Should I join the US armed forces?

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I attempted to serve in the Air Force, but ended up getting kicked out of Basic due to psychological issues. They said I had problems with basic things like social skills and attention (which surprised me, because I thought I had improved in those areas, but I guess that under the high stress of Basic the problems reemerged). During Basic, I struggled at just about everything.

I didn't receive a discharge, though, because I had only been in 6 weeks (including the 2 weeks at TRS 319). Instead, I received an entry-level separation that was uncharacterized.

Are some of you guys really giving Sweetleaf a hard time because she realized the military wasn't the best choice for her and declined trying it?

Not at all. If someone realises it's not for them then I have no issue because it is not for everyone. Better she realised that BEFORE taking the oath going to basic only to get booted out like one other person I could mention. The issue we're having with the naysayers in this thread in general (not just Sweetleaf) is that they have nothing to base their advice on.

No, I'm giving everybody a hard time if they claim to know all about military life without ever experiencing it for themselves.

What people choose for themselves is their right - some people just aren't cut out for military service, after all. It's the reasons behind the choice that are being brought into question.

As for Sweetleaf, after reading her posts, it seems to me that the recruiters themselves would be inclined to discourage her from service. She does seem to have a few issues that would likely clash with the military lifestyle, and those issues are not something that I would criticize.

...Are you speaking of being a military combat specifically or aveteran , nojnm-combat ?
It seems unclear here .
Whether an enisted military person becomes a cobat veteran , even if he/she is in during wartime , is rather not their decision , essentially , I believe .

I never claimed I was nor tried to imply I was speaking from any first hand experience, I have been perfectly open about what my perspective is based upon, the OP is free to take it or leave it. Clearly you'd have better information as to how it is to actually experience military life....But lets see the cons I listed are it does come with more danger than many other jobs, is a much more serious obligation than say getting a part time position if that's not true than fine you win.

First hand experience isn't the only valid input when it comes to topics one can access information upon and learn about...period.

I never claimed to have first hand experience, you can read back...I was clear I based my perspective on talking to people who have served, reading up as well as talking to recruters a few years back. Lol so what I am posing as a person who thought about the military and decided against it? Because that is all I have claimed to be in this thread....never said I was an expert or have any first hand experience to speak from.

i prefer to think for myself rather than take orders. i've always had jobs with some autonomy. no military for me.

No, you are not a poseur for deciding to not join the military after talking to people. As I've said, you've expressed some personal issues that would likely inspire a recruiter to talk you out of trying to enlist anyway.

What causes one to earn the 'poseur' label in this case would be someone who claims to know what it is like to be in the military only because that person has had conversations with a military veteran.

I mean, look at it this way: I have a mother, sisters, and female cousins. I have also been married twice. Does this mean that I know what it is like to be a woman? Not at all. In fact, the more women I know, the less it seems that I know about women!

I would say 'yes' if you can get the right deal.

-$30,000 signing bonus
-$50,000 college GI Bill
-optimal job opportunity
-perhaps European station

The military gives you perks. If you leave as honorable, then all your life you will be a recognized person. That will go on you resume all your life. Federal employers will have to give you preference over non-veterans.

I work for a federal agency and about two years ago, we received an email that the president was strongly pushing for hiring of veterans to federal agencies. We were told to let veterans know.

Another consideration is to join the National Guard/Military Reserves and federal employment, and you can "double dip" somewhat in your perks. For example, a federal employer has to pay your full pay while your are on leave for your annual two week Guard/Reserve training. That is two paychecks for those two weeks.

Also, you can get both military and federal pensions, or your can transfer your military years to federal service. I know of people with 20+ years of military service - enough to qualify for the military pension - yet they instead transfered those 20 years to the federal service for a much higher pension.

I would say ... join the military if you can get a good deal from them

I am high functioning though, and was developmentally delayed so it was easy for me to take orders from others. They said I was "lost in the sauce" which meant they could tell their was something wrong with me mentally, but it never became an issue.

If you're going to be all reductionist about it, for some other people joining ISIS might be 'their right'.

That something seems to be objectively good for us, if even only on an individual basis doesn't make it the right thing to do. Yeah, theres a reasonable possibility that you wont be put in harms way or be handed a gun and told to kill others but regardless you will be helping to facilitate these deeds to a greater or lesser degree regardless of what capacity you serve in.

I can't bring myself advocate someone joining the payroll of the industrial military complex in such a direct capacity on principal. Regardless of whether its in their personal interests or not. Obviously thats not a factor to some people here because their politics creates a bias for them.

If everyone the world over stopped enlisting the entire institution of war would grind to a halt. I think its up to citizens in developed countries to lead by example. Call that hippy leftie peacenik claptrap all you want, but it remains an inescapable truthism.

Last edited by thomas81 on 09 Feb 2015, 10:14 pm, edited 3 times in total.

I see the Entitlement Brigade has chimed in again ...

Not sure what thats supposed to mean.

We need soldiers, and we should all appreciate their sacrifice, but it's a little bit odd, is it not, that a demographic that is singularly ill fitted to becoming soldiers, seems to have so many of them. This supercharges my paranoia about this PPR forum. In my view it's not right to encourage people with social deficits to talk about things which might cause them trouble down the line; encouraging them to throw around opinions about groups of people that they have never met personally and only know about superficially through suspect media pronouncements. It's garbage.

Denigrating groups just makes it more difficult to have good relations with them in the future. Yet, people here are always encouraging it, for god knows what reason. I have a christian background, myself, but I would have gotten nowhere in life if I had viewed people of other faiths as deficient, and verbally attacked them all the time.

Last edited by Nebogipfel on 09 Feb 2015, 10:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I've only glossed over most of the posts, but I couldn't find one which asked....

OP: Which military service were you considering? Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Nat Guard, etc etc?

From what I gather, the services in the US are similar to the services in Australia, in that each has a different culture. Sure, there's the general military culture, but the differences may be important. For example, I hear that Marines are hard heads, whereas Airforce are more like old English gentlemen. (Exaggerations I'm sure.)

Also to consider, environment. I would have liked the Navy, but I'm not sure my claustrophobia would have helped.

When I was young, I was a Christian pacifist, so I didn't consider the military. But looking back, the Air Force would have been good and would have helped me in the ways you've described. If I couldn't do that, then the Navy would be a second choice. But any sort of ground force would not have interested me at all, so no army.

And after service, an airline or the Coast Guard would be great options.

If I had my time over, probably working as a LAME (aircraft mechanic) would be a good career.

We need soldiers in a similar capacity that we need mafia mobsters to protect us from other mafia mobsters.

Militaries are all part of the facade and divide and rule that is international borders.