16 year old, who has questions about the Military, and needs help figuring out his future....

If a person believes he/she needs to join the military then think what job in the military does not fight in war.

I had the same dilemma wanting to follow my father in to the Navy.

I did not want to be on a ship.

When I asked the recruiter if there were in job in the Navy that does not go on ships,he laughed and said yes there is.

I served for 20 years went all over the world and helped many different people of all cultures.

I never stepped foot on a Navy vessel until after I had retired!

you want a decent military training and a change in your motivation levels and self reliance that will last your lifetime?join the french foreign legion.i am an ex british military officer and if i had it to do all over again...i would be enlisting in marseilles....research it,dont be scared about learning a foreign language.hell your kids will prob have to learn spanish by law,as will my grandkids here in uk have to learn polish.lol
if its what you want to do dont feel you need to serve your country blindly.

Be very careful about what you are doing. I have never been in the military and I am not an American, but a very good friend of mine was in the Marines during the Vietnam War. There had been Marines in his family who were from an older generation, so there must have been some sort of tradition involved with his decision.

I don't want to go into too much detail here, except to say that he was conflicted about his decision to join the Marines. At the time there was universal conscription in the US (the draft) and if I remember, he might have opted for the Marines to pre-empt being sent into the Army.

He was afraid of going into any kind of infantry situation in Vietnam, so once in the Marines, he got into a program studying avionics. He said he never worked so hard on something in his life. He was so afraid of going into the meat grinder in Vietnam. He figured he could get through by being a helicopter mechanic.

When it came time to ship out for the Far East, his nerves got the better of him and he deserted the Marines and came to Toronto.

This was very difficult. He maintained contact with his family. He applied for and was accepted to university. He began a relationship with a girl. And last but not least he continued to be very conflicted about what he was doing.

Obviously he had serious emotional and perhaps psychological issues. He was a very nice guy. There was something gentle and endearing about him. He was about 6 ft., lean and fit. What you would expect to come out of the boot camp at Parris Island, especially during that era of "old school", brutal, military training.

Unfortunately, he was suicidal. He committed suicide in an alley in Toronto around 1973.

Hegel is a German philosopher. The Hegelian dialectic is a form of argument as well as a theory of history. It proceeds by putting forward an idea called a thesis. In the course of the argument a counter argument emerges. This is called the antithesis. As the discussion moves forward a compromise-like blending of the thesis and the antithesis emerges. This is called the synthesis.

The synthesis eventually comes to be seen by some people as a new thesis, to which they put forward a new antithesis. Eventually a new synthesis emerges from the encounter.

My friend's life moved forward in a sort of Hegelian dueling match between opposite intentions. He couldn't resolve his conflicts with any kind of lasting synthesis or compromise. Thesis and antithesis instead kept becoming more extreme.

His last thesis was to come to Toronto to start a new life. His last antithesis was to commit suicide.

If you find a pattern like that developing in your life, take a time out.

It is important to reach a useful and sustainable synthesis that you can live with. If you cannot do this, consult experts and get help. Asking questions on ATS is a good sign of maturity and seriousness about making your decision.

Good luck.

Do a search for "War Porn" videos and then imagine while watching them, that you are actually there and in VERY close proximity of the targeted area shown.

Now, once you are done cleaning out your drawers from you-know-what, come back and ask again about it.

Stick with COD and those other "war" video games kid.

Like a lot of people said, I would highly, highly encourage you to continue with your education first and get a college degree. I recently graduated from college and went through the AFROTC program. I'm a brand new Lt waiting to go to my first assignment, so I can't say I've had a lot of experience in the military.

What I CAN tell you is that the Air Force has some neat technical jobs, takes care of its people, and worships at the alter of higher education. The AF like all the other branches are cutting back though, so really work on your GPA and academics (if I were a year younger, my GPA probably would have been just short of acceptable - it's like a 3.2 nowadays). The AF will train you to be a thinker and a leader. We don't have the same gung-ho, guts 'n glory attitude that the ground forces have, but we get the job done and we tend to work on the "bigger picture."

