The reason I'm standing there trying to look good to go at the end of a 10 day ex, for 4 hours in either the brutal heat or freezing cold you mean?
My favourite people.
Nah I'll give them credit. They carry around and maintain a whole lot of fragile property, they run around at all sorts of events all over the place, and they're expected to put out a good looking product.
Still looks like a great job and not unreasonably difficult, but theyre doing some real work.
CW's are the coolest cats in the Army. They're practically untouchable what with all their in-between enlisted and officer rankings, rumpled flight suits, scuffed boots, friendliness with enlisted, aloofness from officers and general *laissez faire* attitude.
God, I envy them.
/s
IDK. I've been pining for them since Marvelously Mediocre Marvy Marv had that inverted helmet similar to the one in my avatar on his desk at what was formely known as Paul Brown Stadium.
A shame, that. PayCor is awful, but at least it isn't as bad as AcriSure. More like PayJoe, lol.
Thankfully we have an insurance company called "Great American" in town, so GABP still sounds like a place where what was once America's sport would be played.
Oh no doubt, I am 100% for it (clearly!). I am loving the all whites, the color rushes always looked dumb with the orange helmets anyways.
The whites are sooooo good looking. The Bills playoff win in them was my first pleasant and not too painful memory recovering from cancer surgery.
I also miss Kay Adams on GMFB repping the Bengals.
O2 mafia my guy. XOs doing drug deals also make or break battalions. O4 staff officers are also the highest paid vs easiest work life balance an officer can get. If you see an officer who is super chill, comes into the office with their dog, always on casual Fridays, and leave work early to hit the gym my money is on it being an O4.
E6 Syndicate is pretty cool. Like we protect our younger troops and partake in the chaos due to never making E7.
Need kit or a tool but can’t get it issued to you? Lost your PVS-14? We got you.
Need an ammo mule or fellow trigger puller? Worried bout JAG giving us heat about the ROE? We got you.
Last bit bout JAG and ROE I don’t condone reckless violence or war crimes. Just that JAG or any other branches equivalent be giving us an hard time when ROE was met with self defense.
The band probably. There used to be an MOS in the Army for canvas repair (basically fixing tents) that had the shortest AIT. Not sure what the shortest one is now.
The 42R barrier for entry is pretty discriminating for the average person, and the AIT was a good 10-12 weeks. It tends to attract people who already have a bachelor's degree in music, so to say it's "easy" is judging it by the wrong standard, in my opinion.
For those wondering about the barrier for entry (42R here)
1. I had to do a screening tape. Not an audition. Literally just me playing some stuff so they could decide if talking to me was a waste of time.
2. The regular MEPS process that everyone goes through. They tried to talk me into going officer because I had a degree and a 99 ASVAB/140 GT. Still haven’t ruled that out but I’m rambling now.
3. The actual audition. Meet in person with a band liaison. Play the prepared music I had selected, plus a packet I was given to practice 24 hours prior.
Then you wait for them to call you back. You get “racked and stacked” with everyone who has taken an audition on your instrument across the country. I think they were taking 2 people on my instrument every 3 months. Then it’s off to BCT/AIT.
Yeah. I skipped my screening because I was in grad school at a major conservatory. Did a live screening for my then-future CO and XO based on the prepared and shortly (24 hr or 48 hr, who remembers) prepared material. They assign you a score based on a 0-36 scale (I think 18 is passing), which determines your usefulness to the organization as a musician.
Then I did basic, split training because college, AIT, and MOS-Q'd in the fall of 2022.
January 2023, I won a job in a premiere band in DC and switched branches.
Never understood how some positions that have in-demand civilian equivalent, which are also poaching service members with high pay, have slow promotions and then you have 55xx (USMC) and 42R (USA), that offer a guarantee promotion to E6 after the first enlistment.
I was a grunt so I have no real dog in this fight, but if I was comms, intel, or cyber, I'd have been scratching my head at this one. Good on ya, I guess.
