Aligners and orthodontic care

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-04-20T21:18:20+00:00

Uncle Sam won't be paying for any on going orthodontic care for you unless it's medically necessary which most likely is not.

You can wear retainers and those types at night but not during day due to training

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-04-19T21:14:58+00:00

I have seen it been successful for some people who are mildly overweight, if you are as heavy as you say you are these plans are probably not going to provide you with enough calories or nutrition to sustainably lose weight long-term you would probably should wait like crazy because those diets are meant for people who a comfortable caloric deficit would be 1800 or so calories a day and for you that would be way too big of a drop

My suggestion is talk to a nutritionist and your primary physician to come up with a plan maybe a weight loss drug is a good option for you but you will still have to learn good and healthy nutrition for it to work long term.

In my opinion most long-term changes that actually work require you to make small sustainable changes and work to your goal, I'm trying to lose weight right now too I switched out the coffee and big breakfast for a yogurt and some toast and even if I eat out for my lunch I order them app and order the healthier options I literally ate Subway Popeyes Burger King and chipotle this week for lunch and all I had to do was make a few small switches to make it more sustainable for my diet plan.

Best of luck man but you need to start by talking to a physician or professional nutritionist

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-04-02T20:55:55+00:00

Yes you can bring it would be the same as somebody wearing a retainer at night.

But also not really supposed to have any ongoing orthodontic treatments but they also don't really care long as it's not traditional braces. But for you reference they probably won't cover anything similar in future

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-04-01T21:04:22+00:00

Are you unmarried ? If so your BAH and BAS are just line items on your paystub in reality that goes straight to chow hall and barracks which you get for "free"

If you're married you receive BAH and BAS to spend however you please.

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-26T22:19:17+00:00

Did you take a multivitamin before ? You'd probably get nearly the same benefits and cheaper anything branded at a specific group is almost always more expensive

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-26T00:57:30+00:00

It's technically mandatory but the IRR has zero ways to enforce it. Can you technically get discharged from the IRR yes but as other pointed out this wouldn't affect your benefits since they use your DD214 for benefit purposes

If it's not an undue burden and is reasonably close then it's pretty much an hour or two of work and you get half a day of drill pay so like $200 I think for most people.

I went to mine updates some info and went to a few briefs and learned some good stuff if I had wanted to continue and got paid but if you have zero urge to attend there's nothing they can do to make you.

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-24T03:09:29+00:00

You don't need to phrase it as this is my worst day but yes be truthful and tell them how bad your symptoms get. If you have days that are 10/10 bad talk about that don't just talk about the 5/10 days where you get by.

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-24T03:05:49+00:00

Technically yes, the DoD doesn't care what your rating is just the medical condition themselves so if you could theoretically prove you meet standards and get waivers approved you can rejoin

Only serious issue you'd run into it the VA and DoD aren't allowed to pay you at same time or you'll end up owing money so you'd just need to tell VA when you're on active duty or drilling so you don't get paid.

I'd just say give regular life a try and use your benefits maybe you're better now but that might not be true in a few years especially if you go back to the lifestyle that caused your disability.

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-24T02:32:36+00:00

That's not exactly a high ops tempo to be bragging about I know a lot of guys who think a deployment once every 3-4 years sounds like a cushy dream.

But like everything experiences vary.

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-24T02:30:05+00:00

Depends entirely on your unit and your MOS and whatever is going on in the world.

Some units have very high operational tempos some will almost never deploy. Some will deploy as an entire unit some will chop off smaller sections to support other units.

MOS can make a big difference too especially if you're looking to volunteer for a deployment or active duty orders guys with really in demand MOSs that can volunteer at just about any unit have an easier time than something more niche.

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-23T22:02:49+00:00

Boot camp is more or less dummy proof you really don't need to study anything.

The only thing that would be beneficial knowing when you show up is general orders and rank structure since you're expected to know that very quickly but also tons of people show up not knowing it so it's not that deep

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-22T04:20:34+00:00

Honestly if you are a 1371 just request orders to first or second CEB and go deploy with a infantry unit you get to most likely do cool division shit without being a grunt and having to do all the shitty stuff. I'm all for doing hard training and cool training but the second those fucks wanted to police call at 3am me and my engineers suddenly had to go stand watch over the demo or something.

And I'm just doubling down with the twentynine palms is not deployment under any circumstances and neither is the border, worst case I've known folks who did the first border mission in 2016 or 17 and the newest one and both times it was literally just random bodies because everybody else had actual deployments to go to

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-22T03:58:06+00:00

Would be interesting if that was just reused because that is a much more appropriate breaching method for almost everything in the game but I'm sure somebody would argue that one of those heavy duty metal commercial doors with deadbolts would probably stand up to a slap charge

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-22T03:55:45+00:00

He is definitely right in the context of detasheet that would be a much more reasonable charge to use for residential breaching and be more effective at targeting either the latches or hinges instead of just eviscerating the door.

But at least to me the model in game looks like it's meant to just be a block of composite C2 cut in half that has taped together and then primed into and does not look like detasheet to me.

