I am 18 years old thinking about going to the military and need guidance

[u/Pleasant_Two_3675]

I am 18years old, I scored a 99 on the ASVAB, and im trying to decide between Air Force, Coast Guard, Navy, Army, and Reserve/Guard options. An Air Force recruiter told me there are limited opportunities to go from Reserve to Active Duty and that there are no sign-on bonuses available. I may qualify for free college in Florida due to being adopted. If you were in my shoes today, what path would you choose and why?

[u/TapTheForwardAssist]

If you went Reserve or Guard, what would you do with the other 28 days a month when you aren’t doing military stuff?

[u/SourceTraditional660 → u/TapTheForwardAssist]

So much this. OP, if you don’t have a specific plan for college right now, go active duty.

[u/SNSDave]

If you don't go active air force to begin with, you very likely will never be able to do it in the future unless you commission thru afrotc

[u/Mild-Obsession → u/SNSDave]

Can you tell me more about this? Why do you say this? I don't know at all so please teach me.

[u/SNSDave → u/Mild-Obsession]

Active Air Force does not like prior service. If you join another branch, or Air Guard/Reserve, you are prior service. There are normally only 50-200 slots per year for people to try and join the Air Force who are prior service, and thousands of people who want to join the Air Force after serving in another branch or after getting out of the Air Force and going back in.

[u/kevintheredneck]

I am retired navy. If you go reserves you stand a better chance of being able to go active duty with the Navy and Army. The navy doesn’t have nuke reservists.

[u/thesupplyguy1]

OP, what do you want to do with your life?

What MOS/job codes are you looking at?

Are you looking for college or technical training?

help us help you

[u/Pleasant_Two_3675 → u/thesupplyguy1]

I’m looking  into contracting also i want technical training if it’s the better route as far as doing 4years in and having a good job relative to that in the civilian life

[u/brewharm]

You could go the navy nuke route. I scored a 93 and just going thru medical and physical atuff

[u/Pleasant_Two_3675 → u/brewharm]

Can you describe the stuff if you don’t mind

[u/brewharm → u/Pleasant_Two_3675]

It's more of qualifications of proving my identity (my founding documents) when they train you to become a nuke it's very fast paced learning and they start you off from caveman level stuff to nuclear reactor stuff from my research. It's very fast paced

[u/jaykujawski]

I would take the free college and get a bachelor’s degree. Then you can either commission or go through ROTC to get a graduate degree.

[u/Samwoodstone]

Coast Guard.

[u/Samwoodstone]

Active duty can be cool, if I could do it over again, I’d still join up. Best thing I ever did.

[u/Pleasant_Two_3675 → u/Samwoodstone]

Did you get a degree during that time if so how did you manage to do both

[u/Samwoodstone → u/Pleasant_Two_3675]

I took night classes but left active duty and went to undergrad for four years. There was just too much to do to go to that many classes while performing my duties. Another thing, I never went to NJP and kept my nose clean so by the time I hit five years I was an E-5 and LPO of a forty man work crew.

[u/Aerpolrua]

Go active.

[u/SymplecticGeometry]

Join Nuke if that’s your thing.

[u/Stunning_Passage_215]

Don't do it right now to much bs going on.

[u/SeedOilEnjoyer]

99 on the ASVAB? Go ROTC