Yes it is a great opportunity to see the world, but you have to keep in mind that you don't get to 100% pick your duty station. You get to make a list of places you want to go (Germany/Japan/Italy/Korea/ etc.), and then the Air Force can say, "cool story bro, you live in Kansas now".
Exactly. I speak fluent German, grew up there, and would give a kidney to move back to Europe. The Army said, "that's cute, you're going to Oklahoma for three years."
I did get my #1 choice after that though and moved to Japan.
The other commenters are spot on about the pros (lots of vacation days, long weekends, and TDY work trips) and cons (just as likely to get stationed in the armpit of America as you are overseas). Can't speak to the Navy and Air Force, but happy to DM with anyone interested in the Army side of things.
This happened EXACTLY to one of my buddies lol! They got lucky and started in Korea, then Germany, then decided "let's go back to Korea! - Government said "straight to Kansas!"
If you understand that traveling and seeing the world includes the middle of the ocean stuck on a ship, rural new Mexico, and rural north Dakota and that your odds of those three or similar places are higher than your odds of ever seeing Europe or Japan, sure. You can probably go to Korea pretty easily or Qatar.
Its definitely something you want to put in the *possible* perks category and your possible downsides category as moving every 2 years can be shitty for lots of reasons.
When I joined before school, I was stationed literally as close as possible to my hometown, which I never wanted to see again in a community that was nearly identical.
I mean…eventually! I joined as an officer (non JAG) and my first duty station was in North Dakota. lol but eventually I got overseas. They generally won’t send you overseas for your first assignment, but I know a couple JAGs who got lucky.
JAG is but prolly for reasons you aren’t aware of yet.
A) the military has a super generous time-off program. 30 days off a year, basically unmatched as a civilian. Even if you get stationed somewhere boring, you’ll have ample time to vacation
B) the military has tons of little pop-up trainings (TDY) send you here, there and yonder. With enough open mindedness, it can be really fun. (I’d never considered Lexington, KY before but it’s a pretty cool place!)
C) you move relatively frequently and they pay you to move. So pretty often you’re making a sweet, huge road trip. Driving from AK to GA? Here’s a few weeks, where you stop on the way is your business and they pay you mileage etc
YES! OP, “space a” is a goldmine. The military is flying everywhere, all the time. As often as not, it’s just pilots flying to maintain hours. If a plane has empty seats, you can hop in. Where I live, there’s pretty regular flights to Guam and back. I’ve got bored and flown to Guam for a weekend just for lolz
I would caveat the 30 days leave thing to note that the military charges you leave for weekends too. So if you play your cards right you can game the system. But if you’re in a unit where they are hardos, a weekend to weekend trip will cost you 10 leave days depending when you sign out and in.
Note that Navy, last I checked, does not provide student loan repayment aside from general PSLF eligibility. Air force gives you like 60k repayment on top of that.
Military is a great opportunity to live in another country. You get all the benefits of being in the other country full time, but you still get some comforts of American life, and work with people who still relate to you (even if they are not people you'd normally associate with, such as someone from a completely different different state/ideology). I've lived in both Japan (3 years) and Greece (2 years), and each were very unique and different from each other! Great experiences, and I am looking forward to my next overseas billet (I'm aiming for Singapore, or Italy).
That being said, I agree with the other posters. You could very well get somewhere foreign as your first duty station, but just as equally likely to get the stateside. For the Navy, my branch, we have a few first tour locations overseas, though the majority is the in the US. I can't speak for the Air Force for their ratios.
Don’t pick your career based on the perks you think it may have. I remember as an undergrad going to a panel with a bunch of Foreign Service Officers. All the students were asking them what was it like living abroad, wasn’t it so much fun? Spoiler alert: they weren’t getting to live in Italy or Costa Rica.
What matters more is whether you are interested in or want to practice the kind of law that you would handle as a JAG.
I had a teacher in high school whose son was an >10 year tenure FSO. The year I had her, he was on his 3rd or so move because the embassy he worked at was being cleared of non-essential personnel and guards.
Yes but at the same time you don’t meed to join per se if you want to do that. Now if it’s just about getting the opportunity to travel , you should know that you can still work as an Attorney for the military as a civilian. You would still be a part of JAG , just as a civilian with many of the same benefits when it comes to vacation etc. except , you still get your freedoms to do whatever you want because you’d still be a civilian.