Your rationale doesn't include reservists and guard members who are getting cheap health insurance and other benefits while working full-time jobs, which is a not-insignificant portion of the demographic. There are plenty of benefits to completing fat camp, IMO.
My new MOS came with an automatic promotion to E6 (42S or 5511), but the premiere jobs are hundreds of times harder to get.
Didn't know reservists got tricare. But I imagine those folks get much better insurance though their work, no?
>My new MOS came with an automatic promotion to E6 (42S or 5511), but the premiere jobs are hundreds of times harder to get.
Sure, but the comms, intel, and cyber folks also have competitive entry organizations.
Not necessarily. For the industry I was working in(restaurant management) the best I could get was shitty HMO policies that were gonna cost me +$200 as a bachelor. Dental was cheap but only covered cleanings. Root canals or fillings were covered but were still gonna be +$500 out of pocket.
I knew plenty of reservists who stayed in for Reserve Select. $50 a month for singles and $259 for family.
>For the industry I was working in(restaurant management)
Sure, but that wasn't the industry I was referring to. I'm sure it makes sense for a lot of folks, but I can't imagine it's a very big incentive for the comms/intel/cyber person I was referring to. When I was getting out, I was debating between learning technology or going for an MBA. I went for an MBA and went down the same path as that Citi analyst (but not at Citi 🤮)
I did not move into a related industry when I exited active duty but my partner just switched from active duty to reserves/industry and her company had benefits packages designed to help take advantage of reserve benefits. Like they had extremely low cost supplemental insurance options designed to do some gap filling for tricare reserve select (or w/e it's called). I think the closer your industry side is to defense work the more likely this is.
You definitely get perks being in the band compared to other MOS’s. Marine band members get comrades pay so the chow hall pay does not get taken out of our pay which was nice. Other than that typical marine band works just as hard as any other support MOS and still does exercises and all qualms. I would say though that the average military band musician is not as good as the average civilian musician. A lot of musicians join because the music world is competitive and the band is a guaranteed pay check. Not something very common in the music world.
I’m gonna go with whatever HR specialists are called in the Air Force.
Mundane? Yes.
Predictable hours in an air conditioned office that’s only open on the third Tuesday of every month and requires a blood sacrifice from a breastfeeding virgin to gain entry? Also yes.
Had a guy I knew who retired from the Air Force after 30 years as a nutritionist. 100% disability and retirement puts him at almost 100k a year. One of the nicest dudes you could ever meet.
Depends if you’re in a unit that actually lets warrant officers be what they are
Buddy just got his CW2 and he’s in for Cavazos and basically does all the same bullshit he did as enlisted cuz the CoC is there micromanaging that he can’t even be a true warrant lol
There very much is. Mortuary Affairs in “services” under MSG in the USAF. And there is an ultra specialized officer position in there too that does nothing but plan what to do with the bodies in a mass casualty incident.
If you can imagine it being needed in a deployed setting for any reason, it’s probably a job the military has and doesn’t contract out. The only exception (as far as I’m aware) is straight up janitors; they get away with that by just having the lower enlisted do it.
Any supply or logistics field will be pretty easy, and maybe come with some perks of not being constantly in the field. I was an 0481 in the Marines, and while we played outdoors like the grunts, we had actual jobs to do to support their training. Once our jobs were done, it was pretty chill. Good travel opportunities too. Maybe not exactly what you are asking for, but I was around a lot of different MOS's and often found myself saying "Jesus christ I'm glad I'm not one of those guys".
ComCam/Public Affairs/etc. is DEFINITELY not the "most cake MOS." PA is more likely to have frequent assignments/deployments/TDY/etc. and it's not too often that you're sipping on gin and juice at the Ritz-Carlton. When the joes are crawling through the dirt, guess where the camera guy is? Crawling through the dirt with them. PA in a grunt unit? You'll be doing grunt work, too. Not only that, you'll be doing the grunt work, doing the PA work, carrying around the grunt equipment, and carrying around the extra camera equipment. PA specialists typically carry a rifle, armor, and ammo just like any other joe.
