Is the military for me?

I’ve talked to them about it and they pretty much just said that they’ll support me no matter what I choose to do. I know my dad wants me to get into the same university as my brother unless a different college offered more scholarship money.

 

GO. TO. COLLEGE. Get that degree if your parents are going to help you. AFTERWARDS, if you still want to do the military, you can go in as an officer.

If your parents are supporting you, GO TO COLLEGE FIRST. Full stop.

 

If eyeing Air Force, make sure academic math skills is top notch(engineering, you say?) not business math to take test... Good luck-

 

This definitely helps, thank you. I just wish I thought about this stuff sooner because the last couple of months I’ve been stressing out on what to do after high school.

 

It's not your fault man. You're still a kid. Even at 17 or 18, when you think you're supposed to be an adult, you're still just a kid. There's a ton of pressure on you right now to decide your entire life. That's not a decision you should have to make right now, but that's what society tells you that you need to do.

Like I mentioned earlier. If your folks will support you through college, do that. Military after college as an officer is way better than enlisting right now because you feel you have no other options.

If it helps, we all went through this shit at your age. We're all shouting at you from years of different experiences.

 

I completely understand and walked that road with my son even after 4 years of ROTC. There is no downside to getting some college under your belt first. Community Colleges are cheap and will fulfill the basic AA requirements. These will truly benefit you. This decision is like running a marathon...slow and steady wins this race...and sets you up for greater success. It also give you time to really search deep into your heart and the decision that you are making.

 

I’ve been in the Army for 12 years, feel free to DM me questions. Go sit down with a recruiter and see what’s up. I used to be one so I’ll tell you if it’s a half truth or legit.

Right now is a tough time to join because training is so backed up because of COVID; job selection is limited.

First step is getting qualified. Your ASVAB is valid for 2 years, your physical is generally 1 year but could be different due to circumstances now.

Going in the office doesn’t mean you’re joining. Just go do it and see what’s up. Have the recruiter meet you at Jimmy Johns, they get reimbursed for expenses.

 

While not military related... I will say don't ruin your life with student loan debt either. Colleges offer attractive scholarships to get you in. But sometimes it's hard to maintain that gpa or whatever the requirements are to hold onto that scholarship. Then you're stuck footing the entire bill. Or it's some weird program where credits don't transfer and you're stuck. I know a few people that dropped out/failed out/left pharmacy school after 3-4 years and they racked up over $100k in loan debt with credits that didn't really transfer anywhere. So really research that part before committing.

Big universities can be fun. You'll learn a lot about yourself, grow as person as you go in and out of romantic and platonic relationships, meet people of different backgrounds, and learn about the world in general. But those places usually aren't the cheapest. And here is a fine line of having a social life and focusing on school that you'll get wrong at first. If you fail a class (it happens) it can raise that expense burden even higher.

Don't count out getting pre-reqs done at a community college while working part time, even if it's a hobby job. You'll get a feel of college is for you without immediately drowning in loan debt.

If you do choose the military, you can study for the ASVAB and I highly suggest it. Scoring higher will only help you.

There are definitely pros and cons to whatever path you choose.

 

I have a big bitch about recruitment btw. Mind you, this was almost 20 years ago now, but here's my story.

I was a fresh college grad, and literally all I wanted to do in life was fly F-18s. Like that was my mission. Fly F-18s. I got my degree. Took my asvab, scored in the top 10%. I was 5'9, 145lbs, smart as shit, and you know what they told me? "Sorry kid, you have corrective lenses. Would you like to fly C-130's?"

Nope, I don't want to fly C-130s. I was everything the Navy wanted in a candidate for jet school, and because my eyes were literally one standard deviation off of normal they said no jets.

If the organization you're applying for is so stupid that they won't hire you for a minuscule defect, then fuck 'em. Corrective surgery wasn't an option at that time either. Still bitter about the whole thing. Fucking navy recruiters ugh.

 

Oh, please share what the D.I. says to new recruits "HEY look here you (expletive) worm, I expect a SIR, YES SIR you (expletive)..."
Don't forget the ear plugs & salve for throat for next 2 weeks

 

Yeah, I thought senior year was supposed to be a fun year but I’m hating it so far.
Thank you for all the help, I’ll try college and see how it goes.

 

Unfortunately times change regarding surgery, but the Armed Forces get to discriminate since lives are on the line at the end of the day. I’ve had to tell people they’re not qualified. People have found out they’re colorblind (at 20 years old mind you), maybe I’m desensitized, but that’s part of it.

 

I’m not a crayon eater, so nah.

 

My eyes weren't that bad. I barely even needed contacts. I would have Rah Rah Rah'd for uncle sam until my jet burst into flames over Iraq.

The fact that my eyesight was maybe, MAYBE 5% lower than a qualifying score means nothing as to what I wanted to do. I wanted to fly F-18s, I wanted to be the best F-18 pilot in the world, and I would have done anything to be that person. I can guarantee you that my corrected eyes and my desire to fly those jets would have been way, way more beneficial to the navy than to their bottom tier graduates who were just their because they had better vision. I wanted to do that job with everything in my soul.

 

mhmm. So let’s say they waived you through, and one night on mission 10 years later you are “just flying F18s.” You’re approaching the naval carrier to land after being up for the last 36 hours. You just just conducted an ISR mission for some knuckle dragger like me on the ground, and your eyes just start getting blurry. You need to land on a fucking ship in the middle of the night in a rain storm. The runway is like 300 ft and you can’t see shit all of a sudden.

You smash the multi million dollar plane through the bridge and take out petty officer rottencrouch 1, 2 and 3 and the skipper gets relieved because...officers and stuff.

All because someone wanted to waive the standards...in a job that’s dangerous enough as it is.

 

Okay, you ask for opinions. Here’s mine.

Every physically capable person should do a mandatory 2 years military service after high school.

Those unfit, physically, should do 2 years community service commensurate with physical abilities.

Obviously some have physical or mental conditions that would allow them to avoid serving. But let’s face it, handicapped folks can often do something. It’s just a matter of finding what their capabilities are.

Even if one has a religious reason not to serve in the military, civilian service in a humanitarian role would fit right in.

So my long winded answer is. Join. Regardless of what job you do you can always look yourself in the mirror and know you did your bit to protect all of the blessings this country has bestowed on you.

 

Yep. You're absolutely right. My 5% deviation on eyesight would DEFINITELY cause me to wreck a jet over the kid that graduated last in his class but had perfect sight. In a job that I literally wanted to do all my life.

Keep trying homeboy.

Seeing as you're a ground grunt, you probably don't realize that even if you're goddamned near blind, you can still line up on a runway on a carrier right? You aint hitting the tower unless you're dead at the stick.

Go clean your M4

 

If you go marines talk to me prior to signing shit. They will lie to you

 

That's literally what we've been talking about for 4 pages now lol

 

Let’s say I wanted to fly a fighter jet but I have glasses right so if I were to get lazer eye surgery would you still let me fly or no.