Well, I don't know squat about the military, but I am a major proponent of going to Community College.
I went directly to a CC right outa high school and spent two years there '91-'93, and have no regrets whatsoever.
I grew up in a university town, so guess where I was expected to go? I've had better luck with employment than most of my friends with a degree, but thats another story.
I think there is a lot of honor in having a trade, and there'll always be work if you want there to be, and theres lots of money to be made in certain areas.
You'll kinda hafta follow your heart, like what exactly makes you happy? Do you want your fingernails to be clean at the end of the day, or dirty? Do you want to be a boss or a supervisor, or just be an employee? there is so much to take into account. In any case, I wish you all the luck.

Rembrant

 

If you really wanna go, then go. I mean it will toughin' you up, you'll get more respect at home, you'll have a steady job, you'll see the world. I'm debating wether or not I should join the Navy right now. I'm pretty much the same as you. All I do is work. I've been out of school for about a year now.

 

There's nothing wrong with trying the Marines for a couple years then trying something else afterwards - if you like the Marines, you can stay, or if you don't like it, then at least you will hopefully get some good experiences and gain useful knowledge along the way. You can always go to school after the Marines, and you can get funding for college. I've had a couple friends that were in the Canadian forces, and although the experience wasn't the greatest for either of them, they had experiences that were quite intense (both were peace keeping in the former Yugoslavia) and showed them a lot about life (and death). They both went back to school afterwards and got university degrees.

If you are interested in trying it, then go for it - you don't have to do it forever if it doesn't work out, but if you don't try it, you may wonder about it for the rest of your life.

 

My real goal is to work in the FBI. I have talked to a freinds dad who's an FBI agent. He gave me a couple of papers on the requirements and training envolved. Being an FBI agent is what im going to try to be so i figure i'll go to school while im in the marines, get a degree that will help my chances in getting accepted into the FBI training program. Having military background is almost nesessary for getting accepted. Thats my plan, and i hope it works!

 

Take the time to visit all of the recruiters, not just the Marines. You will find a very different way of life among the services. Especially in the quality of life department.
It will be a life altering decision, so don't take it lightly.

 

The thing is, I have a better chance of getting into the FBI if im a former Marine. The FBI hires more men from the Marines than any other branch in the military.

 

That's a bunch of bunk. You can go into any service, and if you get the right job it looks good on a resume. For example, you could join the Air Force and go into the security forces careerfield. Then you can crosstrain into the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI). With that experience, it would be an easy step into the FBI.
All of the services have a special investigations division, which is basically their equivalent of FBI.

 

Hey, all im sayin is the facts. Im sure other branches have good programs and training specificaly for the FBI. But the truth of the matter is that the FBI does in fact hire more people from the Marines. I'm really not afraid of the Marines or the training. I want to go into the Marines to become a Marine. I like doing physical work and the marines is more my pace. I don't think i would fit in to well with any other branches. All of my freinds that have gone into the millitary went into the Marines. I feel that I'm the type of person that fits into the Marine lifestyle. Nothing against any other branch but, some things are just not for everybody.

 

Alright. Good luck with whatever choice you make

 

The armed services don't prepare you for the real world, especially as far as technical prowess and engineering. I can guarantee you that. A community college can do you better and will do you better if you want it to. If you don't plan on making a career out of the military it's a waste of time. The only benefit of working for the military is you get to retire in 20 years.

I have instructors that were in the Marines, the Air Force, and one guy from the Army. They don't know jack. They don't know any real application of anything. I have an instructor that flew fighters for 6 years. He thinks the reason why the elevator oscillates is because of the control system the way that a fighter jet oscillates (inherently unstable). He doesn't know that this elevator works on relay-logic and the oscillation is due to the stretch of the cable and the cable stacking and falling on the drum.



