Military Police. HELP!!

[Zegz]

Ok if you want my advice here it is.

I was a police officer for 2 years and hated it. If you want to become a cop for the action and all the fun stuff, you wont make any money. If you want to become a cop for good money and benefits you wont have ANY fun.

This is how it works in the real world. I was a police officer in a pretty good neighborhood with good pay. Not once in 2 years did I go on a call involving any action. Most action i got in 2 years was someone refusing to pull over for about 5 miles.

Aside from the standard traffic stops, the only calls you will really get is going to be medical call first responders. You show up, make sure nothing is extremely serious, ask questions, and wait for the EMTs. Will it be like this in all good neighborhood? Maybe not, but the fact is, the areas with the best pay will be like this.

Areas with no so good pay are where the action is. Those areas can not afford to pay their police lots of money because to put it simply, the residents of those areas don't have much money. Where there is little money, there is more crime.

Anyways, after 2 boring years of police work not what i was hoping for, Im currently studying to become a History teacher in the same area. Teachers were making around the same as police with same benefits with plenty of time off and out of work at 3 pm everyday. Police are on schedules of work 4 days, off 2, work 4 off 2. Which can include midnight shifts or early early morning shifts. Not the best job if your looking to have a family. Police are among the highest statistical divorce professions.


But like i said, if its something you really want then dont let anyone stop you and best of luck.
Also forgot to mention, go to work everyday accepting that it could be your last. If you cant do that, then don't become a police officer. ANYTHING can happen at anytime and it doesnt matter what neighborhood you work in....just much more likely in the bad neighborhoods.

 

[VizierKane]

To trag.. I undedstand if you live in the middle of Montana or something... Here where I live I will join LAPD, where there pay is actually pretty good LOL and it looks very intense....

On the side note.. I cAme home today and I found my laptop broken.. I started school today and now I have no way to do my HW.. I think something is telling me to join the military first my car and now my laptop... I will mostlikely won't be ingame for a while.... I think I will join the national guard. Better to die on your feet then live on your knees.. If I wake up tommorrow and for some reason I miss the bus to college.... Or another girl turned me down (like today) I'm friken done.. LOL

 

[Zegz]

I live in NJ about 25 mins outside NYC.

Danger in LAPD is very high so be careful. Best of luck with everything.

 

[PD187]

Go in the Air Force. You will be sorry if you do not take my advice. They treat there people the best.

From my limited knowledge of the Air Force, I would have to agree.

I know you weren't considering it but I know that for the Marine MPs, they CS (tear gas) them and have them fight their way through an obstacle course. I'm sure it's not really that bad for the training but they also have the school in the middle of nowhere...

Then again, every Marine is supposed to be CSed every year as some sort of qualification but that's not always the case depending on the unit. I only had to do it once in 4 years (boot camp) simply because I went to a HQ & Service Battalion for 2 years which didn't issue gas masks because the other units needed them.

All this being said, there's no real way to guarantee that you won't be deployed anywhere. I lucked out that I didn't go at all even with Iraq and Afghanistan going strong (2003-2007). Most of it had to do with timing though. I went to Okinawa for 2 years, right as they started 2 year tours (missed the cut off by a week). After that, I went to Camp Lejeune, NC (April 2006) when my unit was deploying in Feb. 2007 for a year, which was just being started back then. Since I didn't extend my contract to go with them, they sent me to 29 palms, California for 10 months. Well, really it was 6 months but I didn't mind the extra money a month at all for being more than 20 miles from NC.

I also have to agree with Trag'Oul. I hated my job in the Marine Corps for all but 10 months. I realize it has more to do with other things (NMCI mostly) but it was the people who truly made doing it tolerable. I would also suggest that you find some sort of program that will let you experience being a Police Officer. I mean you may find out that you don't enjoy it as much as you thought you would and be trapped in a contract for 4-6 years. Although there is the possibility to lat-move, only a recruiter would be able to tell you more details on it. Additionally, the military probably won't let you do it without a re-up. This is just my thinking on it since I never went through it but they spent all that money for you to be an MP/SF/whatever and they won't want you to lat-move so quickly without giving them some kind of guarantee that you'll stick around.

J-Wall also has a point that there's no real way to figure out if it's the right thing for you.
I have to disagree that your only buddies would be other MPs. My experience might be biased because my barracks in Okinawa had MPs though so you got to know them a bit better than if you only met them through working.

