Amazon Prime Day 2024 is just around the corner, and I wanted to share some insights on what to expect this year. Whether you're a Prime Day veteran or a first-time shopper, these tips will help you make the most of the event. Here are some of the top deals and product categories to keep an eye on:

1. Electronics:

• Smart TVs: Look out for massive discounts on 4K UHD TVs from brands like TCL, Samsung, and Sony. Last year, we saw deals like the TCL 55-inch 4K TV for just $249.99.
• Headphones and Earbuds: Expect significant price drops on popular models like Apple AirPods and Sony WH-1000XM4. Previous deals included Apple AirPods 2nd Gen for as low as $89.
• Smart Home Devices: Amazon Echo devices, Fire TV Sticks, and Ring doorbells are usually among the best deals. Last year, the Fire TV Stick 4K was available for just $22.99.

1. Amazon Devices:

• Kindle E-Readers: Ideal for book lovers, these devices often see deep discounts. The Kindle Paperwhite is usually a hot item.
• Fire Tablets: Great for entertainment and productivity, these tablets are expected to have substantial markdowns.
• Echo and Alexa Devices: From smart speakers to display units, Amazon’s own products are always prominently featured.

1. Home Appliances:

• Vacuums and Air Purifiers: Brands like Shark and Dyson typically offer great deals. For instance, the Shark IZ362H Cordless Stick Vacuum was on sale for $199.99 last year.
• Kitchen Gadgets: Keep an eye out for deals on Instant Pots, Ninja blenders, and air fryers. The Ninja DZ201 Foodi 8-qt air fryer was a favorite last year.

1. Fashion and Beauty:

• Apparel: Major discounts on clothing, shoes, and accessories from top brands.
• Beauty Products: Deals on skincare, haircare, and makeup products are expected to be significant. Look out for bundled deals and exclusive sets.

1. Gaming:

• Consoles and Accessories: While stock can be limited, there are usually good deals on consoles like the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 accessories.
• Games: Discounts on popular titles and gaming subscriptions.

1. Miscellaneous:

• Books: E-books and physical books see notable discounts. Great time to stock up on reading material.
• Fitness Gear: From home gym equipment to fitness trackers, there are usually great deals to be had.

Tips for Prime Day Shopping:

• Set Up Alerts: Use the Amazon app to set up notifications for your must-have items.
• Early Access: Check for early access deals exclusively for Prime members.
• Price Tracking: Tools like CamelCamelCamel can help you track price history to ensure you're getting the best deal.

Feel free to share any deals you find or tips you have in the comments below.

My now ex boyfriend uploaded my explicit pictures and videos on the internet and on top of it he used to blackmail and threaten. So I’ve filed an FIR against him in the police station and right now he is in the jail but it’s bailable so he’ll probably be out in a month. I still have to give my statement in the magistrate. I have no idea what is the process and how will the trial begin and how can he defend himself.
If anyone have any knowledge on this, I would really appreciate your help.

At my work we have had a a Vantage Pro 2 Plus for a number of years sending the station data from the console to a PC using WeatherLink 6.05 software and then uploading it to our website for the general public (ie our customers - local sailors, kiters, windsurfers etc.) to view. Looking online at the Davis site it looks like the data logger DIY website option isn't really supported anymore in favor of a Weatherlink.com subscription.
The graphics and such of our site are pretty dated looking and our marketing and IT want a change. They are not willing to assist me beyond having a link on our new website site so I can't count on them helping with any design or coding.
We have also been sharing our data with the Citizen Weather Observer Program but just linking to that data online doesn't seem like the best option as I don't like the format any better.
Are there any options similar to what I have been doing to display on a website through the WeatherLink data logger that maybe would have an updated look of the data? And more importantly, how difficult would it be to set up? I was able to set up the current site lo these many years ago from the template supplied with the software but I've likely forgotten most of what little basic HTML skills I once had so I don't have much skill to bring to the table (and the company is not willing to let me pay someone to do the coding so that simple solution is out).
Are there any other options I might consider for sharing our weather data with the public before just going with the Weatherlink.com Pro+ pricing plan?

RAGE TRAIN is recruiting again! https://link.clashofclans.com/en?action=OpenClanProfile&tag=2RQLL0LUY
About Us Chill active war clan. If you like to compete in wars and participate in clan games and raid weekends frequently but don’t want the pressure of a super competitive war clan then this is the clan for you! Just make sure you follow war rules. Come grow with us!
Clan Info Minimum TH Level: th9 Clan Level: 5 War League: Gold III Capital League: Silver II English speaking
Benefits and Rules A quick note about discord: We do have one but we currently are not really using it as some of our active members don’t have it. Therefore it’s not a requirement. We may use it more in the future but that is tbd.
Follow war rules. We do mirror then cleanup. If you continually break this rule and steal people’s mirrors we will stop including you in wars. If you need to take a break because of life/hero upgrades/whatever, make sure you opt out of war.
Feeder Clan. We have a feeder clan called Train Station I where town halls under th9 go to build and gain experience before being able to come into the main clan. This also helps our main clan in war so we get better matchups.
Inactivity grace periods. If you are inactive for under a week, you won’t be kicked. We get that life happens sometimes. If you are inactive for more than a week, you will be kicked, but are more than welcome to come back once you are frequently active again.
War League participation. We do take war league very seriously. You don’t have to participate, but make sure you opt out. We take a one-week break from war the week before war league in order to prepare.
Clan Games. Although we don’t strictly enforce participation in clan games, it’s greatly encouraged so that we can all benefit from the great rewards that you get from completing clan games. We do pretty good but could always use more help.
Raid Weekend. We do raid weekend every weekend. Leaders and co-leaders will prioritize places to contribute.
Chance to increase in rank. We are a newer clan so we are still building our squad. Every now and then as we see fit we may put out a request to apply for co-leader role

RAGE TRAIN is recruiting again! https://link.clashofclans.com/en?action=OpenClanProfile&tag=2RQLL0LUY
About Us Chill active war clan. If you like to compete in wars and participate in clan games and raid weekends frequently but don’t want the pressure of a super competitive war clan then this is the clan for you! Just make sure you follow war rules. Come grow with us!
Clan Info Minimum TH Level: th9 Clan Level: 5 War League: Gold III Capital League: Silver II English speaking
Benefits and Rules A quick note about discord: We do have one but we currently are not really using it as some of our active members don’t have it. Therefore it’s not a requirement. We may use it more in the future but that is tbd.
Follow war rules. We do mirror then cleanup. If you continually break this rule and steal people’s mirrors we will stop including you in wars. If you need to take a break because of life/hero upgrades/whatever, make sure you opt out of war.
Feeder Clan. We have a feeder clan called Train Station I where town halls under th9 go to build and gain experience before being able to come into the main clan. This also helps our main clan in war so we get better matchups.
Inactivity grace periods. If you are inactive for under a week, you won’t be kicked. We get that life happens sometimes. If you are inactive for more than a week, you will be kicked, but are more than welcome to come back once you are frequently active again.
War League participation. We do take war league very seriously. You don’t have to participate, but make sure you opt out. We take a one-week break from war the week before war league in order to prepare.
Clan Games. Although we don’t strictly enforce participation in clan games, it’s greatly encouraged so that we can all benefit from the great rewards that you get from completing clan games. We do pretty good but could always use more help.
Raid Weekend. We do raid weekend every weekend. Leaders and co-leaders will prioritize places to contribute.
Chance to increase in rank. We are a newer clan so we are still building our squad. Every now and then as we see fit we may put out a request to apply for co-leader role

After a recent visit to Seoul in May 2024 and attending an appointment at JFeel Clinic in Hongdae I wanted to share an honest review of my experience. While there were some good points, overall I would not recommend this clinic based on how my first appointment went.
I researched thoroughly before travelling and decided JFeel was a good option for price, had the treatments I was seeking and was foreigner friendly. These points were still true in my experience. Booking an appointment was very convenient in English and was done via WhatsApp. The location was also good being right next to Hongik Univ. Station.
There was definitely difficulty with the clinic's management of the logistics and appointment itself and I found that this was the main factor that let down entire the experience. I booked the appointment well in advance for 16:00 and I arrived on the day a couple of minutes early, however I waited about 45 minutes, and was seen for a "consultation" at 16:45. The staff did recognise that this was a significant delay and apologised, but in the end did not provide a proper consultation in a private room as I had seen in many reviews. Instead my consultation was done in the main reception waiting area on level 7. The consultation was quite rushed, and was the staff member quickly talking to me while quoting each treatment. While this wasn't the best consultation, I came prepared knowing which treatments I was after so it did not impact me too much. Having this done in the public waiting area was uncomfortable.
Start to finish it only took 10 minutes or so, some photos were taken of my face, I paid and was sent to Level 5 to await treatment. This was the next letdown, as I had to wait 1 hour and treatment did not start until 17:45. In total had to spend over 1.5 hours from the start of my arrival to beginning treatment in waiting. I found this quite unreasonable. The staff did communicate once that there would be some delay with some apology.
The treatment itself was done professionally, quickly and the injections were done well. I was comfortable and happy with this portion of the clinic.
Although the treatments themselves were fine, the next time I am in Seoul for cosmetic treatments I will be attending a different clinic. I found that the consultation in public was not professional from a licensed dermatology clinic and the amount of time spent in the waiting rooms was not enjoyable at all and did not seem to be standard for clinics.

Demographics

• Gender: Female
• Race/Ethnicity: Mixed (Asian, White, Black)
• Residence: Virginia
• Income Bracket: <$70,000 (Negative SAI)
• Type of School: Public
• Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): URM

Intended Major(s): Creative Technologies (Animation)
Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 4.0 / 4.1952
• Rank (or percentile): 6/378 (Not submitted)
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 2 Honors (only 2 offered), 7 AP (Human Geo, Lang, Stats, US History, Chem, Gov, and Art), 1 Dual Enrollment (English 111 and 112)
• Senior Year Course Load: AP Chem, AP Gov, Dual Enrollment English, AP Art, Japanese 1, Digital Art

Standardized Testing

• SAT I: 1200 (620 RW, 580 M)
• ACT: N/A
• SAT II: 1300 (630 RW, 670 M)
• AP/IB: Human Geo (5), Stats (4), US History (3), English Lang (2)
• Other (ex. IELTS, TOEFL, etc.): N/A

Extracurriculars/Activities

1. Community Service: Volunteer, Society of St. Vincent de Paul (10th, 11th, 12th; Year-long; 2 hours/week, 24 weeks/year) I packed bags for my church's food pantry a couple times a month.
2. Work (Paid): Part-Time Health and Beauty Clerk, Harris Teeter (12th; Year-long; 21 hours/week, 40 weeks/year) I worked a couple days a week during the summer and weekends during school year.
3. Academic: Active Member, National Honor Society, Leadership: Oversaw Fundraising Event (11th, 12th; School-year; 3 hours/week, 15 weeks/year) I attended monthly meetings and joined fundraising, peer tutoring, and teachestaff appreciation committees.
4. Work (Paid): Part-Time Frozen and Dairy Clerk, Harris Teeter (11th; Break; 18 hours/week, 12 weeks/year)
5. Art: Student, Pre-College Summer Course, The Art Institutes (12th; Break; 20 hours/week, 2 weeks/year) I took an 2-week online animation class where I learned animation principles and used Adobe Photoshop and Animate to create a 2D animated short film.
6. Religious: Eucharistic Minister, Church (11th, 12th; Year-long; 1houweek, 15 weeks/year) I volunteer for my church by serving communion during mass at least once a month
7. Athletics: Club Volleyball, Member of Youth HS Competitive Team, Achievement: Won a League Championship (10th; School-year; 6 hours/week, 25 weeks/year) I attended practices twice a week and played two games every weekend.
8. Other Club/Activity: Member, Film Club (9th, 10th; School-year; 2 hours/week, 20 weeks/year) I went to weekly meetings to discuss filmmaking and made individual short films outside of meetings to present weekly.
9. Community Service: VolunteeLeader, Vacation Bible School, Church, Leadership: Managed Arts & Crafts Station (12th; Break; 12 hours/week, 1 week/year) I helped set up and clean crafts station. I managed younger children and helped them when needed.
10. N/A

Awards/Honors

1. QuestBridge National College Match Finalist (National; 12th)
2. National African American Recognition Award (National; 12th)
3. Principal's List (School; 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th)
4. AP Scholar Award (National; 12th)
5. Student of the Year (School; 9th, 10th, 11th)

Letters of Recommendation

• Guidance Counselor (?/10): I didn't meet with him a lot so he doesn't know me too well, but it seemed like I stood out to him because of how well I always do. I never saw his LOR, so idk how good it was, but I'm sure it was good.
• AP Statistics Teacher (10/10): junior year teacher; I always had an A in his class but didn't talk much. He was kinda awkward so I avoided talking to him lol, but his LOR was actually really good. He said that he wanted his daughter to grow up to be like me!
• AP US History Teacher (8/10): junior year teacher; I always had an A in his class but never talked either. His LOR wasn't bad but he basically rewrote the resume I sent him
• Art Teacher (9/10): teacher during sophomore and senior years; she chose to enter one of my pieces in a local art show and I won an award. She kinda overhyped me but it was good nonetheless.

Interviews
N/A
Essays
I think I spent about a month on my essay, but I can't remember. I felt like my essay was pretty good, but I thought it might be controversial depending on the reader so I was a little nervous. I'm not that good of a writer, but I think the content made up for it. I basically talked about my experience growing up mixed race and how I won't let race define me. I thought it might be problematic because I said a black girl was being racist to me by mentioning how a black girl once told me I only got straight A's because I was "white" and that I realized that some people use race as an excuse for their failures. I said that I thought it was sad she was raised to think that way and ended by saying I wouldn't let my race dictate what I should like or how I should behave and that I would decide for myself rather than following others.
Decisions (indicate ED/EA/REA/SCEA/RD)
Acceptances:

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)!!! (EA) - Presidential Scholarship Initiative Recipient (approx. $17,000 per year to cover rest of tuition and room and board)
• Virginia Commonwealth University (EA) - Virginia Merit Award Recipient ($4,000 per year)
• Longwood University (EA) - Presidential Scholarship Recipient ($8,000 per year)

Waitlists:

• N/A

Rejections:

• University of Southern California (ED through QuestBridge)

Additional Information:
Let me just start by saying that I'm extremely grateful for how things have worked out for me. I feel so lucky and fortunate to be in the situation I am. I know I had my GPA and low income going for me, but I got so much more than I ever expected and I still can't believe this is actually happening!! QuestBridge didn't work out, but I still ended up getting what I was looking for: a way to go to college without taking out loans.
So to explain me being able to "go to Virginia Tech for Free," I have multiple sources that are paying for my first year; I didn't just get a full ride from VT (although it basically is when combined with everything else). I got about $15,500 in govt. grants, the scholarship from VT to cover the rest of tuition and room and board which is about $17,000 this year, and $12,000 in outside scholarships. And that's way over the COA, so I don't have to worry about paying anything!! Now I can follow my dreams of being an animator at my dream school without worrying about how to pay for it!!!

Below is a list of some recent releases that are highly rated and some that will be released in June for your perusal. If you know of any other upcoming releases please post them in the comments!

RECENT RELEASES

The Burning Witch 3: A Humorous Romantic Fantasy by Delemhach

Lady Katarina Ashowan is used to getting into trouble, but her latest muddle takes the cake. A moment’s weakness in her attraction to Eric Reyes, crown prince of Daxaria, has landed her in an unexpected marriage with the man . . . just as her father, Lord Finlay Ashowan, arrives in Troivack to check on his headstrong daughter. As if figuring out how to acclimate her father to her scandalous elopement isn’t bad enough, there are rumors of dangerous magical plots afoot at court—with Kat seemingly at the center of them all.
For one thing, the devil is still prowling around, with dubious intentions as to Kat’s powers. For another, an underground network of wrongdoers has been spreading a mysterious and addictive drug throughout both Troivack and Daxaria. And perhaps most concerning, a villainess is hiding in plain sight somewhere close to Kat and her best friend, Queen Alina, hoping to use them to strike at the devil. Now it’s up to Kat—with the help of her kitten familiar, Pina, as well as her friends and family—to untangle the twisted web of courtly and magical intrigue before her hurried honeymoon is cut short by deadly disaster . . .

The Runaway Mate: A Rejected Mate Shifter Romance (Shifters of the Three Rivers) By Kira Nightingale

After what he did, I never wanted to see my fated mate again…
Mai: Four years ago, Ryan Shaw broke my heart, tore it into little pieces and then stomped on it. Ryan is my fated mate, but when I saw him with another woman at the regional meet of all the Packs, I’d had enough. I finally told him what he meant to me, and being the jerk that he is, he rejected me in front of everyone.
Heartbroken, I ran, trying to get as far away from him and the memory of that night as possible. Except I’m on a roll with picking jerks. So now I’m on the run again and heading back to the one place I know I’ll be safe. My brilliant plan is to lie low, heal, and then take off someplace new to start again. But Ryan knows I’m here now, and he has very different ideas.
Ryan: Mai is back, and my wolf is going crazy. I’ll do anything to protect her. It won’t be easy with secret plots to take over our Pack, her abusive ex sniffing around, and Mai’s urge to run every time she sees me. But there’s no way I’m letting her go, not again.

Fastlander Fallen by T.S. Joyce

Ace has one last promise to fulfill.
His father has asked him to try to join one of the Crews of Damon’s Mountains. When the new Fastlander Crew starts accepting applicants, Ace puts his name in the hat on a whim. Will the new Alpha ever allow him to be a part of his Crew? Not if he finds out who he really is. Ace has been hiding a secret about his lineage since he was a child, and now the Fastlanders are getting way too close for comfort. And to add to the pressure, there’s a human coordinating the Crew’s interview process that has his animal’s attention. At first he thinks his animal is hunting her, but the more he gets to know her, the more he realizes she is important. Corey Gable just might be the glue of the Fastlanders, and she doesn’t even realize her part in the destiny of this Crew. The problem? It’s twofold. One, he cannot under any circumstances bond to a human, and two? His life is in a free fall, and he cannot drag her into what is about to happen. If she wants to live, she’s got to stay human, and stay away from the Fastlanders. And most importantly? She has to stay away from Ace.
Corey Gable has lost someone she loves.
Corey’s cousin, Hallie, has been consumed by her new life with the shifters of Damon’s Mountains, and she’s left Corey behind. The only way to maintain her relationship with her cousin is to get involved in her new life—the ups, the downs, all of it. When Corey is roped into helping with the interview process of creating the new Fastlanders Crew, there are definitely some interesting characters who want the invite. One of them is tall, dark, and mysterious, and there’s something about him that keeps drawing her in—but he has big warnings for her. She’s messing with a destiny that could be the end of her life as she knows it. She wants to heed his advice, truly she does, but there’s just something about the mysterious stranger. And the more she finds out about who he is, the more she thinks she couldn’t leave him alone if she tried.

