I want to join the military. My friend says that's throwing my life away. Help?

Your friend definitely doesn't know what he's talking about.

Being in the military, I've been to more countries than I imagined I would be.

So far it has been fun, yes you don't get to have a lot of friends, but the people you meet in the military would be one of the best people you'd ever meet. And probably the best friends you would have.

Would your friends right now be ready to protect and die for you?

If you were in the military, the people around you are ready to fight right next to you even if they just met you for a couple of hours.

If they see you outside the base and you are in trouble, and they recognize you as one of them. they'll go out their way to help you.

The military is like one big family, the people you meet right now, you know that you would see them again one of these days in another base.

Your friend doesn't even know all the experience you will have in the military,

I know of seventeen year old boys barely out of puberty joining the military. After basic you won't even recognize them. they have that certain look, that tells you that they are different, that they have grown a lot.

I don't go home, because I have too much fun overseas, I have a wife and she's perfectly fine with us being away from the family for long periods of time, because it's just really fun to be somewhere new.

Your life would never be boring, you'd always have something new to see or something new to do.

When i go on leave I get paid. I never have to worry about not getting a pay check or worrying about food to put on the table. You don't have to worry about any medical bills or dental bills. You won't have to worry about your wife being pregnant because the military would take care of both of you.

If you get a regular job, you get to have friends that won't fight for you, you'll have to worry about the bills or if you still have a job tomorrow.

The military is just like a regular job. Except you get a lot more benefits. And you get a lot more fun.

Come on, who wants to work in the office all their life, why not have your office out in the field?

How often and why do you come home? (i.e. why are you sent home?)

How often and why do you leave home? (i.e. why are you sent to wherever?)

If you're home, are you getting paid?

These have already been answered. And it's obvious who's in or have been in and loves it or loved it. Who dislikes the military who's in, got out, or who avoided it like the plague.

Seeing that I know that I'm not bias, because I can see the good and bad, it really comes down to information, your philosophies and lifestyle.

In a sense, your friend is right. You are throwing your life away. Not for good, but for a while depending on the kind of person you are. What you have to understand is that the Army has a mold, and some folks don't fit it, or it doesn't suit them.

I have dated a lot of people, never been a problem like any other job. But I know that if I get married or have kids, I wouldn't want to put them through it. It's not fair to them. People always get this romantic idea about service and country, but when they both screw you, don't need you anymore, or feel that you're a problem, they don't care about you and that's it. Maybe even give you a hard time. If you're like me, loyalty goes to people that deserve it, not who demand and expect it. I think family, friends, religion or personal philosophies will always come first before any law of any society or organization.

Sometimes you have to wear a mask in the military. Do things you might not be proud of. Do things you don't believe in, but if you do things your way it can make your life very hard even miserable. Some call it discipline, I call it eating **** and grinning.

You lose a lot of rights. In fact, being in the military could be considered on some standards as not being American and keeping in the spirit of what it means to be American. Oh no, he's not American. Doesn't deserve to wear the uniform. Being a martyr is ego masturbation. The flags, their ribbon stickers. Always want the party and never showing up for it. I am so proud of my kids. My child was student of the month at so and so. And nobody sits down, really looks at things and ever thinks about it. The big picture. Step two and done. It must be Occam's razor, right? It's all BS.

So concerned about petty stuff and not looking at what's worth more than it's weight in gold. Maybe that's why they do what they do. Maybe that's why they don't do it at all. Regardless, we're all confused and there's really no right answer, just what works for you. What does it mean to serve your country? And is it really worth it what you're doing? Or are all sides feeding you more propaganda for their ulterior motives? Everybody seems like a communist. Is communism even that bad? Leviathan talked about life being short and brutish. I guess it's because most of us are idiots. Sounds like mass punishment to me.

If you're going to debate with your friend, I would look into everything a lot more. Three people see something, all at different angles, it changes the story. Might even right him off as a schmuck and leave each other to respective devices. Does it even really matter or can something be learned here?

Respect everybody's right to opinion. There's no real right or wrong answer. Just indisputable facts and even those get you so far. There's no good guy or bad guy, it's just you and me and we just disagree. As long as your heart is in the right place only time will tell if you were wrong or right, or we just might never know. And sometimes, it doesn't even matter. Learn as much as you can.

Your friend seems like the type that has read a book or two and think they know all about a topic. Those are the same people that get people killed in and out of the military.

