Like many, I followed your journey and your struggles. One day you too will find your way and join our rank. Meanwhile, thank you for your service to our country. Best wishes to you.
shit guys i appreciate the support but maybe i misworded my post. im in process of applying to army officer position. i took all the tests and just needed to take the physical, and than submit my packet for review. however this corona thing broke out and right now army mobilizing is paused. i heard its running back up and people can do other tests now except the physical test - not sure when this will come available. Im going to try to become an officer and if i dont get selected, i will apply as basic soldier. Recruiter said since im fluent in korean/english and i have the required asvab score, i can get the top clearance position i want, guaranteed, if i apply as basic soldier so thats a good sign. However i want officer for its benefits so going to try this route first. Sorry if I was confusing haha was never good at writing in school. I appreciate the love and I have respect for those who serve as well. and cant stop trading. wont stop trading.
Reserves, National Guard or Active Duty ? You looking for a Finance position in the military (they do exist - 36 MOS numbers) or maybe a translator MOS considering you speak Korean/English ??? If you go active duty as an officer after graduating from OCS school and then become a translator...you'll eventually end up in South Korea (Seoul area) regardless to any promises they made you when you initially joined. Regardless, OCS is the hardest route to take into the military as an officer unless you've had prior military training or raised in a military family on base / near base. South Korea is a great place to serve as an officer or high ranking enlisted. By the way, aren't you married, engaged or something like that ??? By the way, military will be a fast way to pay off your debt from those loans. Most likely its why you've decided to join the military. P.S. Find someone locally in your area for you to talk to about what's it like to be an Officer in the military via the route you plan to be taking. Thus, do not rely on all your info from a "recruiter" and get into physcial shape for several months regardless if you make it to OCS school or just join as an enlisted. wrbtrader
active duty. if officer, going to do 4 years than apply to police again. if it doesnt work out, going to give up the police dream and do 16 more years as officer. if enlisted, going to do 5-6 years, than apply to police. if it doesnt work out, going to stay rest of 20 years in military. I have a finance background but was never interested in a finance career. only cared for trading and wanted to join a trading firm; hedge fund. Just like to see charts, analyze, trade, and nothing else. If enlisted, I think getting a top secret clearance will possibly open a path to fbi or cia, iono. i feel like it'll open my life to a path more interesting than a finance job. i tried the 9-5 job. lucky to get into a great company. great benefits. some people semi-worshipped me. boring life though. my Dad said look at the people above me. that's where i'll be in 5-10 years. Yea. They all seemed stable, getting good pay, not excellent pay, but good enough pay to be called successful. But dull. Typical. Maybe because I'm not married and dont have a kid. iono. im turning 29 this year and i still dont know whats right for me.
You'll then be more interested in the "military police" if you're looking for a fast track into law enforcement after the military especially if you want to use your finance background too. If you go enlisted...you will not get a top secret clearance. Once again, find someone that's an officer in your area from the National Guard, Reserves or preferably still serving on active duty to talk with instead of getting your info from a recruiter. Also, take my advice about getting into top physical shape prior to joining. It'll make the whole initial experience in the military so much easier. A little backtracking...why didn't you go to a university or transfer to one that had professional trading rooms and connected to hedge funds if trading was all you cared about ??? Military is not a place to be jumping around about what to do after you join. You'll pay for it dearly and end up in places you do not want to be. Last piece of advice, take advantage of your background (finance, multiple languages) when you enter the military. Example, its not unusual to have multiple MOS in your situation...military police and translator considering you did mention top secret clearance. You'll then have an advantage to help make it easier for you in the military especially if you plan to make it as a career soldier unless you prefer to continue doing things the hard way. wrbtrader
Sounds like you don't have a winning strategy. Remember, even the worst losing strategies have winning streaks. Even worse, there are strategies that can be steadily profitable for years and then lose 5 times as much in weeks.
You should read the title of this thread or the content of the prior thread... Then read this @ https://www.elitetrader.com/et/thre...-now-27-years-old.337749/page-14#post-5074645 The issue is not having a winning strategy. Its many things that have nothing to do with his trade strategy but together they have complete control over his trading. Hopefully, he will not be making the same mistakes about the military career. Another way to look at it, the results would still be the same even if he had a winning strategy. That's a tough pill to swallow for any one to come to that conclusion about their trading. wrbtrader
You linked to the same post I was quoting... I've been lurking in the thread for a while now. If you deviate from your strategy often, effectively you don't have a strategy. And if you trade something for a long time and keep losing, it's time to ditch the strategy or whatever it's left of it.
