to settle for something else, but what you settle for is up to you.

[Krapdavid]

Thank you. How hard/easy was it for you to save money in the corps?

[2010 US Army 2SS/RS]

The military in general pays decent for a ideal American living. If your looking to save money why buy a brand new car? you have to take your priorities and sort them out.....car? savings? family(if you have one)? rent? insurance? food? gas? going out? thats just some of the questions you need to look at to evaluate what you should do. If i am not mistaken anyone correct me if i am wrong but your typical E-2 in any service makes a base pay of around 1100 month on active duty....so figure out what you can do.

If i were you wait until your done with training and get some money as a cushion before you go buy a new car...i know its tempting but do it when the time is right for you...not when its right for the dealer.

[31BZ06]

If you're wondering about saving money, wait until you get situated and get your first deployment. On deployments, pretty much every penny is saved because you aren't paying for anything. As already mentioned, food and living is free, but while stateside you still have the usual bills - phone, internet, gas, etc.

When I first enlisted as E-1, the money sucked and there wasn't a whole lot of saving. But I almost immediately deployed. I imagine you'll have similar luck, so don't worry about money, once over you'll have better pay

[RocketCutlass]

For me, not that hard, you just have to have your priorities in order. Buy things you need, not want. The main thing that kills me here is honchos (taxis). Here it is very hard to get approved to have a vehicle unless you have your family, or your a SSgt or higher. LCpl's and below are not allowed to have one at all. I know a LCpl that did a tour conversion and brought his wife and kid out here aand she was allowed to get a car, but he's not allowed to drive. And the honchos charge freakin 500 yen as a base which is like $7. They rape you over here, I mean $7 just climbing into a taxi? Come on.

[Krapdavid]

Oh wow is it hard not to go off base?

[trooper182]

Been in the Army for 7 years now and I'm fairly sure it is the same in the Marines. Once you do graduate make sure you get your priorities in order first. Is a new car really what you need? Get online and look at what the base pay is that you will be making starting out. Trust me it is not a lot. I see a lot of kids who graduate and come into the Army and the first thing they do is go out and buy that sports car or truck they have wanted. The sad part is a lot of dealers around military installations will take advantage of you because they know you have a steady paycheck. And also they know that if you stop making your payments they can call your chain of command. Typically you will start out as an E-2 and according to the 2011 pay chart, a E-2 with less than 2 years of service makes 1644.90 a month before taxes. Not trying to knock your dream of owning a Camaro but just dont want to see you make the same mistake a lot of people make once they come in.

My advice for you is to wait a while, see how you like the core. You may end up finding the service is not for you and will want out after your contract is up. Save up some money and find a dealer away from the base or take someone with you that has experience in buying cars in the local area so you don't get screwed over. Sit down and do a budget so you can figure out what you can truly afford and stick to it. And buy only what you can afford. If you want a SS and you get approved for it but your budget says you can only afford say a 1LT or 2LT, then buy one of those cars or just save your money and gain some rank and then try to get your dream car. And also remember that buying used is not a bad idea. Hope everything works out and I hope you enjoy your time in the Marines. We may be two different branches of service but we are all on team.

[trooper182]

Originally Posted by CAPT D

I would wait till you get to your unit. Make sure you also let your chain of command know you are going to be buying a new car. Nothing annoyed me more than when a brand new soldier straight out of AIT would show up buy a car and then have money problems because he couldnt pay for the car. Im not saying this will happen to you and I hope it dosnt. Good Luck on your career and welcome to the site.

[RocketCutlass]

Originally Posted by Krapdavid

Oh wow is it hard not to go off base?

No, and a lot of places are walking distance. Problem is the weather. It gets incredibly hot and humid here and it rains a lot. Now that it's started cooling down I haven't been using the honchos that much.

[mdrennan]

David,

I'm a retired Marine living in Fredericksburg, VA. I work at Quantico. If you come to the Quantico area, drop me a message. We've got a small car club at Quantico called the Quantico Marauders. We'd love to have you as a member if you get stationed in the area.

I agree with you that the Gen5 Camaro is an awesome car...I just bought a 2011 2SS/RS ten days ago.

I also agree with the advice of many others in this thread...wait to buy a new car until you get through your training, get your finances settled, and get accustomed to military life.

Semper Fi,
Mike

[Cyber_Camaro5]

First, SEMPER FI! and thank you for taking that step that many young men and women dont have the sack to do.

I agree WAIT. If you are going into the intel community you will no doubt end up with some sort of securty clearance. If you get over exstended early in your life /career it will effect your ability to get or maintain your securty cleanace. Keep your bills low. eat in the chow hall and save your $$.

And for gods sake don't marry your "A" school sweet heart that you just met at school!

It took me 20 years and 16 deployments to get my baby. WHY? because i didnt take the advice of some old a$4 Marines. who told me exactly what everyone on this is tell you. save your money, spend smart, stay away from the dealers near bases and dont' marry the first you lady you hook up with in "A" School.

Think of it this way. The Marine Corps gives you a place to sleep, cloths, and food. Plus they pay you. I'm not saying be a hermit and stay locked in the barracks room, but be smart about what you spend you paycheck on. I have several Marines that every dime they make goes to paying credit cards, car payments, and loans for that 50K car, 100in flat screen LCD TV, and lets not forget the auto insurance for that Camaro (I am sure your 18-19 years old) so that will be $$.. it all good NOW!

You don't get to choose your duty station. you may get a chance to put your TOP 3 requests, but as someone else said, you volunteered. Your duty station will be at the needs of the Marine Corps.

Marine1991 and i are both in the intelligence community. Both stationed in Camp Pendleton. if your an 0200 or a 2600 PM either of us. We definately can give you the current scoop on wither community and Duty stations.

Semper Fi!
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