My 19 year old son decided against college. Worked for a year. Intelligent, not BA/BS material(at this point anyway), but not dumb either. Needs some maturity.
Just this last week he decided(I think because a friend is going into the Marines) that he will join the military. He has talked to Army recruiters, and now Marine recruiter. He hasn’t signed anything yet(as far as I know). He is leaning towards the Marines.
His mother and I are of course fearful for him being sent to Iraq.
Can anyone give me some informed opinions of what is likely to happen to him if he joins the Marines in the next few months? At least, based upon your personal family or friend experiences?
He’ll get sent to Iraq. I have a friend whose son joined the Marines to be in the Marine band. He got sent to Iraq. (Not a big sample size, but that’all I’ve got.)
My arguments about your son joining or not joining are about the Bush administration, so since this is not GD or the Pit, I won’t raise them here. Good luck with whatever decision your son reaches. I hope he remains out of harm’s way.
My little brother joined the Marines under similar circumstances. It was the best thing he ever did and the whole family is convinced that it saved him for good. He got skills and self-respect and got forced out of the narrow geographic and mental world he likely would never have gotten out of otherwise. He got married while he was in the Marines and I have never seen someone so happy to be in full Marine dress (he insisted on that as his wedding attire). Now he is living the picture perfect American dream with house, wife, kids, and job. It would not have happened that way otherwise.
Even though Iraq is still going on, the death rate is still really low for soldiers. My wife’s nephew didn’t take my Marine advise because his father is a pus and was scared that he would get killed. He stayed at home and then got mixed up with hard drugs and crime that he is still trying to battle. His chances in Iraq would be way, way better than that.
Is the marines the best service to join for gaining valuable life skills?
Anyway if he can answer the question “Why do you want to join xxxxxx?” with an inteligent well thought out answer, then I can think of no reason to put someone off making such a choice. But joining “Because a friend joined” is not such an answer.
He will go through the worst experience of his life (Basic Training), and then, he will go through a worse one (War).
He runs a serious risk of being injured, or crippled for life, out of combat, during Training. After all, he will be around people using weapons & explosives who don’t yet know how to use weapons & explosives, his fellow recruits.
Everybody & his dog will have a license to run his life, & to dog his @ss.
He will be obliged to kill people that he has no personal quarrel with, some of them innocent of any wrongdoing; they merely being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
If he doesn’t like it, he can’t quit. If he tries to quit anyway, they shoot him as a deserter.
If he joins, & something goes wrong, absolutely nobody can help him, not even you.
Suggest that he take a trip to Alaska for a year. He could get a job in the oilfields. That pays well, & is quite manly.
Exactly. Fllowing a friend is not a good reason. If he can give good reasons, try steering him towards the Navy or Air Force. Both give excellent training in real world areas.
I have former students in every branch of the military, and those in the Navy/Air Force have been the ones who seemed to get the most from the experience. This data excludes two of my more…interesting students, who joined the Army and were on the first Bradleys to roll into Baghdad. They just like blowing things up.
I was in Air Force ROTC in college before I moved on to other things but it wasn’t because I didn’t like it. The Air Force is pretty cushy as far as the military goes and the chance of death should be low as well. The regular Navy is another option and he probably wouldn’t be sent to Iraq on land.
I can never recommend anybody joining the armed forces, because their lives will be risked not just to defend our country, but also (and likely more often) to defend the political whims of our leadership. And that’s not a Bush bashing; even if you agree with Bush’s decisions to use force, does not mean you will agree with whoever is president after Bush, if your service extends beyond Bush’s term.
And no, I have not reconciled this with the indisputable fact that we need armed forces to defend our country.
If he does join, make sure he gets everything in writing from his recruiter. They will make promises they won’t or can’t keep. They will tell him “Oh yeah, you’ll be in working in an air-conditioned office making phone calls, nowhere near the front” when in reality they mean “You will immediately be sent out to the front.” Unless you have something in writing, nothing the recruiter says can be counted on- your assignment, your likelihood of being in combat, anything…
Most I can offer is to ask him to be sure he shops all 5 services before committing. Who knows, he may find something he likes elsewhere – but that may then involve going out to sea in the middle of a monster storm to try to assist a tanker of toxic chemicals, there’s always a catch. With Army and Marines the concern about being sent to the middle of the hot zone is very real, there’s no way out of that in the short term, specially as they do need to provide some relief to the forces already long-deployed. Whichever he joins, do make sure he gets in writing exactly what job he will be trained for; even though he is subject to having to do patrols or secure perimeters if so ordered regardless of his official job, at least during tech MOS school his main risk will be training accidents.