Hellhounds and Angel Cakes by Zoe Chant

He’s supposed to be a rough, tough, terrifying hellhound. That's hard when you're covered in chihuahuas.
Henry’s used to everyone being afraid of him – being a hellhound has that effect on people. What he’s not used to is having every animal within a four-mile radius suddenly wanting to be his best friend. Pigeons roosting on your shoulder: annoying, but mostly harmless. The local moose population stampeding toward you in the hopes of a hug: somewhat more worrying.
There’s nothing for it but to escape to the mountains, where he can use his hellhound form to intimidate the local wildlife into leaving him alone. But a stop for one last piece of cake before heading into the wilderness leads him straight to his fated mate. He's over the moon... but how can he court her when every animal in town is trying to leap into his arms?
Travel journalist Luna was looking forward to this assignment: covering the first annual Girdwood Springs Food Festival, along with her trademark: Fillmore, the world's ugliest dog. Specifically, she was looking forward to sampling all the amazing, mouth-watering local delicacies.
But there's other delights to sample in Girdwood Springs – such as the mind-bogglingly gorgeous, hunky man who is now covered in cake, thanks to Fillmore. And who seems to be strangely popular with the local animal population.
Suddenly, writing her article is the last thing on her mind…

Wild Scottish Beauty by Tricia O'Malley

“She was sunshine to my storm clouds, and I wondered how the two could ever coexist.”
A chance job offer in Scotland gives Willow Barlowe an excuse to escape the predictable life her overly controlling brother, Miles, wants for her. Excited to start fresh as a fashion intern for the local kiltmaker, Willow lands in small town Loren Brae brimming with sunshine and hope.
Until she discovers that her new boss is none other than Ramsay McMillan, her brother’s best friend, and the grumpiest man this side of the Atlantic. Never mind the ghost Highland coo that haunts the castle, nor the supposedly bewitched waters of Loch Mirren, Willow refuses to work under Ramsay’s watchful eyes, certain he’s reporting back to her brother.
Ramsay Kilts is home to one of the last remaining traditional kiltmakers in Scotland, Ramsay McMillan. Loyalty, continuity, and tradition are important to Ramsay–as is his privacy. After a family betrayal, Ramsay keeps his walls up, running a veritable kilt empire with as minimum fuss as he can. Enter Willow Barlowe–his new intern, good friend’s little sister, and a veritable thorn in his side.
If the thorn is made of sunshine and sparkles that is.
As the two clash, Ramsay must decide if loyalty is really more important than love?

Devious Gods by Caroline Peckham

Callie: Ruin chases close on our heels and the price we have paid for a chance at our salvation is higher than any of us could have presumed.
I have claimed a love so brutal that I fear losing it might destroy not just me but the world I have fought so desperately to save.
The gods watch us more closely than ever, urging us to fulfil the task our destiny demands. We only have to make it to the end of this road, but I fear what we might find when we reach that final destination.
Montana: I am no longer the girl born to ruin and ash, but a woman set on a path of salvation with my heart in the clutches of a monster.
Our eyes are finally open to the true enemies of our kind and now that we have managed to unite against all odds, we are determined to see the games of the gods end.
Time is running out and fate calls our name on a tumultuous wind. Let’s pray that we can answer it before damnation claims us all.

The Throne of Honour and Blood by J Bree

In our arrogance, the high fae forgot everything that mattered.
I carved out a reputation as the Savage Prince for my brutality against witches, but unable to wield our magic, I couldn’t stop my kingdom from being torn apart by war and famine while the Fates demanded my patience.
The worst was still to come.
After almost a thousand years of waiting for my Fates-blessed mate, and thousands of witches dead by my hand, the Fates revealed their cruelest truth yet.
With silver eyes that sliced to the bone and a humility that defied all reason, the witch I’m bound to has tested every inch of my restraint, but that was only the beginning.
Everything I once knew as true has come into question.
Loyalties will be tested, treaties broken, treason committed, and only the strongest will survive.
I am Prince Soren Celestial.
The rightful heir to the throne of the Southern Lands.
Nothing will keep me from my Fates-blessed mate.
Not even her hatred for me.

Devourer of Men: A Captain Hook, Crocodile, and Wendy Darling Reimagining by Nikki St. Crowe

I have few friends and fewer allies. What I do have on the island of Everland is a lot of people who want me gone. So when the Crocodile and Captain Hook reappear in my life, I am in no mood. And worse, they’re unknowingly endangering themselves by asking for me by a name I long considered dead.
Now, not only do I have to save myself, I have to save the two men who I swore I would murder with my bare hands if I ever set eyes on them again considering they abandoned me.
Unfortunately for me, Roc and Hook have other plans, and when I find myself caught between them, I have to make a decision: risk my heart or risk my life?
Devourer of Men is a dark MMF romantasy fairytale retelling. Characters have been aged up for this darker, grittier version. For a full list of content warnings, please visit the author's website.

Bespelled (Bewitched Book 2) By Laura Thalassa

“Neither magic, nor time, can keep us apart. We are like the stars. Eternal.”
No one told witch Selene Bowers having a soul mate would be so difficult. Nor did they warn her that he might be a vengeful, ancient sorcerer who would frame her for murder, force her to remember a past life he swears she lived, and then coerce her into an unbreakable marriage pact. But that’s exactly what happens the night of the Samhain Ball, when Selene finds herself in a jail cell.
After waking from enchanted sleep, Memnon swore to discover why Selene betrayed him long ago. But when his soul mate’s memories return, the truth reveals something else entirely. Horrified by his own actions and desperate to make amends, Memnon offers Selene the unthinkable: a magic bond that will give her full control over his will. And Selene is desperate enough to accept it.
But other enemies still haunt Henbane Coven, Selene’s magical academy, and they’ve taken a keen interest in her. If she wants to stop them, she’ll need Memnon’s help. But partnering with the sorcerer is a tricky business, especially when he’s dead set on winning her heart. And that can’t happen…because the bond controlling him will break the moment she falls in love with him.

Beautiful Beast (Dragons of Viria) by Devyn Sinclair

Standing in front of a dragon means dying by fire, but the heart knows there’s more than one way to burn.
Humans and dragons are at war, and I am a pawn in the battle.
Princess of a dying land, my life is not my own, and a marriage to a vicious, dragon-hunting prince will save my people from deadly famine or death by fire.
But before I can vow my life to a monster, dragons drop screaming from the sky with a single aim. End the alliance. Kill me. I welcome the flames, relieved to burn instead of rot.
But the flames never come.
One look in the dragons' eyes, and they carry me away. Three dragons whose gaze burns with hunger and fills me with fire.
They're not what we were taught, and every passing day I learn more of the truth. Dragons are not the enemy we thought they were.
Still, one question remains: for centuries no one has stood before a dragon and survived. If these dragons were sent to kill me, why am I still alive?

Midlife Vampire Hunter (The Forty Proof Series Book 9) by Shannon Mayer

Crash:
I had her in my arms, only to lose her moments later. Frantic doesn't even begin to describe my state of mind as I search for Bree.
That search takes me deep into my past and to a family home that I swore I would never return to.
To find Bree, I must face a queen I defied and a monster that wants my soul. All while being heckled by a demon-infested blade.
Goddess help me succeed.
Breena:
Being abducted by a woman who is supposed to be dead, and weirdly looks a heck of a lot like me, is disturbing. Being told my death is needed to complete a wicked spell and that I'll be turned into a vampire? Even more disturbing.
I can't reach Crash or my friends. I have no idea where I am. My only ally? Alan. My ex-husband. Yup, you read that right,
The path to the end of my story is shadowed in fog, danger, and mystery, but I begin to see through it as the players and truth emerge. And that sight shows me that the sliver of hope is worth hanging onto, that my friends are with me even when I cannot see them, and that a future free of those who mean us harm is possible.
Even if it costs me more than I ever planned on paying

UPCOMING JUNE RELEASES

The Little Shop of Grand Curiosities by Iris Lake

Nepheli’s Little Shop of Grand Curiosities is the last scrap of magic left in the humdrum city of Elora as the Dreadful Mundane slowly takes over its residents’ hearts, and she is determined to preserve it any way she can. But when Apollo, a charming and mysterious traveler from the other side of the world, walks into her Shop, bringing her all kinds of trouble, Nepheli, for the first time in her life, is stolen away from the familiar wonders of her Curiosity Shop and is thrust into a dangerous world of lethal creatures and heartbreaking magic. As the two of them embark on a long journey of self-discovery, Nepheli will soon realize that the most curious things in life lie right beyond the reach of one’s comfort zone.
The Little Shop Of Grand Curiosities is a lighthearted fantasy romance about the true meaning of love, the power of empathy, and the unremitting yearning to be extraordinary as an act of rebellion against the mundaneness of the world.

Filthy Rich Fae by Geneva Lee

Cate Holloway knows the unspoken rule of New Orleans: avoid the powerful Gage crime family at all costs. Of course, that was before her brother got caught in their chaos. Now Cate has no choice but to confront the dark and forbidding prince of New Orleans himself and beg for her brother’s life. But Lachlan Gage is as lethal as he is beautiful…and the only currency he’s interested in is her soul.
Because Lachlan isn’t just some ruthless criminal. He’s fae. And he has his own secret reasons for binding her to him. Tricked and desperate, Cate is torn between humanity and the breathtaking Otherworld. A place filled with shadows and secrets, with members of each fae court plotting against her just as her captor’s motives for trapping her become more mysterious. And if she can’t break this sinister bargain in the next thirty days, she’ll be bound to the inscrutable yet infuriatingly tempting fae prince and his deadly world…forever.

The Princess and the Pack by Fallon English

Princess Ivy and Prince Cillian have been fated since birth. Ivy has always known that one day, she must leave her country to become not only Cillian’s bride, but Namara’s future Queen.
As an Omega and a princess, her life revolves around duty; not the dream that she harbors of life-altering love. Her station dictates she deny Nature’s call for a pack of her own. Instead, she must wed and settle for one - and only one - Alpha to preserve their pristine, royal bloodlines.
But fate has other plans in mind for Princess Ivy. Plans that involve not just her Betrothed, but his best friend and Ivy’s childhood nemesis - a nobleman, and the handsome son of the Royal Gardener.
Will societal expectations and tradition pull them apart? Or will Ivy and her Alphas take charge of their fate and give in to a love with the power to change the world?

A Rival of Hearts by Tessonja Odette

Two rival writers. One prestigious publishing contract. A bargain of hearts and seduction.
They say never bargain with the fae. They also say don’t get drunk on fae wine. Yet romance author Edwina Danforth has managed a blunder with both on her first visit to the infamous faelands. Now she's trapped in a magic-fueled bet she barely remembers with a man she’d be happier to forget. The terms? Whoever can bed the most lovers during their month-long dueling book tour wins a coveted publishing contract.
The win should be easy for Edwina. She’s known for penning scintillating tales of whirlwind romance. There’s just one her imagination vastly exceeds her bedroom experience. But when failure means plummeting her career back into obscurity, losing isn’t an option.
Her handsome fae rival, William Haywood, poses an even greater challenge. Not only are his looks as aggravatingly perfect as his track record behind closed doors, but he has his own reasons for playing to win, and he won’t go down without a fight. Unless, of course, it’s a different kind of going down. In that case, he’s fair game.
Edwina and William clash in a rivalry of romance. But what happens when their objects of desire…turn out to be each other?

Unfortunately it seems likely that the non-Muslims who comment on the Gaza war don't understand Islam, and that the Muslim commentators don't admit that they have a bias, meanwhile Islam in fact plays a role in the Gaza war. A relevant summary:
Muhammad started his own religion when he was forty and immediately came into conflict with the other religious people of his community, mostly polytheists and Jews. Muhammad became a war general and spent the next ten years of his life trying to kill off the other religions around him. He succeeded.
During this time, every day he in essence gave war pep-talks to his troops. As most of their fighting was against Jews, most of the war pep-talks were against Jews. His followers wrote down everything he said every day, mostly in the form of scraps of paper containing short segments. When he died, his followers swept these scraps of paper together to make first the Quran, then the Hadith, as there were thousands of these scraps of paper.
The entirety of the Islamic literature reads, therefore, like a slow, hypnotic rant against Jews, and also against Christians, against polytheists, against other now obscure and defeated religions, and against all non-Muslim "disbelievers" in general.
Mostly though, it focuses on Jews. The first two main chapters of the Quran in fact are about Jews: chapter 2 "The Cow", criticizing the Jews for once worshipping a golden calf, and chapter 3 "The Family of Imran (Moses)", meaning all of the Jews. There's not much difference between any of the Quran or Hadith chapters though; they all continue along mostly in the same way as the first two and are titled variously by the scant amounts of other concepts sometimes explored in the chapters. Mostly it's all a slow, hypnotic rant against all Jews and other non-believers.
If you don't believe any of this, check it for a first time. You'll be shocked. Islam is an inherently discriminatory religion toward Jews, and that's really the basis of the aggression that comes out of Gaza and other places toward them.
Most revelatory of all in this regard is the fact (if you check your history books) that the Ottoman Empire participated in attacking Britain and the allies in World War 1, and Britain won over them, obtaining what is today the Gaza, Israel, and West Bank areas. There was never any Jewish theft. Britain wanted to let the Jews move into that land afterward, and it was their choice to do so, as it was the Brits' land.
The Jews were met with immediate violence from the Muslims, whose religion tells them to attack Jews. It got worse. Sick of the violence, the Jews declared independence for their territory and formed a state. This was fair and appropriate. Immediately, large groups of Muslims combined armies to try to massacre the Jews. They were repelled.
It never stopped. The Muslims tried to combine armies and massacre the Jews again, in '67. They were repelled that time too.
Then in 2007 Gaza started the Gaza War against the Jews, and have fought it every day since, including today. They've been rocketing Israel constantly since 2007; October 7th was just a sort of culmination.
By the way, declaring independence and forming a state was the pattern set for and by every other territorial area that was formed out of the Ottoman Empire- resulting in every Middle Eastern state you see today- Israel did nothing different, and did not need a reason to do it- Gaza and the West Bank have always had the same ability, but have torn themselves apart fighting each other instead, while the world continues to wait on them. Also, they need to not form a government that declares war against Israel as part of its foundation. That’s the other reason they haven’t formed any real states yet. No one would stop them from doing so if they did it without any war declarations. The concept that anyone else in the world would somehow be able to give them a state is bogus.
The real problem will be solved when the world has a conversation with Islam, telling them to give up the part about cursing non-believers: approximately half the content of the Islamic religion. Then the Gazans can live non-aggressively with Jews next to them. So as well with the West Bank, Jordan/Iraq/Syria/Libya/Yemen/Iran, the twenty-or-so other nations that don't accept Israeli passports, etcetera.
Before any moderators, members of this site, or non-members of this site, try to get me banned or give me -100 karma points, insisting that I’m biased or that I’ve made this up: I challenge you to read or watch any summary of the life of Muhammad and the first ten years of Islam, then to read the first hundred pages of any English translation of the Quran, then to read the sub-chapter “Fighting Jews” of the chapter “Jihad” of the Al-Bukhari hadith book, then to read Gaza’s government charter “The Hamas Covenant”. If you put in a few minutes a day it’ll take you about two weeks. Don’t complain about me asking you to do this much research; it’s not much and it’s a bare minimum I can think of for you to check my work. Then you’re going to ask the same question I asked, “Why haven’t I heard of this from anyone or any side reporting on the Gaza war?” I believe the answer is several-fold: one is that there is simply a shocking lack of bothering to do much research by even those most vocal about the conflict. Two is that those who know about this know that no outsider asked for support of Gaza would sympathize with them if they knew about this. Three is that this stuff is outrageous, and no one wants to be the deliverer of that outrage, or get accused themselves of making this up. Four (and you’ll have to read to understand this) is that the believers are told in general to not trust disbelievers, which would include not telling them the truth. If you believed someone else was going to Hell, but that they didn’t know about it, would you tell them? They’re not gonna like hearing it; why tell them? Count the number of times Muhammad says all Jews and disbelievers are going to Hell in the Quran. You’ll lose count by about page 25 and it just keeps going like that.
All the resources mentioned are easily available online for free in pdf form or otherwise; just do a search for each, and youtube has lots of good videos on Muhammad’s life. I also highly recommend you watch overhead-battle-analysis-style videos (like Kings & Generals channel & similar) to review every single early battle of Islam, in order. You may also want to watch some on the first few battles of Abu Bakr also, the guy who picked up Muhammad’s war banner after him and carried on the violent conquest of the entire Arabian Peninsula, eradicating one by one what used to be a diverse array of now-extinct local religions. You could check out a copy of the Quran translated or order one, which I also recommend. I have Pickthall’s translation as a hard copy and I recommend it; I also used three different online Qurans and three different online Al-Bukhari hadiths (I wanted to make sure I wasn’t making any mistake by reading some bad translation; turned out nope they all read like that).
And before anyone says, well, that kind of stuff is said in the Bible too… First of all, find it; second of all, if it says that kind of stuff even a handful of times in the Bible, that’s different from Islam’s thousand times saying it, over and over again- it’s really a different sort of book.
I want to say last that the Muslims aren’t “like this”; rather, they’re told to be like this, by a high-pressure, demanding religion. They’re also told I’m sure, as for Gaza, by their friends, parents, neighbors, grandparents, local TV stations, and government, what is truly an altered version of history, wherein the Jews “stole” Palestine. They’re taught to distrust anything that the West says against that, because they’re taught to distrust disbelievers- of course the disbelievers would lie about this stuff- “hasbara”. The Jews “stole” Palestine, so, they’re “occupiers”. They don’t want to sound racist because they know discrimination is not tolerated in the disbelievers’ world, so they say “Zionists”, in place of “Jews”. Underneath it, they’re not saying much to the outside world- just enough and in just the right ways to sound presumably appropriate and reasonable, legitimate. It’s like a big game to try to get what they want (Jews expelled or killed), or, as discussed above, it's that they unfortunately don't know any better cause they've been lied to themselves. To the extent that anyone knows this stuff though and hasn't mentioned it, I would feel that we’ve been lied to and played for fools, and it makes me want to say screw the Squad, Sanders, and the campus protests... all right here on American soil!!!! I trust the vast majority of Muslims are not like this. I think they are too afraid though to voice any opposition to any of the Muslims who are hardcore about this stuff, of which Gaza and the West Bank have become the best examples- I told you to read the Hamas Covenant so I’ll trust you’ll do it; meanwhile I’ll add that the guy who ran the West Bank, Abbas, wrote his own dissertation as a youth on his conspiracy theory that the Jews “did the Holocaust to themselves, to create false international sympathy and a pretext for stealing Israel”, and he has continued to educate the West Bank’s people with this line of reasoning, making “Nakba day” into a sort of mockery of anyone else’s Holocaust remembrances. Meanwhile Iran continues determined to one day lead the eradication.
If you care about caring, do the right thing- help educate others on what’s really going on in Gaza. It’s bigger than the past few months, it’s bigger than October 7^th, it’s even bigger than tens of thousands of casualties, and if we don’t do the right thing (demand and converse about how disbelievers have rights too), one day far in the future that total may be millions or billions. The time is now to resolve this between all of us, with words. Learn about and then be vocal about the unfairness of Islam. Demand rights. Have conversations.
To add to this goal, I offer the following:
I make this contract with Islam, whether they agree or not:
Disbelievers’ Bill of Rights:

1. The disbelievers have rights too.
2. The disbelievers have wonderful and diverse cultures of their own, that are not to be eradicated; Earth is good when its cultures are diverse and not homogenized.
3. The disbelievers are not going to Hell for disbelieving Islam.
4. The believers are not going to Paradise for eradicating the disbelievers.
5. There will be no “final day” where all the Jews are killed.
6. Jesus will not show up on the final day to personally kill all the Jews (Islamic eschatology).
7. Disbelievers have the right to not be discriminated against or degraded by the believers. Any disbelievers neighboring believers are not to have rocks thrown at them, suicide attacks launched at them, rockets launched at them, rifles or pistols fired at them, etcetera.
8. Disbelievers have the right to not tolerate any literature that discriminates against them or is derogatory or degrading toward them, or that advocates any sort of violence against them, or that proscribes any mistreatment of them.

Furthermore, I liberate all Muslims, with the following lines:
You don’t have to surrender to Islam, completely, if any of it seems wrong to you. For that matter, you can pick any religion, you can pick no religion, you can make up your own religion, you can institute your own renewal of Islam and start a new chapter on it; you can do anything you want on this planet, and no lightning bolt will strike you from anyone’s god. If the afterlife is real, then you’re going to it whether you believe in it or whether you disbelieve in it. If there’s Heaven and Hell, you’re going to Heaven for being a good person, Hell for being a bad person.
Also, Muhammad may have said that his teachings were “a Book”. However, Muhammad did not give any specifics instructions to make any book exactly in the fashion in which the Quran and Hadith and others (Kitube of Shia, Wahhabiism’s books, Salafist works etcetera) were made, and, I believe that Muhammad would have seen the error in making them in those exact ways- this would cause problems later- the format is too heavy on the disbelievers- it will someday make for a problematic relationship between different faiths- you should feel free to rearrange any and all verses, excluding as many as you like, reinterpreting any you like, to make any new Book that makes more sense for use as an every-day, all-time religious book: one that focuses on “the good stuff” and not the bad. Muhammad needed to rally an army every day. We don’t need that in our daily lives now that we’re all trying to put war away. This is the 21^st century. Nine nations use nukes, and two of them are Muslim (Pakistan, Kazakhstan). We need to right now make decisions that will put away all war inclinations between us forever. If you don’t like my way of doing it, come up with something better and suggest it. I say we can do it by having a conversation where disbelievers stick up for themselves and believers listen.
And, I suggest this interpretation: perhaps Allah wanted to include a sort of test, within Islam, to separate hypocrites from believers- Allah included a bunch of stuff telling you that disbelievers are bad and to attack them. Maybe it’s to see who rejects that, to send them to Paradise, and to see who decides to act on it, to send them to Hell.
There is plenty of evidence that this is true in Gaza right now. Why would Allah punish them unless they were bad? They have relentlessly attacked Israel for years. Maybe this is Allah’s punishment.
Also, you are free to associate with disbelievers, at any time and place, whatever they’re saying at the time. You can date and intermarry with disbelievers if you like. Try not calling them disbelievers and you’ll have luck.
I also state that I am a learned scholar (college degree earned, floor-to-ceiling stacks of nonfiction books read, research published) and I am authorized to make fatwa (judgments) and to issue tafsir (commentary/interpretations on holy works).
As a warning to angry-comment-posters: you may find that I can back up with references and examples every point I’ve made! Watch out!
That being said, am I wrong about anything? Please tell me if I have anything wrong; I can only do so much research and then sweep it all together off the top of my head. Let me know. I’ll apologize if I get something wrong and perhaps adjust my thesis.

Recruiting new members for the Lost Lands PvE Cluster! Hosting a range of mods, boosted rates & friendly members, if you're looking for a fresh start & a new Ark home, we hope you'll consider Lost Lands! - If interested, please leave a comment here or shoot me a DM.
(Servers are PvE, console only and never wipe, unless a new map releases and the server is re-purposed)
Maps: The Island (Will change to Center on release) & Scorched Earth
~Server Rates~
*Max Dino Level*: 180
*Experience*: 5x
*Harvest Amount*: 5x
*Taming Speed*: 8x
*Egg Hatch Speed*: 50x
*Crop Growth Speed*: 30x
*Item Stack Size Multiplier*: 5x
~Miscellaneous Settings~
*Diseases* - Off
*Crosshair* - On
*Floating Damage Text* - On
*Hit Markers* - On
*Spawn Animations* - Off
*Speed Leveling* (All Creatures) - On
*Tribe Alliances* - On
*Raid Dino Feeding* - On
*Unlimited Respecs* - On
*Structure Placement Collision* - Off
*Always Allow Structure Pickup* - On
~Creature Mods~
*Shiny Dinos Ascended* - By nevcairel
*No Untameables* - By myrmecoleontidae
*Clay's Trike Edit* - By Claymore_Art
*Gigantoraptor* - By StudioWildcardMods
*Paleo ARK - Evolution Apex Predators* - By UpFromTheDepths
*Additions Ascended* - All By Garuga123
Acrocanthosaurus
Archelon
Brachiosaurus
Ceratosaurus
Deinosuchus
~Miscellaneous Mods ~
*EZ's Engram Unlocker* - By Ezlazeme
*Pelayori's Cryostorage* - By Pelayori
*Mutate Madness* - By zeroSixThirty
*Upgrade Station* - By Ghazlawl
*Der Dino Finder* - By Hacki_van_Bane
*Speedy Rhynio* - By EclipseModding
*Cliffan's Backpacks* - By Cliffan_
*Appetizer* - By Zogniton
*Industrial Dehydrator* - By Trixt3r
*Qol+* - By Void_Ark
*Tek ForgeV1* - By Lescaa19
*Smol Structures* - By MissBeans01
*Greenhouse Glass Fix* - By InquisitorB
*Improved Egg Incubator* - By Shinygati
*Custom Dino Levels* - By kitzykatty
*Super Spyglass Plus* - By kavan87
*Cheaper Trains* - By Alex2067
*Better Trains* - By Shinygati
*Utilities Plus* - By blitzfire911

