Ask a military guy...

[StBishop]

-snip-

Im trying to join the United States Army [Marines already Disqualified me on medical grounds], while the medical conditions for joining between the British armed forces and the American Army are more than likely to be different, would having a history of epilepsy automatically disqualify a person interested in joining, regardless if nearly a decade has passed since their last seizure?



and what would be the requirements for a foreign born person to join the British Armed Forces?

Epilepsy/Seizures - 5 years must have passed without incident to be considered Fit.

For The British Armed Forces, you must be a member of the Commonwealth or have been a British Citizen for 5 years.

Now I just need to move to England, but I dont want to wait until Im 27 to join.

Thanks for the answer, the Army here is waiting for me to get clearance from a doctor saying I no longer have seizures.

Maximum age is 32, you've got a lot of spare time!

Assuming I have the ability to become a resident to the UK within the week. It would be easier if there was a British version of something like the KATUSA.

But hey, when I do get cleared Ill be sure to put down the UK or Germany as a preferred station.

You could look into the French Foreign Legion.

 

[Dectomax]

-snip-

Im trying to join the United States Army [Marines already Disqualified me on medical grounds], while the medical conditions for joining between the British armed forces and the American Army are more than likely to be different, would having a history of epilepsy automatically disqualify a person interested in joining, regardless if nearly a decade has passed since their last seizure?



and what would be the requirements for a foreign born person to join the British Armed Forces?

Epilepsy/Seizures - 5 years must have passed without incident to be considered Fit.

For The British Armed Forces, you must be a member of the Commonwealth or have been a British Citizen for 5 years.

Now I just need to move to England, but I dont want to wait until Im 27 to join.

Thanks for the answer, the Army here is waiting for me to get clearance from a doctor saying I no longer have seizures.

Maximum age is 32, you've got a lot of spare time!

Assuming I have the ability to become a resident to the UK within the week. It would be easier if there was a British version of something like the KATUSA.

But hey, when I do get cleared Ill be sure to put down the UK or Germany as a preferred station.

You could look into the French Foreign Legion.

The old FFL. It's not as good as it sounds. Believe me. It was one of the options I considered when I was thinking about joining a military force. I would recommend your own countries force first. Though, you can look into it more.

 

[Wolf-AUS]

have you ever killed a man, or even just seen a man die?

Do you take it in the arse?

 

[BlastedTheWorm]

Are there female soldiers among the male soldiers? I dunno why, I've just always wanted to know.

Does the SA-80 still jam all the time, or did they actually fix it?

Do you guys get on with the American soldiers?

 

[Dectomax]

Are there female soldiers among the male soldiers? I dunno why, I've just always wanted to know.

Does the SA-80 still jam all the time, or did they actually fix it?

Do you guys get on with the American soldiers?

Female soldiers are common. Though they are not allowed to serve in the Infantry, you still find them in Logistics, Medical, Communication and other such Jobs. They do have their separate barracks.

The L85A1 jammed and generally sucked. Thankfully, In my time we now have the L85A2. Which in my view is an amazing piece of kit.

We do have a joke, mainly at the Americans expense. Though on operation we respect them as fellow soldiers.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Around 7 - 10 mags usually. Machine guns have a few thousand spread out amoungst the platoon. The game winner though is the 40mm grenades. Mostly everyone carries a belt or two, and not everyone can even use them. Sometimes we have AT-4s and Javelins with us.

Is it true that the AT-4 is named after the pronunciation of 84?

 

[Dectomax]

Around 7 - 10 mags usually. Machine guns have a few thousand spread out amoungst the platoon. The game winner though is the 40mm grenades. Mostly everyone carries a belt or two, and not everyone can even use them. Sometimes we have AT-4s and Javelins with us.

Is it true that the AT-4 is named after the pronunciation of 84?

It's named the AT-4 on that basis yes. But it is also because it fires an 84mm round.