There are only two reasons I'm aware of to join the military. One is to make a career of it. The other is that you're a ****up and can't do anything on your own so you need someone to show you how to live. Both are good reasons to join. However, if you don't make a career out of it you're going to lose 2, 4, or 6 years of your life that you'll never get back. I only know a couple people that regret ever even contemplating joining the military (because it was a waste of their time and zero percent of the training they got had practical application in the real world) but I do know quite a few that wish they'd just joined the ROTC and gone to a real school. There are also a few that think that the military was the greatest thing they could've done but they were also ****ups.

It's best that intelligent people or self-starters avoid the military. The military likes to break you down and build you up the way they want you to be. Intelligent people don't handle this well and self-starting ambitious people often come out wondering what happened to their old selves. There is a such thing as being too smart for the military.


Anyway, unless you plan on making a career of the Marines (good choice out of all the services by the way) join the ROTC and go to school somewhere. You get most of the training, most of the experiences, and they pay for your schooling.

 

Well wrath I think I have to disagree with you there. I am a Kc-10 airplane mechanic in the air force for 3 years now and I can show you more about that plane than some young guy that has been to school to work on Dc-10's it is the same aircraft just modded for hauling fuel. Plus I have way more time and experiance at 3 years than anyone going to collage for the same job. Think about it I learned hands on since I started and have done my job all around the world. I think that is alot better, and will get me farther than some school . I also have my airframe and powerplant license that ususally takes normal citizens to get in 6 or more years and I have mine in under 3. I already have a job lined up working for boeing in San Antonio texas when I seperate from the military. I would say it deffinatly gave me the edge. They would rather take me with the experiance than some guy who is book has smart who never touched the dam plane in his life.

And towards your comment about it being a waste of time, well if we don't waste our time than we would have more acts of terrorism in our country. You have alot to say for a person who has not served in the military . All I have to say is I'm glad people like you who look down upon us are happy sitting in your houses with your family every night a real comfortable when people like me sleep in dam tents in a desert somewhere to keep your ass safe. And by the way this is the real world. Why don't you get your ass up out of your chair or out from under your truck for once and go travel to the other side and see the whole world . You live with blinders on you head and only look one way. Try to open your eyes to what is really out there and not just what you think.

 

I merely said that the military isn't for everybody. I didn't say it wasn't for you. I didn't say the military is a bad thing, in fact, it's time they got their money back from the government. After a decade of budget cutting the military was falling feeble like the Canadian's military. It's time more money was spent on the military, especially in training and pay. National Guard people don't even get enough money to scrape by to raise a family on a base.

You're the one that flew off the handle half-cocked, not me. You misconstrued everything I said into something personal, which it was not. It was not an attack on the military. All I did was reply to his "what do you think" question. The military is not for everyone. I repeat, the military is not for everyone. Everything I said was true, if you don't believe me go read it again.


College makes you a well-rounded individual (if you want it to). If you were to go to a college you would be able to do complex math which would help you in the long run. You just might learn how to communicate with prowess and tact. No amount of theory is equal to a few years of actual experience, this is true. You have the upper hand when they come fresh out of school... but who has the upper hand five years down the road? Only time will tell. And who knows, you might not be an "average joe".


I'd contemplated joining the Marines when I was in high school. I took all the tests and jumped through all the hoops. I wasn't eligible for the Air Force due to craptacular eyesight and allergies. It didn't pay enough and I'm sure somewhere down the line the military pension plan is going to get hounded. I want to retire when I'm 55 and be happy. The Marines offered me a "whopping" $8,000 to sign (which is nothing as far as I'm concerned). In the long run it wouldn't benefit me. I'd lose 4 years of my life, get a little "free" training, and still have to go to school for 3 years afterwards to get a Bachelor's degree in Science because military credit (outside of soft science and general education credits) doesn't transfer. Sure, it'd be a great experience but I don't want to retire into the grave.

 

Wrath,

If you haven't served then don't bad mouth it.

 

What a witty, well thought out, well reasoned reply. So you automatically assume I'm badmouthing the services? I do believe someone was looking for the good and the bad.