Yes, I'm 100% positive that upon graduating from OCS as an officer...you will not have a top secret clearance. Actually, I'm not sure if you know what exactly is top secret clearance. There's different levels and I won't mention each level here for you because your friend of a friend that's in the military should be able to explain each levels to you along with what military positions comes with them...right ??? Yes, you can get secret clearance as an enlisted but those usually goes to high ranking NCOs that earned it from ground up...all of them decorated. Regardless, as stated, you mention possible law enforcement after military service and you're bi-lingual (you speak Korean / English)... Military Police and Translator will enable ALL of that for you including fast tracking you through the secret clearance levels (many years of service between each levels). Your friend of a friend should have discussed that with you too. There's other ways but more more complicated...special military units (e.g. Army Rangers), graduation out of military academies (e.g. West point) and contract work out of civilian life from a specialty job qualification (e.g. police officer in good standing prior to joining the military service) and other things that I don't know about since when I served in the military. By the way, recruiters will BS you...the are very good salesman especially when there's a current global crisis. I don't know what university you attended but your academic counsellor (high school and college) or someone you knew that was already in graduate school in your degree area should have discussed those options with you assuming they knew your goal to be a trader or professional trader working with a hedge fund. Simply, if they only knew you wanted to get a finance degree and nothing about the stuff involving working for a hedge fund...stuff like that...most likely they would not have presented to you the options of enrolling at universities that I've mention to you that have professional trading rooms for their undergrad and graduate students. I have an old thread about such schools...one of them @ https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/college-student.280595/#post-3915830 but there's a newer post than that old one but currently I can not locate it. Regardless, that's old news now...can't backtrack and fixed that unless you're planning to use the military to support your graduate studies at one of those universities while you earn your graduate degree. Yeah, I've been out of the military a long time but am still in touch with those in my old units (high ranking officers and NCOs). Thus, I'm unfamiliar about the current initial signup bonuses and reenlistment bonuses...many of which comes with strings attached. Also, you can get multiple MOS. For example, pretend you graduated from OCS and became a military officer. You then contact your commanding officer about you being fluent in Korean / English and you now wish the "add" another MOS to your status. They than approve sending you to Translation school which will be very easy for you considering you're already fluent in Korean. You then graduate from Translation school for Korean and you now have two MOS...military police and translation. You then ask to do a tour in South Korea to use your talents...you'll then move up a level in your secret clearance. My point, you do not get multiple MOS upon entry into the military. You have NONE. In contrast, after you graduate from basic training (OCS or enlisted)...you're then sent to just one MOS school that you were initially promised / qualified for as stated by the recruiter via results of your scores. You then graduate from that MOS school and then get assigned to your first post. Wait 1 - 2 years and then talk to your commanding officer about getting "adding" another MOS. The most I've seen when I served were no more than three MOS. Usually its not a problem especially if you're already doing the job that you're not trained for (it happens sometimes) or you're trying to advance your career in the military especially as you seek higher promotions. I don't know how that impacts your ability to become a military police but I will tell you this...the military has stricter rules and stricter punishments for soldiers busted for smoking weed (pot) regardless to the state laws for the civilians in the state you're stationed. I'm sure your recruiter told you about that and gave you insurance it wouldn't be known on your military records upon entry into the Army. Your recruiter aware of that prior incident with the weed (pot) / LAPD and have you talked to a recruiter in the Fort Leonard Wood area...home of the U.S. Army military school ??? Thus, I don't know how that could possibly impact your entry into OCS (officer candidate school)...let alone the military police school for your MOS. An example, a close friend of mine, a 1st lieutenant in my unit was caught when he came up positive on a piss test. Got busted, lost a rank, docked 2 months of pay and lost his position with the military police in South Korea. He was then sent back to Fort Campbell, Kentucky...a desk job in an engineer unit. He was lucky too because his old man worked at the Pentagon. He prevented his son from getting reassigned to a worst position like a cooking unit. Another friend, First Sergeant (decorated) was caught selling a few grams of pot to friends. He got 10 years at Leavenworth prison. Remember this...once you sign those papers to join. The Army owns you and you will need to have some powerful friends and/or from a strong military family to get you out of your obligations. I don't know anything about your recruiter nor about any promises / guarantees...you may be able to get for your 1st permanent station at a military base that allows you to enroll at a nearby university for graduate school...a graduate school that has professional trading rooms for their grad students. One of my camping buddies, someone I served with state side and in South Korea, his daughter is a 2nd lieutenant at Fort Carson, Colorado (active duty) but she's also a graduate student at University of Colorado in the Leeds school of business. She lives off base about 1/2 way between Fort Carson and University of Colorado. Just as important, she already has a schedule internship at a hedge fund in Chicago... All while serving for her country in the military and all paid for. She had a good recruiter that ensured her 1st assignment would be Fort Carson, Colorado because she was excepted into the graduate program at University of Colorado prior to her joining the military. The above info is a hint about your options if you want to go to graduate school while still in the military because the military loves educating their soldiers (undergrads and graduate). wrbtrader