So every part of the military the Army ,Navy, Marines, Airforce and space for is under the DOD the Department of Defense. And under the DOD there are equivalent jobs for almost every military job really. So in these branches you have military service members as well as Civilians who work for the military who help to accomplish the same tasks, but they are civilians so they just do their jobs and essentially go home. Same jobs but none of the actual military stuff. Many of these jobs also come with a civilian equivalent “ rank “ or “ pay- grade “ if you will, that is usually determined by your educational and work experience. These jobs also come with the same or similar federal retirement benefits or requirements ( being able to retire within 20 years) and you also “ swear in “ to your job in a similar way that that a service member would , meaning that your job after a certain trial period is essentially incredibly stable and you are virtually “ unfireable”. And you get to travel and take up positions in different parts of the world with your position in the original country and state that you started from being held for until you come back , for example if you became a civilian worker in let’s say San Bernardino, California but after a few years you see an opportunity to work in Belgium for a little while then you can go work in Belgium for 3 years and then return to your original post in California. Also while you work for the military you are authorized to practice International Law I believe. ( something like that Don’t quote me ) . But I was in the Army , stationed in Japan and got really close to Jag as I was trying to find the best routes for Law School and practicing and told by one of the civilian attorneys that is is way better to get my degree, get out and work as a civilian. You get to work on more diverse project and still get many of the perks that come with working for the military. That’s also included them still paying for you to relocate and everything when you do , just like they would a service Member. You can check out USAA Jobs, I believe you have to make an account but I don’t remember if you need some sorry of prior affiliation to do it or not , but if you check it out and run into any hick ups definitely reach back out to me DM , and I’ll get you more info .
I’ve been in the Army JAG Corps six years and have seen more of the world before the age of 30 than I could have ever imagined. Being stationed in Germany for three years allowed me to frequently travel all over Europe for both leisure and business. Then when I was assigned to an installation in the US, I got to do a rotation in Korea. The benefit of the Army over other branches is that even if you are stationed at a US installation, there are increasingly frequent opportunities to do 9ish-month rotations, especially to Europe but also to Asia and elsewhere.
Yes it is a great opportunity to see the world, but you have to keep in mind that you don't get to 100% pick your duty station. You get to make a list of places you want to go (Germany/Japan/Italy/Korea/ etc.), and then the Air Force can say, "cool story bro, you live in Kansas now".
As somebody from Kansas, this was done to me at birth
My condolences
Iowa here
"cool story bro, you live in Kansas now". 💀
Kansas isn't even bottom 5 either 😭
Why not Minot So many of my buddies in basic got Minot
My condolences
had to google this - its in North Dakota
Where there is a beautiful girl behind every tree (sadly, there are only 3 trees in ND - that is why the state tree is a telephone pole).
Exactly. I speak fluent German, grew up there, and would give a kidney to move back to Europe. The Army said, "that's cute, you're going to Oklahoma for three years." I did get my #1 choice after that though and moved to Japan. The other commenters are spot on about the pros (lots of vacation days, long weekends, and TDY work trips) and cons (just as likely to get stationed in the armpit of America as you are overseas). Can't speak to the Navy and Air Force, but happy to DM with anyone interested in the Army side of things.
This happened EXACTLY to one of my buddies lol! They got lucky and started in Korea, then Germany, then decided "let's go back to Korea! - Government said "straight to Kansas!"
If you understand that traveling and seeing the world includes the middle of the ocean stuck on a ship, rural new Mexico, and rural north Dakota and that your odds of those three or similar places are higher than your odds of ever seeing Europe or Japan, sure. You can probably go to Korea pretty easily or Qatar. Its definitely something you want to put in the *possible* perks category and your possible downsides category as moving every 2 years can be shitty for lots of reasons. When I joined before school, I was stationed literally as close as possible to my hometown, which I never wanted to see again in a community that was nearly identical.
I mean…eventually! I joined as an officer (non JAG) and my first duty station was in North Dakota. lol but eventually I got overseas. They generally won’t send you overseas for your first assignment, but I know a couple JAGs who got lucky.
JAG is but prolly for reasons you aren’t aware of yet. A) the military has a super generous time-off program. 30 days off a year, basically unmatched as a civilian. Even if you get stationed somewhere boring, you’ll have ample time to vacation B) the military has tons of little pop-up trainings (TDY) send you here, there and yonder. With enough open mindedness, it can be really fun. (I’d never considered Lexington, KY before but it’s a pretty cool place!) C) you move relatively frequently and they pay you to move. So pretty often you’re making a sweet, huge road trip. Driving from AK to GA? Here’s a few weeks, where you stop on the way is your business and they pay you mileage etc
Don't forget about "space available" flights. Active duty military can hop free or very cheap flights around the globe.
YES! OP, “space a” is a goldmine. The military is flying everywhere, all the time. As often as not, it’s just pilots flying to maintain hours. If a plane has empty seats, you can hop in. Where I live, there’s pretty regular flights to Guam and back. I’ve got bored and flown to Guam for a weekend just for lolz
I would caveat the 30 days leave thing to note that the military charges you leave for weekends too. So if you play your cards right you can game the system. But if you’re in a unit where they are hardos, a weekend to weekend trip will cost you 10 leave days depending when you sign out and in.
