ASVAB scores

[MushyMushy]

My son apparently did very well on his ASVAB. Now, I know nothing about it, but what does that mean? Recruiters can't call him if he's under 18, right? What does a high score mean to him if he does want to sign up?

I'm just wondering -- he came home very excited about his score. I'm not sure if he needs a reality check.

 

[powellrj]

Its been awhile, but when my oldest DS took it and got a high score, he was able to pick what MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) they wanted. His dream job was a MEDIC which is what he became.

About the recruiters, all I know is the Marines will NOT be coming back to my home anytime in the near future.

DS who is 17 was waiting outside his job for a friend. He was stopped by a recruiter and questioned. DS was scared to death and thought he had to talk to the guy. Fast forward 2 days later, the guy is on my doorstep at 9:30pm on a school night. Sorry, but the guy got an earful from me for everything from stopping my kid at work to coming to my door unannounced at 9:30 at night.

If DS wants to join the military after college, he has my blessing, but I have spent way too many hours in military and VA hospitals to let him go so soon after his DB got home.

 

[MushyMushy]

Its been awhile, but when my oldest DS took it and got a high score, he was able to pick what MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) they wanted. His dream job was a MEDIC which is what he became.

About the recruiters, all I know is the Marines will NOT be coming back to my home anytime in the near future.

DS who is 17 was waiting outside his job for a friend. He was stopped by a recruiter and questioned. DS was scared to death and thought he had to talk to the guy. Fast forward 2 days later, the guy is on my doorstep at 9:30pm on a school night. Sorry, but the guy got an earful from me for everything from stopping my kid at work to coming to my door unannounced at 9:30 at night.

If DS wants to join the military after college, he has my blessing, but I have spent way too many hours in military and VA hospitals to let him go so soon after his DB got home.

A Marine recruiter has been calling our neighbor to try to get DS to call him! WTH! I told DS not to call, that if he wants to sign up, to take his time and do his research. He seems to have his head on straight about it.

And no offense to anybody in the service, but I don't want my kid signing up at wartime. I'd fully support his decision if he did, but who wants that??? All four of my bio brothers were in the service (2 were Marines), my bio dad was a Marine, and my paternal grandfather was Navy in WWII. One of my brothers came away from his time in the service pretty messed up and it feels like he's just been hung out to dry.

 

[RitaE]

oh they most certainly can call before he is 18. I believe he can even sign Intent papers at 17, without your permission.

You can sign an Opt Out paper at the High School, but in our experience it will not do any good. They'll still call and then claim there must have been a paperwork mix-up. They also cruise the mall, outside the High School, anywhere in your area where teens congregate, they will be there ready to chat. I think anybody with a High School kid needs to determine how you feel about this, how they feel about this and prepare them for what you think they should do when approached by a Recruiter.

Others can explain better about the ASVAB but it is simply a Vocational Aptitude test. It allows the recruiter to match his skill set with different occupations within the Armed Services.

 

[taximomfor4]

I don't know how they treat the ASVAB on an official level, but I do know what happened with me, when I took mine. First, I took a pre-ASVAB. The recruiter told me I aced it, and when I got my ASVAB testing done I'd be able to hold out for what I wanted, and they'd give it to me. I wanted to do language. Any language.

I took the ASVAB, scored high(96 I THINK). Was offered some job, can't remember what. Replied thanks, but I want to do a language. Got the ok. Had to take another test to show aptitude for languages -- aced it. Got offered any language I wanted.

I will say that I BOMBED the stuff about mechanical things. I'd never taken physics, and didn't even know how to drive yet so it was all guessing!!!If I'd stated I wanted to be an airplane mechanic, they might have told me NO.

HTH.

 

[powellrj]

We were wrong in not preparing our DS better. We talk about it all the time around the dinner table so he knows how we feel. If he wants to join the military when he finishes college, he can with our blessing.

When he gets angry at us he will throw up that he will just go and join the army like his brother did. I tell him to go for it if thats what he really wants to do, but he has his heart set on college so it won't happen.

My oldest DS willing joined the Army on the 2nd day of the war in Iraq. Talk about mixed feelings. He was also about to be kicked out of community college (do you know how hard that is to do?!?!?!) so we knew what we were getting into when he went.

I don't know if you have read my other posts, but he was injured and is no longer in the Army because of his injuries. BUT, I can't say the whole thing has been bad. He grew up A LOT, he isn't the same kid who left here. He has gone back to school, has a great job at the VA and just bought a condo and was married in June. He has a pension and insurance for life from the VA. But he also has PTSD, Crohn's, lost 2 inches in height, all of his hair and has injuries that he will carry with him forever.

 

[Longsx3]

And no offense to anybody in the service, but I don't want my kid signing up at wartime. I'd fully support his decision if he did, but who wants that??? All four of my bio brothers were in the service (2 were Marines), my bio dad was a Marine, and my paternal grandfather was Navy in WWII. One of my brothers came away from his time in the service pretty messed up and it feels like he's just been hung out to dry.

Then you really don't want your kid to ever sign up, when my DH signed up there was not a war but the world changes.

 

[Chipmunk89]

A high ASVAB score opens more jobs to your son.

Some jobs require high scores. So if you do not score high, those jobs/trades are not open to you.

You have a few choices when entering the service.
First, you can let the military chose your job.
Second, you let the military chose a job from a field you scored high in. (For example, the ASVAB is broken into parts, electric, mechanical, general, etc.)
Third, you go into the military with a guaranteed job.

 

[trip]

If he doesn't want to join the military why did he take the ASVAB?

 

[lvanleer]

If he doesn't want to join the military why did he take the ASVAB?

Well I know in my case, I took the ASVAB back in the late 70s when I was a senior in high school just to see how I would do....didn't do very well on the mechanical portion however on the logical/math/verbal I did do well.....had no intention of going into the military because I knew I could never get through basic training but it was a good experience taking the test itself....never had a recruiter contact me after taking the test.....what's interesting is that from checking Wikipedia it was a relatively new test when I took it.....it was created in 1976 so I probably took it in 77.

 

[Princess_Michelle]

.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I took the ASVAB in high school (20 years ago) because we didn't have a choice! I scored very high in most sections. The mechanical one, eh, not so much, but still above 50% which boggled my mind!

I NEVER had an interest in the military, and if recruiters had phoned or stopped by I would have refused to speak with them.

There was just a story on our local news about schools moving away from ASVAB.

If a student isn't interested in joining the military then they should just make that clear if someone approaches them about it. My DS is only 12 so we haven't had that experience yet.

 

[MushyMushy]

If he doesn't want to join the military why did he take the ASVAB?

Everybody takes them here. I don't remember it being an option back when I was in school. Maybe it was, but I seem to remember everybody in my grade going to the auditorium to take it.