Joining Navy Late in Life

K

KingSobieski

Veteran XX
I'm going to be coming up on the age cutoff limit for joining the armed forces soon, Navy is 39. DOB 1.3.88 (35yrs)

Still relatively healthy and work outside a lot. Got some love handles tho ; )

No debts, 15yr mortgage paid down to 8yrs, about $3k/month budget. 2 cash cars.

Looks like a lot of benefits and opportunities to pass up especially if its on the government dime.

Also overwhelmed with daycares and schools and immigration with the waifu and things like that, in my head, I sort of imagine all those problems would be greatly reduced/eliminated with enlistment. If she needs to leave country, the Navy can help me out with my kids.

I'd get a nice sign on bonus too, could pay off my house right away ($30K left) and have it rented out while I'm gone. Id have like, $30-40k in rent money after 2 years and could buy another house.

Right now after 401ks and savings contributions, I'm left with a few hundred discretionary bucks at the end of the month. Already knocked all expenses as low as possible. Not much opportunity with things as-is. It sucks just really feeling the pinch when I buy a weed whacker.

Kind of like a last chance to get out and do something exciting and get some financial footholds and setup for later in life with VA healthcare.

I'm helping my uncles now, all 3 vets that live in the mountains, and there's no way they could do that without the VA support.

I think if I went this path, I could get up to a million before retirement age @65.
 
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Yeah definitely join a giant gov bureaucracy, it'll solve all your problems :boogie:
 
You should get in right away. They are desperate for recruits.
I don't know why everyone doesn't want to sign up under ByeDone's awesome leadership skills.
From Afghanistan to Ukraine... sure makes me want to join up.
hhehe gl king..
Maybe it could be a good thing to do for yourself & the family
 
Join Space Force, learn satellite communications, get cushy job for Government contractor. You don't need to get syphilis.
 
If you're going to join the navy at that age, do something smart so there is a career path when you get out
 
ya p much not much going on right now besides dire emergencies every day.

some structure and security would be awesome

id like to no longer be the point man on so many business dealings that have no upsides, just be a regular schmuck and blend in with the 1000's of other schmucks sounds like my sort of pace.

I looked at reserves a few years ago and it seemed good then, just the kids were really small and hard to travel with twins and it was like 4-6 months training.

now the twins are 5 and more manageable. not much happening in my local area for schools and such so need a relocation anyways so this could work out well in a number of different ways.
 
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You're not going to blend in at 2x the age of everyone else brother.

My dad and son went navy. I had no interest but probably should have.
 
Your military pay is going to suck monkey balls until you locate to your first duty assignment. Your family can't travel with you through basic and whatever the navy calls their job training as far as I know.

You will be at sea 3/4ths of your navy career. You will also be assigned to be on the east or west coast, and it is rare to be sent to the other side once you're in. If you want to live on the west coast, if you happen to get the east coast you'll likely be stuck there the entire time when not at sea.

Navy boot camp isn't all that hard, although I haven't been in the military since 1998, things might have changed. I was air force though, basic training for the navy and air force are about the same, more concerned about your job than ruck marches. Depends on how out of shape you are. If you're overweight they will put you on a fat boy program regardless. When I joined the AF, I weighed 147 lbs. When I graduated basic training, I weighed 180. All that starchy food and honestly I got more exercise while in HS than I did in boot. None of the clothes I was issued fit after I graduated. But that wasn't normal.

If you score well on the asvab, you can do any job. I'd take the asvab first to see just what jobs you'd be eligible for before signing your life away.

Good luck.
 
Also, if you do sign up, make sure you get every available bonus. Normally, a six year contract will give you a hefty signing bonus depending on the job, as well as an additional rank once you graduate. Make sure you get the job you want in writing, never agree to a description like "general electronics" because they can fuck you over and put you in a shit job cleaning batteries or something. Get the specific job you want in writing.
 
The Navy's Offering Up to $115,000 to Join or Come Back
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The Navys Offering Up to $115,000 to Join or Come Back | Military.com

The Navy is offering potential recruits a new, eye-watering figure in exchange for joining its ranks: $115,000 in possible bonuses and loan repayment.

