Help! My future son-in-law wants to enlist! Any Iraq war vets out there?

[Fiendish Thingy]

I just got the bare bones story from my wife:

My daughter's boyfriend, fresh out of high school, wants to enlist in the Navy because:

1) they told him he could get a head start on a career in nuclear engineering, and money to pay for college when he gets out;
2) he's less likely to get killed, or even shot at;

Can any DU'ers out there, especially Iraq war vets, tell me about the Navy's role in combat in Iraq currently? I know John Kerry served in the Navy in Viet Nam, and he didn't exactly have a walk in the park.
Any links to sites that provide an alternative perspective to recruiter's sales pitches, including documented cases of recruiter's lies would be greatly appreciated.

My questions are:
Can personnel be involuntarily transferred from one branch of service (Navy) to another(Army)?
Has the stop loss program affected the Navy?
How long are the average Navy deployments?

I'm sure I'll have more questions, but that's it for now-
Thanks in advance for your help.

[Postman]

1. Maybe reading this will help...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5137797

[electropop]

2. So it's not too late yet?

You can still persuade your daughter not to marry this moran? :evilgrin:

[Fiendish Thingy]

15. He's actually a nice sweet kid, nicest guy she's dated yet.

I think he is just impatient to get a jump start on a career, rather than slogging through junior college, transfer to university, etc.

[Massacure]

3. Nuclear engineering? He really wants to spend 6 months underwater?

Nuclear subs usually go out for long patrols, and they are very cramped. I wouldn't want to be on one.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. My cousin has been doing it for years. I dunno how he manages it

[driver8]

17. I was a nuclear operator in the Navy -- I was on an aircraft carrier.

All of the new carriers are nuclear powered.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. I dunno ... I had heard that Navy people are more and more likely to be

boots on the ground as we run low on Army people and Marines.

[Az_lefty]

6. the Navy's a safe place...

and if he makes it into the nuke program the Navy isn't going to let him go.

[lostnfound]

9. The Navy is NOT a safe place.

They grabbed my friend's son and sent him to be a medic in Iraq.

[Cults4Bush]

7. Please go here it'll be much easier for you to get good solid info

http://www.ivaw.net/ I've met several of these vets... they are the real deal.


edited to add that IVAW is IragVetsAgainst the War

[lostnfound]

8. OMG. Yes-Involuntary Transferred: Read the story of my friend's son!!!

Yes. He is about 19 or so. Entered the navy. Was told he would definitely be on a submarine or in a navy hospital. If he did well in his class, they would give him training as a nurse or something like that and he could build a career that way on the outside...blah,blah,blah.

He did do well in his class but they walked in on the class one day and told them that the entire class was going to be re-assigned as 'medics' serving in the Army. He is now in Iraq, just north of Baghdad.

Recruiters LIE. Almost EVERYONE who can be sent is being sent to Iraq.

I will find the link to when I first posted about my friend's son. It had more details.

Edited to add link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=1152748&mesg_id=1152748

Note the details about not acquiring 'seniority points' after he was involuntary transferred to the Marines, and other negative consequences.

[Cults4Bush]

10. Yep and they are using AF Security Police as well... thousands of 'em.

With recruitment spiraling downwards fast it is their last hope before the special skills draft.

[lostnfound]

13. Here's his story, as I wrote it last year.

He's been in Iraq now for a few months.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=1152748&mesg_id=1152748

Recruiter Lies And My Friend's Son
Edited on Tue Feb-24-04 06:25 AM by lostnfound

I first met the young man -- a high school sophomore, perhaps? -- in the context of his father's last stages of cancer. I pondered then what the impact would be on the young man, as he faced coming-of-age without his father, as well as an uncertain financial future.

Six months ago, while I was immersed in alternative media reports of Iraq and of the lies being told by our empire-building government, I learned that the young man was joining the Navy. Now 20ish, he needed a plan for his future. And didn't his mom seem relieved when she told me that he had a plan now, that the Navy was going to train him in a medical specialty, and when he got out he could have a career? She worried over the uncertainties of his life before he enlisted..now, signed up in defense of his country, they were sure he would spend his time stateside, or on a submarine perhaps. Not in harm's way.

The Navy said, "if you do well in corpsman school you absolutely will be able to pick your specialty and where you will go." He studied hard, and is in the top of his corpsman class. But now the Navy says, oops, sorry, fellas: "the Marines need you. The Marines don't train their own nurses; they get all of their medical people from here, so this whole class from top to bottom will be assigned to the Marines. After another 2 months of Marine basic training your job will be to go out with the Marine battalion and attend to the wounded..triage on the battlefield. By the way, you won't be able to collect any seniority points while you are serving in your assignment with the Marines because it's not considered a 'ship assignment'. So when you get back after a year or so, you're not so likely to get your pick of assignments, then, either."

Just another kid screwed over for taking the word of the adults that told him 'trust us'.

I still remember the shell-shocked look in his eyes when his dad was dying. This world sucks. Was he looking for a man's path to follow? What will he see on that battlefield?

None of this shocks me. I had totally expected it, because I'd been reading the stories at DU and hearing news on Pacifica about troop rotations and the draft, etc. But good God I wish I had been wrong.

[Walt Starr]

11. Have the kid read this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5137963

[TahitiNut]

12. Let him go. It'll be a good "learning experience."

If he doesn't have the good sense to know he's being scammed, nobody can do his thinking for him.

Just say "Ahoy, gob!" and wave goodbye. (Your daughter should get better taste in guys -- or learn to love military life.)

Sorry to sound harsh ... but codependency traps are crap.

[ManiacJoe]

14. I am not a vet, but...

I have friends that went through the Navy nuclear programs. They have an extremely high washout rate, but there are lots of high paying civilian jobs available for those who make it through. If you wash out, the military will pick where you go based on the military's needs at the moment, within the same branch of service.

The navy would appear to be the safest of the services at the moment, army and marines being the least safe, at least from the point of view of being shot or blown up. (The USS Cole not withstanding.)

Bear in mind that the Marine medics are almost always from the navy.

[Fiendish Thingy]

16. Kick- and thanks for all the links and feedback so far n/t

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

18. If he is a medic (called "Hospital Corpsman") he will likely serve with

the Marines and have one of the most dangerous possible jobs, corpsmen go with the Marines on all combat missions.

If he becomes a SEAL obviously he will again have a very dangerous job and likely be in combat.

If he was NOT doing one of these jobs, he would most likely NOT be in combat in Iraq, but since they have taken a lot of Air Force positions and made them combat and combat support, I would expect them to do something similar to the Navy if they felt the need to.

No guarantees.