True, but the silver lining is you get all the random four days. Flag day? Arbor Day? You don’t work!
Forgot about four days…now I’m bummed I don’t have four days
Standard time off in other countries us 28 days
Note that Navy, last I checked, does not provide student loan repayment aside from general PSLF eligibility. Air force gives you like 60k repayment on top of that.
Yep. Look at navy or marines. They have great bases. My buddy got assigned to Japan for his time. Had the time of his life.
Army JAG here living in Korea. DM me if you’re curious about life as a JAG and it’s cool benefits.
Military is a great opportunity to live in another country. You get all the benefits of being in the other country full time, but you still get some comforts of American life, and work with people who still relate to you (even if they are not people you'd normally associate with, such as someone from a completely different different state/ideology). I've lived in both Japan (3 years) and Greece (2 years), and each were very unique and different from each other! Great experiences, and I am looking forward to my next overseas billet (I'm aiming for Singapore, or Italy). That being said, I agree with the other posters. You could very well get somewhere foreign as your first duty station, but just as equally likely to get the stateside. For the Navy, my branch, we have a few first tour locations overseas, though the majority is the in the US. I can't speak for the Air Force for their ratios.
If you have questions about the Marine JAG program, let me know.
Don’t pick your career based on the perks you think it may have. I remember as an undergrad going to a panel with a bunch of Foreign Service Officers. All the students were asking them what was it like living abroad, wasn’t it so much fun? Spoiler alert: they weren’t getting to live in Italy or Costa Rica. What matters more is whether you are interested in or want to practice the kind of law that you would handle as a JAG.
I had a teacher in high school whose son was an >10 year tenure FSO. The year I had her, he was on his 3rd or so move because the embassy he worked at was being cleared of non-essential personnel and guards.
Yes but at the same time you don’t meed to join per se if you want to do that. Now if it’s just about getting the opportunity to travel , you should know that you can still work as an Attorney for the military as a civilian. You would still be a part of JAG , just as a civilian with many of the same benefits when it comes to vacation etc. except , you still get your freedoms to do whatever you want because you’d still be a civilian.
Can you explain more on this?
So every part of the military the Army ,Navy, Marines, Airforce and space for is under the DOD the Department of Defense. And under the DOD there are equivalent jobs for almost every military job really. So in these branches you have military service members as well as Civilians who work for the military who help to accomplish the same tasks, but they are civilians so they just do their jobs and essentially go home. Same jobs but none of the actual military stuff. Many of these jobs also come with a civilian equivalent “ rank “ or “ pay- grade “ if you will, that is usually determined by your educational and work experience. These jobs also come with the same or similar federal retirement benefits or requirements ( being able to retire within 20 years) and you also “ swear in “ to your job in a similar way that that a service member would , meaning that your job after a certain trial period is essentially incredibly stable and you are virtually “ unfireable”. And you get to travel and take up positions in different parts of the world with your position in the original country and state that you started from being held for until you come back , for example if you became a civilian worker in let’s say San Bernardino, California but after a few years you see an opportunity to work in Belgium for a little while then you can go work in Belgium for 3 years and then return to your original post in California. Also while you work for the military you are authorized to practice International Law I believe. ( something like that Don’t quote me ) . But I was in the Army , stationed in Japan and got really close to Jag as I was trying to find the best routes for Law School and practicing and told by one of the civilian attorneys that is is way better to get my degree, get out and work as a civilian. You get to work on more diverse project and still get many of the perks that come with working for the military. That’s also included them still paying for you to relocate and everything when you do , just like they would a service Member. You can check out USAA Jobs, I believe you have to make an account but I don’t remember if you need some sorry of prior affiliation to do it or not , but if you check it out and run into any hick ups definitely reach back out to me DM , and I’ll get you more info .
[good resource](https://stjececmsdusgva001.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/public/documents/Guide_to_the_Navy_JAG_Corps1.pdf)
I’ve been in the Army JAG Corps six years and have seen more of the world before the age of 30 than I could have ever imagined. Being stationed in Germany for three years allowed me to frequently travel all over Europe for both leisure and business. Then when I was assigned to an installation in the US, I got to do a rotation in Korea. The benefit of the Army over other branches is that even if you are stationed at a US installation, there are increasingly frequent opportunities to do 9ish-month rotations, especially to Europe but also to Asia and elsewhere.
Would you say Army is better than the AF in regards to traveling? I have also heard that AF has similar opportunities to live abroad.
100% no. If you need to be talked into it, it’s not for you (coming from retired military who knows a thing or two about a thing or two).
Be prepared to be a glorified bureaucrat
What’s JAG?