Obviously take everything you read on this site with a grain of salt... most people only sign up on this site because they are very passionate about something, and you won't find a lot of people that occupy the middle ground. Talk with your school teachers or coaches - I've found them to be very insightful.

Wow, 15 pages, and all I see is a bunch of POGs, Squids, and wannabe Chairborne rangers talking out their ass.
Your 16? Make up your damn mind. Wait till you 18, or better 21-22..
Think really hard about what you really wanna do.

Originally posted by kaskad
Wow, 15 pages, and all I see is a bunch of POGs, Squids, and wannabe Chairborne rangers talking out their ass.
Your 16? Make up your damn mind. Wait till you 18, or better 21-22..
Think really hard about what you really wanna do.

Gotta agree with that. If I could go back in time, I'd wait until I was around 22 or so to enlist. Your maturity level is a lot higher. Well, maybe not alot.....

Help about what? You join the Marines , not because of a Future , you join the Marines because you love your Country or you desire a career as an officer or enlisted. If you want a Future , the Marines arnt for you.

The Army can offer you a better future than the Marines do. They offer many programs to get you jump started in the Civilian world after your service.

The Navy and Airforce have it good in terms of life in service and outside of service , if you want a career , go to one of these two branches.

By the way if Call of Duty is the source of your wanting to join the Military you have a very rude awakening. I suggest you go to a Military Academy and get a feel for what you are getting yourself into. Guns arnt blazing 90% of the time, most of the time you are just sitting there talking smack being told what you can and can not do.

Just dont be one of the Kids that kill themselves because they didnt know what kind of crap life your getting into.

Also , just to give you a tip, when we get into a real war I dont mean this Afghanistan / Iraq war , i mean a war when we are racking up 400-600 casualites a day. You arnt going to be dieing by gunfire your going to have a 1000 pound bomb drop on you and kill you and then the next unit moves up and takes your place. Ordance is the future / present. The infantry is a shield for the ordance to be delievered past.

Just to give you an example. We had a vehicle loaded down with enough ordance to = about 800 pounds or so of ordance dropped from the air , 200 yards away shrapnel causes 4 critial casualites / 2 non critical , 300 yards away had 2 people knocked unconcious from the blast. So if these bomb hits within 100 yards of you .... your going to be hurting. This isnt COD , they dont need to bum rush you. They can just shoot at you from 20 miles away or drop a bomb from 20 miles up.

Also you will realise , you may say you arnt afraid to die and it may be true , but when you get over there and you start seeing people dieing and seeing bullet holes and people ripped in half from 5.62 bullets and head shots.

You start wondering not just about dieing ..... but what your going to be thinking , how bad is it going to hurt , do i suffocate , does any one care , why am i even here , no one cares. All these things starrt hitting you when you see enemy you kill and even more so when you see your friends killed and when you get home you realise .... you went through all that and here every one is ... driving down the road exactly as it has been since you left ... and realise you have changed but everything else remains the same and no one .... cares.

And i dont care how hardened you are or think you are , when you get back you are changed. You want to kill people more even those you vowed to protect they smart off to you , you want to just put a bullet in their head. Its so much easier than listening to them. You killed once you can do it again. Only type of people you can possibly relate to is men in uniform , and then it becomes hard to leave the military because your brothers know what your going through and you make them seem like the filth of the Earth in Words , but they dont give a # because they know where you been and will go back with you regardless what you say to them

The first words out of my mouth now are , "Ill #in kill you". Didnt think id change , but hey ... i did.

reply to post by LandonFromKY


what we need is well educated, constitution loving, decent men in congress..

if your family has served the country in the military for so long maybe its time you stepped it up a notch and got into political office..

do not get confused by today's so called military action..

read up on history and you will realize there has not been an honorable conflict in your lifetime..

