between a rock and a hard place

so i am in a bit of a predicament. i am currently a sophmore in college and i have no motivation to continue my education. i have been kicking around the idea of joining the military for a while and i feel like this is a good option for me right now. i don't know which branch to join and i am hoping that ya'll can help me pick something that will work for me. i do plan on going back and getting a degree though. what branch do you think is the best? which one has the best benefits? what do i need to know before i commit? thanks everyone in advance for your input.

 

Navy, better food

 

Not enough background about your wants in life. What plans for your future employment/career. All branches have plus and minuses. How fit are you? Are you really ready to commit? Think about it all. Be serious about it.

 

Air Force. Better everything & training that is more useful as a civvy.

 

see that's the thing i have absolutely no idea what i want to do as far as future employment/career. i am pretty athletic i mean i lettered in football, basketball, and baseball in high school and i have somewhat maintained my fitness lol

 

Honestly before anyone can really help you with advice, you need to somewhat have a general idea of what you want to do and where you want to go. Also, as far as benefits go, all branches are somewhat the same as we all fall under DOD rules. However, there are differences in quality of life and IMO the Air Force leads the way. Our deployment rotations tend to be shorter, base facilities are usually pretty good, deployed locations are usually more established with hard facilities and such. I could go on and on all day. I will say that in the 11.5 years I've been in the Air Force, I have had some awesome experiences and have gotten more out of it than I could've possibly imagined as an 18 year old coming into it. Looking back I wouldn't change anything. In case you were wondering, I'm an aircraft electrical/environmental systems specialist and I love working on aircraft even though they sometimes can be a royal pain in the a$$. It is this reason that I get to go on some sweet and not so sweet tdy's but gotta take the good with the bad. Anyways, enough of my ranting. I would look at all of the services websites and just scroll through the types of jobs and make notes of what interests you then go and speak with the recruiter. Any branch of the military can make a great life/career for you and good luck with your future decision.

 

OP, asking "which branch is the best" is like asking "what color tacoma is best?" or "What model tacoma is best?" Everyone will tell you what they have is best because theyre bias towards that branch.....otherwise they would not have joined what they did.

do some thinking into what you want to do, if you want to turn it into a career, if you want to do your time then be a civilian again, what interests match what jobs etc.

nobody can give you all the answers at once

 

Complete school and go in with a degree?

 

Finish college, then join the military so you have something after you get out of the military

 

Finish school... the military option will still be there, once you're in the military your j.o.b is your priority education is an after thought. Research look at AFSC- MOS etc look at their deployment rate and durations. Quality of life was a big factor in my decision, to each his own.

 

this is the way to do it. I was going to go in as an officer but lost a bunch of my hearing in my right ear, i was going to go into the Air Force. My degree is Physics, and i was like a rare metal to them. They tried everything to get me in, every loop hole.

 

OP, sorry to hear about your predicament. I was in the same boat. I started in Dental School and then after 6 months realized that I did not want to look at people's mouths for the rest of my life. I did not know what else I wanted to do, so I joined the Army. (In South Africa we had to do one year mandatory either after high school or after college, so I had to get it out of the way anyway). That one year gave me enough time to think about it, so I went back to Engineering School a year later and I am very glad I did that.
However, I don't think you can join here for only a year. So, you have to make sure that you are ready for the commitment. After a few years in the military you might not feel like going back to school because you might have too many other commitments at that time - family, house etc. So, make sure that you do not quit school and never go back. If you can find something where the military will pay for your education, that would be a great option, but there are commitments to that also, and it will limit your options, but something to think about.

The toughest decision of all is to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life. The sooner you can get the college stuff out of the way, the better, but it does not help if you don't know which direction to go. To help with this, I would suggest going to your school's counselors - they should be able to help you out with some kind of aptitude test to determine what your interests and abilities are. Maybe you can get at least a direction - sciences, arts, finance etc... From there go visit friends who are working. We have students in our office from time to time to just shaddow for a few days to see what engineering is all about. That's what helped me out. I spent time with an engineer in his office and on a construction site for a few days and I was hooked. Others will prefer financial, arts, etc. There are many cool jobs out there, but unfortunately I don't think high schools offer enough exposure and career education. I don't know if you have seen the movie Dolphin's Tale - I met the guy who made the dolphin's tail last week - even that seems to be a very interesting job (orthopedic technician), but I never even knew it existed.

Sorry, this is getting long, but bottom line is to first determine what your interest and abilities are, and then take it from there. I have compassion because I was there also.

Good Luck.

 

Once you graduate college and look back on your life you will realize what a small portion of your life (time wise) college is compared to the impact it has on your quality of life later and the opportunities it will open for you. I graduated college back in '08 and almost 4 years later I look back and realize how short of an amount of time it was. Were there times I was bored with it? Sure, but I stuck it out and finished.

If you really want to join the military, suck it up and finish college first, then join. I have a lot of friends who did that. I also have a lot of friends who joined the military out of high school and attended college after and wished they had gone to school first. Now they are 26-27 years old having to attend classes with 19-20 year old "kids". That's a huge maturity gap and can be frustrating.

 

X2. I've been in the Marine Corps for a little over 7 years. If you really want to join any brach of service, going officer is the best way. You'll regret it if you drop out and join enlisted. I voted for Marine Corps, but any brach will give you good benefits.