# The military. Did you join? Why or why not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 29, 2024, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-military-did-you-join-why-or-why-not/1002246 "2024-05-29T21:59:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 93
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2024, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-military-did-you-join-why-or-why-not/1002246/93 "2024-06-02T15:29:15Z")
Told my boot camp experience in another thread [here](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hijinks-and-horrors-of-boot-camp/1002277/5). Found it rather easy. I joined under the nuke program but never had an eye exam as someone above stated. While attending Electronic Technician A school at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, I was one of about 1000 that was excused from the nuke program due to the back log at the nuke training center. After A school I was sent to NAS Whidbey Island which was only 75 miles from my home. The division I was assigned to was 30 military and 30 civilians. It was more like a civilian job except for having duty every 6 days. From there I was sent to San Diego for my last 18 months in Navy. I was assigned to the USS Sperry, a submarine tender. The only time I went to sea was a 22 day cruise to Matzalan and Acapulco. The highlight was the day I was the officer of the day as an E-3 Seaman. Got to eat in the officer’s mess and sleep in the OOD quarters. Had a grizzled Chief Petty Officer as my junior OOD, I let him make the few important decisions. I consider my time in the Navy as a good learning experience that paid off with a 40 year career at Boeing. If I had to do it over again, there are 2 things that I would have changed. First, would never have gotten married. Second, I would have gone to college a lot more while serving. The Navy paid for everything and I may have had more opportunities after I got out. I didn’t discover this till I only had 6 months left in my enlistment. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-military-did-you-join-why-or-why-not/1002246)._