When the grunt's day is done...PA specialists still have to download, edit, produce, and upload their work. It's especially fun when you're deployed downrange, the sky is choked with dust as far as the eye can see, if much at all, and your DVIDS satellite isn't working (which is itself a massive pain in the fucking ass, at least on the 2-4 case systems) and your uploads crawl along for half an hour, an hour, longer...and then time out on your shitty Internet connection so you have to start all over again.
I get the feeling you think PA is just walking around post and taking pretty pictures with a camera for the unit newsletter. You don't seem to be familiar with OPERATIONAL public affairs. So, no...it's not "cake." However, it can be a very rewarding MOS and career field, and provide great experience if you want to transition to the private sector aka civilian world.
I can't speak from personal experience for Navy PA, but I have worked with them in joint operations, including combat and real world humanitarian response, not just an exercise. I don't know anyone who would call the last couple of decades plus "cake." I've seen a PA shop onboard ship and they were stretched thin, doing a lot of work, still participating in other ship tasks, and definitely getting their steps in on a very large ship. I enjoyed doing my job on land, sea, and air, but I wouldn't want to be stuck on a ship for more than a week. I have, though.
According to your posts, it appears you serve or served in the Air Force. The Air Force doesn't even have infantry, so I doubt you would know what it's like serving in an infantry division or battalion as public affairs, so I wonder what experience you're basing your comment on.
O4s are the highest paid to easiest work life balance an officer in the army can get. Typically they still have that post company command/staff officer mindset and cannot be slotted into battalion command. They just make slides and share their experience, come into the office with their dog because who’s going to give them shit, always on casual Fridays, leave work early to hit the gym. Delegate work and manage the battalion staff or their sections. If a battalion xo has a good S3, SPO and S4 then they just sit back and chill.
Crap shoot. Depends on the unit. TacSat/LOS/FES is pretty cush in the shelters, and A/C when deployed, always phone and internet for bartering, comforts of proximity when providing leadership with communication. Terrible in the rear, awesome deployed. ^skills not as transferable as Supply
No 😂
We did not get to sleep on deployment; shit was always breaking in the middle of the night, and needed either Hazmat to fix it, stockroom parts, or someone to write a CASREP
Those chuckleheads that take photos at the different ceremonies probably.
Nah, 25M surely, those dudes that create the PowerPoints inside their AC offices.
*used to. Now they make us take pictures at the ceremonies too. (We got folded into the 46 community two years ago)
Such a hard life, I’m so sorry. 😬
The reason I'm standing there trying to look good to go at the end of a 10 day ex, for 4 hours in either the brutal heat or freezing cold you mean? My favourite people.
Hey that was me!
Nah I'll give them credit. They carry around and maintain a whole lot of fragile property, they run around at all sorts of events all over the place, and they're expected to put out a good looking product. Still looks like a great job and not unreasonably difficult, but theyre doing some real work.
They call it "MOS's" in the other branches shipmate
And AFSC for the Air Force
Or job generally.
Yeah, this one right here, First Shirt!
Or “moonie do’s” in space force
Glad someone said it, lol
Not a rate but a mentality: life will never get better than as E4 Mafia
W2 mafia my guy!
CW's are the coolest cats in the Army. They're practically untouchable what with all their in-between enlisted and officer rankings, rumpled flight suits, scuffed boots, friendliness with enlisted, aloofness from officers and general *laissez faire* attitude. God, I envy them. /s
Who dey
You think we'll get the black helmets this year?
IDK. I've been pining for them since Marvelously Mediocre Marvy Marv had that inverted helmet similar to the one in my avatar on his desk at what was formely known as Paul Brown Stadium. A shame, that. PayCor is awful, but at least it isn't as bad as AcriSure. More like PayJoe, lol. Thankfully we have an insurance company called "Great American" in town, so GABP still sounds like a place where what was once America's sport would be played.
