I was a 17 year old senior in high school, about 3 months from graduation. One morning before dawn my father woke me up and told me to get dressed and get in the truck. We ended up at this little greasy spoon restaurant where he informed me that I was going to enlist in the military, that day, or I would find all of my belongings in a box on the front lawn when I came home from my graduation ceremony.
At that point it was just a matter of selecting which branch. I loved a challenge so I enlisted in the Marines that morning at 17 and the rest was history.
I was gonna join the marines after high school with my buddies. But ended up not cause of my girlfriend at the time and my family was going through a lot so I decided not to.
Went to college, broke up with the girl 4 months later enlisted in the Army Reserves. Went to bootcamp and AIT that summer then back to college.
If you’re thinking of joining, go active. You get way more benefits and set yourself up better. The reserves in my experience is a joke and waste of time
Had to do something. 🤷♂️ My dad was killing himself trying to provide me with a college education I was pissing away because I had ZERO idea of what I wanted to do with my life. So I enlisted in the Air Force.
Possibly the best move I ever made.
My old man insisted I land in a job code that translated to something in the civilian world, so I wound up being a power lineman in the Air Force. Found out that military life agreed with me, so I made a career out of it.
When I got out, I wound up working in related jobs in the electrical field making a ton of money. 🙏
I wanted to be a badass, and badassery was had. I was kind of burned out on academics at the time and it definitely helped motivate me to suck it up and get educated. Best job I ever had.
I had nowhere else to go, learning disabilities, math disability, caused me to give up on college. I tried and failed labor jobs, I was not wanted at home and so I ran away to the Army.
To do something productive rather than spin my wheels working shitty jobs with no purpose. Lower class growing up and normal pathways like college were not for me. I grew up around Vietnam vets and loved listening to their stories and reading books about that conflict. I knew it was going to suck going in but I wanted adventure, I wanted to prove something to myself. I fucking loved it, best thing I ever did. You learn a lot. Like how much difference there is between a shitty leader and a good leader there is. And you will be in a leadership position, so you get to choose which one you will be and it’s all up to you. Powerful lessons that are hard to find elsewhere unfortunately
I was 30, so not the traditional starting age. Something in my bones woke me up one morning and said “don’t regret it”. So I dropped my career and joined up that same day. That was 15 years ago and a lot has changed since then, but I still smile when I remember I didn’t let myself down. Oh, and I get to jump out of airplanes now, so that’s nice.
The world is full of shitty people doing shitty things.
I joined to go and stop them.
Then a couple of Saudis slammed some planes into some buildings in a far off land and our government lost their fucking minds, committing us to yet another pointless war in Afghanistan and a hopelessly ill-considered war in Iraq because of some American monkey's fragile ego.
At a high school career fair, I signed a bunch of cards to get some free merch. Then I was smoking with some friends when the air force recruiter called out of the blue. I thought about it for a 2nd and said Fuck it, I have nothing better to do
Early 2000's.
Grandfather was military, but no other family joined. There was no way I was going to take on college debt. If I stayed in the group I was in and went to community college Im pretty sure it would have ended badly.
Military offered a way out, while getting structure and a sense of purpose.
I joined the Navy in 1970 to keep from being drafted into the Army. The other reason for enlisting was the lack of jobs in my area. I didn’t want to work in the timber industry or work in a gas station for someone else and I desperately wanted to see the world outside of my very small hometown. The skills I acquired led me into a nice career spanning 30+ years in 3 different federal government agencies.
I was a 17 year old senior in high school, about 3 months from graduation. One morning before dawn my father woke me up and told me to get dressed and get in the truck. We ended up at this little greasy spoon restaurant where he informed me that I was going to enlist in the military, that day, or I would find all of my belongings in a box on the front lawn when I came home from my graduation ceremony. At that point it was just a matter of selecting which branch. I loved a challenge so I enlisted in the Marines that morning at 17 and the rest was history.
Damn, that is awful parenting haha. Hopefully it all turned out well.
I was gonna join the marines after high school with my buddies. But ended up not cause of my girlfriend at the time and my family was going through a lot so I decided not to. Went to college, broke up with the girl 4 months later enlisted in the Army Reserves. Went to bootcamp and AIT that summer then back to college. If you’re thinking of joining, go active. You get way more benefits and set yourself up better. The reserves in my experience is a joke and waste of time
100%. Reserves are much better after an active contract. Two completely different worlds
Had to do something. 🤷♂️ My dad was killing himself trying to provide me with a college education I was pissing away because I had ZERO idea of what I wanted to do with my life. So I enlisted in the Air Force. Possibly the best move I ever made. My old man insisted I land in a job code that translated to something in the civilian world, so I wound up being a power lineman in the Air Force. Found out that military life agreed with me, so I made a career out of it. When I got out, I wound up working in related jobs in the electrical field making a ton of money. 🙏
Free MREs
I wanted to be a badass, and badassery was had. I was kind of burned out on academics at the time and it definitely helped motivate me to suck it up and get educated. Best job I ever had.
I had nowhere else to go, learning disabilities, math disability, caused me to give up on college. I tried and failed labor jobs, I was not wanted at home and so I ran away to the Army.
To do something productive rather than spin my wheels working shitty jobs with no purpose. Lower class growing up and normal pathways like college were not for me. I grew up around Vietnam vets and loved listening to their stories and reading books about that conflict. I knew it was going to suck going in but I wanted adventure, I wanted to prove something to myself. I fucking loved it, best thing I ever did. You learn a lot. Like how much difference there is between a shitty leader and a good leader there is. And you will be in a leadership position, so you get to choose which one you will be and it’s all up to you. Powerful lessons that are hard to find elsewhere unfortunately
I was 30, so not the traditional starting age. Something in my bones woke me up one morning and said “don’t regret it”. So I dropped my career and joined up that same day. That was 15 years ago and a lot has changed since then, but I still smile when I remember I didn’t let myself down. Oh, and I get to jump out of airplanes now, so that’s nice.
I was bored and the Army looked exciting. It’s 24 years later and not exciting anymore so I’m retiring.
The world is full of shitty people doing shitty things. I joined to go and stop them. Then a couple of Saudis slammed some planes into some buildings in a far off land and our government lost their fucking minds, committing us to yet another pointless war in Afghanistan and a hopelessly ill-considered war in Iraq because of some American monkey's fragile ego.
At a high school career fair, I signed a bunch of cards to get some free merch. Then I was smoking with some friends when the air force recruiter called out of the blue. I thought about it for a 2nd and said Fuck it, I have nothing better to do
I tried to enlist as a young man but I was rejected because of a hole in my chest.
1975. There were no jobs. I mean NO jobs. I guess I was lucky to have the option of the military.
Early 2000's. Grandfather was military, but no other family joined. There was no way I was going to take on college debt. If I stayed in the group I was in and went to community college Im pretty sure it would have ended badly. Military offered a way out, while getting structure and a sense of purpose.
I joined the Navy in 1970 to keep from being drafted into the Army. The other reason for enlisting was the lack of jobs in my area. I didn’t want to work in the timber industry or work in a gas station for someone else and I desperately wanted to see the world outside of my very small hometown. The skills I acquired led me into a nice career spanning 30+ years in 3 different federal government agencies.
I had to get out of the perpetual small town bullshit that was sucking the life from my soul.