MOS's and SF

[Shawn F.]

I am new here but have been reading these forums for quite some time. I have been thinking of joining the military ever since I was in high school but then decided I did not want to give up my job that I have. Now I found out all about this National Guard thing and being able to keep my job and continue college (if they don't send me out). I have been looking into the military for about 3 or 4 years and not sure what to do. I feel that I will regret not going in and since I keep going back and looking into it I think it's something I really want to do (btw, I am 19 years old). Right now I work in a hot rod shop, that is what I am really into is building hot rods and bikes. Anyways, I will skip all this stuff and go straight to my questions...
I am stuck between 3 or 4 jobs to do. They are Mechanic, Metal Worker, MP, Infantry. I am thinking of staying away from the mechanic and metal worker thing since that is what I do everyday as it is so something different would be better. Then again it can help me in the long run for a job. Also I was looking at Military Police since I would not mind doing something in law inforcement later on in life. What I have always wanted to do and still would like to do is Special Forces. I understand a LOT of people say this and it is VERY hard to do and takes TOTAL commitment, etc. I just do not know how to go about at least TRYING to get into it. Can I do something like Military Police and then go into it or how do I go about doing this?
Any info on the Special Forces and MOS thing would be greatly appreciated. I have been reading through these forums and seen similar questions but they didn't really answer my questions completely.
Sorry for such a long post and thanks a lot for any comments, info or suggestions!

[?ARNG]

Most of your questions have probably already been answered on these two sites:

http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/
http://www.socnetcentral.com/vb/

Just be sure read the stickies & fill out your profile before posting though.

Good luck.

[Shawn F.]

I will definetely check those out, thanks. BTW, I think instead I may do Metal Worker now that way I can stay on the base here in NC in Newton. I guess that if I still do the Metal Worker then I can still later do Airborne School am I correct? Maybe I am wrong, I don't know, I thought I could do that and Ranger School if I ever wanted to. Say I did that and completed them, would I be counted as a Ranger or no since I am just a metal worker?
Any info on this whole MOS thing would be nice. I will check out the sites though and see what I can find to help answer my questions.

[Doc]

If you really want to go SF or Ranger your best chance is going to be in the Infantry. But don't expect to go for at least 2 years and you'll need to be a Specialist/Corporal/E-4 (I think).
Infantry will help you get a civilian police job. (MP would be better).
There are different jobs you can do in the SF (18 series), Ranger would be a good stepping stone to go SF as well.

Good luck, The Q course is tough.

[Shawn F.]

So you say infantry then huh? I thought you had to be a SF to be a Ranger, is that correct or wrong? See I haven't decided on my MOS yet, this is the hardest part for me so far. I was thinking of Infantry or MP at first and now thinking more along the lines of Metal Worker or Diver.... Do they offer a diver in NC and where at if they do? Would I be able to go with the Diver as my MOS and do Ranger school or no? At first I was worried about being an MP or Infantry and then having to go to Iraq since everyone is telling me that that is where I would go if I do 11B or MP. Reason for that is because I'd rather stay here and go every month and be able to stay home and keep working on hot rods like I do now for my job and finish my college... Now of course if I ever did try to do the SF thing then I would have to sacrafice by not doing that and be gone all the time.

[?ARNG]

Don't have to be Ranger to go SF. But that would probably make it easier on you though in terms of physical preparation since you'll have to be pretty darn fit to pass Ranger school.

Don't know anything about the diver MOS so somebody else will have to answer that one.

You'd take the risk of being deployed no matter what MOS you finally decide on so I wouldn't pick an MOS based on deployment possibilities.

Good luck.

[Shawn F.]

Well the whole Diver thing isn't going to happen. Recruiter said they dont have them here in NC... He said to look into 96 B or 11B. He said that the 96B is some kind of intelligence or something ( I don't know what it is). Any information on this and exactly what you do besides just what the sites tells you? Right now I am thinking more along the lines of 11B. What exactly do they teach you in 11B and how long is the training since 11B training and basic boot camp is all together? The recruiter said something about being able to learn to drive the bradley and shoot the gun, etc on it and it's not JUST infantry on foot (grunt I guess you could say). Either those, Metal Worker or someone told me to look into 18X Special Forces Recruit...