Never home: I've just returned from a year-long deployment in Afghanistan. I'm leaving (by my choice) in six months to my next overseas assignment in Egypt for another year. Again, this was my choice because I wanted to travel to other countries. I've been to Japan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Hawaii, Bahrain, Australia, Singapore, & Korea. Your friend sounds like someone who doesn't know what's beyond the city limits.

Home is relative. Are you referring to your hometown? Or home base? If you can find a base near your hometown that may answer your question as far as staying in the area. You also have 30 days of leave in where you can go wherever you want. Home, Disneyland, or another country.

Whether you're stateside or overseas, you're getting paid. Period. It may not be as much as a civilian counterpart, but you get a lot more benefits that they have to pay for such as medical and dental.

NOTE: I'm not a recruiter and I don't play one on TV. I'm responding because friends sometimes think they know what the military is all about and haven't even been to MEPS. If you want t get more TRUE info about the military, ask the local recruiters from all branches or talk to the local VFW/American Legion. Those are veteran organizations that can the real deal answers that I'm sure you want to hear.

Hope this helps

Well, first, you don't simply become a member of as a Marine Corps Officer. You ought to first move to university and both move via Naval Rotc with the Marine Corps choice or move via the platoon leaders path. If you simply enlist proper out of top college, you are going to no longer be an officer. There isn't any trouble with going enlisted first however there's a giant change in pay and in how you're handled. If you do move enlisted, it might be a clever concept to hold the amount of cash that you just ought to your self. There isn't any such factor as a wealthy Marine or a deficient Marine. All Marines are Marines first. In addition, you are going to ought to are living within the barracks regardless of what quantity of money you have got. You will ought to blank the toilets (latrine or head) without reference to how so much you have got. You ought to appreciate that you're no longer gracing the Marine Corps by way of becoming a member of despite the fact that you're wealthy. Good good fortune. Ok if you're going to college first, observe for Naval ROTC. You can truthfully be a midshipman for two years earlier than you signal a agreement that commits you to carrier. This will supply your mother a while to get use to the concept and he or she will probably be capable to look how you're informed and what your ambitions are.

The army is something you have to make the decision to join no one can make it for you. A lot of my friends said I would throw my life away but it’s a good life. You make a lot of friends in your units and training and a lot of people in the Army are married but it is hard on a marriage since you are gone a lot.

Every year you have up to 30 days to take off to see your family the Army doesn’t force you to take leave but they recommend it. Its paid time off work except you have what is called block leave were it’s a time period were anyone in the unit can take leave to go home usually summer, holiday season, and right before/ during/ after deployments. The cool thing is if you don’t use all 30 days they transfer over to the following year.

No way your friend is stupid. Joining the military is probably one of the best things you can do. Better pay right now than most anything in the civilian world right now. Soooooo many benefits. If u decide to get out after 4 years u get preference in jobs in the civilian world. Just don't join the army if u don't want to get deployed for a year. Go air force best quality of life! Not nearly as long of deployments.

You don't have to be in the military for your whole life...you can enlist for 3+ years...the choice is yours.

You get 2.5 days of paid vacation per month, which means you get 30 days off each year. You keep accumulating paid vacation time until you have 75 days, which is the max. The vacation is paid, but you can't usually take it in chunks longer than 10 days. You also can't go on vacation when you're deployed.

When you're in the military, you don't stay at home. You will be staying in military housing or a barracks. It will probably be thousands of miles, or at least hundreds of miles, from your home. Don't expect to spend much time at home while you're on active duty.

I am in the Army reserves. If anything it has made me a much better and responsible person. You can get married, in matter of fact I met my husband at basic training and we have the same MOS (job), you make friends in basic and AIT. With the army reserves they will find a unit close to your home. You go to drill one weekend a month, get paid for that weekend, depending on your rank depends on your pay. The rest of the month you do your civilian duties, such as working, school, family. I dont know what your friend is talking about. Oh, and with the reserves, you only get deployed if needed. my unit is quite small because we are part of a detatchment and the rest of them are overseas but some of us are being deployed to haiti...my husband being one of them. But, think about it. It's actually not that bad. good luck

the military is not throwing your life away if anything it is helping you later in life i mean the pay is decent they pay for your school and you get leaves to go see your family and if you serve your twenty years you get a really nice pension and people and companies are always hiring soldiers that have honorable discharge its a really smart move

so don't go in as a career soldier, go in for 4 yrs, get your college paid for and go on your marry way. You really think your friend knows what outside your city limits?