You brought the ugly.

If I ever see you chide or poke fun at anything you yourself haven't experienced I'm going to say the same thing.

 

u sit there with your budweiser in one hand, and a porno from 1985 playing on your god old VCR, typing up some BULLCRAP about the military, for one, im in the national guard (yea go ahead, diss on it you freakin low life good for nothing waste of oxygen)...alright...it's ppl like me and yoat that serve and protect, YOU WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO VOTE, wouldn't be able to SAY WHAT YOU WANT (as u JUST did) WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO DRIVE THE VEHICLE YOU WANT (imagine that, you woudln't be able to drive your 1972 mazda b2200 runnin on 3 donughts and one flat tire) IF IT WASN'T FOR PPL LIKE US! u say military men are DUMB, STUPID, i garuntee u tell that to an admiral, or even a DRILL sargant, and u'd be put in jail, go ahead, say it...go diss on the ppl who fight for your right to sit there and talk crap about us, talk crap about the men and women who fight to keep the red white and blue the BEST GOD DAMNED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, but i garuntee u don't have what it takes to make it through basic traning, garuntee you don't have what it even takes to pass the damned ASVABS u fugging retard...your a waste...if it wasn't for "the retards wasting their time" you couldn't be sitting there in your rocker that you bought in 1965 and kept in the back of your volkswagon bus for 10 years....you inconsiderate ungrateful waste sperm....

 

I wouldn't bad mouth something I hadn't experienced. Your view of military people as being stupid is way off.
I've been serving for more than 12 years now, and have been shot at on more than one occasion. I've seen some of my best friends buried. Why? So people like you can sit at home, going to college, and having the right to free speach.

 

The National Guard gets [bleep] on worse than anyone.

Go read what I've said and read it with an open mind.

If all the people in the military were like you we'd be in a poor state of affair.

I mean, honestly, are you that stupid? There has got to be something

with you.

I never said that people in the services are stupid. I never said that I don't appreciate what they do. I even fly a flag WITH A LIGHT ON IT AT NIGHT to which most people don't do.

I mean, honestly, did you even think before you opened your mouth? I figured I'd get [bleep] from pieces of donkey dung like you that don't think before you act. I mean, if you read what I said I didn't say that anything was wrong with the people in the military or that joining the military was stupid for anybody. I merely said that the military isn't for everybody. If the military was for everybody then more people would join and less people would leave or be kicked out. I'd go on about the

that whine about going overseas to serve their country but that's a whole new can of worms.

Anyway, get off your

before someone raises the

.

 

Define badmouthing. Sure, I was harsh. Badmouthing is when you don't back up what you said with facts. Read what I said again and read it from someone else's point of view where it isn't your "duty" to defend it whether it's right or wrong.

I never said military people were stupid. I have instructors that have no common sense and no practical application of what they learned in the military.

I hereby repeat, the military isn't for everyone. I do believe innoi was looking for both the good and bad of joining up.

Anyway, it's nice to see you still didn't come up with a well-reasoned reply. Saying that I can't say anything about the services because I haven't been in them is like me saying to you that you can't say that fourth order differential equations are difficult until you've successfully completed a course on them. I can make observations just as well as you can. And just because I go against the grain and say the services aren't for everybody doesn't mean that you have to jump on me about it.

Anyway, it looks like this thread has been

and gone no where useful.

 

Point taken. Its not for everyone. Let's let this dead horse die. At least we can still talk about 4-wheelin!

 

god u ppl. stop reading between the lines. what he said was fine, then somone had to go read into what he was "thinking" or what "everyone thought he was thinking" without reading his posts with an open mind. he wasn't bashing the military he said it 5 or 6 times "its not for everyone". no i didn't serve, i lost a 3 yr full ride rotc scholarship cuz i hurt my knee skiing. i wish i didn't but life sucks, hey take it easy and read before u get all pissy with ur fingers.

theo/stuper

 

The armed services don't prepare you for the real world, especially as far as technical prowess and engineering. I can guarantee you that. A community college can do you better and will do you better if you want it to. If you don't plan on making a career out of the military it's a waste of time. The only benefit of working for the military is you get to retire in 20 years.

