Yeah, that thought did cross my mind. Thought at least there's a couple of smart ones (CREEEEEEED!) stuffed in among the "Human wave" and "Drive me closer co I can hit it with my sword" types.

I've yet to see a test that covers all the different kinds of intelligence or isn't biased based on culture or education. It tends to annoy me, not only because it's inherently flawed, but some people take it as confirmation that they're better then everyone else... Just look at Mensa's description of itself. The arrogance and condescension in that statement is mindboggling.


I totally agree on everything but the social skills, having played tabletop RPGs since my early teens. I can vouch for that it greatly helped me develop a lot of higher thinking processes and also made certain subjects that I abhorred bearable (Math is more fun when you're counting in dice), helped my english, my imagination, my problem solving etc. What it didn't do... Was help me overcome my crippling shyness.


All of those you can aquire in online games aswell, tabletop presents an opportunity to exercise your imagination that computer games doesn't however.


Always mentions my four or so years of experience as an WoW guild officer in my resumé. Bringing to light the constant problem solving, organising, people skills and personal initiative maintaining a online social network requires. Then there's ofcourse the whole leadership role that wrangling a raid brings.
Why wouldn't I put that on my resumé?

Take two anime conventions and call me in the morning.

...preferably after you've showered off the heavy nerdfunk scent.

Oh I got over it, but not thanks to roleplaying
But that sounds incredibly infuriating, why would I want to go to that?

I love urban backpacking anime conventions. They've really helped me come out of my shell. So has being married. It took me three hours to ask my wife out the first time and now I can walk up to complete strangers at conventions and tell them they're beautiful (as a compliment and not as a way of trying to get into bed with them). I think not having a fear of rejection helps.

For me it seems like the obnoxious people would outweight the awesome people.
Then again I'm one of those weird geeks that don't consider everything and anything Japanese the epitome of creation.
Each to his own, neh?


Meeting new friends did it for me, well that and losing about 100lb.


That ought to get interesting/hilarious reactions

All good and well. How do I cite my years of dungeon mastering on my resume? That doesn't translate quite as well as the established position of "guild officer." I've often cited that I organize and run local hobbyist events at a local business... But that's as specific as I usually try to get until I'm actually hired.

Well, putting the importance at "Doing this have helped me develop the following skills", rather then "I play games" is usually the way to go.
Qualities like being able to come up with solutions to problems under pressure, settle disputes, organise etc. etc. It's all about how you frame it.

Yes, but those awesome people aren't awesome for no reason, natch?


It does. I'm bringing chivalry back, one convention at a time. Most girls simply go all googly when a modestly attractive young gentleman approaches them, tells them they're beautiful, and kisses the back of their hand. It should be done more often. I'd do it every day except in these United States I suppose I'd get charges filed against me by someone.

A US Army captain I know from TV Tropes forums likes Warhammer 40K, Cyberpunk and Shadowrun (we never discussed Twilight 2000, though), so I guess this selection of titles is pretty common.
Dude, I just changed my signature yesterday, and now you want me to change it again?

When I was in the Gulf, prior to the kick off across the Lines, My Lieutenant gamed (AD&D) with us every evening. It was..... interesting.

Oy. My paperwork has to go all the way up to a General for authorization. Looks like I'll be here for a while yet.

Bureaucracy:
The worst thing to happen to anybody, yet better than any kind of Plot-Armor . .

Brazil(the movie) freaks me out for a good reason. Somedays I think bureaucracy only exist to prevent normal people from getting stuff done

Exactly. Bureaucracy is not the intention of government, but when bureaucracy intersects anything you get the Red Tape roadblocks.

What's causing the holdup Neraph?

The thing is, at least according to background fluff the human wave tactic IS the smart thing to do. The only saving grace of the Imperium is their ability to send enough troops into the grinder to clog it.

No, the smart thing would be to do some orbital bombardement, then do an air raid bombing run, then do a ground based artillery and missle bombardement, then go in with tanks and THEN go sweep with human waves . .
On the first sign of trouble, pull back human waves behind tanks., pull back tanks so they won't be hit by the next bombardement either by orbital or ground based artillery or bombing runs by airforce.
Rinse and repeat untill enemy has been flattened.

Nuke them from orbit... It's the only way to be sure

My four-month-old son. Have to get a whole new wave of Waivers done for him, and apparently the waivers need to go to a General to be signed off on.

You could consider it a blessing in disguise then. More quality time before you have to leave. Admittedly they mostly sleep and eat at that age, but hey! Maybe you'll get lucky and find out you got some metablood in the family

Man, I know y'all get a little bonus for recruiting a buddy, but I think that's going a little too far, don't you?

I think the real country would freak you out too. The bureacracy here is something of a nightmare. And i don't even mention the taxation.

There. My thread derailing is done.

OP: Good luck to you Neraph. I never gone to military service myself (here in Brazil, the draft is mandatory, but there is excess people wanting to get in the Forces.)But it i whs you the best of luck.

If was a general, every RPG player would get sent to intelligence training. Recruits that come with minimal strategy basics right of the box, and always hatching crazy plans? Papa army always needs some of that!