PLAYBOY Interview With Conan O'Brien Interview by Kevin Cook For Playboy Magazine February 1998
A candid conversation with the preppie prince of "Late Night" about his rocky start, his show's secret one-day cancellation and how David Letterman saved the day.
He was polite. He was funny. He gave us a communicable disease.
At 34 Conan O'Brien is hotter than the fever he was running when we met in his private domain above the "Late Night" sound stage. A gangly freckle-faced ex-high school geek he is "one of TV's hottest properties" according to "People" magazine. The host of "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" has become his generation's king of comedy.
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. Congested too, but O'Brien has far more to worry about than his head cold. A perfectionist who broods over one bad minute in an otherwise perfect hour of TV, he worries he might be anhedonic, "I have trouble with success," he says, "I was raised to believe that if something good happens something bad is coming." Sure things look good now "Rolling Stone" calls "Late Night" "the hottest comedy show on TV." Ratings are better than ever, particularly among 18- to 34-year-olds, the viewers advertisers crave.
But O'Brien only works harder. Despite his illness he taped two shows in 26 hours on three hours' sleep. He smoothly interviewed Elton John then burst into coughing fits during commercials. Later in his crammed corner office overlooking Manhattan traffic Conan the Cool gulped Dayquil gel caps. He coughed spewing microbes.
"Sorry, sorry," he said. Of course O'Brien can't complain. He came seriously close to falling to being banished behind the scenes as just another failed talk show host.
At his first "Late Night" press conference he corrected a reporter who called him a relative unknown, "Sir I am a complete unknown," he said. That line got a laugh, but soon O'Brien looked doomed. His September 13, 1993 debut began with O'Brien in his dressing room preparing to hang himself only to be interrupted by the start of his show. Before long his career was hanging by a thread. Ratings were terrible. Critics hated the show. Tom Shales of "The Washington Post" called it as "lifeless and messy as roadkill." Shales said O'Brien should quit.
Network officials held urgent meetings discussing the Conan O'Brien debacle. Should they fire him? How should they explain their mistake?
In the end of course he turned it around. The network hung with him long enough for the ratings to improve and the host of the cooler-than-ever "Late Night" now defines comedy's cutting edge just as Letterman did ten years ago.
Even Shales loves "Late Night" these days. He calls O'Brien's turnaround "one of the most amazing transformations in television history."
O'Brien was born on April 18, 1963 in Brookline, Massachusetts. His father, a doctor, is a professor at Harvard Medical School. His mother, a lawyer, is a partner at an elite Boston Law firm. Conan, the third of six children became a lector at church and a misfit at school. Tall and goofy, bedeviled with acne, he tried to impress girls with jokes. That plan usually bombed, but O'Brien eventually found his niche at Harvard where he won the presidency of the "Harvard Lampoon" in 1983 and again in 1984 - the first two-time "Lampoon" president since humorist Robert Benchley held the honor 85 years ago.
After graduating magna cum laude with a double major in literature and American history he turned pro. Writing for HBO's "Not Necessarily The News." O'Brien was earning $100,000 a year before his 24th birthday. But writing was never enough.
He honed his performance skills with the Groundlings, a Los Angeles improv group. There he worked with his onetime girlfriend Lisa Kudrow, now starring on "Friends." But Conan was not such a standout. In 1988 he landed a job at "Saturday Night Live" - but as a writer, not as on-air talent. In almost four years on the show O'Brien made only fleeting appearances, usually as a crowd member or security guard. His writing was more memorable. He wrote (or co-wrote) Tom hanks' "Mr Short-Term Memory" skits as well as the "pump you up" infosatire of Hanz and Franz and the nude beach sketch in which Matthew Broderick and "SNL" members played nudists admiring one another's penises. With dozens of mentions of the word that hit was the most penis-heavy moment in TV history. It helped O'Brien win an Emmy for comedy writing.
In 1991 he quit "SNL" and moved on to "The Simpsons" where he worked for two years. His urge to perform came out in wall-bouncing antics in writers' meetings. "Conan makes you fall out of your chair" said "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening. O'Brien's yen to act out was so strong that he spurned Fox's reported seven-figure offer to continue as a writer. He was driving for the spotlight.
By then David Letterman had announced he was turning shin - leaving NBC taking his ton-rated act to CBS. Suddenly NBC was up a creek without a host. The network turned to Lorne Michaels, O'Brien's "Saturday Night Live" boss. Michaels enlisted Conan's help in the host search planning to use him in a behind-the-scenes job. But when Garry Shandling, Dana Carvey and almost every other star turned down the chore of following Letterman, Michaels finally listened to Conan's crazy suggestion, "Let me do it!" Michaels persuaded the network to entrust it's 12:30 slot which Letterman had turned into a gold mine to an untested wiseass from Harvard.
O'Brien was working on one of his last "Simpsons" episodes when he got the news. He turned "paler than usual," Groening recalled. The Conan moseyed back to where the other writers were working, "I'll come back with the Homer Simspon joke later. I have to go replace Letterman," he said.
NBC executives now get credit for their foresight during those dark days of 1993 and 1994. They snared the axe and now reap the multimillion-dollar spoils of that decision. In fact, the story is not so simple. We sent Contributing Editor Kevin Cook to unravel the tale of O'Brien's survival, which he tells here for the first time. Cook reports:
"His office is chock-full of significa. There's a three-foot plastic pickle the Letterman staff left behind in 1993 - perhaps to suggest what a predicament he was in. There's a copy of Jack Paar's 'I Kid You Not' and a coffee-table book called 'Saturday Night Live: The First 20 Years.' His bulletin board features letters from fans such as John Watters and Bob Dole and an 8" x 10" glossy of Andy Richter with the inscription: "To Conan - Your bitter jealousy warms my black heart. Love and Kisses Andy."
"Of course it's all for show. From the photos of kitch icons Adam West and Robert Stack to the framed Stan Laurel autograph, from the deathbed painting of Abraham Lincoln, to the ironic star taped to Conan's door - they're all clever signals that tell a visitor how to view the star. Lincoln was his collegiate preoccupation: stardom is his occupation. Somewhere between the two I hoped to find the real O'Brien.
"As a Playboy reader he wanted to give me a better-than-average interview. I wanted something more - a definitive look at the guy who may end up being the Johnny Carson of his generation."
"Here's hoping we succeeded. If not I carried his germs 3000 miles and infected dozens of Californians for no good reason.
O'Brien: Yes, this is how to do a Playboy Interview -- completely tanked on cold medicine. I'll pick it up and read, "Yes, I'm gay."
Playboy: We could talk another time. O'Brien: (coughing) No, it's OK. I memorized Dennis Rodman's answers. Can I use them?
Playboy: You sound really sick. Do you ever take a day off? O'Brien: No. The age of talk show hosts taking days off is over. Johnny Carson could go to Africa when he was the only game in town -- "See you in two weeks!" But nobody does that now. I will give you a million dollars on the first day Jay takes off for illness.
Playboy: Do you ever slow down and enjoy your success? O'Brien: If anything, the pace is picking up. Restaurateurs insist on giving me a table even if I'm only passing by, so I'm eating nine meals a night. Women stop me on the street and hand me their phone numbers.
Playboy: So you have groupies? O'Brien: Oh yes. And other fans. Drifters. Prisoners. Insomniacs. Cab Drivers, who must watch a lot of late night TV, seem to love me lately. They keep saying, "You will not pay, you will not pay, you make me happy!"
Playboy: How happy did your new contract make you? O'Brien: Terrified. The network said, "We're all set for five years." I said, "Shut up, shut up! I can't think that far ahead." Tonight, for instance, I do my jokes, then interview Elton John and Tim Meadows. We finished taping about 6:30. By 6:45 my memory was erased and my only thought was, Tomorrow: John Tesh. And I started to obsess about John Tesh. Sad, don't you think?
Playboy: Not too sad. You got off to a rocky start but now you're so hot that People magazine recently said, "that was then, this is wow." O'Brien: I try not to pay much attention. Since I ignored the critics who said I should shoot myself in the head with a German Luger, it would be cheating to tear out nice reviews now and rub them all over my body, giggling. Though I have thought about it.
Playboy: Tell us about your trademark gag. You interview a photo of Bill Clinton or some other celeb, and a pair of superimposed lips provide outrageous answers. O'Brien: We call it the Clutch Cargo bit, after that terrible old cartoon series. They saved money on animation by superimposing real lips on the cartoons. I wanted to do topical jokes in a cartoony way -- not just Conan doing quips at a desk. TV is visual; I want things to look funny. But we're not Saturday Night Live; we couldn't spend $100,000 on it. Hence, the cheap, cheesy lips, You'd be surprised how many people we fool.
Playboy: Viewers believe that's really the president yelling, "Yee-haw! Who's got a joint?" O'Brien: It's strange. You may know intellectually that Clinton doesn't talk like Foghorn Leghorn. Ninety-eight percent of your brain knows the president wouldn't say, "Whoa Conan get a load of that girl!" But there are a few brain cells that aren't sure. When Bob Dole was running for president we had him doing a past-life regression: "My cave, get away." And then back further, "Must form flippers to crawl on to rocky soil," he says. There may be people out there who believe that Bob Dole was the first amphibian.
Playboy: Do you ever go too far? O'Brien: The fun is in going too far. It's a nice device because you get Bill Clinton to do the nastiest Bill Clinton jokes. We'll have Clinton making fart noises while I say "Sir! Please!"
Playboy: Are you enjoying your job now, with your new success? O'Brien: Well, there are surprises. I hate surprises. Like most comics, I'm a control freak. But I am learning that the show works best when things are out of control. Tonight I ask Elton John if he likes being neighbors with Joan Collins. He says he isn't neighbors with Joan Collins. He lives next door to Tina Turner. So I panic -- huge mistake! But Elton saves the day. "Joan Collins, Tina Turner, it doesn't matter. Either way I could borrow a wig," he says. Huge laugh, all because I fucked up. Later he surprised me by blurting out that he's hung like a horse. The camera cuts to me shaking my head: That crazy Elton. What can I do? Of course, I'm delighted that he went too far.
Playboy: That "What can I do?" look resembles a classic take of Jack Benny's. O'Brien: There's an old saying in literature: "Good poets borrow; great poets steal." I think T.S. Eliot stole it from Ezra Pound. Comics steal, too. Constantly. When I watched Johnny Carson, I noticed that he got a few takes from Benny and Bob Hope. When a comedy writer told me how much Woody Allen had borrowed from Hope, I thought, What? They're nothing alike. Then I went back and watched Son of Paleface, and there's Hope, the nervous city guy backing up on his heels, wringing his hands and saying, "Sorry, I'll just be moving along." Now look at early Woody Allen. You see big authority figures and Woody nervously saying, "Look, I'll just be on my way." Of course Woody made it his own, but he must have watched and loved Bob Hope.
Playboy: Who are your role models? O'Brien: Carson. Woody Allen. SCTV. Peter Sellers. When Peter Sellers died I felt such a loss, thinking, There won't be anymore of that. There's some Steve Martin in my false bravado with female guests: "Why, hel-lo there!" And I won't deny having some Letterman in my bones.
Playboy: You were surprise as Letterman's successor. At first you seemed like the wrong choice. O'Brien: I didn't get ratings. That doesn't mean I didn't get laughs. Yes, I had a giant pompadour and I looked like a rockabilly freak. I was too excited, pushed too hard, and people said, "That guy isn't a polished performer." Fine! But it isn't my goal to be Joe Handsomehead cool, smooth talk show host. Late Night with Conan O'Brien is supposed to be a work in progress, and now that we've had some success there's a danger of our getting too polished and morphing into something smoothly professional. Which would suck.
Do you know why I wanted this show? Because Late Night with David Letterman played with the rules and it looked like fun. Here was a place where people did risky comedy every night for millions of people. We had to keep this thing alive. There should be a place on a big network where people are still messing around.
Playboy: How bad were your early days on the show? O'Brien: Bad. Dave left here under a cloud: his fans and the media were angry with NBC. Then NBC picks a guy with crazy hair and a weird name. And the world says, "Harvard? Those guys are assholes." I sincerely hope that the winter of December 1993, our first winter, was the worst time I will ever have. I'd go out to do the warm up and the back two rows of seats would be empty. That's hard to look at. I would tell a joke and then hear someone whisper, "Who's he? Where's Dave?"
Playboy: You had trouble getting guests. O'Brien: Bob Denver canceled on us. We shot a test show with Al Lewis of The Munsters. We did the clutch cargo thing with a photo of Herman Munster. Unfortunately, Fred Gwynne, who played Herman, had recently died, and Al Lewis kept pointing at the screen, saying, "You're dead! I was at your funeral!"
Playboy: For months you got worried notes from network executives. What did they say? O'Brien: They were worried. The fact that Lorne Michaels was involved bought me some time. But Lorne had turned to me at the start and said, "OK, Conan. What do you want to do?" Now television critics were after me and the network was starting to realize what a risk I was. Suggestions came fast and furious. I kept the note that said, "Why don't you just die?"
Playboy: Did they suggest ways to be funnier? O'Brien: They were more specific and tactical. The network gets very specific data. Say there was a drop in ratings between 12:44 and 12:48 when I was talking to Jon Bon Jovi. I'll be told, "Don't ever talk to him again" Or they'll want me to tease viewers into staying with us: "You should tease that -- say, 'We'll have nudity coming up next!'"
Playboy: You did come close to being cancelled. O'Brien: We were cancelled.
Playboy: Really? You have never admitted that. O'Brien: This is the first time I've talked about it. When I had been on for about a year, there was a meeting at the network. They decided to cancel my show. They said, "It's cancelled." Next day they realized they had nothing to put in the 12:30 slot, so we got a reprieve.
Playboy: Were you worried sick? O'Brien: I went into denial. I tried hard not to think, Yes, I'm bad on the air and my show has none of the things a TV show needs to survive. We had no ratings. No critics in our corner. Advertisers didn't like us. Affiliates wanted to drop us. Sometimes I'd meet a programming director from a local station where we had no rating at all. The guy would show me a printout with no number for Late Night's rating, just a hash mark or pound sign. I didn't dare think about that when I went out to do the show.
Playboy: Are you defending denial? O'Brien: How else does anyone get through a terrible experience? The odds were against me. Rationally, I didn't have much chance. Denial was my only friend. When I look back on the first year, it's like a scene from an old war movie: Ordinary guy gets thrown into combat, somehow beats impossible odds, staggers to safety. His buddy say, "You could have been killed!" The guy stops and thinks. "Could have been killed?" he says. His eyes cross and he faints.
Playboy: How did you dodge the bullet? O'Brien: There were people at NBC who stood up for me. I will always be indebted to Don Ohlmeyer, who stuck to his guns. Don said, "We chose this guy. We should stick with him unless we get a better plan." He was brutally honest. He came to me and said, "Give me about a 15 percent bump in the ratings and you'll stay on the air. If not, we're going to move on."
Playboy: Ohlmeyer started his career in the sports division. O'Brien: Exactly, his take was, "You're on our team." Of course, it wasn't exactly rational of Don to hope I'd be 15 percent funnier. It was like telling a farmer, "It better rain this week or we'll take your farm away."
Playboy: What did you say to Ohlmeyer? O'Brien: There wasn't time. I had to go out and do a monologue. But I will always be indebted to Don because he told me the truth. Wait a minute -- you have tricked me into talking lovingly about an NBC executive. Let me say that there were others who were beneath contempt -- executives who wouldn't know a good show if it swam up their asses and lit a campfire.
Playboy: Finally the ratings went your way. Hard work rewarded? O'Brien: Well, I also paid off the Nielsen people. That was $140,000 well spent.
Playboy: Ohlmeyer plus bribery saved you? O'Brien: There was something else. Just when everyone was kicking the crap out of the show, Letterman defended me.
Playboy: Letterman had signed off on NBC saying, "I don't really know Conan O'Brien, but I heard he killed someone." O'Brien: Then I pick up the paper and he's saying he thinks I am going to make it. "They do some interesting, innovative stuff over there," he says. "I think Conan will prevail." And then he came on as a guest. Remember, this was when we were at our nadir. There was no Machiavellian reason for David Letterman, who at the time was the biggest thing in show business, to be on my show.
Playboy: Why did he do it? O'Brien: I'm still not sure. Maybe out of a sense of honor. Fair play. And it woke me up. It made me think. Hey, we have a real fucking television show here.
Of six or seven pivotal points in my short history here, that was the first and maybe the biggest. I wouldn't be sitting here -- I probably wouldn't even exist today -- if he hadn't done our show.
Playboy: The Late Night wars were hardly noted for friendly gestures. O'Brien: How little you understand. Jay, Dave and I pal around all the time. We often ride a bicycle built for three up to the country. "Nice job with Fran Drescher!" "Thanks, pal. You weren't so bad with John Tesh." We sleep in triple-decker bunk beds and snore in unison like the Three Stooges.
Playboy: You talk more about Letterman than your NBC teammate Leno. O'Brien: I hate the "Leno or Letterman, who's better?" question. I can tell you that Jay has been great to me. He calls me occasionally.
Playboy: To say what? O'Brien: (Doing Leno's voice) "Hey, liked that bit you did last night." Or he'll say he saw we got a good rating. I call him at work, too. It can be a strange conversation because we're so different. Jay, for instance, really loves cars. He's got antique cars with kerosene lanterns, cars that run on peat moss. He'll be telling me about some classic car he has, made entirely of brass and leather, and I'll say, "Yeah, man, I got the Taurus with the vinyl." One thing we have in common is bad guests. There are certain actors, celebrities with nothing to say, who move through the talk show world wreaking havoc. They lay waste to Dave's town and Jay's town, then head my way.
Playboy: You must be getting some good guests. Your ratings have shown a marked improvement. O'Brien: Remember, when you're on at 12:30 the Nielsens are based on 80 people. My ratings drop if one person has a head cold and goes to bed early.
Playboy: Actually, you're seen by about 3 million people a night. Your ratings would be even higher if college dorms weren't excluded from the Nielsens. How many points does that cost you? O'Brien: I told you I'm an idiot. Now I have to do math too?
Playboy: Do you still get suggestions from NBC executives? O'Brien: Not as many. The number of notes you get is inversely proportional to your ratings.
Playboy: What keeps you motivated? O'Brien: Superstition. We have a stagehand, Bobby Bowman, who holds up the curtain when I run out for the monologue. He is the last person I see before the show starts, and I have to make him laugh before I go out. It started with mild jabs: "Bobby, you're drunk again." Bobby laughs, "Heehee."" Then it was, "Still having trouble with the wife, Bobby?" But after hundreds of shows, you find yourself running out of lines. It's gotten to where I do crass things at the last second. I'll put his hand on my ass and yell, "You fucking pervert!" Or drop to my knees and say, "Come on, Bobby, I'll give you a blow job!"
"Ha-ha. Conan, you're crazy," he says. But even that stuff wears off. Soon, I'll be making the writers work late to give me new jokes for Bobby.
Playboy: Did you plan to be a talk show host or did you fall into the job? O'Brien: I was an Irish Catholic kid from St. Ignatius parish in Brookline, outside of Boston. And that meant: Don't call attention to yourself. Don't ask for too much when the pie comes around. Don't get a girl pregnant and fuck up your life.
Playboy: Were you an alter boy? O'Brien: I wanted to be an alter boy, but the priest at St. Ignatius said, "No, no. You're good on your feet, kid," and made me a lector. A scripture reader at Mass. He was the one who spotted my talent.
Playboy: What did you think of sex in those days? O'Brien: I was sexually repressed. At 16 I still thought human reproduction was by mitosis.
Playboy: How did you get over your sexual repression? O'Brien: Who says I got over it? My leg has been jiggling this whole time.
Playboy: What were you like in high school? O'Brien: Like a crane galumphing down the hall. A crane with weird hair, bad skin and Clearasil. Big enough for basketball but lousy at it. My older brothers were better. I would compensate by running around the court doing comedy, saying, "Look out, this player has a drug addiction. He's incredibly egotistical."
I was an asshole at home, too. My little brother Justin loved playing cops and robbers, but I kept tying him up with bureaucratic bullshit. When he'd catch me, I'd say, "I get to call my lawyer." Then it was, "OK, Justin, we're at trial and you've been charged with illegal arrest. Fill out these forms in triplicate." Justin was eight; he hated all the lawsuits and countersuits. He just cried.
Playboy: Were you a class clown? O'Brien: Never. I was never someone who walked into a room full of strangers and started telling jokes. You had to get to know me before I could make you laugh. The same thing happened with Late Night. I needed to get the right rhythm with Andy and Max and the audience.
Playboy: So how did you finally learn about sex? O'Brien: My parents gave me a book, but it was useless. At the crucial moment, all it showed was a man and a woman with the bed covers pulled up to their chins. I tried to find out more from friends, but it didn't help. One childhood friend told me it was like parking a car in a garage. I kept worrying about poisonous fumes. What if the fumes build up? Should you shut off the engine?
Playboy: For all your talk about being repressed, you can be rowdy on the air. O'Brien: The show is my escape valve. When I tear off my shirt and gyrate my pelvis like Robert Plant, feigning orgasm into the microphone, that shows how repressed I am -- a guy who wants to push his sex at the lens but can only do it as a joke.
Playboy: Aren't you tempted to live it up? O'Brien: I always imagined that if I were a TV star I would live the way I pictured Johnny Carson living. Carousing, stepping out of a limo wearing a velvet ascot with a model on my arm. Now that I have the TV show, I drive up to Connecticut on the weekends and tool around in my car. I could probably join a free-sex cult, smoke crack between orgies and drive sports cars into swimming pools, and my Catholic guilt would still be there, throbbing like a toothache. Be careful. If something good happens, something bad is on the way.
Playboy: Yet you don't mind licking the supermodels. O'Brien: At one point a few of them lived in my building, women who are so beautiful they almost look weird, like aliens. To me, a woman who has a certain approachable amount of beauty becomes almost funny. It's the same with male supermodels. They look like big puppets. So while I admire their beauty I probably won't be "romantically linked" with a model. I'd catch my reflection in a ballroom mirror and break up laughing.
Playboy: The horny Roy Orbison growl you use on gorgeous guests sounds real enough -- O'Brien: Oh, I've been doing that shit since high school. It just never worked before.
Playboy: Your father is a doctor, your mother an attorney. What do they think of their son the comedian? O'Brien: My dad was the one who told me denial was a virtue. "Denial is how people get through horrible things," he said. He also cut out a newspaper article in which I said I was making money off something for which I should probably be treated. So true, he thought. But when I got an Emmy for helping write Saturday Night Live, my parents put it on the mantel next to the crucifix. Here's Jesus looking over, saying, "Wow, I saved mankind from sin, but I wish I had an Emmy."
Playboy: Ever been in therapy? O'Brien: Yes. I don't trust it. I have told therapists that I don't particularly want to feel good. "Repression and fear, that's my fuel." But the therapists said that I had nothing to worry about. "Don't worry Conan you will always be plenty fucked up."
Playboy: When a female guest comes out, how do you know whether to shake her hand or kiss her? Is that rehearsed O'Brien: No, and it's awkward. If you go to shake her hand and her head starts coming right at you, you have to change strategy fast. I have thought about using the show to make women kiss me, but that would probably creep out the people at home. I decided not to kiss Elton John.
Playboy: Do you get all fired up if Cindy Crawford or Rebecca Romijn does the show? O'Brien: I like making women laugh. Always have, ever since I discovered you can get girls' attention by acting like an ass. That's one of the joys of the show -- I'm working my eyebrows and going grrr and she's laughing, the audience is laughing. It's all a big put-on and I'm thinking. This is great. Here is a beautiful woman who has no choice but to put up with this shit.
But it's not always put on. Sometimes they flirt back. Sometimes there's a bit of chemistry. That happened with Jennifer Connelly of The Rocketeer.
Playboy: One guest, Jill Hennessy, took off her pants for you. Then you removed yours. Even Penn and Teller took off their pants. O'Brien: Something comes over me. It happened with Rebecca Romijn -- I was practically climbing her. Those are the times when Andy and the audience seem to disappear and it's just me and this lovely woman sitting there flirting. I keep expecting a waiter to say, "More wine, Monsieur?"
Playboy: Would you lick the wine bottle? O'Brien: It's true, there's a lot of licking on the show. I have licked guests. I have licked Andy. Comedy professionals will read this and say, "Great work, Conan. Impressive." But I have learned that if you lick a guest, people laugh. If I pick this shoe off the floor, examine it, Hmmm, and then lick it, people laugh. I learned this lesson on The Simpsons, where I was the writer who was forever trying to entertain the other writers. I still try desperately to make our writers laugh, which is probably a sign of sickness since they work for me now. Licking is one of those things that look funny.
Playboy: Johnny Carson never licked Ed McMahon. O'Brien: We are much more physical and more stupid than the old Tonight Show. Even in our offices before the show there's always some writer acting out a scene crashing his head through my door. A behind-the-scenes look at our show might frighten people.
Playboy: One night you showed a doctored photo of Craig T. Nelson having sex with Jerry Van Dyke. Did they complain about it? O'Brien: I haven't heard from them. Of course I'm blessed not to be a part of the celebrity pond. I have a television show in New York, an NBC outpost. I don't run with or even run into many Hollywood people.
Playboy: You also announced that Tori Spelling has a penis. O'Brien: I did not. Polly the Peacock said that.
Playboy: Another character you use to say the outrageous stuff. O'Brien: Polly is not popular with the network.
Playboy: You mock Fabio, too. O'Brien: If he sues me, it'll be the best thing that ever happened. A publicity bonanza: Courtroom sketches of Fabio with his man-boobs quivering, shaking his fist, and me shouting at him across the courtroom. I'm not afraid of Fabio. He knows where to find me. I'm saying it right here for the record: Fabio, let's get it on.
Playboy: Ever have a run-in with an angry celeb? O'Brien: I did a Kelsey Grammar joke a few years ago, something about his interesting lifestyle, then heard through the network that he was upset. He had appeared on my show and expected some support. At this point my intellect says, "Kelsey Grammar is a public figure. I was in the right." Then I saw him in an airport. Kelsey didn't see me at first: I could have kept walking. But there he was, eating a cruller in the airport lounge. I thought I should go over. I said hello and then said, "Kelsey, I'm sorry if I upset you." And he was glad. He looked relieved. He said, "Oh, that's OK." We both felt better.
....See my other post with the last third of the interview

Recruiting new members for the Lost Lands PvE Cluster! Hosting a range of mods, boosted rates & friendly members, if you're looking for a fresh start & a new Ark home, we hope you'll consider Lost Lands! - If interested, please leave a comment here or shoot me a DM.
(Servers are PvE, console only and never wipe, unless a new map releases and the server is re-purposed)
Maps: The Island (Will change to Center on release) & Scorched Earth
~Server Rates~
*Max Dino Level*: 180
*Experience*: 5x
*Harvest Amount*: 5x
*Taming Speed*: 8x
*Egg Hatch Speed*: 50x
*Crop Growth Speed*: 30x
*Item Stack Size Multiplier*: 5x
~Miscellaneous Settings~
*Diseases* - Off
*Crosshair* - On
*Floating Damage Text* - On
*Hit Markers* - On
*Spawn Animations* - Off
*Speed Leveling* (All Creatures) - On
*Tribe Alliances* - On
*Raid Dino Feeding* - On
*Unlimited Respecs* - On
*Structure Placement Collision* - Off
*Always Allow Structure Pickup* - On
~Creature Mods~
*Shiny Dinos Ascended* - By nevcairel
*No Untameables* - By myrmecoleontidae
*Clay's Trike Edit* - By Claymore_Art
*Gigantoraptor* - By StudioWildcardMods
*Paleo ARK - Evolution Apex Predators* - By UpFromTheDepths
*Additions Ascended* - All By Garuga123
Acrocanthosaurus
Archelon
Brachiosaurus
Ceratosaurus
Deinosuchus
~Miscellaneous Mods ~
*EZ's Engram Unlocker* - By Ezlazeme
*Pelayori's Cryostorage* - By Pelayori
*Mutate Madness* - By zeroSixThirty
*Upgrade Station* - By Ghazlawl
*Der Dino Finder* - By Hacki_van_Bane
*Speedy Rhynio* - By EclipseModding
*Cliffan's Backpacks* - By Cliffan_
*Appetizer* - By Zogniton
*Industrial Dehydrator* - By Trixt3r
*Qol+* - By Void_Ark
*Tek ForgeV1* - By Lescaa19
*Smol Structures* - By MissBeans01
*Greenhouse Glass Fix* - By InquisitorB
*Improved Egg Incubator* - By Shinygati
*Custom Dino Levels* - By kitzykatty
*Super Spyglass Plus* - By kavan87
*Cheaper Trains* - By Alex2067
*Better Trains* - By Shinygati
*Utilities Plus* - By blitzfire911