Originally posted by reeferman
do not get confused by today's so called military action..

read up on history and you will realize there has not been an honorable conflict in your lifetime..

Yeah. Whatever.

Read up on history and you will realize there has not been one honest politician in anyones lifetime.

Originally posted by kaskad
Wow, 15 pages, and all I see is a bunch of POGs, Squids, and wannabe Chairborne rangers talking out their ass.
Your 16? Make up your damn mind. Wait till you 18, or better 21-22..
Think really hard about what you really wanna do.

Your forgot to mention the sick call rangers.

But on the main topic here. Join the AF and go Ammo greatest job in the world and you get these fancy bumper stickers and coins with IYAAYAS which is the militarys best motto hands down.

Like those in this thread whom have mentioned before me -

Think of you SOUL man!!!

The first four letters to the word SOLD-ier
is what you do with you soul when essentially
you are fighting false wars or the premise of a paycheck !

YES, REALITY - you are killing people needlessly for a PAYCHECK!

Integrity is the FOUNDATION to one's soul -
Crack a foundation and it begins to crubble!

Do you want TRUE advice..?
Go visit a VET hospital.. get the truth.

What have the youth of today learned..?

War is NOT the answer... do something GREAT with your life

reply to post by LandonFromKY


I have only met three people with what I considered the best MOS and if I had it al to over again I would have chosen that one. They were Army reporters Army MOS 46R or 46Q - Broadcast Journalist. They got to go everywhere all over the world. I met one when he did ride along with me reporting on EOD we gave him a basic class on it. I know from talking to him and the other two that was common whether they were with SF, Rangers, or whatever they were attached to. It seemed like they had the best of all worlds and got to see more than anyone else not to mention making rank fast especially with all the high ranking connections they had. Another perk was they didn't stay stationary very long they went where the story was, and sometimes that meant Airforce bases where the best looking women were.

Anyway check into it.

reply to post by LandonFromKY

So if you have been in the Military or are currently enlisted, please post on here with your experiences, and whatever else you would like to add!

How about dont join? unless you want them to break you out of any emotions.

Every male in my immediate family has been military, I myself joined the navy. As any thing there are good things and bad.

Its not all about killing like many would have you believe. While in my ship saved many lives, we evacuated a burning ship in the middle east saving everyone. After fighting the fire for about 24 hours we could not save the ship. You will NOT always be appreciated, many of the people we saved were pissed because we couldnt save the ship.

You may see some of the worst examples of humanity possible depending on your job. You may want to help people suffering severely sometimes but sometimes it doesnt fit with governments agenda.

We DO help people in the US military regardless of what branch normally but only when people in power see some benefit. There are also mant whiny b###### in the US safe and secure in there homes with no knowledge of the real world that may want to belittle you ot talk bad about the military in general.

You may meet overall bad people that are active duty but you have the same chance in or out of the military.

Many of the older sailors i knew though were very adamant that if they joined today they would NOT reenlist. It will not be all good and it will not be all bad. I was able to see the world but once accepted that I was going to die. It seemed absolute, of course it didnt happen but you need to be prepared for that possibility.

Decide for yourself, the most important decision you may have to make is if you trust the people in charge that if you have to give your life it will be for a good reason.

I have served son.
I can promise you it was the best time in my life.

I made friends that will be there for me my entire life and I was very well looked after by her majesties armed forces

Sign up and dont look back.

reply to post by LandonFromKY

Landon, I can speak about a military life. I spent 22 years on active duty in the U.S. Coast Guard. I can tell you at times it was fun, and miserable. But first let me tell you how i came to decide to join the CG. I did not want to be shot at in Vietnam, or Cambodia. So that eliminated Army, Marines. That left the AF, Navy, CG. I saw a poster at the recruiters office that said the CG saved lives. That sold me on joining the CG. You have to develop a mind set "military". It takes some time to establish yourself as a member that does their job in a proficient manner. This will make life for you much easier. When you decide to make a career of the military, it changes your outlook. Live with that change and it becomes easier to work day to day. When it becomes a struggle, or is not fun anymore, that is when a person decides to retire. I would do it all over again if I had the same choices.

veteran support group

Keep this close when your service is complete...

