Daughter considering military - input please

[jennybird]

Disclaimer to mods: Not sure where to put this so please feel free to move to a more appropriate forum as you see fit.

Ok, my 18 year old daughter just graduated high school. A friend of hers signed up for an 8 year stint in the Navy and was supposed to begin next January. He screwed up royally 2 nights ago and got in trouble with the law. He has now been kicked out of the Navy before he even got started... they told him they don't want him any more.

While Jakal and I were discussing with my daughter what a dumba$$ this kid was for screwing up like he did, she started realizing the benefits, education, pride, etc. that he has now forfeited. Low and behold, my daughter actually started considering joining a branch of the military herself. Yes, she's actually giving it serious thought!

What do you guys & gals think? I can't talk to my family about this because they would automatically go into panic mode thinking she'd be shipped immediately off to Iraq, raped and murdered.

I guess what I want, is to get a feel for what you all think about the idea of an 18 year old girl signing up for the military? What branch would you recommend and why? What are some things to consider/talk to a recruiter about?

[jeremy]

This is coming from a Career Soldier in the Army.
Tell your daughter Air Force.
They live better.
The get treated better.
The get paid better.

What is your daughters interests in? There are a lot of job choices out there in the military.

[JNT0421]

Air Force is the one to join, IMO. Though Jeremy states they get paid better, they
do not. All branches of the Armed Forces use the same Pay Table, by rank and time in service. They do get treated better, they do live better. I spent 16 years in the Marine Corps and spent the last 18 months of that time, teaching for the Air Force. it's much closer to civilian life than the others.

[jennybird]

Originally Posted by jeremy

This is coming from a Career Soldier in the Army.
Tell your daughter Air Force.
They live better.
The get treated better.
The get paid better.

What is your daughters interests in? There are a lot of job choices out there in the military.

Jakal is former Army man too... and that's exactly what he told her. Thank you by the way for serving.

[jennybird]

Originally Posted by JNT0421

Air Force is the one to join, IMO. Though Jeremy states they get paid better, they
do not. All branches of the Armed Forces use the same Pay Table, by rank and time in service. They do get treated better, they do live better. I spent 16 years in the Marine Corps and spent the last 18 months of that time, teaching for the Air Force. it's much closer to civilian life than the others.

Interesting. Thanks.

Right now she's just considering it. Any thoughts on what I might be able to do/say to convince her 100%? I really think this would be good for her, but I don't want to push too hard and scare her off. You know how kids are... they have to think it's THEIR decision.

[jeremy]

Originally Posted by JNT0421

Air Force is the one to join, IMO. Though Jeremy states they get paid better, they
do not. All branches of the Armed Forces use the same Pay Table, by rank and time in service. They do get treated better, they do live better. I spent 16 years in the Marine Corps and spent the last 18 months of that time, teaching for the Air Force. it's much closer to civilian life than the others.

Same pay table. Some allowances are just paid out under different qualifiers. TDY pay, Perdium, SSHA, etc.

[jeremy]

Originally Posted by jennybird

Interesting. Thanks.

Right now she's just considering it. Any thoughts on what I might be able to do/say to convince her 100%? I really think this would be good for her, but I don't want to push too hard and scare her off. You know how kids are... they have to think it's THEIR decision.

The military is not for everyone, but it does go easier for those that choose to join. The our several websites out there I will try to track down.

Just garner the facts. Let HER make the informed choice.

On a side note every time I came home on my leaves I would sit on my little brother and smack him until he said he would not join the Army, but the Air Force. Last year he done a 10 month joint tour with an Army unit and thanked me for not letting him join the Army...

[Joe Williams]

The military was very good to me. It delivered everything it promised, but that's largely because even at 17 I was smart enough to heed the advice (just about the only advice I was smart enough to listen to) not to let them promise me much!!! READ THE CONTRACT!!! Read how long the term of enlistment actually is for Remember the folks who were suddenly not allowed out? They signed their name to that.

Tell her to pick her job, don't let the recruiter talk her into going open general. Use the recruiter to find out what jobs are available, find out what they are, and get a "guaranteed" job. Remember the read the contract part? "Guaranteed" really isn't, they still get to change it if they want or need to, but I don't know many folks that happened to. Actually I can't remember any off the top of my head, but it has been a while.

Tell her the benefits can indeed be very good. The training is topnotch, the opportunity for responsibility and authority can be unequaled in the civilian world for an 18 year old with a high school education (the Air Force is particularly good in this regard for enlisted folks), the opportunities for college are very real. You really can "see the world," and experience things that most folks can only dream of.

Perhaps the biggest perk is the people. For whatever reason, the caliber of people you will deal with simply aren't matched in the civilian world. They are just kids. When I got out at 28, I was an "old man." But, they are mission driven, on the ball, high quality people for the most part. They are only people, and they are only kids, so there are mistakes made, but she'll never work and live with better people in all her life. I've been out for almost 14 years, and still miss the people and the life.

There is a drawback, though. She CAN be sent to war, be captured, be raped, and/or be killed. She may have to kill someone personally. If she doesn't, she'll be helping to do so. She may load a bomb that kills kids, and have to do it again the next day. The military is about force, power, and killing, and she cannot go into the committment blind to that. It's not a welfare ride to see the world and go to college, those are simply the fringe benefits to a job that is hard, sometimes lonely, sometimes fatal.

If she joins, though, no matter what else she does for the rest of her life, she'll have mattered. She'll have counted. She'll have helped make history of one sort or another. I loved the military and I love that I went to war and played a tiny part in helping free Kuwait. In that, I did a good thing. I saw the evil the Iraqis did in Kuwait, and I helped stop that. I helped destroy Communism, an evil that enslaved and killed. A microscopic part, you'll never read about me or my friends in history books, but when the Berlin Wall came down, I helped that happen. If she joins, she'll face different enemies and challenges, but she'll count.

[JNT0421]

Agree with Jeremy, you ultimately have to let her make the decision, but you need to be armed with the information that she will seek.

United States Air Force - AirForce.com might be a good site to get info from

AF.mil - Home is another site you can try, though this one is geared more towards active duty members

[2ADMNLOVER]

DITTO : AIR FORCE , if she wants to join another service slap some sense into her !!!!

They get better living and working conditions and shorter basic training , FTA !!!!!

U.S.ARMY back wards = Yes My Retarded A$$ Signed Up