I think I'm going to go Army reserve.

[First Shirt]

I think it was Robert Heinlein who determined that military assignments are handled by one of three possible departments.

The Surprise Party Department
The Practical Joke Department
The Fairy Godmother Department.

The last one is an elderly GS-5 who occasionally puts down her knitting, and snatches a name from the pile of papers on her desk, and does something nice for them.

I think she retired in 1972.

[randy]

I think it was Robert Heinlein who determined that military assignments are handled by one of three possible departments.

The Surprise Party Department
The Practical Joke Department
The Fairy Godmother Department.

The last one is an elderly GS-5 who occasionally puts down her knitting, and snatches a name from the pile of papers on her desk, and does something nice for them.

I think she retired in 1972.

Yep. Glory Road

[Cobar]

Recruiters lie. They lie about everything. Do not ever trust a recruiter's word on anything, ever. They lie. Liars.

If lying was all that they did.... never ever trust a recruiter in any way shape or form. You would probably be better off selling your soul to Satan than to trust a recruiter.

Serving is great, though. Do all you can for your country, just never ever trust a recruiter...ever

[SoupOrMan]

There's only one other thing I can think of besides that, Ben. How about the Coast Guard or its reserve component?

[Ben S]

SouporMan- Thought of CG. In fact I even mentioned it in a previous post. I think it could also work. I am interested and want to look into it further now that I realize that my hunch about the recruiter was correct.

Timo- I know. I actually feel really badly about trying to find the easiest way to serve rather than just going for it all the way. One of my biggest regrets is that I didn't do ROTC as a kid and go into the military before college, or straight after. I knew during college that I wanted to, I just didn't actualy have my act together enough to really do it. I think I wasn't a "serious person" or at least a mature enough person. And now, with law school graduation on the horizon, the beinnging of a legal career, and a family in desperate need of my help, I am kind of marooned in a position where I cannot just go serve and be at the whim of the army. Were it up to me, I'd already be signed up to be a JAG officer and after graduation I could go wherever they want me to go for the next 3 years. But It really saddens me because I would love to fully dedicate myself to it, but its just not in the cards. I just still REALLY want to be able to do SOMETHING. No, i won't ever be a Green Beret, but heck, even if I am stacking boxes in a warehouse, or picking out medium sized BDU's to outfit a unit, or driving the commander around....anything at all to still be able to help out my country in the little way that I still can, I'd happily do it.

[cageym]

If you can't get around the fact that you will be activated for at least 18 months active duty, regardless of MOS, AFSC or NEC and sent to a crap hole someplace then don't join. If anyone tells you that JAG doesn't deploy they are full of it, lawyers are part of the support function and they can go just like admin troops. I know people in an AF intel squadron that don't deploy but that's because their squadron doesn't have a mobility mission and they do satellite imagery, so they don't need to deploy to do their job.

[Aglifter]

What about intelligence? I realize it's not the same thing, but they tend to recruit lawyers pretty heavily -- JAG can be incredibly boring, even when deployed -- my buddy spent his time in Baghdad, being ignored.

[The Wizard]

just to say it again, everyone gets deployed im currently an 88M (Truck Driver) in a PLS company under an MP BDE based out of Germany and we have 92Y (Supply), 42A (Admin), 92G (Cook), 74D (CBRN Spc), 92F (Fueler) and of course 88Ms doing the same thing, Driving, Gunning or TCing in Gun Trucks. it doesnt matter what you pick it is either needed here or they have a different job for you. i have friends that are in everything from finance to intel that either are deployed or will be in the next 6 months.

[randy]

What about intelligence? I realize it's not the same thing, but they tend to recruit lawyers pretty heavily

I'd be interested to know where that info comes from. Are you sure you're not thinking FBI? As far as .mil, Lawyers are pretty much recruited to be JAGs. In 10 years that included a lot of assignments at Joint and Combined command (i.e. all services) I never ran across an Intel type with a Law degree. Or at least not one that advertised it.

Closest was one of my Squadron Officer School classmates. He was a lawyer in civilian life and joined the Air Force to get away from that profession. They tried hard to make him a JAG and he wasn't buyng. He became an Aircraft Maintenance officer and loved it.

[Aglifter]

Sorry, I meant CIA -- one of my profs mentioned that they like to hire attorneys to do analysis. He has some family members, lawyers, who work for the CIA.