quote:...even if all goes well that means I'll have to wait another year on HS, 4 years of college/ROTC, and 18-24 months of flight school before I can see some action. By then the war could be over, but I have a score to settle with those bastards...
quote:...Also I figure after 2-3 years of service I could get into a better college and have a better shot at ROTC (still wanna fly) when I get back. Finally, a bunch of my friends (who it should be noted never even thought about the military before last Tuesday) are considering enlisting after HS...or should I go fight for awhile??
It sounds like your about to try on a pair of shoes I wore some time ago so I'm gonna throw out my 4 cents.
When I graduated HS I was still very much in love with the notion of military Aviation even though I had put it on the same shelf with being a rock star: cool job, but I'll never get to do it! Here I am, a full ten years later and I'm off to OCS and then flight school, God willing. Being enlisted was a great experience for me, I'm willing to bet it would be for you two. Those mere 24 months I spent in Germany driving an E-7 around in his own 70 ton private limo as an eighteen year old has never stopped benefiting me. It paid for college, made me grow up and also helped immesurably in getting me selected for pilot. It got me the hell out of my small town, I had a lot of fun, travelled in Europe, drank a lot, got a ton of sh*t out of my system and when I finally got to college I had already outgrown a lot of things that hurt a lot of other young kids around me in school. I was not only financialy ready for it, but mentally as well. On the other hand you also may have the oppurtunity to start college now and be a graduate at a very young age and have a whole different world of oppurtunities open to you.
Personally I wanted to leave home and have some real fun and adventuree and boy did I, but I look around at the BIO's for the people on this site who are starting their careers as Navy pilots at the ages of 22-25, who will be able to get out when they're only a few years older than I am now. Looking back I sometimes say to myself: WOW, maybe I should have skipped the Army and gone right to college. Of course I think that for a millisecond before the realities set in of money, my immaturity at the time, and the fact that as a grad in the class of 1994 my pilot app. would have found it's way to CNRC right in the heart of the fine-mesh era back when superstar applicants were being laughed at. Of course hindsight is always 20/20 looking out you butthole, the military is a lot different today than in the early-nineties and only time will tell what the next couple years will be like.
I'll never regret my time in the Army and I don't regret my decision (so far) to start a Naval Aviator career at nearly 30. Me and Jeff B. have had discussions at lenth about the paths we've taken to end up as near 30 SNA's (good luck on the 15'th Jeff, see you in API) and we've both come to the conclusion that getting to were you want to be is what's important, not the ammount of time it takes you to get there, besides, getting there's half the fun, right!
I can't tell you what to do, you have to figure that out for yourself. Do you want to start serving your country in a couple of months or do you want to potentially be an Officer in a couple of years? You have to decide what's more important. I agree with what said earlier, your patriotism is admirable (and refreshing) at your age. We all feel the same as you, but don't let you emotions about Sept. 11 cloud your judgment or affect a decision like this. You have to weigh oppurtunities that come to you vs. where you want to go in life because the oppurtunity that's here today may not be there tommorrow.
Now, as for "seeing some action" I have a few more remarks. A lot of my friends and relative called me freaking out about what would happen to me now that were "at war" and my replay was that I would be in school for the next 3 years, (you forgot to add FRS training to your timeline) and I'm starting OCS next month! A few more things to think about...
1. Be careful what you wish for.
2. Unless your going out for the SEALS, or plan to go the very long, unsure route to get to Army Special Forces, the only "real action" your probably going to see in the next couple of years is the same "real action" I saw as a new Army E-1 on a base still at THREATCON CHARLIE after the Gulf War and that was GUARD DUTY, GUARD DUTY and then some more GUARD DUTY.
3. Be careful what you wish for.
4. Old proverb: Looking for revenge, dig two graves first, one for the other guy, one for yourself.
5. Finally, guys chomping at the bit for "real action" usually accomplish one of two things in tactical environments: 1, they get their buddies hurt and 2, they get their buddies killed. And that's just in peace time training! In the real thing the end result is disaster and I've known and worked with a lot of guys who were there for the real thing. Ask the more experienced gents on the Forum if you don't believe me. If you want to be successful in the military, no matter what side of the fence you end up on, then you want to be a dedicated professional who follows orders. Bloodthirsty adventure seekers quickly find themselves eating alone in the mess hall. If you opt for the enlisted side and end up in the Corps or the Army and are eventually holding a live grenade in one hand and the pin in the other, I think you'll understand what I'm talking about. BTW, when those things go off it's nothing like on the A-team. Trust me.
Good luck and let us know, if you have any questions about the Army let me know, of course some of my info will be a bit dated.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Edited by - Dave Shutter on 09/21/2001 23:03:09
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