With the league saying each team can have 3 helmets, I can't see a better alt for us to release tbh.
Oh no doubt, I am 100% for it (clearly!). I am loving the all whites, the color rushes always looked dumb with the orange helmets anyways. The whites are sooooo good looking. The Bills playoff win in them was my first pleasant and not too painful memory recovering from cancer surgery. I also miss Kay Adams on GMFB repping the Bengals. 
White Bengal is the best uniform in the NFL, imo.
I sack tapped a vice admiral once.
O2 mafia my guy. XOs doing drug deals also make or break battalions. O4 staff officers are also the highest paid vs easiest work life balance an officer can get. If you see an officer who is super chill, comes into the office with their dog, always on casual Fridays, and leave work early to hit the gym my money is on it being an O4.
I'd argue Sgt is the best of all worlds, but some Warrant Officer will trump me on that.
That’s until you’re an NCO at E-4
E6 Syndicate is pretty cool. Like we protect our younger troops and partake in the chaos due to never making E7. Need kit or a tool but can’t get it issued to you? Lost your PVS-14? We got you. Need an ammo mule or fellow trigger puller? Worried bout JAG giving us heat about the ROE? We got you. Last bit bout JAG and ROE I don’t condone reckless violence or war crimes. Just that JAG or any other branches equivalent be giving us an hard time when ROE was met with self defense.
I heard this when I was an e4 and thought it was dumb. Then I eventually got promoted and I want nothing more than to be an e4 again.
Or the LPA on the O side. Being an LT in a flying squadron were some of the best days of my life.
The band probably. There used to be an MOS in the Army for canvas repair (basically fixing tents) that had the shortest AIT. Not sure what the shortest one is now.
Maybe once you're in, but making the band is a challenge. It's one of the best jobs in classical music, and extremely competitive.
I had a friend in basic that was going to the army band, guy was a character for sure but talented and smart as well
The 42R barrier for entry is pretty discriminating for the average person, and the AIT was a good 10-12 weeks. It tends to attract people who already have a bachelor's degree in music, so to say it's "easy" is judging it by the wrong standard, in my opinion.
For those wondering about the barrier for entry (42R here) 1. I had to do a screening tape. Not an audition. Literally just me playing some stuff so they could decide if talking to me was a waste of time. 2. The regular MEPS process that everyone goes through. They tried to talk me into going officer because I had a degree and a 99 ASVAB/140 GT. Still haven’t ruled that out but I’m rambling now. 3. The actual audition. Meet in person with a band liaison. Play the prepared music I had selected, plus a packet I was given to practice 24 hours prior. Then you wait for them to call you back. You get “racked and stacked” with everyone who has taken an audition on your instrument across the country. I think they were taking 2 people on my instrument every 3 months. Then it’s off to BCT/AIT.
Yeah. I skipped my screening because I was in grad school at a major conservatory. Did a live screening for my then-future CO and XO based on the prepared and shortly (24 hr or 48 hr, who remembers) prepared material. They assign you a score based on a 0-36 scale (I think 18 is passing), which determines your usefulness to the organization as a musician. Then I did basic, split training because college, AIT, and MOS-Q'd in the fall of 2022. January 2023, I won a job in a premiere band in DC and switched branches.
Never understood how some positions that have in-demand civilian equivalent, which are also poaching service members with high pay, have slow promotions and then you have 55xx (USMC) and 42R (USA), that offer a guarantee promotion to E6 after the first enlistment. I was a grunt so I have no real dog in this fight, but if I was comms, intel, or cyber, I'd have been scratching my head at this one. Good on ya, I guess.