Also, from my lone experience, I did have a choice in my first duty station. When it came time for us to get duty stations, our Instructors wrote them up on the board and let us choose based on our proficiency in the class. The only restrictions that they had was the married guys couldn't choose overseas (Okinawa). I'm pretty sure it isn't normal though but it could vary by instructor. Actually, I had a choice on my second duty station (Camp Lejeune) but just barely. I didn't consider the choice of "East Coast/West Coast," "Division/MLG/MEF/MEU" much of a choice at the time as I was hoping for another easy place (preferably one where I could just do my job) but it all worked out in the end. Hell the first 6 months that I was in Camp Lejeune was probably the second best time I had.

Of course, I wasn't even in the Data Platoon for 2 weeks before they put me in the SPE section which consisted of 1 MSgt, 3 SSgts, 2 Sgts (one was getting out soon at the time) and myself, the lone LCpl. It was definitely awkward because my immediate peer group went from mostly my own (Pvt-LCpl) to 3-5 of us total LCpl and below and a bunch of Cpls with a few Sgts. Again, it just worked out and the group the I was with was pretty damn awesome even though it isn't/wasn't allowed.

 

[Daria]

Marine Corp all the way! if you join my beloved USMC you better live up to it...

 

[Cheez]

Wow man lots of good advice here, especially trykael and J-wall's its insightful. My friend was an MP in the air force for 4 years. So far his worst offender was some drunk dude that needed a ride home. Guess he was lucky? Anyway when he came back he joined the National guard instead. From what I can tell he hated the job, I guess it wasn't what he expected.

I guess what you can do is join the national guard and possibly get them to pay for your school. That way you'll be on the fast track for promotions if you ever joined the Police force.

 

[Citizen Soldier]

To trag.. I undedstand if you live in the middle of Montana or something... Here where I live I will join LAPD, where there pay is actually pretty good LOL and it looks very intense....

On the side note.. I cAme home today and I found my laptop broken.. I started school today and now I have no way to do my HW.. I think something is telling me to join the military first my car and now my laptop... I will mostlikely won't be ingame for a while.... I think I will join the national guard. Better to die on your feet then live on your knees.. If I wake up tommorrow and for some reason I miss the bus to college.... Or another girl turned me down (like today) I'm friken done.. LOL

Hey if you really want to become a cop. You do not need military training. What u need to do is apply to be a junior cadet for any police station. Being a cadet is where u learn a lot of the things you will need to know. While you are a cadet, take community college classes towards a criminal justice AA degree. by the time you are 20 1/2 you can apply to LAPD or where ever, as long as your record is clean and have the cadet background and a degree in Criminal Justice, you will be a shoe in. Thats all you need to do. You should be a cop by the time you are 21 if you start early.

 

[Zegz]

Hey if you really want to become a cop. You do not need military training. What u need to do is apply to be a junior cadet for any police station. Being a cadet is where u learn a lot of the things you will need to know. While you are a cadet, take community college classes towards a criminal justice AA degree. by the time you are 20 1/2 you can apply to LAPD or where ever, as long as your record is clean and have the cadet background and a degree in Criminal Justice, you will be a shoe in. Thats all you need to do. You should be a cop by the time you are 21 if you start early.

Yeah he wants to go into military for more than just that reason though but you are right. I was a Police Reserve officers before I became a regular. Veteran Status not needed but it puts you right at the top if you have it.

 

[Blasphemy]

Firstly, the military does things differently, so you should not believe being an MP will give you training for the civilian police force. You will still have to go into the academy and go through all of the training once you go to a local department when you leave the military.

Secondly, never, under any circumstances, join the military to get out of the house. The first reason should be to serve your country, not to use as an escape. It is a life-altering and very serious decision to make and should be respected as such.

Thirdly, don't come here for advice to join the military. True, we do have people from all branches who are members of the community, but the best place to go is to a recruiter. They can answer every question and in more detail as it pertains to you. We don't know what your ASVAB scores are. We do not know your qualifications.


I'll attempt to answer your other questions.


No branch is "easiest". Sure, training in branches vary in intensity, but every single branch is grueling. If you aren't prepared to bleed, sweat, cry, get dirty, and run miles every day carrying pounds of gear, DON'T JOIN.

