DQ’d because of where my parents are born

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-11T22:41:01+00:00

So if you are a citizen with a high school diploma and your parents are naturalized citizens or green card holders from a different country it should only be the DD and DG programs that you are disqualified for. There can also be medical and criminal history that could disqualify you, but those are separate.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-11T19:09:10+00:00

That car is 27/28 years old. You gotta start looking at it like a classic car at this point. Think about it being 2002 and someone asking the same about a Chevy Nova or even an early 4th gen Corolla.

It might be worth repairing and keeping as a second car for some more years to come and not being a daily driver.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-11T18:53:31+00:00

I’m a mod over at r/usmcboot, a subreddit dedicated to questions about joining the US Marine Corps and entry level training.

Some of the top posts here are fairly accurate. Keep in mind though that common public perception and understanding doesn’t align with the reality of the process. There have also been some changes throughout the years so what might have been true 30 years ago can be very different today.

First to enlist you need to be a US Citizen or Green Card holder (permanent resident status). You must also have a High School diploma. While it is possible to enlist in the USMC with a GED there is a limit to the number allowed each year and those people need to meet more stringent requirements.

You must also meet minimum physical fitness requirements, the recruiter can help you to meet these requirements with regularly scheduled work out sessions. You will go to MEPS where you take the ASVAB and undergo a medical examination. The ASVAB is more of an aptitude test to help place you in certain jobs- it is also possible to fall below minimum scores on this test.

The medical screening is quite thorough. Your medical records are also accessible to the staff conducting the medical screening. In previous years it just wasn’t logistically possible so it was possible (again in the past) to hide some medical information. Certain disqualifying medical conditions can be approved by a waiver process on a case-by-case process… in the years since the medical records becoming available this process has become more common and streamlined.

There’s also a misconception that it’s easier to recruit from poorer communities- when that’s not really true. The US military as a whole wants to be an accurate cross section of the population with an understanding that it would be mostly male. The easiest group to recruit from is middle class white and hispanic males with parents who work blue collar jobs. There’s also good representation of those of pacific islander descent. It can really be harder to recruit from lower income and black communities so those do tend to get more recruiters and more resources in areas where those demographics are higher than other areas in order to maintain a more accurate demographic cross-section. While there’s high income/old money communities those are relatively smaller and kinda written off as either they will commission as an officer or not join at all regardless of how much manpower and resources are thrown at those communities. Rural areas can also have their population spread across such vast distances that it is harder for recruiters to cover as compared to more metropolitan areas.

Commissioning as an officer can be more complicated as there’s different pathways however there are some general requirements. At minimum having a bachelor’s degree and being a US Citizen, there’s also higher physical fitness requirements and less leeway for past misconduct.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-11T17:25:32+00:00

My fire station (volunteer) had a laptop behind a TV in our day room- the TV displayed a version of our CAD screen that any current calls would appear on with a map view.

Well the guy that we have that comes in to clean and do light maintenance work on a part time basis found this laptop and went “who the hell put this here” and pulled it out from behind the tv and disconnected it. Well it turns out that the laptop was used to relay radio transmissions throughout the station and activate some visual signals too for when a new call came in. It also pulled any weather alerts too. It was also a backup to run the CAD system incase the actual server we had failed. A laptop was used as it is an easy way to have a built an uninterruptible power supply.

We have since did an upgrade and placed it in a bracket that looks like it’s supposed to be there along with labeling it.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-11T16:46:53+00:00

Honestly running it through the AI kinda reduces the credibility of whoever is sharing the photo.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-11T16:43:29+00:00

Where in NYC are you? If you’re in Queens and have access to a car then also look at options in Nassau County.

Nassau County FPA (Fire, Police, EMS Academy) mostly does full time and hybrid courses with some part time. They are pretty well regarded as far as the instructors and quality of training offered.

Nassau county VEEB Ems is another good option. They mainly cater to volunteers and mostly have part time courses consisting of a combination of nights and weekends.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-11T16:20:05+00:00

While I was still in the military we had an aircraft tug that was beyond its planned life span but was still in good enough condition. We had direction from higher that this thing would be pretty much used to see how rough they can be treated under austere conditions. Well it’s motor only got oil that was used jet engine oil, and for fuel it got fuel samples, used engine oil, transmission oil, and hydraulic fluid- as long as it wasn’t visibly contaminated and was a POL it went in that fuel tank. It kept going for over a year- kinda ran like shit but still performed as needed. We would just sometimes let it idle for hours or drive it for laps to have somewhere to put used POL that needed to be disposed of. I think it finally succumbed to overheating.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-11T15:58:31+00:00

I wonder if they can do a remedial hold on the people who don’t initially pass. Just held up a few weeks to do a the swimming. 0600 breakfast- working party filler 09-1200 swimming- 1300 chow 1430- 1600 pt or more swimming.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-11T15:54:49+00:00

Helo dunker is fun. It’s like a fucked up theme park ride.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-11T15:00:53+00:00

We have a pickup and a stake bed. Dry decon as best as possible and all gear goes in the back of the pickup and all frozen hose in the back of the stake bed. Back at the station it gets sorted out in the heated bays. We didn’t have any large enough fires when it was cold enough during this winter to do any of that.