(Will someone clear a doubt I have, if he could he be deployed as a straight leg grunt immediately after Basic and then later sent to technical training? Somehow ISTR reading or hearing this but am not sure if I did)
There are better ways to gain maturity than the military. Joining the USMC because your numb-nuts friend did isn’t a good way to do it.
Don’t ask him if he’s afraid to die. Kids his age never are. Instead, take him on a visit to a VA hospital and have him visit with the guys there who are permanently fucked up. Ask him how he feels about being blind. Ask him how he feels about losing his legs and/or genitals. Ask him how he feels about getting burnt and spending the rest of his life looking like Freddy Kreuger.
The military views their personnel as a consumable and replaceable resource. It won’t matter to them if he’s killed or maimed other than how long it will take them to fill his slot with another body. Tell him to get a job mining coal. It’s macho, dangerous, pays better than the military, and when he smartens up he can quit.
Thanks for the responses so far. I do NOT think he’s only joining because of his friend. I think that’s why he’s doing it at this time.
No, he’s not talked ot any branch other than the Army/Marines. I’m looking for a number for an old friend of mine who is still, probably, a Navy recruiter and will give him the straight dope.
He does have this young guy macho problem. Hard to overcome.
I was raised in a family of Marines, my father was a Marine DI. (I’m the black sheep in the family, because I’m a Soldier.) Everyone here has good points to tell your son, even though they may not be 100% accurate. (e.g., Your son will get sent to Iraq. Not true. There are far more Marines not in Iraq, than there are in Iraq.)
If he does join the Corps, strongly encourage him to get a contract for Sea Duty or Embassy Guard duty–both relatively safe (depending on the embassy, of course) and fairly prestigeous duty for enlisted Marines.
This is complete bullshit. In fact, he’ll make way more in the Marines at that age than he would at almost any other entry level job that teenagers get. Burger King doesn’t even come close. I have not been in long, nor am I high ranking, but I will make 49,000 this year. That’s FAR from poverty level. And definitely NOT less than minimum wage. If I was sent to combat, that amount would be even HIGHER. Your claim is misleading and is probably calculating a 24 hour work day. Just because you’re always in the military, doesn’t mean you spend the entire time working! And we haven’t even mentioned the FOUR weeks of paid vacation every year. Plus free healthcare and dental, and a Thrift Savings Plan. Please, please show me a job that a person can get out of highschool that offers all that???
Some people consider Basic to be one of the best times in their life. As far as war, I know people who could list dozens of places they would rather NOT be than in Iraq.
Sure. And he could also die of a car accident. Imagine that.
Not true. The only “explosives” he’ll ever use at Basic is a grenade. And that’s the most structured, monitored and supervised throwing of anything he’ll ever toss in his life. People in the military are not all “explosives” specialists. Depending on his job, he may never see another explosion again.
If by this you mean “People with more time, experience and in a higher rank and position than him”, then I guess you’re right… So I guess you dont have bosses where you work? I bet as a teenager he could get a job right now without having to listen to anyone. :rolleyes:
Possibly. Not likely.
What the fuck ever. Now you’re just making shit up. When was the last time the US Military did anything even close to this. I hope you’re joking!
If my info is still correct, I believe the Marines can/will not guaruntee a job. They can only give you a contract that says you will receive training in a specific job. But your actual job is ultimately “needs of the corps”. This was always a big selling point for the Army. They would say “I can gauruntee your job!”
Whatever branch of service he decides on, it may be the best thing for him at this stage of his life. One of my cousins, a very bright young man, flunked out of college his first year because he just wasn’t motivated. He ended up joining the Army. (Mostly to get away from home, I think.) He got training in computers and ended up in quite a high security job. When he got out of the service, the security clearances he had enabled him to form a company which does computer work for the government, and he’s making a killing.
I agree with the “get it in writing” about the recruiter - I heard some real horror stories while my husband was in the Army.
And definitely shop all branches of the service - one may have some training to offer that is right for him.