All others: The last line was a joke. Please don't be mad at me.

Mad at you? Feck, man, you only speak the frelling TRUTH ...!! ;D

You've seen Farscape?

On topic-ish: So as it stands now I will be notified the moment my waivers go through and will be on the very next plane to boot camp. It'd be a lot more fun if I wasn't busy doing the stay-at-home dad thing (ie: incapable of working out like I need to be. I haven't had a good workout more than once a month, and in the Marines that's falling waaay behind).

You can still do situps, pushups, pullups and kettlebells. Running might be hard, but everything helps.

Yep. I'm not a dedicated fan, but I've seen enough of it - and have a friend who IS a bg enough fan - for the term to have caught 'hold.

Don't own kettlebells, but yeah. There's a distinct difference between working out in between child feedings/diapers/baby cuddles and devoting yourself to an exercise for an hour and a half, though.


I've got the last episode and the movie left and I've watched it all. It's pretty awesome.

Haha. This is already like the third tangent in this crazy all over the place thread, but I'll go with it. I used to love Farscape for the first 2 series or so but then it got so confusing that missing a few episodes completely threw the story out and I had to stop. The ship had a baby? Then at one point I thought he actually got home, then when I saw it again a couple of weeks later they were still flying off in space. Interesting characters though

Ohhh, so that's why you people are all "Gibe money pleaze huehuehue"!

Why does your son need waivers? Or I guess, Why do you need waivers for your son? Strange.
And yes, more quality time before shipping out is good.

Never forget the value of in-home 12 count body builders. That was a popular one when I was in the Corps... along with the Pushups and Situps and Mountain Climbers, and... well, you get the picture.

Completely awesome... Watched it twice in a row, back to back, all the way through (including Movie) a few months ago. Love it.

Moya was a living ship, remember? As a living ship it can reproduce. Also, Talyn was freakin' amazing.

Yes, Chriton made it back to earth a few times through wormholes. Since wormholes (in that series) were tunnels through space/time, he showed up when he was supposed to be like 15 once and eventually got it right. The Scarrans followed him back to earth though, so he ended up destroying the wormhole so they couldn't conquer earth.


Newer regulations because of a certain current-administration's budget cuts to Defense spending has caused a lot of cutbacks to occur, one of which was limiting the amount of dependents one can have to go into each branch. Since I have a wife and two children I need my dependent waivers signed off on from a General, and I also needed to show financial stability and have letters from family/friends stating they'd be able to help when I'm gone.

Wow... Good to know. Very different from when I was in the Corps, that is for sure.
Good Luck and Semper Fidelis.

I've heard a story recently that someone had to wait 8 months for his paperwork to clear. I hope I'm not in that boat...

Yikes...

What is the standard procedure for families of injured/deceased soldiers? I'm assuming that's what the waivers are about.
Ehm, I apologize in advance if I'm being to blunt.

Yup. It's all good. If you can do 20 pullups and 80 pushups a mediocre run time will probably not get you too much grief. Also look at You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises. It's by a guy who ran the PT program for USAF pararescue. He has a fairly cheap iphone app that has video IIRC.

The Corps wants 20 pullups, 100 sit ups, and a 1.5 mile time for maximum PT scores. I'm at 14/80/decent, but not minimum time.

As for everything else: it's been hard, but I don't have tremendous excuses for it I guess. Lately I've gotten sick, so the idea of doing a workout with things coming out of my nose is not pleasant. And yes, my 4 mo really doesn't like being put down. That also makes things more difficult. I do military bench presses (ammo can lifts) with him though, and he likes it.

PT Test is no longer 3 Miles? What the heck? WHen I was in the Max for the Test was 300 Points.

20 Pullups (100 Points)
80 Situps in 2 Minutes (100 points)
3 Miles in 18 Minutes (100 Points)

Scores went down from there, with a Maximum time on the 3 Miles at 30 Minutes to pass the Running portion.

I know that's a typo, but running 3 miles being worth 100 pints of adult beverages would get a lot of people off of their couches.

Indeed it is... Good catch.

Are these considered good physical health?
I know personally I barely manage 20 push ups
(Crunches shouldn't be much of a problem however)

They are considered Good Marine Corps Physical Health, which is not the same thing.
MOst Marines in my unit were pretty capable of the Max Pullups and Situps, the 3 Miles was an average of 21 Minutes for the unit, with some faster and some slower, with only 8-10% falling after the 25 Minute time mark. No one ever took the full 30 Minutes, though.

My times for the run went from 19 Minutes (out of Boot Camp) to 24 Minutes (Out of the Gulf War). I was in for 8 Years. As I got older, and the wear and tear started to take hold, my times went down. Still managed the Pullups and Situps maximums, though.

You describe the PFT, I was describing the IST.

Ah yes... The IST... Forgot about that one.

Let me guess, what you have in mind is Good Physical Health -> Good Air Force Physical Health -> Good Athlete Physical Health -> Good Navy Physical Health -> Good Army Physical Health -> Good Marine Corps Physical Health.

Best run I ever had was 20:32, but then I was a tank, not a runner. .50 cal receivers did not slow me appreciably.