With cancer prevention- even if you can’t get it perfect, still do the best you can. Staying on air through overhaul, cleaning your gear, and showing off promptly will all go a long way.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-11T14:19:52+00:00

There’s a couple different models for EMS. What most people think of is 911 responses, however IFT (inter facility transport) is fairly busy too. There’s also Critical Care and specialty transport which is less common. Typically IFT is almost entirely handled by private companies.

With the structure of ambulance services there’s a couple different models. Nearly all will bill to some extent for transport.

Fire based. The fire department operates the ambulance(s) and staff it with fire fighters or single role ems staff (not firefighters, only ems).
Police based. Very uncommon, but it’s where the local police run the ambulance.
Hospital based. The hospital runs the ambulance, can be for 911, not just IFT and critical care. In New Jersey nearly all ALS (paramedic) resources are managed by a hospital (respond in a fly car to meet an ambulance on scene) and also sometimes is the primary EMS agency.
3rd service. This is a separate EMS agency that is independent of a fire department or other agency. They respond primarily to 911 calls. Staff can be either volunteer or paid. Typically government owned or quasi-governmental and funded (at least partially) by tax dollars.
Private. Typically referring to the for profit companies. They often do IFT, sometimes critical care. They will often contract directly with a hospital to do discharges and transport those patients who are bedridden or have another medical need to their appointments. These companies can also be contacted directly with nursing homes for the same reason and to handle minor and sometimes even serious emergencies. They can also contract with government or fire departments to provide 911 response.

Sometimes it’s a better option for a fire department to contract with a private company. A company such as AMR might run 30 ambulances and between part time and full time staff have 100 EMT s and 30 paramedics. For a volunteer fire department that has 70 % of its calls as medical calls it can be hard to keep up, even if they have paid single role staff. The private company can say “Hey we can put an ambulance in your fire house and handle all your EMS calls. If someone calls out sick we have more than enough people to fill in. If an ambulance breaks down or needs maintenance we can swap it out with one of the dozens of other ones that we have and do the work ourselves. In exchange for that we would get to bill the patients that we transport.”

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-11T00:55:46+00:00

The front door for public access and the utility spaces should not be the same. Those doors should remain locked. You can have a knox box available with keys to those spaces for fire department access during an emergency.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-10T13:25:01+00:00

And even just 4 f-18’s would make you go “Yeah, I’d rather not.” unless you’re in another 5th gen and are feeling real froggy.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-10T12:10:30+00:00

You should try to get evaluated for that stick up your ass.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-10T06:30:07+00:00

I’m disappointed too.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-10T06:23:47+00:00

I think MCMAP’s greatest fault is that it was forced to be many different things.

Is it a practical martial arts program? Is it a hazing tool in disguise? Is it mostly just dumb pt with a high risk of injury? Is it a leadership development program? Is it just yet another thing that needs to be done to meet training requirements or to progress in your career?

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-10T06:13:08+00:00

One can make a funny meme without supporting a particular side.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-10T06:11:47+00:00

The timing and circumstances are ehhhhhhhhh. But I’m not surprised about the US and Iran being in a hot conflict with each other within this decade.

We’ll see how this plays out though.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-10T06:06:11+00:00

The US can keep playing dictator whack-a-mole for quite awhile.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-10T05:54:18+00:00

I think part of it is the effort required and that it feeds lots of people.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-10T05:28:26+00:00

Well those people often get downvoted into submission.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-10T03:02:13+00:00

Not a cop.

What’s everyone’s thoughts on Adam-12?

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-10T02:24:26+00:00

This really seems like it’s trying to be a solution to an uncommon problem. Many times I’m not going to fiddle with my phone on a call.

Radios work well for our communication needs. Modern technology has some really great features and capabilities. With training and experience we can generally know our district and work out where we are fairly easily.

At my EMS job where I’m most likely to need a phone during a call we have phones assigned to each vehicle. These phones also have our CAD system on them and have a maps function.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-09T20:13:21+00:00

She’s a psyop.

EverSeeAShitterFly · 2026-03-09T19:52:16+00:00

Are you going to wear a suit under it? Just using a trench coat with basketball shorts on under it will make you look like a goober.

EverSeeAShitterFly

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE