how to

[ashleylynn86]

yes my soon to be x husband is Army.. I'm thinking about joining beacause i do have 3 children 3years and younger.. I love what you do get out of the military.. and how you can feel about your job everyday.. What should i start doing before i join.. i need my education(GED somthing) and the working out is going to kill me but what should i do and how do yall do this?? How long are yall away from your children to even start out with.. ANY ADVICE would be great!!

[arttiger86]

well i'm a single mom and i know how hard it's going to be when i go back to work because i am military. well first off your going to need to get an education other wise your not going to be able to join. you could ask a re-cruiter how to go about getting a GED in the state your in. second basic training is about 9 weeks for the army after basic training you'll be lucky if you can take a week of leave before AIT. AIT is where you learn your MOS or job depending on your job depends on how long your AIT is going to be. after AIT you'll end up getting stationed. However after you are stationed you can move your family where you are at. now you have to remember we have CQ which is a 24 hour duty. we also have time in the feild which can be about a week long sometimes longer. however for this your going to need to have a family care plan which pretty much says who's going to watch your kids when your not there. for short term is say the field or CQ but for long term is say a deployment. yes even though you are a single mom you still get deployed and are away from you children for a long time. however some deployments you can bring family but for others they dont allow it. so think hard before you deside that joining the military is what you really want to do.

[nathansmommy911]

wow, previous poster! great explaination!!!  you hit that one on the head!
im in the process of joining myself.  and let me tell you what, its been a crazy ride.
okay, first of all as a single mom you will not be able to join any active branch.  however you can go into a part time deal.. reserve.  if you dont have your GED you can go through the GED plus program that the military has to offer through the national guard.  this is where they sign you up, send you to your basic and job training then send you to a few week class session where they get you your GED.  and they pay for it all... only condition is you have to have passed 9th grade at least to qualify for it.  if you didnt finish 9th grad you will then need to get your own GED.
this is what im doing... im going into the national guard and for the first 6 months i will be part time, meaning im only having to serve once a month.  after 6 months i have the oppurtunity to go full time( not active duty), which is where i dont move every 2-3 years, i dont get deployed on demand( only when my troops time is up), but being full time i still work for them like a full time job. i get all the benefits too. plus 100% tuition paid for. etc. etc.  well the only thing about being full time compared to active duty basically is full time you dont move around, but you have limited jobs to pick from.  and active duty you do move around and you have a crap load more of jobs to pick from.  unfortunetly if you are a single mom, you cant go active.
hope this helps.. and if you have any questions please ask, cause like i said, im going through all of this right now!  so good luck and keep in touch!

[OmsYankeeMama]

Actually, as a single mom you CAN go active, you just can't have custody of your children. BS reg. but there it is. It's the same for Active Army, Navy, Corps, and Air Force. Not sure about Coast Guard, but most people dont like to swim that much or do research on it. Especially if your not on the coast.