In a press release issued Saturday, the Navy announced that it is topping its already historically high $50,000 signing bonus, with the possibility of earning up to $65,000 in loan repayment as well.
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not interested in the $65k loan, but the 50K sign on bonus is cool.


Navy acknowledges using non-binary drag queen as to boost recruitment | Just The News

:rofl:

The Navy said has acknowledged having recruited a sailor who also was a non-binary drag queen to participate in a "Navy Digital Ambassador" pilot program designed to boost low recruitment numbers.

Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, whose stage name is Harpy Daniels, was one of five active-duty personnel who participated in the digital ambassador program that ran from October 2022 to March 2023, a Navy spokesperson told The Daily Caller News Foundation reported in a story published Monday.
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god damned right they better be giving me some $50k

i sense an opportunity to bilk uncle sam for some serious $$$$ for services to this country

seems as though insurance won't continue unless i plan on 20yrs and retiring fromthe navy. otherwise some special situations like low income or injury while serving count for continuations. So lets hope i can break an ankle or something good while on deck and be out in less than <2

step 1) sign up

step 2) pay off house with sign-up bonus, rent house

step 3) float around on boat for a couple years

step 4) get injured on boat with a vague and hard to diagnose injury

step 5) :bandit:
 
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ya i can do reserves after a short term service if i wanted to hold onto the insurance.

guess we'll see how much i like it.

would definitely at least do 2year max but damnit, those sign on bonuses for extra years are tempting.

they get more incentivized to keep on sailors for longer because sailors get useful around the 5yr mark and there's widening gaps between recruits and vets and training and readiness.

in terms of salary not losing much money over what i'm making now and hard to retrain for a different career if im already working. idk guys im not seeing many downsides. all-in benefits included is like a valued package of about $70k for a new recruit. Thats accounting housing stipends, education, etc, i'll use all that sh%t up on my family vs a avg single dude.

plus lowes does 10% vet discounts and then you can use their preferred parking spots

lets try to get this all wrapped up by august
 
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The navy does offer better pay than the other branches, simply because like I said, you'll be out at sea for 3/4ths of your hitch. You would be getting (depending on ship and mission) things like hazardous duty pay, foreign duty pay, etc on top of your base pay. Then, you'll get housing pay and cost of living pay (HOLA/COLA) or live for free in base housing, although the navy normally doesn't have a lot of onbase housing, at least from what i've seen.

And while at sea, you work 12 hour days, 7 days a week for months on end, only getting off in port of calls for liberty. Which you'll blow your money on booze and hookers.

They will wring every ounce of that bonus money out of you.

Some guys love the navy life. I don't see how romantic it is to sleep in a three tier bunk with a little drawer for personal items.

And then, there's this beauty: https://www.reddit.com/r/navy/comments/sjpfzi/the_navy_has_a_floating_barracks_that_is_somehow/
 
enlisted pay super sucks, so if you're making decent money in the civilian world be prepared to lower your standard of living

you would be so much better off going in as an officer, if you don't have an undergraduate degree maybe look into ROTC programs.. would be much better if you could do that when going in, but ig you couldn't be a lazy schmuck either if you're a leader

sorry your life is terrible and you're having to consider this
 
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doesnt seem that bad 2me. no worse than living in a small house with kids.

I got a bachelors in international relations. may actually be useful for navy work. maybe with the shit enlistment numbers and whatever, i can get on as an officer

life is ok. lots of travel. lots of panic. lots of confusing miscommunication that leads to me face2face2customer with :shrug: look. i mean its oooookkkkkk but if i miss the cutoff date then i just get a 20yr stint at this office n then que curtain. lets spice this up

i been a lot of shitty places and lived a lot of shitty places. so i dont think adjusting to boat life is the worst thing ever. im not exactly a dainty daisy. i tried to sign up for the army when i was maybe 22 or so, the officer rejected it based on my criminal record - but that was during a drawdown so they were trying to dump people at that time. i havent had any prosecuted crime activities for over 10yrs so i think i'll be OK on that front.

01 ensign officer is $3,600/month

seems the big pay jump is on the 3rd yr. $4,500

so we're about same in terms of pay rates between private/navy so no big deal 'lowering' my living condition since its already pretty much, uh, low.
 
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