Click on the PTSD 101 link for more information.

reply to post by LandonFromKY


I am honored that you wish to serve your country, it is a very brave and noble thing to do. How ever I have to ask you a few questions, are you doing this a selfless service to your country, or are you wishing to do this seeking honor and respect? Not all veterans are treated as noble heroes, you do need to understand that. Read the boards here any day and you will see ex soldiers, and civilians who have very negative views towards the military and some of the recent theaters of war.

I am extremely concerned for you, when you said every time you play video games or watch movies you want to do it so much more. Do not take this as me bringing you down in any way, it is your choice but that isn't war, nor is it being a serviceman.

In any of the services you could perform for your country, not one of them is like the references you listed. There is a whole lot more to it, and there is a whole lot more you don't have to think about once that movie, or game has ended.

Sure call of duty may give you a vague idea of the chaos you could experience in the infantry, but it doesn't take place for days, weeks, months, or even years of real active combat. Using recent theaters like afghanistan and Iraq, you have to sleep, eat, # and live while all of that chaos is going on. You may die, or get wounded, or watch someone or everyone you are close with die and get wounded. On top of that you may have to stay where you are among dead and wounded because unlike call of duty, you could get trapped and have to wait for help. You could harm civilians(accidents happen,) then later have to help those same people or accept help from someone who accidentally wounded or killed someone you know quite well. Infantry is one of the hardest service jobs there are, and if you do active service it WILL change you permanently and the outcome is different for every single service man. Some come out okay, others come out emotional wrecks.

If you choose infantry you will have to be prepared for literal hell on earth.

The positive side to infantry is you may very well be someones hero, friend or foe. You will be one of the first to pull friend, civilian or foe from wrecked or burning buildings or vehicles, find and evacuate wounded from combat zones, bring much needed food or water to those in need. Even outside of combat zones, you may be sent to nations of the world in need of protection in civil unrest, natural disaster response both in preparation for and the cleanup after. It can be incredibly rewarding, but at the same time this is a very hard thing to deal with. You will see dead, Grievously wounded, and distraught individuals. There are smells and sites you will never forget if you choose this route, even if you never see active combat.

Now believe it or not, combat is not always the hardest thing for infantrymen, you could spend weeks and never have to use your weapon, how ever the potential for harm is always looming over your head. You could be deployed in places like Iraq, or Afghanistan and the thought of IED's, suicide bombers, ambushes, coming across victims of your foe and these things will wreck havoc on your mind. Imagine trying to sleep knowing you or your friends/allies could be killed while doing so? Imagine what it would be like to try and help those who are victims of a bombing? Imagine trying to help a small child who has been shot, burned, or blown apart. Just really think about what it would be like to come across these things. Imagine that it's your side who causes that chaos(it happens).

There is an awful lot involved in being enlisted in the infantry. I just don't want you thinking it's not what it is, I've only covered some things, and there is a hell of a lot of good, but at 16 you're not likely thinking about these things. You're likely thinking of the glory of which sometimes there is absolutely none. There are people who enlist and never see any of this, and then all the truly great things really shine. You will help people in the service I promise that, you will see the world, learn valuable skills, make friends closer to you than your own parents, but there is a huge risk factor involved. I just want you to think about everything, and if you know you can handle any of this then go talk to as many other servicemen as you can, talk to recruiters(don't sign until you are 100% sure of yourself). Once you sign, you are their's for every second of that contract and you HAVE to do what they say.

16 is still really young, and active service is nothing like the movies or video games you enjoy to play. Those are games meant for entertainment, meant to seem fun and glorious. Just remember that.