I was pre-med in college and saw how my dormmate was getting tuition benefits for National Guard Duty. I joined the Army National Guard as a medic figuring it would be good experience for a career in medicine. Plus, my dad was a Naval surgeon and my grandfather was a WWII-era Army doctor. And my formative years were in Reagan’s build-a-strong-military, rah-rah USA (I say that with endearment, not derision) and I wanted to serve.
It felt good to be able to pay for my own education via my service rather than tap into the “bank of dad.”
Being an Army medic was a great choice–it showed me how much I really did not like the medical field or patient care. So when I got back to school I refocused into Marine Biology and have had (I think) a more fulfilling career.
I was going to be drafted. If I joined I got to choose my MOS (military occupation specialty). I had to join for three years instead of the two years if I was drafted.
I enlisted in 1970 to get a better deal than the draft was going to offer me. Also, on my paternal line, my father served in WWII but was the only one to serve since about 1635 or so. I felt I should try to set an example but I never had kids… Thus ends a military dynasty
This was primarily why I joined the Army, and also because my family has a rich tradition of being Army officers in wars dating back to WWI and I have my Dad’s father, my Dad and his two brothers to thank for setting the bar high by being USMA grads and career Army officers. Of course I enlisted.
I was smart but an underachiever (undiagnosed ADD it turns out). Went to college for one semester and bombed horribly. My parents said they wouldn’t way for another semester unless I came up with half. No way to do it as a bus boy so I went to the recruiter on my 18th birthday. My parents were royally pissed, being liberal educators. Did my 3 years, saw Europe during the hay-day of Reagan’s “Morning in America” when you could get 3 German Marks for each dollar, learned about computers and word processing and got out. The years in the service taught me discipline and respect. I still say Sir and Ma’am.
If the world situation was better I would gladly recommend the military to young kids who don’t know what they want to do with their lives. When my friends tell me their kids are talking military I tell them Coast Guard, Air Force or Navy in that order. Less likely to be shipped home in a flag-draped box that way.
After high school, my mother REALLY wanted me to go to college, but I wasn’t looking forward to four more years of classes. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I stopped in and talked to the Air Force recruiter and it seemed like a good way to see the world and maybe do some good. I ended up in a good job (Radio and TV broadcasting) got to live in places like the Phillipines, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Tokyo. So, I stayed in for the full 20, got my degree while getting a paycheck and now I’m teaching people how to do the same job I was doing. And, I’m still having fun.
Never joined; I sometimes still regret it. Have always been interested in military and naval history. Thank you all for your service to this great republic.
I served in the Navy, as a nuclear submarine officer for 5 years. It was definitely a combination of all the answers why I joined, but I put “unique job opportunity” at a slight edge to the others.
I did four years active duty in the Army from 2001-2005 and they called me back out of the IRR in 2007 to send me back to Iraq for good measure.
I joined because I was 18 and the Army was a better job than Pizza Hut. I got benefits (ended up marrying my girlfriend so she could enjoy them too), decent pay, electronics training and job skills.
College money was part of my decision, but I didn’t quite appreciate how important that was until after I was in. Seeing the sheer inefficiency of the military and the complicated equipment and systems we had to deal with made me want to be an engineer to help make working people’s lives easier and simpler.
Then afterwards, with the Illinois Veterans Grant paying my tuition and the GI bill paying my bills, I realized how lucky I was to get paid to go to college and graduate debt free. My coworkers are struggling to pay off loans and I’m maxing out my retirement contributions instead.
There was a lot of shitty things about the military, not the least of which was getting called up out of the civilian world, and away from my 6 month old son, to go to Iraq two and a half years after I thought I was done with that stuff entirely. But looking back I still think I got a pretty good deal.
I am SO glad I actually listened to my separation recruiter. I was set to leave active duty and ride out the last 3 years of my commitment on the IRR. He took one look at my packet and said, “If you go on the IRR, as a Captain in the Transportation Corps, you’ll be recalled within 6 months.” I have no doubt he was right.
I ended up going to National Guard, where the state had instituted a 2 year stabilization period for people transitioning from AD, which meant I was non-deployable for 2 years. And, going to the Guard instead of the IRR carried with it a reduction (by half) of my remaining service obligation, so I cut my remaining 36 months down to 18, and was non-deployable the whole time. (though, my Guard time was as a company commander, so had we been notified for deployment during that time, I’d have waived that to go with my troops). Resigned my commission after getting out. Good thing too, as I had a recruiter call me about a year or two after that trying to get me to come back in, saying they could reinstate my commission with just a few forms if I wanted. I told him no thanks.
Yikes..I got a stop-loss letter in about 2002 (I left active duty in 1999), advising my that my IRR term was extended indefinitely. I figured that, being infantry, I was sure to be recalled. Fortunately, I was not.
I was released from active duty the day I was released from the detachment of patients. On my way out the gate, I had to meet with a re-enlistment Officer, who wanted me to either re-up, join the reserves, or join the National Guard. I said, “There are 3 people who are going to miss the next war you guys have. Me and the 2 guys you send after me.”
Erm. Regarding #2. I did not join the military, ever (just thought this thread would be interesting and it is), so perhaps these are stupid questions, but I can’t understand what you are saying there.
Why would you owe the Air Force money?
And what does being told at breakfast have to do with it?
And I’m still not sure how that sentence explains why you joined the Air Force. It doesn’t sound like you’re suggesting that your dad wouldn’t pay college tuition because you said he sent you receipts.
