Enlisted Military Jobs

Working Schedule

• Enlisted personnel are often called the “worker bees” of the military. Active Duty servicemembers have full-time jobs and may be required to work extended hours depending on mission requirements
• Guard and Reserve roles are not full-time and hours vary
• To the extent possible, military units try to provide predictable work schedules
• Duty hours depend largely on the specific job as well as circumstances at any given time. For example, hours may be longer when preparing for an inspection, during temporary duty assignment trips, or while deployed to an overseas location

Typical Duties

• “Typical” duties depend entirely on the career field a person enters
• In general, Enlisted personnel may expect to perform a wide variety of administrative and in some cases labor-related tasks
• Continual training is a key element of most military positions. This may include job-specific training, as well as general safety, cybersecurity, and weapons training, as applicable
• Military bases tend to conduct numerous inspections and readiness exercises. As a result, servicemembers may find their daily routines disrupted as priorities temporarily shift
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics cites the following broad occupational groups:
  • Administrative
  • Combat Specialty
  • Construction
  • Electronic and Electrical Equipment Repair
  • Engineering, Science, and Technical
  • Healthcare
  • Human Resource Development
  • Machine Operator and Production
  • Media and Public Affairs
  • Protective Service
  • Support Service
  • Transportation and Material Handling
  • Vehicle and Machinery Mechanic

Additional Responsibilities

• As personnel advance in military rank, they take on additional administrative and supervisory responsibilities
• These may include writing reports and awards packages, providing training and feedback to subordinates, tracking budgets, managing records, responding to messages, and attending meetings
• Most military personnel are required to maintain a personal readiness status in the event they must travel or deploy outside the local area. This includes maintaining personal fitness, taking care of one’s medical and mental health matters, and having all personal/family affairs in order

Soft Skills

• Analytical
• Attention to detail and standards
• Critical thinking
• Evaluation and problem-solving skills
• Integrity
• Leadership
• Realistic
• Resilience
• Sound judgment
• Strength and stamina
• Teamwork
• Time management

Technical Skills

• Varies depending on career field
• Physical fitness exercise routines
• Training on M4/M16 rifles (some roles require training on other weapons)
• CPR, First Aid, AED training
• Mission Oriented Protective Posture training (i.e., “protective gear used…in a toxic environment, e.g., during a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear strike”)
• Basic familiarity with email, MS Office, and vehicle operation

• Army
• Navy
• Marine Corps
• Air Force
• Space Force
• Coast Guard
• Reserve components of the Armed Forces:
  • Army National Guard
  • Army Reserve
  • Navy Reserve
  • Marine Corps Reserve
  • Air National Guard
  • Air Force Reserve
  • Coast Guard Reserve  

Enlisted Military jobs require commitment and occasional hardship and sacrifices, in particular during deployments. While not every military servicemember will deploy during their enlistment period, the odds are high that the longer you stay in, the more likely it’ll happen.
 
As Military.com points out, the military’s primary mission “is to defend the U.S. and its interests,” though it has several other missions including:
 

• “Rescue operations,
• “Medical assistance in impoverished areas,
• “Food and humanitarian relief,
• “Security at embassies and other locations,
• “Policing in volatile areas,
• “Natural disaster relief,
• “Law enforcement,
• “Piracy and drug interdiction.”

 
There are numerous dangerous civilian jobs, such as welding, roofing, and logging, in which workers face hazards on a daily basis. But unlike most civilian career fields (with notable exceptions such as law enforcement, firefighting, and other first responder roles), many military jobs have the potential to require servicemembers to enter situations where their safety could be jeopardized by hostile forces actively seeking to harm them.
 
This is sometimes expressed as the concept of an “unlimited liability clause,” meaning, as Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Kevin Shaffer put it, you may have to “give your life in service to your country.” Thus, he describes enlistment as not “merely a job, but rather a profession that requires continual commitment to training, professional development, and readiness if and when…called into harm’s way.”
 
Deployments can be tough on families, too. Military personnel often describe “military life” like one big family, in which unit members help take care of spouses and children who must stay behind as their loved ones deploy for weeks or months. Still, the time away can be stressful for all involved, especially when a military person deploys repeatedly or is sent to a combat zone.

As global threats emerge and evolve, the US military tries to adapt accordingly in order to maintain an appropriate “force posture.” Force posture relates to bringing on and maintaining just the right number of troops to ensure sufficient strength and readiness under the circumstances. Since circumstances are so dynamic, the number of recruits needed from year to year changes.
 
In some years, enlisted recruiters report having more interest from candidates than what the military needs (or projects it will need). For 2021, as reported by CNN, the military “struggled to attract National Guard and reserve troops but met targets for full-time recruits in 2021 fiscal year.” When military branches run short of fulfilling their annual recruitment quotas, they sometimes boost incentives such as tweaking Tuition Assistance educational benefits or offering enlistment sign-up bonuses.
 
For example, for 2022 the Army increased signing bonuses to “career-based incentives” ranging from $1,000 up to $40,000 for “jobs that need to be filled or are difficult to fill due to specific qualifications, such as radar repairers and infantry and special forces.” 

Those who serve in the military are sometimes stereotyped based on notions of what type of person would want to join in the first place. The truth is, servicemembers come from all walks of life and all sorts of backgrounds. In fact, as an entity, the US military is arguably the largest diversity employer in the country!
 
As Empire Resume notes, “there are many…innate characteristics that recruiters look for in future servicemembers. Traits like discipline, confidence, leadership skills, teamwork skills, empathy, and intellect are just as important as top physical fitness.” So, broadly speaking, there are a few generalized traits that most military personnel seem to have developed growing up. For example, when they were younger, they may have been outgoing and adventurous, or restless and always looking for new challenges.
 
Different military career fields call for different sets of ideal traits, though…and there are hundreds of different military career fields! That is why recruiters rely on interviews and ASVAB scores to help gauge suitability for particular roles.