Introduction to Military Careers

About This Course

Do you really understand how the military works or what it can do for you? The military offers far more career diversity than most people imagine. You will learn about the five military branches – Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines Corps, and Navy – and examine which jobs you might like to pursue. From aviation to medicine, to law enforcement, the military can be an outstanding place to achieve your dreams in a supportive and well-structured environment. You may have dreams of accomplishing an epic flyby as the best of the best naval aviators; becoming an elite member of a Special Forces unit so you can take down the world’s most dangerous terrorists; or becoming the first person to walk on Mars successfully. The military is certainly a place to fulfill these dreams. In this course, you will explore the 12 service branches of the United States military. Prerequisites:  None

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to...

• Identify the unique mission of each branch of the U.S. military
• Demonstrate understanding of the basic history of each branch, including some of its major successes
• Explain how the military fits within the U.S. government
• Discuss the requirements for active duty and part-time duty military service and
• Demonstrate understanding of the differences
• Demonstrate understanding of the two different career paths that military personnel can take in aviation
• Identify and describe the responsibilities of each type of aviator
• Describe the four types of aviation support career paths
• Demonstrate understanding of the relationship between aviators and aviation support careers
• Identify the differences between logistics, supply, and transportation careers
• Demonstrate understanding of the role of logistics to the success of military campaigns
• Discuss how logistics, supply, and transportation work together to aid soldiers and missions
• Recognize how logistics and supply careers affect every part of a soldier’s life
• Describe the career tracks available in military law
• Demonstrate understanding of how the military legal environment differs from the civilian one
• Identify some of the types of law that military lawyers practice on a regular basis
• Recognize how all of the career tracks fit together
• Identify the different types of combat operations careers available in the military
• Demonstrate understanding of the differences between the types of jobs
• Explain why the Marines have a different combat readiness program
• Discuss the training differences between special operations combat soldiers and more traditional combat careers
• Identify the skills necessary to be a part of the information technology division of the military
• Discuss how signal specialists maintain communication throughout the military and why their roles are essential
• Demonstrate understanding of what people with military intelligence careers do
• Describe the role of civil engineers in the military
• Demonstrate understanding of the role of business administration and human resources careers in the military
• Explain how public affairs careers help shape the way that the public understands the military
• Describe how military music careers work and the opportunities that come with them
• Identify how a chaplain helps soldiers and military families
• Discuss how culinary services support the lives of military personnel
• Identify the three types of medical careers the military offers
• Describe the responsibilities of military-specific medical fields
• Demonstrate understanding of how the different medical careers work together to serve soldiers
• Discuss the diversity of skills and interests that military medical careers attract

Course Outline:

Unit 1:Welcome to the Military

Unit 2: Military Aviation Careers

Unit 3: Logistics, Supply, & Transportation Careers in the Military

Unit 4: Law & Order in a Uniform

Unit 5: Boots on the Ground: Combat Operations Careers

Unit 6: Military Brains: Technology, Engineering, Intelligence

Unit 7: Military Behind the Scenes

Unit 8: Private Practice or General Practice?: Military Medical Services

Resources Included: Online lesson instruction and activities, opportunities to engage with a certified, online instructor and classmates, when appropriate, and online assessments to measure student performance of course objectives and readiness for subsequent academic pursuits.

Additional Costs: None

Scoring System: Michigan Virtual does not assign letter grades, grant credit for courses, nor issue diplomas. A final score out of total points earned will be submitted to your school mentor for conversion to their own letter grading system.

Time Commitment: Semester sessions are 18-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1 or more hours per day in the course to be successful. Summer sessions are 10 weeks long: Students must be able to spend a minimum of 2 or more hours per day, or about 90 hours during the summer, for the student to be successful in any course. Trimester sessions are 12-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1.5 or more hours per day in the course to be successful.

Technology Requirements: Students will require a computer device with headphones, a microphone, webcam, up-to-date Chrome Web Browser, and access to YouTube.

Ensure that your school or district network and device administrator establishes network access permissions or exceptions for online resources relevant to the course in which you are choosing to enroll. Ref., Michigan Virtual Course Allow List

Please review the Michigan Virtual Technology Requirements.

Instructor Support System: For technical issues within your course, contact the Customer Care Center by email at CustomerCare@michiganvirtual.org or by phone at (888) 889-2840.

Instructor Contact Expectations: Students can use email or the private message system within the Student Learning Portal to access highly qualified teachers when they need instructor assistance. Students will also receive feedback on their work inside the learning management system. The Instructor Info area of their course may describe additional communication options.

Academic Support Available: In addition to access to a highly qualified, Michigan certified teacher, students have access to academic videos and outside resources verified by Michigan Virtual. For technical issues within the course, students can contact the Michigan Virtual Customer Care by email at customercare@michiganvirtual.org or by phone at (888) 889-2840.

Required Assessment: Online assessments consist of formative and summative assessments represented by computer-graded multiple choice, instructor-graded writing assignments including hands-on projects, model building, discussion-based assessments (one-on-one conversations with your teacher), and other forms of authentic assessments.

Technical Skills Needed: Basic technology skills necessary to locate and share information and files as well as interact with others in a Learning Management System (LMS), include the ability to:

• Download, edit, save, convert, and upload files
• Download and install software
• Use a messaging service similar to email
• Communicate with others in online discussion or message boards, following basic rules of netiquette
• Open attachments shared in messages
• Create, save, and submit files in commonly used word processing program formats and as a PDF
• Edit file share settings in cloud-based applications, such as Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides
• Save a file as a .pdf
• Copy and paste and format text using your mouse, keyboard, or an html editor’s toolbar menu
• Insert images or links into a file or html editor
• Search for information within a document using Ctrl+F or Command+F keyboard shortcuts
• Work in multiple browser windows and tabs simultaneously
• Activate a microphone or webcam on your device, and record and upload or link audio and/or video files
• Use presentation and graphics programs
• Follow an online pacing guide or calendar of due dates
• Use spell-check, citation editors, and tools commonly provided in word processing tool menus
• Create and maintain usernames and passwords

Additional Information: None