Recruiting new members for the Lost Lands PvE Cluster! Hosting a range of mods, boosted rates & friendly members, if you're looking for a fresh start & a new Ark home, we hope you'll consider Lost Lands! If interested, please leave a comment here or shoot me a DM.
(Servers are PvE, console only and never wipe, unless a new map releases and the server is re-purposed)
Maps: The Island (Will change to Center on release) & Scorched Earth
~Server Rates~
*Max Dino Level*: 180
*Experience*: 5x
*Harvest Amount*: 5x
*Taming Speed*: 8x
*Egg Hatch Speed*: 50x
*Crop Growth Speed*: 30x
*Item Stack Size Multiplier*: 5x
~Miscellaneous Settings~
*Diseases* - Off
*Crosshair* - On
*Floating Damage Text* - On
*Hit Markers* - On
*Spawn Animations* - Off
*Speed Leveling* (All Creatures) - On
*Tribe Alliances* - On
*Raid Dino Feeding* - On
*Unlimited Respecs* - On
*Structure Placement Collision* - Off
*Always Allow Structure Pickup* - On
~Creature Mods~
*Shiny Dinos Ascended* - By nevcairel
*No Untameables* - By myrmecoleontidae
*Clay's Trike Edit* - By Claymore_Art
*Gigantoraptor* - By StudioWildcardMods
*Paleo ARK - Evolution Apex Predators* - By UpFromTheDepths
*Additions Ascended* - All By Garuga123
Acrocanthosaurus
Archelon
Brachiosaurus
Ceratosaurus
Deinosuchus
~Miscellaneous Mods ~
*EZ's Engram Unlocker* - By Ezlazeme
*Pelayori's Cryostorage* - By Pelayori
*Mutate Madness* - By zeroSixThirty
*Upgrade Station* - By Ghazlawl
*Der Dino Finder* - By Hacki_van_Bane
*Speedy Rhynio* - By EclipseModding
*Cliffan's Backpacks* - By Cliffan_
*Appetizer* - By Zogniton
*Industrial Dehydrator* - By Trixt3r
*Qol+* - By Void_Ark
*Tek ForgeV1* - By Lescaa19
*Smol Structures* - By MissBeans01
*Greenhouse Glass Fix* - By InquisitorB
*Improved Egg Incubator* - By Shinygati
*Custom Dino Levels* - By kitzykatty
*Super Spyglass Plus* - By kavan87
*Cheaper Trains* - By Alex2067
*Better Trains* - By Shinygati
*Utilities Plus* - By blitzfire911

2nd April 1968;

Kenora, SCS;

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in once more. Breathe out once more. Calm. Quiet. Loyal. Trustworthy. Cool. That is it.
Enter the room, talk to Vincent Sheridan about the new party developments, and ask whether he would be surprised that one sector of the party wants to exert its independence. Listen to how Vincent talks of the centralised nature of the party, of how they would still get a majority with Aspen even without the two within the investigatory wing. Argue that there should be party unity, but accept that it would be better for the party and the country to let Matias and Jarno go. Ask if Sheridan would mind being the new Member of Warfare if Matias decides to leave the coalition, listen to an enthusiastic reply to the affirmative. Congratulate Vincent on his eagerness and willingness to take on such a senior position.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Step out the office, into one of the conference rooms with good sound-proofing. Listen to the birds outside, and hear the rain falling serenely onto the concrete plaza below. Hear a man coughing, hear your phone ringing, and answer with a greeting. The room is booked out - bugger. Move to the adjacent room, further away from Sheridan so he cannot hear you and cannot see nor hear your emotions. Take all the time you need, you need the courage.
Do not yet have the courage, so call up Barlow, ask him to take a look at charcoal plant for Timmins. Ask if the plans are on time, and whether the power stations are ready for integration with the charcoal plant. Reply received is cheery - typical Barlow - and then interrupted by a tap on the door. Sheridan asks whether to fax the main party office about the potential promotion, the reply shall be to the negative, only one to state it is to be the party leader and the Leading Member. Thank the heavens that you did not have enough courage, send Sheridan off for lunch or something because the phone call is very important. He buggers off.
Resume call with Barlow, his family is doing very well, and he thinks of buying a new motor-car before the Ontario stock runs out, since the factories are in an area claimed only by anarchy. Relay the information, get told the opposite is true and Wisconsin has taken over, the same question is asked again to self, and the answer is not negative, but instead to just do it anyways. Line is off, that’s the end of that conversation.
Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out again.
Decide to pluck up the courage to call Matias again, fail again, try again, somehow succeed. Operator doesn’t want to chat, so all the better. Matias picks up, does not seem very tired, is home phone so office has redirected him, must be enjoying April where it isn’t pouring. Chat away the formalities, realise that he anticipates the real reason for calling as much as you dread saying it, get things straight and say all the right words in a tired yet determined voice.
“Fine. There is nothing against this split, but we need to keep party unity, I’d dread to think if we were tied up with Wisconsin or Minnesota or both, so the IUP isn’t to be joined, got it? I know you and Jarno are a bit tired of myself, and I will retire once my tenure here is done, and yes, you were supposed to be my successor. Please, I like your suggestion to be the ‘Congress of Thought’, but just call it the Congress, alright? It works, it has a ring, and I’d think the country will soon hear of it. We’ll announce it for Easter-time, okay? I hope that works, because the legislation season is about to start, and we need to do as much as possible to get this country firmly under control. I hope you understand, Mati, what we need to do.”
Voice on the other end of the line does understand, and so the farewells are stated, hear a couple of voices in the background and the name of ‘Mark’, must be a personal friend or perhaps a child? Maybe the child’s friend? Is the holidays, is time for the young ones to be at home, will see Mati once the 1968 Easter is finished. Phone goes dead, the sobbing starts, tears of stress and joy and sadness all mix together.
It may be the start of the end. It is only considered, and not acted upon.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in.
Let it all out.
Let it end.
Let the opacity end.
Compose self to meet local business leaders at a conference, prepare for dullness and blank faces.
Never a consistent moment in LM George Ewart Nixon’s life.
Never ever, forever.
{QU016, CM Fuel, Holidays Now 2 Weeks Off}
[M- Favourite post in a while, makes a nice change in style eh?]