 

[similar.squirrel]

How do you feel about the unquestioning obedience aspect of the whole thing? My father spent over a year as a cadet, and walked away with a lifelong hatred for any kind of intrinsic authority. Granted, this was in the USSR, and he was general-purpose infantry [read: meat-shield], but the idea that somebody can treat you like dirt 'just because' disturbs me. I understand the necessity of discipline, but doesn't it feel strange sometimes? And since we're talking about the British Armed Forces, how do you feel about the fact that a sizeable portion of the Officers got their job due to their ancestry as opposed to their abilities?

I'm toying with the idea of joining the British Armed Forces [I'm Irish, but that shouldn't really be a problem], but these things tend to niggle.

 

[Dectomax]

How do you feel about the unquestioning obedience aspect of the whole thing? My father spent over a year as a cadet, and walked away with a lifelong hatred for any kind of intrinsic authority. Granted, this was in the USSR, and he was general-purpose infantry [read: meat-shield], but the idea that somebody can treat you like dirt 'just because' disturbs me. I understand the necessity of discipline, but doesn't it feel strange sometimes? And since we're talking about the British Armed Forces, how do you feel about the fact that a sizeable portion of the Officers got their job due to their ancestry as opposed to their abilities?

The only people we care about, are our fellow soldiers. Desk jockeys aren't appreciated. The Corporals and Sergeants ask us not to call them Sir because: "They work." We really don't get treated like dirt. They may have a joke about you, but it happens to everyone. Your all in the same boat. At the end of the day, they're just trying to get you through the training. they want you to succeed.

A lot of people think it's all shouting. It's not. We're treated like adults. If you fuck up, you're in the shit pit but other than that the training team are decent guys.

 

[Vash108]

Do you guys have an equivalent to Delta Force?

 

[Dectomax]

Do you guys have an equivalent to Delta Force?

The SAS are the Army's special forces. They tend to work with Delta force. Though to say the two are similar is wrong.

 

[Caligulove]

Got a buddy worked with some of you Royal Marines.
Heard about some of the different terminology between the militaries, but also heard you guys colloquially/informally refer to Urban Warfare as the acronym FISH and CHIPS:
Fighting In Someone's House and Causing Havoc In People's Streets

Is that for real or was he just taking the piss out of an ignorant yank marine?

 

[Thaluikhain]

Do you guys have an equivalent to Delta Force?

You've never heard of 22 SAS?

Delta Force was formed by a US officer who'd served with them on exchange.

 

[similar.squirrel]

How do you feel about the unquestioning obedience aspect of the whole thing? My father spent over a year as a cadet, and walked away with a lifelong hatred for any kind of intrinsic authority. Granted, this was in the USSR, and he was general-purpose infantry [read: meat-shield], but the idea that somebody can treat you like dirt 'just because' disturbs me. I understand the necessity of discipline, but doesn't it feel strange sometimes? And since we're talking about the British Armed Forces, how do you feel about the fact that a sizeable portion of the Officers got their job due to their ancestry as opposed to their abilities?

The only people we care about, are our fellow soldiers. Desk jockeys aren't appreciated. The Corporals and Sergeants ask us not to call them Sir because: "They work." We really don't get treated like dirt. They may have a joke about you, but it happens to everyone. Your all in the same boat. At the end of the day, they're just trying to get you through the training. they want you to succeed.

A lot of people think it's all shouting. It's not. We're treated like adults. If you fuck up, you're in the shit pit but other than that the training team are decent guys.

Thanks for clearing that up. Another thing: I have a really quiet voice. Not the best in social situations and so forth. Is this something one would need to fix? Strange question, but there you go.

 

[Dectomax]

Got a buddy worked with some of you Royal Marines.
Heard about some of the different terminology between the militaries, but also heard you guys colloquially/informally refer to Urban Warfare as the acronym FISH and CHIPS:
Fighting In Someone's House and Causing Havoc In People's Streets

Is that for real or was he just taking the piss out of an ignorant yank marine?

