Questions about the United States Coast Guard

[Ranger97XL]

I'm 20, going to be 21 in july, I live in chicago and was going to Illinois Institute of Technology to be an architect. I have recently had to leave due to financial issues. I planned on taking a semester off and getting a full time job to help pay for school, and maybe go to a junior college to get an associates to be a draftsman in the time being since my fafsa would most likely cover junior college costs. Well its been 5 months now and the only job I have been able to get was a bs contract job for bayer roadside service, where I barely made $100 a week. The bills are starting to pile up and the military is looking like the best option. I have to admit I'm not much of a fighter and would rather be a rescuer. I've loved the water/boating ever since I was young and considered the coast guard out of high school but my mom talked me out of it.

I know a lot of you have military experience on here and I was wondering if any one had experience serving for the coast guard. I'm not looking to make a career out of it but more for something to help cover college costs and pay bills in the meantime. I read that near the end of boot camp you get to fill out a "wish list" of where you would want to be stationed ect. and ideally I would love to be stationed out of Chicago, my girlfriend is going to be transferring to depaul in the city and we were supposed to be getting an apartment together, and obviously she is against me enlisting for many reasons. I know that it's a stretch that I would get stationed here/ the great lakes area but I can always hope. Another question I have is my sight is impaired, when I was 14 I was doing yard work and a tool I was using broke and a bolt hit me in the eye puncturing it, I am lucky enough to have my eye still but it required an emergency surgery and a cataract surgery, I have had to have a hard acrylic lens put in becuase of the damage to the tiny ligaments that support the lens. Because of this damage I cannot be hit in the eye at all, and even a blow to the head could cause the lens to be torn away, and after that it could not be put back. I forget what my uncorrected vision is but with a specially cut hard contact lens I can see 20/40 out of it, and my other eye is better than 20/20. So with all that being said, would they even take me or am I damaged goods?

I appreciate your help.

 

[Grunizzle]

In terms of your eye I don't know. Can you wear glasses or only that hard contact lens? You have to talk to a recruiter to get a actual answer. Also that dream sheet your talking about doesn't happen. Sure you fill one out, but I personally have not seen anyone get put in their first choices. I am in the USAF so I do not know much about the CG but it is still the military. And just a little heads up if you are serious about joining you need to make that apparent to a recruiter. There is more people trying to join the military now more than ever, so there will be a lot of competition and don't expect to be leaving for 6 months to over year for boot camp...

 

[Twizzler09]

if your not picky about your MOS (your job) in the CG, then you might still be able to leave fairly early, but thats completely up to the recruiting situation for the CG. I know the Air Force had a year and a half long waiting list for their stuff not so long ago, and I got lucky with the Army having a wheeled mechanic's job open for almost immediate ship when I went in.

You will need to talk to a recruiter about your eye, alot of rules on recruitment change very very often, and its not possible for us to keep track of all of them.

 

[Ranger97XL]

In terms of your eye I don't know. Can you wear glasses or only that hard contact lens? You have to talk to a recruiter to get a actual answer. Also that dream sheet your talking about doesn't happen. Sure you fill one out, but I personally have not seen anyone get put in their first choices. I am in the USAF so I do not know much about the CG but it is still the military. And just a little heads up if you are serious about joining you need to make that apparent to a recruiter. There is more people trying to join the military now more than ever, so there will be a lot of competition and don't expect to be leaving for 6 months to over year for boot camp...

I can wear glasses too, and I actually prefer them to the contact lens