Seasonal Allergies Immunotherapy
Hi I’m planning on applying for OCS when I graduate in May. But im currently taking allergy shots for my seasonal allergies. I would have no problem pausing them during basic etc. Resuming when I’m past training, but is this something I have to do? Is it worth having to get a medical waiver for it? Do I need to tell my recruiter?
Link to Comment Chain
Currently in the process of reenlisting as a prior service who was chaptered out in AIT for SI. Submitted and turned over all my paperwork to my recruiter and awaiting MEPS. My recruiter said this is the longest part of the waiting game from his experience. How long should I be expecting to wait realistically? I would ask my recruiter but I feel like I've bothered him enough over the past few weeks lmao. - Thanks!
Link to Comment Chain
Hey guys l need some advice so i'm gonna get straight to the point. I am 20 and a junior in college. I ship in June and i have 3 Mos choices so far. 19D, 11b and 19k. Which do y’all recommend?I'm hardworking and not lazy so yeah. I am joining for many reasons but one of the main reasons is travel. Would I get to do tha much? Thank you
Link to Comment Chain
Hey guys, I enlisted with an airborne contract that has my first assignment at Fort Liberty. How likely is it that I get assigned to the 82nd?
Link to Comment Chain
Weight loss
I'm currently 5% body fat over for the arms 2.0. I'm eating way better and consuming 12-1,500 calories and losing an average of 3,000 calories a day. I've been running/walking 2 miles a day of hill terrain. My recruiter said I need to lose 10 pounds by May 17. I need tips and tricks on how to lose those pounds by then
Link to Comment Chain
Army National Guard recruiter says at MEPS you can choose from several dates to start basic. Is that accurate?
If so, typically how many dates are there to choose from and how far in the future? I have a great civilian job, so would like to know my date as far in advance as possible.
Edit: would go on to traditional state OCS (yea, I know the internet’s opinions on it but it fits my life really well) afterwards.
Link to Comment Chain
I've got 4 years active and 3 years guard under my belt and I've always put in to my tsp to get the match. I know you need 8 years to keep the matching, but my unit has drained what little motivation I had left for the army, and I've decided I'm done. I'm curious if anyone can help me figure out if there's any option that will help me keep my tsp matching besides a 1 year extension. I doubt the IRR counts towards 8 years, and from what I understand, the inactive guard is simply a pause button. So instead of pushing me to 8 years, it's just delaying my 7th till next year or something. I'm also wondering if a future federal job would contribute to that 8 years or if it has to be all concurrent. Thank you for any help or any resources or links yall can send me to figure this out.
Link to Comment Chain
I was wondering if I could join the army with depression, anxiety, and OCD. All diagnosed. I have no suicide attempts or anything like that, no inpatient care either. All of these are somewhat mild and manageable, and I haven't been on any medication. But that was another concern of mine, if I was to get on any medication, would that disqualify me? Thanks a lot.
Link to Comment Chain
Im currently a senior in high school trying to enlist in the army since December but I’m at a loss of what to do. I took the asvab scored a 61 but autism came up on my records from when I was a kid. I had to get a full medical Record for meps then they wanted my pharmacy record and now they want some more records my recruiter made me sign a form for my old doctors to get it from them about a month and a week ago. I called him the earlier this week and he said he Kentucky or Kansas (I didn’t hear him well and forgot) doing some training I honestly just don’t know what to do I’ll graduate from high school in a few weeks and I probably have a month after that before my parents kick me out any advice?
Link to Comment Chain
Hey all, I wanted to get some insight on whether you all think I would be able to enlist with Crohn's. I've seen online that it's generally marked as an "unwaivable medical condition" but sometimes goes on a case by case basis. My IBD is very mild, I honestly forget that I even have the damn disease because it doesnt effect my daily life at all. I have it managed by taking an 8-week biologic but have gone on extended breaks from it before due to insurance reasons (roughly 2-3 months without any meds) and had no flare ups or any issues of the sort. However, my doctor is thinking of switching me to a daily pill (Rinvoq). I don't have any food sensitivities like a lot of Crohn's patients have (caffeine, alcohol, dairy, etc.) and have never had any surgeries nor does my GI doctor think i'll ever need one. I wanted to enlist for a 17C contract as im already in college for tech anyhow, I'm not sure if that would effect my standing. However, dream MOS is 18X but I figure that may be tougher to get by a recruiter. Any advice or thoughts? Army has been my dream forever and I don't want to have to give it up, so I'd really do anything haha.
Link to Comment Chain
I have 2 non violent felonies from 2011 and PTD from 2022 for possession. I've been upfront and honest with my recruiter. He sent me to test today and I scored 63 on Asvab and GT of 113. Is there a chance for me? Thanks in advance. 30 and in great health and shape.
Link to Comment Chain
What bases would you do bmt if your in cyber security and aviation mechanics?
Link to Comment Chain
I ship out in a week. Went to meps and signed in March. Can I change my MOS? Or is it too late ?? I want something language related because I’m fluent in Arabic (already passed DLPT)
Link to Comment Chain
For anyone that has done OSUT at Fort Moore, how long does it typically take before they’ll tell you where your FDS is?
Link to Comment Chain
I have read a few horror stories where someone enlisted with X,Y, or Z in their contract, but after basic they where told something else and could not confirm the original. For example, someone claims they had a specific location through Option 19, only to later be told they are going somewhere else.
My first question is: has this happened to anyone here, and if so and how was it resolved?
My second question is: after signing your contract, how do you gain acess to it later? Do you receive a physical copy for yourself? Can you download a copy? Is there someone you can ask in the Army to retrieve it for you? Will it be acessable on a portal of somekind?
I am considering enlisting with option 19 and the location is very important to me. Thank you!
Link to Comment Chain
Is phone use in BCT only delegated to calls? Also does phone use depend on what phase you're in, like, red phase 20 minutes, blue 30 minutes? Going to jackson
Link to Comment Chain
Not the best time to swear in, waivers
I have all of my waivers approved, however, I won’t be swearing in due to job circumstances. If things change, can I still go back into the army or will I blocked out of it forever?
Link to Comment Chain
I have an AAM and 3 COAs which S1 has been tracking for months but which have yet to reflect on my PPW. Do I have any recourse?
Link to Comment Chain
my recruiter says that I can't get option 4 in my 35W contract but I really want to be airborne as a 35p/m so I have a higher chance of having my skills be put to use. Can i put in for airborne at DLI or AIT? what is the earliest I can do this and how would I go about it? I just went through the normal MEPS process not the airborne physical fyi
Link to Comment Chain
Is a bonus worth choosing the Army over the AF?
In general, I’ve heard that the army’s QoL is less than that of the Air Force. However, the army has way more jobs w bonuses that I’d be interested in. And it’s the same or similar jobs as the Air Force, but w a bonus. I know the Basic Training for army is also longer, but a bonus can be convincing. I have the same question, but in regards to joining the navy as well. I want to focus on my education during my enlistment & get my bachelors & id also like travel opportunities. I haven’t taken my ASVAB yet, it’s scheduled the 16th. I scored rlly well on the PiCAT, and according to those scores I qualify for some army jobs w a bonus. I know it’s not as simple as that, and it’s a whole process & based on what’s available. Just want some opinions on if I was offered an army job w a bonus as opposed to the same/ similar Air Force job without, would you consider it worth it based on your experience?
I already got some answers from a post I made about this, but moderator deleted it and said to comment here. But any additional info/ insight is greatly appreciated. I want to make the best choice for my future in the case that I don't want to do 20 years.
Link to Comment Chain
I'm joining up rn and working with a recruiter. We've got my waivers and everything. Pretty much just have to pick a job. For background I was an IET separation back in 2009. From what I've read and what me and my recruiter have gone over I am glossary non-prior service. I could have sworn I read (albeit a while ago) that business rules did not apply to GNPS, so I should be free to pick my MOS. However, I talked to my recruiter earlier today and he wants me to sit with his 1SG and go over the job options available for prior service. Am I wrong and I just get what I get?
Link to Comment Chain
Please help!
I was looking to join the guard but in my medical records it shows I had Guillan barre. I was feeling some numbness in my legs, but looking back at it, it was very cold outside and I was just a bitch who would try to get out of school by any means possible. They did a spinal tap and never found any trace of the disease however. I was in the hospital for a couple of days, the gave me immunoglobulin and then I went home and nothing ever came of it. I am currently completely asymptomatic This was when I was 12 or 13 years old. Now I’m 18 and want to join but my recruiter said I have to get all the records and stuff. What is the chance that I will still be able to join? I tried looking it up online but I couldn’t find an answer. Also if I’m able to join, will I need a medical waiver?
Link to Comment Chain
My MOS is 68W, I'm shipping out in June and I'm taking the OPAT in a couple of weeks. I'm 5'2 and 115ish pounds. I'm pretty fit. My biggest worry is the standing long jump. I want to pass the OPAT with flying colors and keep my MOS. Is there any advice or tips y'all can give me?
Link to Comment Chain
I’m looking to graduate and enlist in a month but can’t decide on what MOS I want. I think 11B because I don’t want to individuate and do army shit or 68W but I’m not sure if I can get advanced combative training or other schools I want. I want to do something that’s “high speed” and meaningful while working my way towards Ranger reg. Is the 82nd Airborne a good pathway to that? How is civil affairs? Can you enlist directly into it while being active duty?
Link to Comment Chain
Thinking about reenlisting to army with 8.5 PS in USMC. Been out < 5years. Will I have to repeat AIT if I keep my same MOS? I know this is the wrong channel for USMC feedback but also considering going back there if it would mean not repeating AlT. Thanks in advance!
Link to Comment Chain
Hi everyone! I’m a high school student planning on joining the military. I’m Muslim, so I want to be sure that whichever branch I join is accommodating to Muslim needs. If it changes anything, I’m planning joining through the ROTC route.
My main concerns are, does the Army give beard waivers for Muslims? Is it possible to take short breaks throughout the day to pray? Can you fast during Ramadan? Can you be provided with halal (no pork/no alcohol) food?
Also, I’m interested in infantry or armor (or any kind of ground forces officer in general). Would these accommodations interfere with being selected for these careers or being mission ready? (Such as a beard, fasting, etc.)
Link to Comment Chain
i’m a current nasty girl and i’m looking to transfer to Active duty. i understand i need a conditional release in order to sign a new contract and need my G-1 to sign off on it. i’m looking for info on the process from someone who’s gone through the process.
Link to Comment Chain
What are the odds of getting a waiver for ulcerative colitis? I was EPTS’d out in march 2023 after being diagnosed while I was at 30th AG. My GI said I was in remission as of jan of this year. I take 4 Lialda pills a day and get an entyvio infusion every 2 months. I feel perfectly fine now though. Scored a 74 on the asvab.
Link to Comment Chain
Medical record
In the navy currently and getting out in a year. I had a back injury prior to enlisting that I didn’t disclose. I plan on entering the army after my contract. If this comes up will my discharge from the navy be lowered or my benefits revoked?
Link to Comment Chain
So my recruiter told me that I have to get a lease first, but the thing is, is that we don't have one with our landlord. It's more like an oral lease and he's a slumlord who never tries to communicate with any of us. That being said, my recruiter then said that I should find a lease online and edit it to where I state that I'm paying the rent to my sister instead (who has a valid ID) He also stated that my sister and I have to go to a check-cashing place to get it notarized. Is this all ok to do and will the BHA be approved? Also if it's approved, does this mean that the rent we pay which is $1,365.50, is going to be paid for while I'm away and how exactly??
Link to Comment Chain
Can I enlist if I have a Mexican highschool diploma? (I am american, just finished highschool in mexico) And don't have a address in the USA???
Link to Comment Chain
I am thinking of finishing up my bachelors and joining as an officer, my question was whether it was possible or not to guarantee mos 17c in the army if I join as an officer.
Link to Comment Chain
I just got told that I cant enlist for 2 years after my waiver got denied for a history of depression. I stopped feeling depressed last August but got officially cleared into remission in February. I was told theres no point in a consult and the most I can do is reach out to a congressman. Other than reaching out to a congressman, is there really nothing I can do?
Link to Comment Chain
Questions about Virginia National Guard
I want to do OCS! Now here’s my confusion. My recruiter is saying that the moment I swear in is the moment my contract is going to start and will count towards that 6 year! So, if he is right, I will basically complete 2 years training if I do state OCS. But I would like to have more control on what branch I get! My top 3 are: cyber warfare, signal, and intel. Should I do accelerated in that case? Also how likely am I to get one of those aforementioned three if I do state OCS of 18 months? My bachelor was in Computer Engineering, and I am currently enrolled in ASU for master’s pursuing Computer Science! Will I get that 24k a year tuition fee because he said there’s a possibility I might get it since it’s fully online? Can I get tuition assistance and loan repayment both? Does getting either one incur additional service time?
Link to Comment Chain
im thinking of joining as a officer and going into ocs, what is the best branch for a well paying civilian job after completing my service, for context my major right now is relg studies plus maybe bio.
Link to Comment Chain
I leave for Future Soldier Preparatory Course for the fitness aspect on the 21st, has anyone gone through it recently? There’s not a whole lot of information on it online, I was just wondering what it’s like, and what to expect. Do you get issued all of your gear since you will be going to bmt after? What is reception like? Any and all information and tips is greatly appreciated!
Link to Comment Chain
So my husband is going to meps next week. he has 2 different sets of scars on his left arm. He works at a mobile home plant building houses. One was from when he got caught on a nail so it's a little deeper looking and another was from some sheet metal at work. He didn't disclose it to his boss because he works on a line and it would've put his team behind so he just put some bandaids on it and went about his day and cleaned it up when he got home. This was about 1-2 years ago. What is his meps experience going to be like? They aren't self harm obviously but we've heard horror stories about the doctors at meps not believing people and DQ them. He honestly forgot about telling his recruiter and his recruiter has already sent in all his medical history and got him scheduled for meps. Should he still go ahead and tell his recruiter or just wait and disclose it at meps?
Link to Comment Chain
Should i go in as 17c or try my luck at ocs?
Link to Comment Chain
I'm currently in process Enlisting in the Reserve, while holding an associate's degree in mechanical engineering technology, with some side education in programming. While I am working towards my bachelor's degree, I'm looking to pick an MOS that will help my career, or at the very least, be interesting. I don't remember my scores, but my Recruiter told me whatever I pick, my score won't be the limiting factor.
Top of the list for career jobs is 15 series, from what I've heard from currently enlisted in my friend group, wrenching on aircraft in general is a fast track to a cushy job on the outside with my education. 25 series looks boring but useful as anything IT/electrical complements my degree. On the more interesting side, I was looking at 91 series, either 91F or 91P.
Am I going anywhere wrong with any of these jobs? Anything I should be keeping in mind?
Link to Comment Chain
25D or 35T I just wonder which MOS would be better for career. I am really interested in IT. I know 25D is not entry MOS. Let’s say you meet requirements for both MOS. If you stay as enlisted side, what would you recommend?
Link to Comment Chain
I’m heading to ait now at fort Moore for 91M do I get my phone and am I in a dorm how is that like
Link to Comment Chain
Hi all,
I am a permanent resident here is the US, and last week I finished my ASVAB mock test with a 95 on my AFQT. The recruiter says I am eligible for everything that doesn't require a security clearance which is kind of a problem as my dream MOS are the 35-series and 17-series (As both of these are locked behind clearance requirement)
After some thinking, I narrow down to the following, but there are still too many so I hope I can get your feedback on what I am doing. My aims are: a/I want something that will translate into the civilian world well if my time in the army doesn't go well, b/I want an MOS that can advanced through warrant or becoming a commission officer if my time in the army does go well, and c/I want to push myself to the limit and break out of my comfort zone to see where I can go. If I sound arrogant, please forgive for that: I am just trying to be as careful as possible. I am nearly reaching my thirty, and I want to take deliberate steps because I no longer have the luxury of youth and family to try and fail.
The MOS are:
11-series, 12B and 12D: I have a soft spot for these despite knowing they don't translate into the civilian world. But in my heart somewhere is a wild child that wants to test my physical prowess and wants to blow things up. I do know my knees and lower back will hate me for picking this.
15 series: With exceptions to 15C, 15J, and other works related to flying or being mechanics of sensitive equipment, I can be an aircraft technicians. I read that there are demands for airplane mechanics but I don't know much about this field other than a/I got to repair planes, b/people seem to hate it because you have to sign a long contract if you become a warrant.
68A: I did see this MOS getting recommended a lot but after reading its description, I am not very sure if I want to do it either both in the army or afterwards. I must also admit I don't have a good insights onto the day to day life of this job. Can someone shed some light about this MOS for me?
68C: Becoming a nurse seems like a very safe choice out of the military given that the BLS projects nurse to be in high demand and being able to take care of your family sounds like a big plus to me; however, I don't know if I like being a nurse. My parents were doctors, and having seen the hospital environment I can say I am not a fan. I also look into 68A but BLS prospect for it didn't seem good, and the training on 68E, 68D, and 68V look a little bit too short. Do you really become a dental assistant just with 10 weeks of training?
68W: I must admit, I have a soft spot for 68W as it allows me to be both learn some medical skills and be on the field. However, I do notice that 68W only translates to paramedic/EMT post-army, while 68C translates to becoming a nurse (which is more valued and regarded as "better" than paramedic or EMT and thus in higher demand)
88H, 92A, 92F, and 92Y: I pick these because, according to BLS, there is a projected increase need for people in warehousing and transportation. From my limited understanding of the fields, you will be in charge of handling logistics such as maintaining unit inventory, ordering supplies and weapons for your units, etc. but I am not very sure on the difference between, say, 92Y and 92A.
So, can you give me a suggestions? May anyone who has been in these MOS share their experience to help me pick? What are some of the MOS I miss?
Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Link to Comment Chain
Is the 09m program ending at the end of may?
Link to Comment Chain
How does one secure a religious exemption before basic training? My recruiter said we would talk about it down the line but it’s getting down to the wire and I’d rather it not get forgotten.
Link to Comment Chain
Hi my duty station is at JBLM I’ll hopefully be there around May of 2025. I still have too go through basic and AIT but I was hoping that I could get some info about the barracks and hopefully get in touch with some of the people that are getting stationed/ already stationed There that are aviation, specifically 15Y. Thank you
Link to Comment Chain
How can i improve my chances of success after the military?
I'm going to meps in 2 weeks and im shooting for a 25 series mos. 25H was what was available at the recruiters after i took my practice asvab. I'm not the brightest bulb but, hey, I'll take it. Aside from college ,which i want to continue to pursue throughout my time in the army (or after depending on my mental fortitude once i'm actually in,) how can i set myself up for success in the civilian world? Any input from past 25h or 25 series who somehow translated their career into decent paying jobs will be much appreciated.
I'll add I'm only joining the army for the college benefits and free training as i come from a poor household and have no other feasible way to pay for it.
Link to Comment Chain
Hello everyone,
I was recently laid off from a $64k job, and honestly, I'm not too upset. I was already feeling burnt out and unhappy, staying primarily for the promised educational benefits to facilitate a career change, which obviously fell through with the job loss. Now, I'm considering my options and the military as a new path has been sounding appealing to an extent. The VA loan and GI Bill are particularly enticing because they would help me pursue a degree without getting into debt, and enabling the career change I've been considering. And the thought of being able to buy a house at this age/economy seems awesome.
At 28, I'm weighing the implications of joining now, especially considering the pay cut and spending four years AD without the guarantee of going overseas which for me would make it much more worthwhile. Also, I'd likely be one of the older members among younger peers, which is another factor to consider. My entry rank would be E3 due to my associate degree told by the Air force recruiter I met, but I'll need a moral waiver for a misdemeanor I had at 18, which might limit my job options not to mention she told me I would have to be at the disposal of whatever the Air Force wanted me to do? Which I am assuming means that I could enlist for one thing that they tell me nope get your doing this.The Air Force recruiter told me that I would be just fine and I would be able to get in as long as my ASVAB score is high enough.
I'm torn about whether to commit to AD and save myself or a longer term in the military via reserves but still stuck in the same loop of feeling in fulfilled, unable to afford university and in a place I would rather leave. Insights from anyone who joined the military later or faced similar decisions would be incredibly helpful.
Thanks for any advice!
P.S I am also ok with the idea of the military as a career as I would still be able to retire earlier than many of my peers if I pursue the 20 year route..
Link to Comment Chain
I’m reenlisting at the end of this month (was NG but going active). My husband is also active and I was wondering how likely is it that I can be in the same battalion as my husband? I know married couples aren’t supposed to work directly together but would that still be considered “working together”?
Link to Comment Chain
Hi All, I'm 23F graduating college with my bachelor's in international relations at the end of July. I speak intermediate Spanish and would be open to learning more languages. I am looking for a mos that doesn't restrict me to behind a desk or sitting on my ass all day. I was thinking of something intelligence related. I would appreciate any advice/help.
Link to Comment Chain
So i have hemorrhoids right now and I go to MEPS monday. I have a Drs visit from about 2 years ago where she prescribed me the cream to use. The cream says to only use it when you have hemorrhoids. I still have the cream. Will I pass MEPS if I bring that the Dr visit. or should I get a new one the day before? It's Saturday so my recruiter won't answer.
Link to Comment Chain
So I enlisted on Friday. (25H) and I ship to BT in August. I’ve made my mind up before enlisting that I was going to make a career out of it. So now I’m here before you all to ask… what’s some advice you could give someone looking to do 20. Like what’s steps would you take if you could go back to make the most of your Army career? I remember my dad who served in the navy would always say “choose your rate choose your fate” and I think I started off on the right foot. Any suggestions to help make the correct steps in my new career path?
Link to Comment Chain
Going back in. Needing some suggestions on different MOS.
So when I was in the first time I was a 25U. I was 16 when I swore in to secure my mos and left at 18YO. I’ve decicided to go back in. Im picking between 19 jobs, I qualify for all of them as I keep my old asvab scores. I scored over a 105 in everything so I have a pretty big list to pick from. These jobs have good jobs outside of the army and that’s my angle, I know 25U translates to a good job outside of the army but it’s not my cup of tea. So any info on the jobs in the army and civilian life for these mos would be greatly appreciate. The jobs are: 68L 68X (specifically because I want to help vets who are/have suffered) 88H 35F 25B 35M 35G 35L 88K 88N 88U 27D 31E 12M 15Q 15N 25U 88L 88M
Link to Comment Chain
Already signed my contract but I really really wanna change my MOS by the time I ship out for BCT in mid-July, what would be the best way to approach and ask my recruiter to change my MOS? The one that I want is really in demand (19K) so maybe that might help?
Link to Comment Chain
Background: Greencard holder, 6yr+ experience in IT field. No degree. Married.
Always wanted to join the military and finally have the opportunity to do so.
What I want to experience from the military;
I want the opportunity to grow in the IT field and have military experience and later on attain a contractor job in overseas installations. Very interested in being able to move overseas for a few years specially Japan.
My biggest interest is to grow in my career + experience other countries.
Recruits have also told me that for active duty they are allowing first duty station to be chosen because the army apparently has a shortage of people joining so they want to motivate people to join by allowing them to choose duty stations. This has made me consider going active IF they aren't lying about this + the job security has always been a plus to me.
My primary plan was :
Going reserve, getting my citizenship while in basic training, changing my mos to 25B then finding government contracting job overseas preferably (Japan) and changing my unit to Japan to drill there (Camp Zama). Overall my biggest goal is to move overseas and be in the IT field.
What is the best route? Advice is greatly appreciated in advance:)
Link to Comment Chain
I want to enlist as a 19D Wont be for a year or so still but trying to do my research and evrything and make sure this is what i want, So far it looks like it is but i have a couple of questions that i need answering before i decided to enlist. 1. as a 19D with 19C coming will 19D still be manning Bradleys 2. What are my chances of being assigned to a cav unit i really dont wanna be assigned to an infantry or god knows what else 3. Am i able to enlist as active at 17?
Link to Comment Chain
Is it hard to get a self harm waiver? It happened one time three years ago. My recruiter is pushing for it now
Link to Comment Chain
I'm going to MEPS this week and I was told that the Job I'm really interested in (12w) is rare and to not get my hopes up. I'll be doing research about some other jobs, but if I really want that job should I just wait for a slot to open up or go with alternate choices?
Does anyone have any experience with this job and how often slots show up?
Link to Comment Chain
Vision Waiver Acceptance Probability
So I’m wanting to enlist as an 11x OP 4in the army, went to MEPS a few weeks ago, and am currently waiting on a current injury to be waived. I’m just kind of worrying about my vision waiver. Recruiter said we have to wait for this to be cleared first, then we can launch the vision waiver.
What’s the probability that a vision waiver will be accepted with Visual Acuity of 20/30 20/50 corrected vision. I understand everything is case to case, I’m just kind of worrying that it’ll end up being denied.
Link to Comment Chain
Is there a list of all the different Options in contracts? Like Option 40, Option 4, Option 19, etc?
Link to Comment Chain
In the process of renegotiating my contract before shipping out and I'm seriously considering 19K (M1 Armor Crewman). Recruiter told me that anyone can volunteer to go to airborne school at BCT and I really want to go airborne but it seems like 19Ks don't really do it as much as other MOS's. Is it true that i will have the opportunity to volunteer myself for airborne school at basic? If not, how can I attend Airborne or any other specialized school as a tanker?
Link to Comment Chain
Leaving for BT in 2wks. First stop Ft Lenwood and then ft sill for AIT. Then off to Ft Drum for my 1st duty station. Can anyone offer insight on what to expect at each location/stage? 13F if it matters. Much appreciated.
Link to Comment Chain
Just reserved mos 88L Water craft engineer.
Was excited at first as I’ve e heard a lot of good things about this mos, but i have a wife, 6yr old and another on the way and am worried that i wont be home that often given this mos. Im supposed to go to meps in 4 days and swear in. Im really not trying to be away from my family all that often. Is this mos bad for family life? Have i made a mistake? Or should i keep it and roll with it. Any recommendations on what i should do?
Link to Comment Chain
Hello, I’m in ROTC right now but I’m about to go to CST. I have been looking into branches as much as possible and am pretty set on ADA but I wanted to ask if anyone here has been on a HIMAD or SHORAD deployment that can give me some insight on what it’s like, more specifically SHORAD but I do want to hear both sides.
Link to Comment Chain
Joining the army
hi, I am 17 turning 18F, and im joining the army and going to boot camp soon. What are some advice or anything you would tell someone before they go to boot camp or thinking about joining the army?
Link to Comment Chain
Hello, I'm currently a high school senior who is interested in joining the ROTC. I've reached out to ROTC recruiters in the colleges that I will be attending however, they never picked up their phones nor responded to their emails after multiple attempts. I've also scheduled appointments with them only for them to not show up multiple times. I've also called the army and they said they would have someone call me but they never did either. I was wondering if anyone could help me get in touch with an ROTC recruiter as I got a few questions about the Army ROTC as well as the process to proceed.
Link to Comment Chain
Can you go to an maritime academy before your service then get it paid when you join? Can you take maritime academy while active duty?
Link to Comment Chain
What are possible first duty stations for Army officers out of ROTC by MOS?
Link to Comment Chain