Nope, that's what we refer to it as. Though it's officially referred to as FIBUA ( Fighting in built up areas )Alot of the lads prefer FISHandCHIPS.

 

[Wolf-AUS]

have you ever killed a man, or even just seen a man die?

I'll give that another go, sorry about the harshness of my original response, it's a habitual reply to people when they ask in a pub/club after they find out you're military, so I'll put it a bit more politely because, you may be ignorant towards the gravity of the question you're asking.

You don't ever ask a soldier this, it is seen (in my country at least) as incredibly disrespectful and I know of a few guys who will end a conversation with someone as soon as it's asked.

Again, sorry my for initial reply.

 

[Dectomax]

How do you feel about the unquestioning obedience aspect of the whole thing? My father spent over a year as a cadet, and walked away with a lifelong hatred for any kind of intrinsic authority. Granted, this was in the USSR, and he was general-purpose infantry [read: meat-shield], but the idea that somebody can treat you like dirt 'just because' disturbs me. I understand the necessity of discipline, but doesn't it feel strange sometimes? And since we're talking about the British Armed Forces, how do you feel about the fact that a sizeable portion of the Officers got their job due to their ancestry as opposed to their abilities?

The only people we care about, are our fellow soldiers. Desk jockeys aren't appreciated. The Corporals and Sergeants ask us not to call them Sir because: "They work." We really don't get treated like dirt. They may have a joke about you, but it happens to everyone. Your all in the same boat. At the end of the day, they're just trying to get you through the training. they want you to succeed.

A lot of people think it's all shouting. It's not. We're treated like adults. If you fuck up, you're in the shit pit but other than that the training team are decent guys.

Thanks for clearing that up. Another thing: I have a really quiet voice. Not the best in social situations and so forth. Is this something one would need to fix? Strange question, but there you go.

I was the same before I joined. Being a gamer and all. Though trust me, they will get you talking. Even if it's just amongst your mates. In the first two weeks you do Foundation. You live in a single room with all 40/60 of the recruits, so you open up and talk. After that you move into 4/6 person rooms. so you'll make mates.

another apsect is the Buddy system. You will have one mate, your best mate. And he will watch your back, in training, on operation and on nights out. It's a good system. gets you out of your shell and talking to people.

 

[Caligulove]

Got a buddy worked with some of you Royal Marines.
Heard about some of the different terminology between the militaries, but also heard you guys colloquially/informally refer to Urban Warfare as the acronym FISH and CHIPS:
Fighting In Someone's House and Causing Havoc In People's Streets

Is that for real or was he just taking the piss out of an ignorant yank marine?

Nope, that's what we refer to it as. Though it's officially referred to as FIBUA ( Fighting in built up areas )Alot of the lads prefer FISHandCHIPS.

That is goddamn hilarious

 

[Dectomax]

have you ever killed a man, or even just seen a man die?

I'll give that another go, sorry about the harshness of my original response, it's a habitual reply to people when they ask in a pub/club after they find out you're military, so I'll put it a bit more politely because, you may be ignorant towards the gravity of the question you're asking.

You don't ever ask a soldier this, it is seen (in my country at least) as incredibly disrespectful and I know of a few guys who will end a conversation with someone as soon as it's asked.

Again, sorry my for initial reply.

Thank you for taking that question for me. I don't feel comfortable answering that.

 

[Dectomax]

Got a buddy worked with some of you Royal Marines.
Heard about some of the different terminology between the militaries, but also heard you guys colloquially/informally refer to Urban Warfare as the acronym FISH and CHIPS:
Fighting In Someone's House and Causing Havoc In People's Streets

Is that for real or was he just taking the piss out of an ignorant yank marine?

Nope, that's what we refer to it as. Though it's officially referred to as FIBUA ( Fighting in built up areas )Alot of the lads prefer FISHandCHIPS.

That is goddamn hilarious

That's the British for you!