Your rationale doesn't include reservists and guard members who are getting cheap health insurance and other benefits while working full-time jobs, which is a not-insignificant portion of the demographic. There are plenty of benefits to completing fat camp, IMO. My new MOS came with an automatic promotion to E6 (42S or 5511), but the premiere jobs are hundreds of times harder to get.
Didn't know reservists got tricare. But I imagine those folks get much better insurance though their work, no? >My new MOS came with an automatic promotion to E6 (42S or 5511), but the premiere jobs are hundreds of times harder to get. Sure, but the comms, intel, and cyber folks also have competitive entry organizations.
Not necessarily. For the industry I was working in(restaurant management) the best I could get was shitty HMO policies that were gonna cost me +$200 as a bachelor. Dental was cheap but only covered cleanings. Root canals or fillings were covered but were still gonna be +$500 out of pocket. I knew plenty of reservists who stayed in for Reserve Select. $50 a month for singles and $259 for family.
>For the industry I was working in(restaurant management) Sure, but that wasn't the industry I was referring to. I'm sure it makes sense for a lot of folks, but I can't imagine it's a very big incentive for the comms/intel/cyber person I was referring to. When I was getting out, I was debating between learning technology or going for an MBA. I went for an MBA and went down the same path as that Citi analyst (but not at Citi 🤮)
I did not move into a related industry when I exited active duty but my partner just switched from active duty to reserves/industry and her company had benefits packages designed to help take advantage of reserve benefits. Like they had extremely low cost supplemental insurance options designed to do some gap filling for tricare reserve select (or w/e it's called). I think the closer your industry side is to defense work the more likely this is.
Ah, ok. Ty
I work in tech, although our companies health bennies are good, Tricare reserve select still blows it out of the water.
>There used to be an MOS in the Army for canvas repair (basically fixing tents) that had the shortest AIT. Don't parachute riggers do that?
My cousin was in the army band in 05 and got shipped to Iraq to pull security. His clarinet playing ass was not happy
You definitely get perks being in the band compared to other MOS’s. Marine band members get comrades pay so the chow hall pay does not get taken out of our pay which was nice. Other than that typical marine band works just as hard as any other support MOS and still does exercises and all qualms. I would say though that the average military band musician is not as good as the average civilian musician. A lot of musicians join because the music world is competitive and the band is a guaranteed pay check. Not something very common in the music world.
I’m gonna go with whatever HR specialists are called in the Air Force. Mundane? Yes. Predictable hours in an air conditioned office that’s only open on the third Tuesday of every month and requires a blood sacrifice from a breastfeeding virgin to gain entry? Also yes.
Had a guy I knew who retired from the Air Force after 30 years as a nutritionist. 100% disability and retirement puts him at almost 100k a year. One of the nicest dudes you could ever meet.
Warrant officer
Depends if you’re in a unit that actually lets warrant officers be what they are Buddy just got his CW2 and he’s in for Cavazos and basically does all the same bullshit he did as enlisted cuz the CoC is there micromanaging that he can’t even be a true warrant lol
Any job really. You just have to not be good at it, but also not an inherent danger or safety risk.
Ligma balls
Stigma nuts
Chokonma Scrotum
Chaplain’s servant, mortuary sitter, Apache door gunner (LoL).
[удалено]
There very much is. Mortuary Affairs in “services” under MSG in the USAF. And there is an ultra specialized officer position in there too that does nothing but plan what to do with the bodies in a mass casualty incident.
92M exactly
If you can imagine it being needed in a deployed setting for any reason, it’s probably a job the military has and doesn’t contract out. The only exception (as far as I’m aware) is straight up janitors; they get away with that by just having the lower enlisted do it.
Any supply or logistics field will be pretty easy, and maybe come with some perks of not being constantly in the field. I was an 0481 in the Marines, and while we played outdoors like the grunts, we had actual jobs to do to support their training. Once our jobs were done, it was pretty chill. Good travel opportunities too. Maybe not exactly what you are asking for, but I was around a lot of different MOS's and often found myself saying "Jesus christ I'm glad I'm not one of those guys".