Seasonal Allergies Immunotherapy
Hi I’m planning on applying for OCS when I graduate in May. But im currently taking allergy shots for my seasonal allergies. I would have no problem pausing them during basic etc. Resuming when I’m past training, but is this something I have to do? Is it worth having to get a medical waiver for it? Do I need to tell my recruiter?
Link to Comment Chain
Currently in the process of reenlisting as a prior service who was chaptered out in AIT for SI. Submitted and turned over all my paperwork to my recruiter and awaiting MEPS. My recruiter said this is the longest part of the waiting game from his experience. How long should I be expecting to wait realistically? I would ask my recruiter but I feel like I've bothered him enough over the past few weeks lmao. - Thanks!
Link to Comment Chain
Hey guys l need some advice so i'm gonna get straight to the point. I am 20 and a junior in college. I ship in June and i have 3 Mos choices so far. 19D, 11b and 19k. Which do y’all recommend?I'm hardworking and not lazy so yeah. I am joining for many reasons but one of the main reasons is travel. Would I get to do tha much? Thank you
Link to Comment Chain
Hey guys, I enlisted with an airborne contract that has my first assignment at Fort Liberty. How likely is it that I get assigned to the 82nd?
Link to Comment Chain
Weight loss
I'm currently 5% body fat over for the arms 2.0. I'm eating way better and consuming 12-1,500 calories and losing an average of 3,000 calories a day. I've been running/walking 2 miles a day of hill terrain. My recruiter said I need to lose 10 pounds by May 17. I need tips and tricks on how to lose those pounds by then
Link to Comment Chain
Army National Guard recruiter says at MEPS you can choose from several dates to start basic. Is that accurate?
If so, typically how many dates are there to choose from and how far in the future? I have a great civilian job, so would like to know my date as far in advance as possible.
Edit: would go on to traditional state OCS (yea, I know the internet’s opinions on it but it fits my life really well) afterwards.
Link to Comment Chain
I've got 4 years active and 3 years guard under my belt and I've always put in to my tsp to get the match. I know you need 8 years to keep the matching, but my unit has drained what little motivation I had left for the army, and I've decided I'm done. I'm curious if anyone can help me figure out if there's any option that will help me keep my tsp matching besides a 1 year extension. I doubt the IRR counts towards 8 years, and from what I understand, the inactive guard is simply a pause button. So instead of pushing me to 8 years, it's just delaying my 7th till next year or something. I'm also wondering if a future federal job would contribute to that 8 years or if it has to be all concurrent. Thank you for any help or any resources or links yall can send me to figure this out.
Link to Comment Chain
I was wondering if I could join the army with depression, anxiety, and OCD. All diagnosed. I have no suicide attempts or anything like that, no inpatient care either. All of these are somewhat mild and manageable, and I haven't been on any medication. But that was another concern of mine, if I was to get on any medication, would that disqualify me? Thanks a lot.
Link to Comment Chain
Im currently a senior in high school trying to enlist in the army since December but I’m at a loss of what to do. I took the asvab scored a 61 but autism came up on my records from when I was a kid. I had to get a full medical Record for meps then they wanted my pharmacy record and now they want some more records my recruiter made me sign a form for my old doctors to get it from them about a month and a week ago. I called him the earlier this week and he said he Kentucky or Kansas (I didn’t hear him well and forgot) doing some training I honestly just don’t know what to do I’ll graduate from high school in a few weeks and I probably have a month after that before my parents kick me out any advice?
Link to Comment Chain
Hey all, I wanted to get some insight on whether you all think I would be able to enlist with Crohn's. I've seen online that it's generally marked as an "unwaivable medical condition" but sometimes goes on a case by case basis. My IBD is very mild, I honestly forget that I even have the damn disease because it doesnt effect my daily life at all. I have it managed by taking an 8-week biologic but have gone on extended breaks from it before due to insurance reasons (roughly 2-3 months without any meds) and had no flare ups or any issues of the sort. However, my doctor is thinking of switching me to a daily pill (Rinvoq). I don't have any food sensitivities like a lot of Crohn's patients have (caffeine, alcohol, dairy, etc.) and have never had any surgeries nor does my GI doctor think i'll ever need one. I wanted to enlist for a 17C contract as im already in college for tech anyhow, I'm not sure if that would effect my standing. However, dream MOS is 18X but I figure that may be tougher to get by a recruiter. Any advice or thoughts? Army has been my dream forever and I don't want to have to give it up, so I'd really do anything haha.
Link to Comment Chain
I have 2 non violent felonies from 2011 and PTD from 2022 for possession. I've been upfront and honest with my recruiter. He sent me to test today and I scored 63 on Asvab and GT of 113. Is there a chance for me? Thanks in advance. 30 and in great health and shape.
Link to Comment Chain
What bases would you do bmt if your in cyber security and aviation mechanics?
Link to Comment Chain
I ship out in a week. Went to meps and signed in March. Can I change my MOS? Or is it too late ?? I want something language related because I’m fluent in Arabic (already passed DLPT)
Link to Comment Chain
For anyone that has done OSUT at Fort Moore, how long does it typically take before they’ll tell you where your FDS is?
Link to Comment Chain
I have read a few horror stories where someone enlisted with X,Y, or Z in their contract, but after basic they where told something else and could not confirm the original. For example, someone claims they had a specific location through Option 19, only to later be told they are going somewhere else.
My first question is: has this happened to anyone here, and if so and how was it resolved?
My second question is: after signing your contract, how do you gain acess to it later? Do you receive a physical copy for yourself? Can you download a copy? Is there someone you can ask in the Army to retrieve it for you? Will it be acessable on a portal of somekind?
I am considering enlisting with option 19 and the location is very important to me. Thank you!
Link to Comment Chain
Is phone use in BCT only delegated to calls? Also does phone use depend on what phase you're in, like, red phase 20 minutes, blue 30 minutes? Going to jackson
Link to Comment Chain
Not the best time to swear in, waivers
I have all of my waivers approved, however, I won’t be swearing in due to job circumstances. If things change, can I still go back into the army or will I blocked out of it forever?
Link to Comment Chain
I have an AAM and 3 COAs which S1 has been tracking for months but which have yet to reflect on my PPW. Do I have any recourse?
Link to Comment Chain
my recruiter says that I can't get option 4 in my 35W contract but I really want to be airborne as a 35p/m so I have a higher chance of having my skills be put to use. Can i put in for airborne at DLI or AIT? what is the earliest I can do this and how would I go about it? I just went through the normal MEPS process not the airborne physical fyi
Link to Comment Chain
Is a bonus worth choosing the Army over the AF?
In general, I’ve heard that the army’s QoL is less than that of the Air Force. However, the army has way more jobs w bonuses that I’d be interested in. And it’s the same or similar jobs as the Air Force, but w a bonus. I know the Basic Training for army is also longer, but a bonus can be convincing. I have the same question, but in regards to joining the navy as well. I want to focus on my education during my enlistment & get my bachelors & id also like travel opportunities. I haven’t taken my ASVAB yet, it’s scheduled the 16th. I scored rlly well on the PiCAT, and according to those scores I qualify for some army jobs w a bonus. I know it’s not as simple as that, and it’s a whole process & based on what’s available. Just want some opinions on if I was offered an army job w a bonus as opposed to the same/ similar Air Force job without, would you consider it worth it based on your experience?
I already got some answers from a post I made about this, but moderator deleted it and said to comment here. But any additional info/ insight is greatly appreciated. I want to make the best choice for my future in the case that I don't want to do 20 years.
Link to Comment Chain
I'm joining up rn and working with a recruiter. We've got my waivers and everything. Pretty much just have to pick a job. For background I was an IET separation back in 2009. From what I've read and what me and my recruiter have gone over I am glossary non-prior service. I could have sworn I read (albeit a while ago) that business rules did not apply to GNPS, so I should be free to pick my MOS. However, I talked to my recruiter earlier today and he wants me to sit with his 1SG and go over the job options available for prior service. Am I wrong and I just get what I get?
Link to Comment Chain
Please help!
I was looking to join the guard but in my medical records it shows I had Guillan barre. I was feeling some numbness in my legs, but looking back at it, it was very cold outside and I was just a bitch who would try to get out of school by any means possible. They did a spinal tap and never found any trace of the disease however. I was in the hospital for a couple of days, the gave me immunoglobulin and then I went home and nothing ever came of it. I am currently completely asymptomatic This was when I was 12 or 13 years old. Now I’m 18 and want to join but my recruiter said I have to get all the records and stuff. What is the chance that I will still be able to join? I tried looking it up online but I couldn’t find an answer. Also if I’m able to join, will I need a medical waiver?
Link to Comment Chain
My MOS is 68W, I'm shipping out in June and I'm taking the OPAT in a couple of weeks. I'm 5'2 and 115ish pounds. I'm pretty fit. My biggest worry is the standing long jump. I want to pass the OPAT with flying colors and keep my MOS. Is there any advice or tips y'all can give me?
Link to Comment Chain
I’m looking to graduate and enlist in a month but can’t decide on what MOS I want. I think 11B because I don’t want to individuate and do army shit or 68W but I’m not sure if I can get advanced combative training or other schools I want. I want to do something that’s “high speed” and meaningful while working my way towards Ranger reg. Is the 82nd Airborne a good pathway to that? How is civil affairs? Can you enlist directly into it while being active duty?
Link to Comment Chain
Thinking about reenlisting to army with 8.5 PS in USMC. Been out < 5years. Will I have to repeat AIT if I keep my same MOS? I know this is the wrong channel for USMC feedback but also considering going back there if it would mean not repeating AlT. Thanks in advance!
Link to Comment Chain
Hi everyone! I’m a high school student planning on joining the military. I’m Muslim, so I want to be sure that whichever branch I join is accommodating to Muslim needs. If it changes anything, I’m planning joining through the ROTC route.
My main concerns are, does the Army give beard waivers for Muslims? Is it possible to take short breaks throughout the day to pray? Can you fast during Ramadan? Can you be provided with halal (no pork/no alcohol) food?
Also, I’m interested in infantry or armor (or any kind of ground forces officer in general). Would these accommodations interfere with being selected for these careers or being mission ready? (Such as a beard, fasting, etc.)
Link to Comment Chain
i’m a current nasty girl and i’m looking to transfer to Active duty. i understand i need a conditional release in order to sign a new contract and need my G-1 to sign off on it. i’m looking for info on the process from someone who’s gone through the process.
Link to Comment Chain
What are the odds of getting a waiver for ulcerative colitis? I was EPTS’d out in march 2023 after being diagnosed while I was at 30th AG. My GI said I was in remission as of jan of this year. I take 4 Lialda pills a day and get an entyvio infusion every 2 months. I feel perfectly fine now though. Scored a 74 on the asvab.
Link to Comment Chain
Medical record
In the navy currently and getting out in a year. I had a back injury prior to enlisting that I didn’t disclose. I plan on entering the army after my contract. If this comes up will my discharge from the navy be lowered or my benefits revoked?
Link to Comment Chain
So my recruiter told me that I have to get a lease first, but the thing is, is that we don't have one with our landlord. It's more like an oral lease and he's a slumlord who never tries to communicate with any of us. That being said, my recruiter then said that I should find a lease online and edit it to where I state that I'm paying the rent to my sister instead (who has a valid ID) He also stated that my sister and I have to go to a check-cashing place to get it notarized. Is this all ok to do and will the BHA be approved? Also if it's approved, does this mean that the rent we pay which is $1,365.50, is going to be paid for while I'm away and how exactly??
Link to Comment Chain
Can I enlist if I have a Mexican highschool diploma? (I am american, just finished highschool in mexico) And don't have a address in the USA???
Link to Comment Chain
I am thinking of finishing up my bachelors and joining as an officer, my question was whether it was possible or not to guarantee mos 17c in the army if I join as an officer.
Link to Comment Chain
I just got told that I cant enlist for 2 years after my waiver got denied for a history of depression. I stopped feeling depressed last August but got officially cleared into remission in February. I was told theres no point in a consult and the most I can do is reach out to a congressman. Other than reaching out to a congressman, is there really nothing I can do?
Link to Comment Chain
Questions about Virginia National Guard
I want to do OCS! Now here’s my confusion. My recruiter is saying that the moment I swear in is the moment my contract is going to start and will count towards that 6 year! So, if he is right, I will basically complete 2 years training if I do state OCS. But I would like to have more control on what branch I get! My top 3 are: cyber warfare, signal, and intel. Should I do accelerated in that case? Also how likely am I to get one of those aforementioned three if I do state OCS of 18 months? My bachelor was in Computer Engineering, and I am currently enrolled in ASU for master’s pursuing Computer Science! Will I get that 24k a year tuition fee because he said there’s a possibility I might get it since it’s fully online? Can I get tuition assistance and loan repayment both? Does getting either one incur additional service time?
Link to Comment Chain
im thinking of joining as a officer and going into ocs, what is the best branch for a well paying civilian job after completing my service, for context my major right now is relg studies plus maybe bio.
Link to Comment Chain
I leave for Future Soldier Preparatory Course for the fitness aspect on the 21st, has anyone gone through it recently? There’s not a whole lot of information on it online, I was just wondering what it’s like, and what to expect. Do you get issued all of your gear since you will be going to bmt after? What is reception like? Any and all information and tips is greatly appreciated!
Link to Comment Chain
So my husband is going to meps next week. he has 2 different sets of scars on his left arm. He works at a mobile home plant building houses. One was from when he got caught on a nail so it's a little deeper looking and another was from some sheet metal at work. He didn't disclose it to his boss because he works on a line and it would've put his team behind so he just put some bandaids on it and went about his day and cleaned it up when he got home. This was about 1-2 years ago. What is his meps experience going to be like? They aren't self harm obviously but we've heard horror stories about the doctors at meps not believing people and DQ them. He honestly forgot about telling his recruiter and his recruiter has already sent in all his medical history and got him scheduled for meps. Should he still go ahead and tell his recruiter or just wait and disclose it at meps?
Link to Comment Chain
Should i go in as 17c or try my luck at ocs?
Link to Comment Chain
I'm currently in process Enlisting in the Reserve, while holding an associate's degree in mechanical engineering technology, with some side education in programming. While I am working towards my bachelor's degree, I'm looking to pick an MOS that will help my career, or at the very least, be interesting. I don't remember my scores, but my Recruiter told me whatever I pick, my score won't be the limiting factor.
Top of the list for career jobs is 15 series, from what I've heard from currently enlisted in my friend group, wrenching on aircraft in general is a fast track to a cushy job on the outside with my education. 25 series looks boring but useful as anything IT/electrical complements my degree. On the more interesting side, I was looking at 91 series, either 91F or 91P.
Am I going anywhere wrong with any of these jobs? Anything I should be keeping in mind?
Link to Comment Chain
25D or 35T I just wonder which MOS would be better for career. I am really interested in IT. I know 25D is not entry MOS. Let’s say you meet requirements for both MOS. If you stay as enlisted side, what would you recommend?
Link to Comment Chain
I’m heading to ait now at fort Moore for 91M do I get my phone and am I in a dorm how is that like
Link to Comment Chain
Hi all,
I am a permanent resident here is the US, and last week I finished my ASVAB mock test with a 95 on my AFQT. The recruiter says I am eligible for everything that doesn't require a security clearance which is kind of a problem as my dream MOS are the 35-series and 17-series (As both of these are locked behind clearance requirement)
After some thinking, I narrow down to the following, but there are still too many so I hope I can get your feedback on what I am doing. My aims are: a/I want something that will translate into the civilian world well if my time in the army doesn't go well, b/I want an MOS that can advanced through warrant or becoming a commission officer if my time in the army does go well, and c/I want to push myself to the limit and break out of my comfort zone to see where I can go. If I sound arrogant, please forgive for that: I am just trying to be as careful as possible. I am nearly reaching my thirty, and I want to take deliberate steps because I no longer have the luxury of youth and family to try and fail.
The MOS are:
11-series, 12B and 12D: I have a soft spot for these despite knowing they don't translate into the civilian world. But in my heart somewhere is a wild child that wants to test my physical prowess and wants to blow things up. I do know my knees and lower back will hate me for picking this.
15 series: With exceptions to 15C, 15J, and other works related to flying or being mechanics of sensitive equipment, I can be an aircraft technicians. I read that there are demands for airplane mechanics but I don't know much about this field other than a/I got to repair planes, b/people seem to hate it because you have to sign a long contract if you become a warrant.
68A: I did see this MOS getting recommended a lot but after reading its description, I am not very sure if I want to do it either both in the army or afterwards. I must also admit I don't have a good insights onto the day to day life of this job. Can someone shed some light about this MOS for me?
68C: Becoming a nurse seems like a very safe choice out of the military given that the BLS projects nurse to be in high demand and being able to take care of your family sounds like a big plus to me; however, I don't know if I like being a nurse. My parents were doctors, and having seen the hospital environment I can say I am not a fan. I also look into 68A but BLS prospect for it didn't seem good, and the training on 68E, 68D, and 68V look a little bit too short. Do you really become a dental assistant just with 10 weeks of training?
68W: I must admit, I have a soft spot for 68W as it allows me to be both learn some medical skills and be on the field. However, I do notice that 68W only translates to paramedic/EMT post-army, while 68C translates to becoming a nurse (which is more valued and regarded as "better" than paramedic or EMT and thus in higher demand)
88H, 92A, 92F, and 92Y: I pick these because, according to BLS, there is a projected increase need for people in warehousing and transportation. From my limited understanding of the fields, you will be in charge of handling logistics such as maintaining unit inventory, ordering supplies and weapons for your units, etc. but I am not very sure on the difference between, say, 92Y and 92A.
So, can you give me a suggestions? May anyone who has been in these MOS share their experience to help me pick? What are some of the MOS I miss?
Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Link to Comment Chain
Is the 09m program ending at the end of may?
Link to Comment Chain
How does one secure a religious exemption before basic training? My recruiter said we would talk about it down the line but it’s getting down to the wire and I’d rather it not get forgotten.
Link to Comment Chain
Hi my duty station is at JBLM I’ll hopefully be there around May of 2025. I still have too go through basic and AIT but I was hoping that I could get some info about the barracks and hopefully get in touch with some of the people that are getting stationed/ already stationed There that are aviation, specifically 15Y. Thank you
Link to Comment Chain
How can i improve my chances of success after the military?
I'm going to meps in 2 weeks and im shooting for a 25 series mos. 25H was what was available at the recruiters after i took my practice asvab. I'm not the brightest bulb but, hey, I'll take it. Aside from college ,which i want to continue to pursue throughout my time in the army (or after depending on my mental fortitude once i'm actually in,) how can i set myself up for success in the civilian world? Any input from past 25h or 25 series who somehow translated their career into decent paying jobs will be much appreciated.
I'll add I'm only joining the army for the college benefits and free training as i come from a poor household and have no other feasible way to pay for it.
Link to Comment Chain
Hello everyone,
I was recently laid off from a $64k job, and honestly, I'm not too upset. I was already feeling burnt out and unhappy, staying primarily for the promised educational benefits to facilitate a career change, which obviously fell through with the job loss. Now, I'm considering my options and the military as a new path has been sounding appealing to an extent. The VA loan and GI Bill are particularly enticing because they would help me pursue a degree without getting into debt, and enabling the career change I've been considering. And the thought of being able to buy a house at this age/economy seems awesome.
At 28, I'm weighing the implications of joining now, especially considering the pay cut and spending four years AD without the guarantee of going overseas which for me would make it much more worthwhile. Also, I'd likely be one of the older members among younger peers, which is another factor to consider. My entry rank would be E3 due to my associate degree told by the Air force recruiter I met, but I'll need a moral waiver for a misdemeanor I had at 18, which might limit my job options not to mention she told me I would have to be at the disposal of whatever the Air Force wanted me to do? Which I am assuming means that I could enlist for one thing that they tell me nope get your doing this.The Air Force recruiter told me that I would be just fine and I would be able to get in as long as my ASVAB score is high enough.
I'm torn about whether to commit to AD and save myself or a longer term in the military via reserves but still stuck in the same loop of feeling in fulfilled, unable to afford university and in a place I would rather leave. Insights from anyone who joined the military later or faced similar decisions would be incredibly helpful.
Thanks for any advice!
P.S I am also ok with the idea of the military as a career as I would still be able to retire earlier than many of my peers if I pursue the 20 year route..
Link to Comment Chain
I’m reenlisting at the end of this month (was NG but going active). My husband is also active and I was wondering how likely is it that I can be in the same battalion as my husband? I know married couples aren’t supposed to work directly together but would that still be considered “working together”?
Link to Comment Chain
Hi All, I'm 23F graduating college with my bachelor's in international relations at the end of July. I speak intermediate Spanish and would be open to learning more languages. I am looking for a mos that doesn't restrict me to behind a desk or sitting on my ass all day. I was thinking of something intelligence related. I would appreciate any advice/help.
Link to Comment Chain
So i have hemorrhoids right now and I go to MEPS monday. I have a Drs visit from about 2 years ago where she prescribed me the cream to use. The cream says to only use it when you have hemorrhoids. I still have the cream. Will I pass MEPS if I bring that the Dr visit. or should I get a new one the day before? It's Saturday so my recruiter won't answer.
Link to Comment Chain
So I enlisted on Friday. (25H) and I ship to BT in August. I’ve made my mind up before enlisting that I was going to make a career out of it. So now I’m here before you all to ask… what’s some advice you could give someone looking to do 20. Like what’s steps would you take if you could go back to make the most of your Army career? I remember my dad who served in the navy would always say “choose your rate choose your fate” and I think I started off on the right foot. Any suggestions to help make the correct steps in my new career path?
Link to Comment Chain
Going back in. Needing some suggestions on different MOS.
So when I was in the first time I was a 25U. I was 16 when I swore in to secure my mos and left at 18YO. I’ve decicided to go back in. Im picking between 19 jobs, I qualify for all of them as I keep my old asvab scores. I scored over a 105 in everything so I have a pretty big list to pick from. These jobs have good jobs outside of the army and that’s my angle, I know 25U translates to a good job outside of the army but it’s not my cup of tea. So any info on the jobs in the army and civilian life for these mos would be greatly appreciate. The jobs are: 68L 68X (specifically because I want to help vets who are/have suffered) 88H 35F 25B 35M 35G 35L 88K 88N 88U 27D 31E 12M 15Q 15N 25U 88L 88M
Link to Comment Chain
Already signed my contract but I really really wanna change my MOS by the time I ship out for BCT in mid-July, what would be the best way to approach and ask my recruiter to change my MOS? The one that I want is really in demand (19K) so maybe that might help?
Link to Comment Chain
Background: Greencard holder, 6yr+ experience in IT field. No degree. Married.
Always wanted to join the military and finally have the opportunity to do so.
What I want to experience from the military;
I want the opportunity to grow in the IT field and have military experience and later on attain a contractor job in overseas installations. Very interested in being able to move overseas for a few years specially Japan.
My biggest interest is to grow in my career + experience other countries.
Recruits have also told me that for active duty they are allowing first duty station to be chosen because the army apparently has a shortage of people joining so they want to motivate people to join by allowing them to choose duty stations. This has made me consider going active IF they aren't lying about this + the job security has always been a plus to me.
My primary plan was :
Going reserve, getting my citizenship while in basic training, changing my mos to 25B then finding government contracting job overseas preferably (Japan) and changing my unit to Japan to drill there (Camp Zama). Overall my biggest goal is to move overseas and be in the IT field.
What is the best route? Advice is greatly appreciated in advance:)
Link to Comment Chain
I want to enlist as a 19D Wont be for a year or so still but trying to do my research and evrything and make sure this is what i want, So far it looks like it is but i have a couple of questions that i need answering before i decided to enlist. 1. as a 19D with 19C coming will 19D still be manning Bradleys 2. What are my chances of being assigned to a cav unit i really dont wanna be assigned to an infantry or god knows what else 3. Am i able to enlist as active at 17?
Link to Comment Chain
Is it hard to get a self harm waiver? It happened one time three years ago. My recruiter is pushing for it now
Link to Comment Chain
I'm going to MEPS this week and I was told that the Job I'm really interested in (12w) is rare and to not get my hopes up. I'll be doing research about some other jobs, but if I really want that job should I just wait for a slot to open up or go with alternate choices?
Does anyone have any experience with this job and how often slots show up?
Link to Comment Chain
Vision Waiver Acceptance Probability
So I’m wanting to enlist as an 11x OP 4in the army, went to MEPS a few weeks ago, and am currently waiting on a current injury to be waived. I’m just kind of worrying about my vision waiver. Recruiter said we have to wait for this to be cleared first, then we can launch the vision waiver.
What’s the probability that a vision waiver will be accepted with Visual Acuity of 20/30 20/50 corrected vision. I understand everything is case to case, I’m just kind of worrying that it’ll end up being denied.
Link to Comment Chain
Is there a list of all the different Options in contracts? Like Option 40, Option 4, Option 19, etc?
Link to Comment Chain
In the process of renegotiating my contract before shipping out and I'm seriously considering 19K (M1 Armor Crewman). Recruiter told me that anyone can volunteer to go to airborne school at BCT and I really want to go airborne but it seems like 19Ks don't really do it as much as other MOS's. Is it true that i will have the opportunity to volunteer myself for airborne school at basic? If not, how can I attend Airborne or any other specialized school as a tanker?
Link to Comment Chain
Leaving for BT in 2wks. First stop Ft Lenwood and then ft sill for AIT. Then off to Ft Drum for my 1st duty station. Can anyone offer insight on what to expect at each location/stage? 13F if it matters. Much appreciated.
Link to Comment Chain
Just reserved mos 88L Water craft engineer.
Was excited at first as I’ve e heard a lot of good things about this mos, but i have a wife, 6yr old and another on the way and am worried that i wont be home that often given this mos. Im supposed to go to meps in 4 days and swear in. Im really not trying to be away from my family all that often. Is this mos bad for family life? Have i made a mistake? Or should i keep it and roll with it. Any recommendations on what i should do?
Link to Comment Chain
Hello, I’m in ROTC right now but I’m about to go to CST. I have been looking into branches as much as possible and am pretty set on ADA but I wanted to ask if anyone here has been on a HIMAD or SHORAD deployment that can give me some insight on what it’s like, more specifically SHORAD but I do want to hear both sides.
Link to Comment Chain
Joining the army
hi, I am 17 turning 18F, and im joining the army and going to boot camp soon. What are some advice or anything you would tell someone before they go to boot camp or thinking about joining the army?
Link to Comment Chain
Hello, I'm currently a high school senior who is interested in joining the ROTC. I've reached out to ROTC recruiters in the colleges that I will be attending however, they never picked up their phones nor responded to their emails after multiple attempts. I've also scheduled appointments with them only for them to not show up multiple times. I've also called the army and they said they would have someone call me but they never did either. I was wondering if anyone could help me get in touch with an ROTC recruiter as I got a few questions about the Army ROTC as well as the process to proceed.
Link to Comment Chain
Can you go to an maritime academy before your service then get it paid when you join? Can you take maritime academy while active duty?
Link to Comment Chain
What are possible first duty stations for Army officers out of ROTC by MOS?
Link to Comment Chain