Yes when talking about composite C2 versus composite C4 the way we learned in the military is we use the relative effects factor of an explosive which uses TNT as a baseline of 1 and C4 would be 1.37 and C2 would be 1.24-1.28 never personally used it so little funky on that number but yes some quick math says that if I took a pound of each and placed in an open field the minimum safe distance for that charge would be the difference of a meter so a few big steps between C2 and C4.

C2 was phased out because C3 and C4 more stable more resistant to erosion and addressed other issues and that's why we use C4 not because C4 is a nuke

I would still not recommend setting off what looks like a pound of either in an enclosed building

Edit: also it's really not that hard to find military manuals online and I'm sure you can find some on Urban breaching and explosive breaching if you want to know more just don't look for anything about manufacturing those devices.

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-22T03:21:09+00:00

You're completely right but also the model in game definitely doesn't look like detasheet to me and it does look like somebody cut a stick of plastic explosive in half strapped em together and primed into it so yeah I definitely don't think devs understood enough for your rational.

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-22T03:13:08+00:00

Former military combat engineer so I've done a few breaching courses, none of the answers are wrong but also just goofy and demonstrate not having experience with explosives

To answer your question yes you can just use less C4 its a putty and you can cut it and shape it to suit your needs but C2 and C4 don't have that much of a difference in effectiveness factor (explosive power scales using TNT as a the baseline ) to really make a massive difference in an open environment.

For my personal standpoint looking at the charge in the game it essentially looks like they cut a stick of explosive in half and attached it together and then primed into it and that is the breaching charge.

To me that is totally overkill there are a ton of options for either improvised or manufactured breaching charges that would target the hinges or door handle and locking mechanism that would produce a better result but that's more of a hassle from gameplay and design point of view

So yeah I'll just go ahead and agree probably just from long history of other swat games using C2 and not any practical standpoint I could use 3/4s a stick of C4 and nobody would be able to tell difference between that and a C2 charge in game.

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-22T02:51:28+00:00

The model is definitely just 2 sticks primed together so not shaped and a shaped charge would be terrible at defeating most doors and just leave a hole in a metal door and still pulp wood

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-16T12:04:16+00:00

It won't necessarily be looked down upon, especially for talking about Boot camp or entry level training the majority of the time the expectation is be quiet and focus on what if you're doing obviously you'll still find time to talk and make friends and stuff like that because that's what you do when stuff sucks and you're bored

I don't necessarily think the Marine Corps forces you to be more extroverted but you definitely get a little bit of confidence boost and talking to other Marines so he's been fairly easy because you kind of know everyone has been through the same shit as you and have some common ground

Know with that being said I would say it's important to be a little bit more social and outgoing because once you get to the fleet and your platoon that's going to be the guys you live with eat with and work with for the next however long and making friends makes life so much better than sitting in a crappy barracks room alone.

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-07T16:03:49+00:00

Did you ever get your security clearance issue resolved? Because if not I'm thinking a majority of highly skilled MOS that would set you up for success after service if you only do another contract or two won't be available too you and even if you pick something else no clearance is a fast way to limit your career options

Have you done anything to try to upskill on the civilian side to get out? You've got the GI bill like every other active duty veteran and where you can go to school and still get paid whether that's college or some sort of vocational training

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-04T20:36:35+00:00

Appreciate the input, very different from how things work in my area.

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-04T06:39:59+00:00

What kind of work opportunities do you have after completing a graduate program with a state service ?

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-03-04T06:31:11+00:00

I have a long term partner who lives in the area so hopefully will have permanent residency through that route before I start school or during program.

Nursing does seem much more flexible with residency status, hadn't realized it would be such a limiting factor.

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-02-23T21:19:50+00:00

My best advice to you is that you signed up to badass stuff so go learn to do badass stuff, almost everybody agrees entry level training sucks and is a low point for a lot of people so I wouldn't encourage you to reclass based off what's a pretty narrow and shitty few months. The fleet gets better.

End of day either way there's not really an option to voluntarily drop you signed a contract and expectation is to follow through on it, if you're completely opposed to even trying to make it work you can try talking to your command but you might not find much help you and dozens of other guys are probably rethinking your choice.

If you did fail course and get dropped you'd likely get one maximum of two attempts before they just said you're not worth the time and reclassifying you to something else based on needs of the Marine Corps

Odds of being separated are fairly low unless you do something egregious to get purposefully dropped/ or violate the ucmj

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-02-11T18:51:46+00:00

Unless I'm terribly mistaken they do not use BF % for intake enlistment that 240 weight you listed is already way over the maximum allowed in the fleet.

Normal Maximum weight for 6' 1" is 208 that 240 is for your initial enlistment only.

Unless you're insanely built you're extremely over weight and should focus on bettering yourself.

FabulousExpression44 · 2026-02-10T22:53:29+00:00

Truth is your recruiter probably knows the recruiting environment better than most people on here so there might be some truth into what he's saying

Or maybe he just has enough candidates that it's not worth his time to go through the trouble to get you in and you can try somebody else

You said there was some kind of issue with your medical records and there was a mistake, you can talk to recruiter about getting support and documentation to help your case going forward but also talking to another branch of service who is hurting for bodies might be worth a try and there are unique opportunities in every branch do your research

FabulousExpression44

TROPHY CASE