MP's are Marine Corps and Army. Security Forces (SF) are Air Force. Navy only has security for ships, which I believe you must hold a higher rank for. Coast Guard has law enforcement as well. You will not only be patrolling. It's not that easy of a job. You will also handle domestic issues on base, issuing speeding tickets, conducting investigations, and handing out citations. You could also guard checkpoints on the base. I have friends in MP (Army) and they can attest to this. Also, being an MP your only friends will be other MP's. Other people tend to dislike you for messing up their fun.




You are deployed whenever the military needs you. You have NO say in it and you have no clue when it will be until you get your deployment info. You also have no choice where your first duty station will be. The military decides for you. I'm pretty sure you can specify what you'd like to have (i.e. in-state or abroad), but that only serves as wishful thinking. I've had friends choose in-state and be assigned in Italy. I've had friends choose abroad and be assigned to the same base where they used to live close to. Never join because you want to go to a specific base or be close to family.



Yes. You would be in the active National Guard...you would be required to attend drill at the assigned base one weekend a month. However, you will have to go to training 2 weeks out of the year. You will be getting pay ONLY for the drill weekends, not nearly as much as active Army pay.


Honestly it doesn't seem like the military would be right for you. Every single occupation across all branches are DANGEROUS. You do have the possibility (a very high one at that) to go to war. You wanting to join a combat arm conflicts with your desire to not be in dangers way. Keep that in mind.

man i can't tell it any better then how J-Wall just put it bro. all the armed forces is hard, and will get deployed like i told u when u talked to me about it in steam,

 

[VizierKane]

Wow thanks alot guys (pd187 citizen soldier) for your responses...all you guys are really giving me alot of extraordinary advice...

One reason for all of this.... School is NOT for me... if for example if you did not whant to go to school and you whant to be a cop what should you do? for like ever 2yr in the military you get a bonus pay for your yearly salary of like around 2000 I'm not sure... Same goes if you have a deggree AA plus $2,000 BA plus $4,000. Etc etc... (4yr militRy ex. plus $4,000). The numbers are something like that for LAPD...

What do you guys say? And what would be the advanteges of one over the other?

 

[Zegz]

Get a college degree. Without it, you will never advance in rank.

 

[VizierKane]

Get a college degree. Without it, you will never advance in rank.

Crap... I totally fergot about the career ladder.. To advance to detective or Sargent you need at least a AA.. But I can get the deggre in the military?? Can I?? Say if I joined NA? I kinda whant to join the military..

 

[Officer-Pie]

Vizier, I will add you on steam. Basically, MP wouldn't be the way to go if you have any talent, I talked to my buddy in the Airforce, MP's are the main people who get suicide bombed, car bombed, it's just not the thing. MP's go over to Iraq to be police there and get shot up.

Talk to you later

 

[VizierKane]

Vizier, I will add you on steam. Basically, MP wouldn't be the way to go if you have any talent, I talked to my buddy in the Airforce, MP's are the main people who get suicide bombed, car bombed, it's just not the thing. MP's go over to Iraq to be police there and get shot up.

Talk to you later

wow...

 

[PD187]

Theoretically, you can try to get a college degree while in the military. There are college campuses on base to do so.

However, the job field that you're looking at (MP/SF) has a schedule that probably won't work. It's been awhile since I've been talking to MPs but (I think) they ran a 2 on 2 off schedule that was 12 hours/shift. Also, I think that they switched back and forth from days to night after the 2 on 2 off or after maybe 2 sets of it.

It just really depends on the shop and who's in charge though. For example, my shop in Okinawa started out doing 8 hour shifts. Eventually we went to 8 hour shifts weekdays with 2 12 hour shifts on the weekend. After that, we had a shortage of people through TADs/leaving/etc so we went to a night watch that was 24-16-16-16-16-40 (128 hours/night watch week) where you could sleep for a certain amount of time and you only did it once every month and a half or so. The whole point of this paragraph is to say that every shop's schedule is different. Since you'd be going into a shop that's rather critical to the base, the hours might be crazy. I know that I enjoyed "working" at night when I could though.

 

[VizierKane]

Alright alright..... Good stuff good stuff... My life sucks right now.. I'm looking at my options before I make a decision...

 

[Citizen Soldier]

If you join the air force. you are automatically put into their Community College of the Air Force. If your MOS is Security Forces you would be studying Criminal Justice while you are serving. Typically after 4 years you should have an AA in criminal justice if you join the Air Force.