My daughter is facing juvenile charges of trespassing and criminal mischief. She has been ID’d on surveillance and no doubt it is her. It happened while she was at her first sleepover that I didn’t host.
I thought keeping her active 6-7 nights a week with sports would keep her out of trouble. She is a phenomenal athlete, speaks 2 languages and gets honours. She most definitely has an authority problem but I followed the “if they are always busy they can’t get into trouble” philosophy and I was apparently wrong.
I have taken away all technology, grounded her to our property and free time without an end date, made it clear she will be chaperoned when we do let her off grounding for the foreseeable future, signed her up for the community service program on her weekly free day, and made an appointment to make a personal apology with amends.
I am also considering pulling her from her competitive sports. My partner says this would be too far since our daughter worked very hard to be good enough for the team and finally made it through tryouts after not making the team last year. My partner also says that it would leave her feeling resentful, that she may not make the team again if I force her to take the season off and with too much free time over the summer. I feel like it would be a severe consequence to her actions that might be just what she needs.
I want this experience to be the first and last of its kind, I want her to understand the gravity of her actions. I know from experience that the juvenile system puts the burden on parents (usually monetary) and she might feel like she got away with it.
I really need her to take this situation seriously but I also don’t want to make her feel like she’s done something unforgivable. I have my own baggage that makes me second guess myself, I know I’m a strict parent and I can be too harsh in my consequences sometimes. I just want to raise my children to take accountability, be honest role models and productive members of society.
Have I done enough? Have I done too much? My mom brain is second guessing everything. Any advice or moral support would be appreciated.
Edit: I feel like my partner and comments are right and taking away her sports would do more harm and not teaching the lessons I want to be. *I’m also not as worked up. I posted right after leaving the station and was emotional and freaking out. She has never done anything like this before.
I also feel like I have to explain her extracurricular activities better. My daughter is on a highly competitive Tier 1 team that has some of the best coaches around + international coaching opportunities. She is on a provincial athletics track team that she trains and competes for, to make it to nationals in the coming years. She is also on a slightly less competitive cross country team that trains and competes August- whenever the snow sets in. None of the teams she is on are school or even town related. We are lucky enough to live within commuting distance of a major city that offers these opportunities. I don’t mind driving so long as her grades are good and she’s committed.
Her #1 passion in life is running. All her extra curricular sports are great paths to grants and scholarships to what ever secondary school she might choose. I have never pushed her to be competitive, there are many different teams and ranks, all requiring different skill levels and time commitments. My daughter is extremely competitive and determined to be the best/train with the best. She was the same way with gymnastics (which she didn’t even like).
I guess her 120% mindset was harnessed for mischief this time. This kid doesn’t do anything in half measures.

Welcome to Classified Roleplay

A new and custom and immersive roleplay server made for role-players by role-players. We offer you top of the line roleplay to our unique and custom scripts to our new player friendly staff. We can promise you will never get board as we update CRP daily adding new and exciting content. If you like what you are reading so far you can join our discord server for more information.

Information

Classified is an community driven roleplay server that offers you immersive and realistic roleplay with a hint of fun into it. Our highly trained LEO and our friendly staff we make sure your roleplay experience is out top priority. Our owners have 2+ years of FiveM ownership experience and have ran servers with 2K+ members. We are a QBCore server.

Whitelisted Departments

• Los Santos Police Department Looking for LEO - Hiring Supervisors
• Los Santos Sheriff's Department Looking for LEO - Hiring Supervisors
• San Andreas Fire Rescue Opening soon - Apply now

Non-Whitelisted Jobs

• Oil job
• Bus driver
• Taxi driver
• Miner
• Post-OP
•Hunter
• Garbage truck
• Fishing
•Trucker job
•Tow truck job

Businesses

• Benny's
• Limey's
• uWu cafe
• Ownable gas stations

Criminal Activities

• Progressive bank heist
• Vehicle boosting
• Black market
• Store robberies
• Many drugs
• Submarine heist
• FIB Heist

How to Join If you are ready to call CRP your new home join our Discord

I've gathered some of the biggest research papers on domestic violence. I recommend keeping these studies handy so you can address various myths and perceptions about DV.
In particular these studies will show that:

• There is gender symmetry in perpetration rates.
• There is a significant proportion of male victims even in police reports.
• There is a significant number of male victims when looking at severe injuries and deaths, refuting the idea that women cannot injure or kill men.
• Retaliation explains only a small percentage of DV cases, refuting the notion that women are violent against men only in self-defense.
• Men suffer significant physical and psychological damage, showing that DV is not harmless against men.
• Men face significant obstacles when dealing with the DV service system.
• There is a disproportionate lack of resources available to men that need shelter compared to women.

Studies:
(1) A 2014 meta-analysis of domestic violence showing that men and women perpetrate domestic violence at similar rates.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261543769_References_Examining_Assaults_by_Women_on_Their_Spouses_or_Male_Partners_An_Updated_Annotated_Bibliography

• This is a huge annotated bibliography of 343 scholarly investigations (270 empirical studies and 73 reviews) demonstrating that women are as physically aggressive as men in their relationships with their spouses or opposite-sex partners. The aggregate sample size in the reviewed studies exceeds 440,850 people.

(2) Even in cases reported to the police, men still make up a fourth of victims. Men made up a third of domestic violence deaths in 2021/22.
https://mankind.org.uk/statistics/statistics-on-male-victims-of-domestic-abuse/

• One in 6-7 men and one in 4 women will be a victim of domestic abuse in their lifetime.
• Of domestic abuse crimes recorded by the police, 25% were committed against men.
• There are 302 refuge or safe house spaces for men (1 June 2023) compared to over 4000 for women.
• In 2021/22, 18 men died at the hands of their partner or ex-partner compared to 60 women. For men, it is the highest figure since 2008/09 and doubles that from 2019/20. It is one man every three weeks.

(3) A review of over 200 studies showing gender symmetry in domestic violence and the ways in which gender symmetry has been concealed from the public.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233717660_Thirty_Years_of_Denying_the_Evidence_on_Gender_Symmetry_in_Partner_Violence_Implications_for_Prevention_and_Treatment
Findings:

• "[The] assumption that PV was about men dominating women has been contradicted by a mass of empirical evidence from my own research and from research by many others, which found that women physically attack partners at the same or higher rate as men... The meta-analysis by Archer (2000) and the bibliography by Fiebert (2004) document about 200 studies that have found approximately equal rates of perpetration by men and women partners."
• Severe injuries and deaths: “Men sustain about a third of the injuries from PV, including a third of the deaths from attacks by a partner (Catalano, 2006; Rennison, 2000; Straus, 2005).”
• "Self-defense explains only a small percentage of partner violence by either men or women."

(4) Evidence against the idea that women are only violent in retaliation.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2913504/

• “As mentioned, one well-noted assumption about women who use IPV against their men partners is that they are acting solely in self-defense or retaliation against their presumably violent men partners. This assumption, held by a few researchers, has been refuted by studies assessing women's motives for IPV, which show that, although some women report self-defense or retaliation as a motive, most do not (Hines & Malley-Morrison, 2001; Medeiros & Straus, 2006).”

(5) Further evidence against the idea that women are only violent in retaliation.
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2001-01714-001

• "The bulk of the research on motivations for violence in intimate relationships has shown that self-defense is not the motivation for women's violence in the majority of cases."
• "Other researchers have found that dominance and control are primary motives for female violence."

(6) The physical and psychological damage sustained by male victims - DV is not harmless against them.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3002073/

• “Men sustained very high rates and frequencies of psychological, sexual, and physical IPV, injuries, and controlling behaviors… though the male helpseekers had high rates of perpetrating IPV themselves, their rates are similar to or lower than those found in shelter samples of battered women.”
• Domestic violence is very harmful to men. Often, men who are the victims of domestic violence can be violent themselves in retaliation (at similar rates to women who retaliate against their abusive partners).
• This study challenges the idea that domestic violence is committed almost exclusively by men and that violent resistance is committed almost exclusively by women.

(7) The struggles of men who engage with the DV service system.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3175099/

• “Men who seek help for IPV victimization have the most positive experiences in seeking help from family/friends, and mental health and medical providers. They have the least positive experiences with members of the DV service system. Cumulative positive help seeking experiences were associated with lower levels of abusing alcohol; cumulative negative experiences were associated with higher rates of exceeding a clinical cut-off for post-traumatic stress disorder.”
• Men tend to have negative experiences with the DV service system, which is linked to higher levels of abusing alcohol and rates of exceeding a clinical cut-off for PTSD.

(8) Most shelters do not accommodate men. Most do not even accommodate teenage boys.
https://www.womensaid.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Nowhere-to-Turn-for-Children-and-Young-People.pdf

• “92.4% of refuges are currently able to accommodate male children aged 12 or under. This reduces to 79.8% for male children aged 14 and under, and to 49.4% for male children aged 16 and under. Only 19.4% of refuges are able to accommodate male children aged 17 or over.” (page 27).
• The implication of the above statement is that 80% of shelters do not accommodate male children older than 17. If that is the case for male children, imagine what the reality is for adult men seeking help.

Conclusion:
As you can see, there are hundreds of studies that show men and women experience domestic violence at similar rates. Even when you look at severe injuries or deaths as a result of DV, men still make up a third of the victims. Furthermore, the idea that women are only violent in retaliation to men's violence is also mostly false. Although some women are violent in response to their partner's violence, most are not, and the self-defense rate isn't significantly higher than men. Lastly, lasting impact of domestic violence on men is large, showing the need for societal recognition and assistance. Despite this need, men tend to have negative experiences with the DV service system and have disproportionately fewer resources available to them compared to women.
Citation Information:

1. Fiebert, Martin. (2014). References Examining Assaults by Women on Their Spouses or Male Partners: An Updated Annotated Bibliography. Sexuality and Culture. 18. 405-467. 10.1007/s12119-013-9194-1.
2. ManKind Initiative. (2023). Statistics on Male Victims of Domestic Abuse. https://mankind.org.uk/statistics/statistics-on-male-victims-of-domestic-abuse/
3. Straus, Murray. (2010). Thirty Years of Denying the Evidence on Gender Symmetry in Partner Violence: Implications for Prevention and Treatment. Partner Abuse. 1. 332-362. 10.1891/1946-6560.1.3.332.
4. Hines DA, Douglas EM. A Closer Look at Men Who Sustain Intimate Terrorism by Women. Partner Abuse. 2010 Jan 1;1(3):286-313. doi: 10.1891/1946-6560.1.3.286. PMID: 20686677; PMCID: PMC2913504.
5. Hines, D. A., & Malley-Morrison, K. (2001). Psychological effects of partner abuse against men: A neglected research area. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 2(2), 75–85. https://doi.org/10.1037/1524-9220.2.2.75.
6. Hines DA, Douglas EM. Intimate Terrorism by Women Towards Men: Does it Exist? J Aggress Confl Peace Res. 2010 Jul 6;2(3):36-56. doi: 10.5042/jacpr.2010.0335. PMID: 21165167; PMCID: PMC3002073.
7. Douglas EM, Hines DA. The Helpseeking Experiences of Men Who Sustain Intimate Partner Violence: An Overlooked Population and Implications for Practice. J Fam Violence. 2011 Aug;26(6):473-485. doi: 10.1007/s10896-011-9382-4. PMID: 21935262; PMCID: PMC3175099.
8. Women's Aid. Nowhere to Turn for Children and Young People. 2020. [https://www.womensaid.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Nowhere-to-Turn-for-Children-and-Young-People.pdf.c\\\](https://www.womensaid.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Nowhere-to-Turn-for-Children-and-Young-People.pdf.c)

Edit: formatting