I'm thinking of joining the Army but I've heard that once u join its hard to get out?

Once you sign a commitment to honor and serve, you are obligated to give your army or any branch your best...

Technicalites can certainly crop up to allow a discharge..

But,,, you must be certain this is what you want, before you

join then there is no problem.. Army commitment is only three years , what is your problem, it isn't a lifetime. I think you should think about college or something like that, because you may not be ready to commitment to a contract such as the ARMY!

You said you wanted to join the Army? but you didn't specify which Army. Someone gave a great answer if you're thinking about joining the Indian Army (at least I think it was--not an expert on that subject).

Most of the others are quoting the requirements of the US Army. All of the US Armed Forces are volunteer forces. Most military contracts are indeed a period of 8 years, whether you spend 2, or 3, or 4, or 5 years of Active Duty. The remainder of your time will be spent in the IRR (Inactive Ready Reserves) which does state that you may be recalled to active duty should they need you.

Since it is a volunteer service, you are only obligated to serve for the time of your contract. If you signed for 4 years of active, then after the 4 years are over, you are essentially 'out' (of Active Duty status) and are transferred to the IRR, until your total of 8 years are over. Then you will have finally fulfilled your service contract.

After you are out, you shouldn't be recalled unless you are 'drafted' (and are a qualified draftee) in times of National Emergency.

I don't see how this would make it hard to get out. It's not.

The military does recognize certain job specialties and will give you a tempting bonus to try to keep you. This may make it harder on your decision to get out. The large $ bonus really is tempting.

I actually would advise getting the shortest contract possible for Active Duty... 3 years perhaps? That would be long enough to know whether or not the military life is for you. If it is, then run with it. Stay as long as you can. The benefits are decent. If not, you've done your duty properly, and will receive an honorable discharge.

For a lot of people, the military does provide a wonderful chance to see different parts of the world. If you do decide to join, I salute you as providing a great service to a great country (whether it be the US or India). A benefit of the military is the ingrained 'leadership' training in their duties. Keep your chin up and with a positive attitude, you'll do great!

One more thing... be sure to pick a great job... one that you'll excel in!

Hi Priyanka,

If I understand you are Indian & want to join the Indian Army?

Presuming what I said is right, I think doing a very fine thing.The terms & conditions of recruitments have changed over the years. Initially, you joined for a period of 5 years extendable for another 5 years. It has now been evolved to an initial period of 10 years and extendable for 4 years making it to a total service of 14 years as of now.If you actually join the service & by the time you have put on enough service, the terms may see further change and the service might be extended to may be upto 20 years to make you eligible to earn the pension too.

Now , the million dollar question is , are you willing to stay on for atleast 10 years initially, extendable presently by 4 years.

Please take a very deliberate decision as it not only concerns the career you choose, it is also a little tough on young ladies intially to adjust. The other side of the coin, you have a good pay package, security from lots of problems you may face in a civilian career, the respect rhat you get as a lady and the happiness you would get in serving your country.

Its not hard to get out of the military at all.

You can request to get out and say that it is driving you crazy or that you just dont want to be in anymore at any time. It is a volunteer army, however I would not want to deal with the consequences of getting out of the military on an Unvoluntary Seperation.

You enlist and sign a contract, that contract states that you will be a soldier and that means to do everything that is expected of you. After the contract expires, they ask if you want to re-enlist (typically 12 months before it expires). You say yay or nay, and they offer money and incentives to stay in, you say nay, and they get you out and ship you home.

Now warning about getting out early. If you have not completed your full term of enlistment then you will lose your benifits such as the GI bill, VA Benifits, and other things that you would normally have after serving the full 4 year active duty and 4 years IRR Inactive Ready Reserve. So be careful.

If you are thinking that you wont like it, then I would try to visit an army post and talk to the soldiers about how they like it and the benifits and do some research before enlisting, becuase getting out for the wrong reasons can also ruin your career, and hold you back from alot of things in life that you could have had if you had not enlisted at all and didnt get the discharge that you got.

I'm a vet who served as a special operations soldier (airborne) in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The best decision I ever made was joining the US Army. Please understand, though, that Army enlistments are not 2, 3, or 4 years as the others said below. They are ALWAYS 8 years. While you might sign a contract to be on ACTIVE duty for 2, 3, or 4 years (or another amount of time), you are committing yourself to the US Army for a full 8 years. The additional time that adds up to 8 years is called Inactive Reserve time, where you are essentially a Reserve Soldier who does not do drill, but is available to be called back up to active duty if necessary. That means if they need you for the full 8 years of active duty, that is what you will serve. You will only do the original "active duty" amount of time if they do not have an urgent need for your MOS (military occupational specialty). In fact, many MOS's will be "Stop-Lossed" (told they must remain on active duty) for several months to a year or more before they even leave their active duty time during a time of conflict, as we are in right now. This is all information found in your military contract, from recruiters and other soldiers, etc. but unfortunately, many people don't think to do any research or ask any questions before making such a big commitment, they would just rather complain later.

As a vet, it frustrates us to hear of people who join the Army and then complain heavily when they are stop lossed in such a situation, or called back up to duty from Inactive Reserve as it is clear from the contract every soldier signs that they are agreeing to this up front. If you are not prepared to serve for the full 8 years, please think carefully about joining. It may sound corny, but it is very true...by joining any US military, you are joining a"Band of Brothers" that will depend on you for the amount of time you have committed to and you will be letting them down by trying to "get out early" and not completing the time you agreed to serve.

Having said all that, if you read your contract carefully before you sign it and have the intestinal fortitude to follow through with what you commit to, it will most likely be the best decision you ever make. Good luck!

ALL enlistments are for 8 years.

When people say they've signed on for 2 or 3 years, what that means is that is the time they do on active duty. The remainder of their time in the IRR.

You aren't actively doing military stuff while you're in the IRR, BUT they can call you back and force you to serve more time in active duty during that time if they "need" you.

Aside from riding out your entire contract there is virtually no way to get out of the army that wouldn't severely screw up your life.

EDIT: I came back to look this over again. For the people downplaying the role of the IRR, about 10% get called back to active duty. That isn't the majority by any means but it also is not a negligible percentage. If you join you flat out run the risk of being tied up in the military for 8 years. Too many people have the mentality that once their active duty term is up that they are done, but that really need not be the case. When I was deployed to Iraq back in 2003, our company was composed of nearly 15% people who were pulled out of the IRR to serve with people they've never met before. For people saying this is clearly stated in the your contract, it definitely is. "National Emergency" however is a VERY flimsy term that can be bent to mean whatever the politicians of the time want it to mean. Keep that in mind.

If you aren't talking about the American military then I guess none of this applies to you, but you might have wanted to specify which country you were talking about if that is the case.

Here is the thing... you might join for 2, 3 or 4 years. However the initial contract would be for 8 years. The remaining time would be as Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR) what that means is that, should they need you, the Army can reactive you and deploy you for whatever they deem necessary.

As we are in a war you are more likly to get a stop los order or called back up to active duety than you were lets say 10 years ago, how ever a lot of this will depend on your specialty for example if your an Arab language lingust they would have a greater need for you than lets say a cook.

My dad was an Airforce Doctor and retired in 1987 and figures he was almost called up for desert Storm.

It's not that it's hard to get out, you have fill your requirments when you enlist..be it 2 years, 3 years, etc. Just as if you had signed a contract, for example,

Its not hard to get out, you fulfill your contract obligation and your done. Enlistments vary 3, 4 ,5 years depending on your job etc..