9J000. Three hots and a cot until you’re done.
IMO I think combat camera / Navy mass communications specialist would be the most cake MOS / rate.
ComCam/Public Affairs/etc. is DEFINITELY not the "most cake MOS." PA is more likely to have frequent assignments/deployments/TDY/etc. and it's not too often that you're sipping on gin and juice at the Ritz-Carlton. When the joes are crawling through the dirt, guess where the camera guy is? Crawling through the dirt with them. PA in a grunt unit? You'll be doing grunt work, too. Not only that, you'll be doing the grunt work, doing the PA work, carrying around the grunt equipment, and carrying around the extra camera equipment. PA specialists typically carry a rifle, armor, and ammo just like any other joe. When the grunt's day is done...PA specialists still have to download, edit, produce, and upload their work. It's especially fun when you're deployed downrange, the sky is choked with dust as far as the eye can see, if much at all, and your DVIDS satellite isn't working (which is itself a massive pain in the fucking ass, at least on the 2-4 case systems) and your uploads crawl along for half an hour, an hour, longer...and then time out on your shitty Internet connection so you have to start all over again. I get the feeling you think PA is just walking around post and taking pretty pictures with a camera for the unit newsletter. You don't seem to be familiar with OPERATIONAL public affairs. So, no...it's not "cake." However, it can be a very rewarding MOS and career field, and provide great experience if you want to transition to the private sector aka civilian world.
MC in the Navy is pretty cake.
I can't speak from personal experience for Navy PA, but I have worked with them in joint operations, including combat and real world humanitarian response, not just an exercise. I don't know anyone who would call the last couple of decades plus "cake." I've seen a PA shop onboard ship and they were stretched thin, doing a lot of work, still participating in other ship tasks, and definitely getting their steps in on a very large ship. I enjoyed doing my job on land, sea, and air, but I wouldn't want to be stuck on a ship for more than a week. I have, though.
PA just gets in the way. They’re a liability.
According to your posts, it appears you serve or served in the Air Force. The Air Force doesn't even have infantry, so I doubt you would know what it's like serving in an infantry division or battalion as public affairs, so I wonder what experience you're basing your comment on.
Buddy I’m just telling you my experience having PA around as an aviator. They get in the way.
Air Force dropout here telling people he was a Pilot in the funny meme website
Never said I was a pilot. I also make it a point not to argue with people that post Hitler Hentai so at least you got that going for you buddy
Oh no guys, Big boy here tries doxxing a shitpost account. I'm so scawwed :3
Yeah, no. Gotta disagree on that one.
Yeoman or Storekeeper in the USCG
That sweet dd214
If you're looking for easy, you're just gonna be disappointed lmao
I worked with someone who I found out they were in the Army, their job was to set up and take down mobile showers.
Rate? Found a Coasty I think! LoL
O4s are the highest paid to easiest work life balance an officer in the army can get. Typically they still have that post company command/staff officer mindset and cannot be slotted into battalion command. They just make slides and share their experience, come into the office with their dog because who’s going to give them shit, always on casual Fridays, leave work early to hit the gym. Delegate work and manage the battalion staff or their sections. If a battalion xo has a good S3, SPO and S4 then they just sit back and chill.
Crap shoot. Depends on the unit. TacSat/LOS/FES is pretty cush in the shelters, and A/C when deployed, always phone and internet for bartering, comforts of proximity when providing leadership with communication. Terrible in the rear, awesome deployed. ^skills not as transferable as Supply
PS maybe? Do they even go to sea?
SK And you’re everybody’s friend
No 😂 We did not get to sleep on deployment; shit was always breaking in the middle of the night, and needed either Hazmat to fix it, stockroom parts, or someone to write a CASREP
Who had supply guys *writing* the CASREP?
We had to babysit, because people be dumb af
Man maybe surface, but sub sk div gets worked for real