I have instructors that were in the Marines, the Air Force, and one guy from the Army. They don't know jack. They don't know any real application of anything. I have an instructor that flew fighters for 6 years. He thinks the reason why the elevator oscillates is because of the control system the way that a fighter jet oscillates (inherently unstable). He doesn't know that this elevator works on relay-logic and the oscillation is due to the stretch of the cable and the cable stacking and falling on the drum.

There are only two reasons I'm aware of to join the military. One is to make a career of it. The other is that you're a ****up and can't do anything on your own so you need someone to show you how to live. Both are good reasons to join. However, if you don't make a career out of it you're going to lose 2, 4, or 6 years of your life that you'll never get back. I only know a couple people that regret ever even contemplating joining the military (because it was a waste of their time and zero percent of the training they got had practical application in the real world) but I do know quite a few that wish they'd just joined the ROTC and gone to a real school. There are also a few that think that the military was the greatest thing they could've done but they were also ****ups.

It's best that intelligent people or self-starters avoid the military. The military likes to break you down and build you up the way they want you to be. Intelligent people don't handle this well and self-starting ambitious people often come out wondering what happened to their old selves. There is a such thing as being too smart for the military.

Anyway, unless you plan on making a career of the Marines (good choice out of all the services by the way) join the ROTC and go to school somewhere. You get most of the training, most of the experiences, and they pay for your schooling.

Okay Ihave read it 3 or more times and I do not see anywhere where it says the military isn't for everybody!

 

Now this is what gets me mad.

"wrath"
The armed services don't prepare you for the real world, especially as far as technical prowess and engineering. I can guarantee you that.


Now Wrath what excatly is the real world , Now think real smart before you answer. Because here is my opinion. Terriorism, people dying , unmerceful bastards like saddam husein who kills his own men and people, And being able to walk down your street or drive if you prefer safely without having a hi jacked airliner smash and destroy everything around you in my opinion is real world!

 

And for this comment made by you wrath .

I have instructors that were in the Marines, the Air Force, and one guy from the Army. They don't know jack. They don't know any real application of anything.


That is them don't think this is how all of it is maybe if they took there work serious they would know something!

 

oh and yet another real nice remark wich makes it seem like all of us .


There are also a few that think that the military was the greatest thing they could've done but they were also ****ups.



Boy wrath real nice words!

 

Yep and last but not least!


It's best that intelligent people or self-starters avoid the military. The military likes to break you down and build you up the way they want you to be. Intelligent people don't handle this well and self-starting ambitious people often come out wondering what happened to their old selves. There is a such thing as being too smart for the military.



Where do I start with this one. Well lets see the military breaks you down.I had a different opinion on this also go figure. I think that they make people more well rounded individuals . Here is why I think this. 1) They take overweight lazy people and teach them to quit being a waste and take control of your life and actions. 2) They take the skinny guys and make them stronger. 3) They teach everyone how to not take everything for granted. 4) They also teach you how to have faith in our country and ourselves. 5) They also teach everyone respect for higher ranks and elders. 6) They also teach you to learn how to adapt to your invironment. 7) They also teach you to try to avoid the ignorant people in this world because they are spoiled. 8) They also teach you to learn to work as a team. 9) They also teach you first aid and buddy care also cpr so you can help yourself, your dying friends, wounded friends or just anybody walking down the street who might just become victim to a stroke or heart attack. 10) And the last one i feel that is important is that they also teach you to be professional in everything that you do , weather it be in the work invironment or at home . Now if the people you know do not act like this or are complete oppisite this is because they did conform to the military standards. Which if you read all of them I don't see anything wrong with them at all. But what do I know I have only been the one serving.