Studying medicine

It hard in your 20s to look at the long game. It feels like your life is over by the time you hit your 40s but when you get there you realize you are barely half way. If you commit the first 20 years to buy you the freedom to do whatever you want the last 40+ it’s a good investment. I don’t advocate waking into a recruitment center and just taking what they give you, but it can’t hurt to talk to them and see what they will *put in writing* as an offer. You can always walk away if you don’t think it’s a good deal but you won’t know if you don’t ask.

And run the offer by people who were in the military and understand what the optimal situation you can get is. My father, during Vietnam, volunteered once he had his Master’s and was guaranteed OCS and a spot in military intelligence. While his peers were slogging through the jungle he was stationed in Honolulu surfing and drinking cocktails out of coconuts. Not a bad life and you get job training and college courses. The GI bill lets you pass it down to your dependents too I believe so if you decide to have kids that’s one less worry.

Do consider the lifestyle though. Stability is wonderful, but not if daily life would be miserable for you. Military life can be really hard. Scatmandingo is right that it's be a good idea to talk to someone active duty (NOT A RECRUITMENT OFFICER OR SOMEONE THEY INTRODUCE YOU TO) and see what they think. 20 years is an incredibly long contract. My boyfriend signed on for six years in the Marines but I think he's wishing he did four. If you do decide to join, they will offer you a better deal the longer you commit to, but you can always reenlist if you commit to smaller increments. If I were you, and I decided the military was right for me, I would enlist for four years and then decide if I wanted to reenlist. You don't have to sign your life away, if you hate it and leave, you won't get retirement but there are other benefits. The GI bill and the fact that you can pass it on to dependents being one of them: you don't have to wait 20 years to get that.

It also just occurred to me that you can serve 4 years and then do 16 in the reserves and get military retirement. I’m not sure it’s the same rate? I worked with a guy who was a helicopter pilot and he did more than his one weekend a month because he just loved flying. Anyway, something else to look into

Oh and for the record: don’t sign a 20 year contract, that wasn’t what I meant. Get the minimum and renew but once you start the goal will be to make it 20 years.

Most of my family is military so I have loads of people to talk to about it. (Plus I spent most of my childhood at the local VA) No one in my family has ever made it past the first semester in college, so I’m really trying to be the first to. My grandpa says it’s the -family name- way to go to school for a bit then drop out and join the army. To me the biggest draw backs are definitely: 1) am I wasting my youth? 2) will I die immediately? 3) I’m such a fatass I can barely run a mile on a good day.

1. I think you have to decide where you want to be in your 50s and then back into a plan of how you get there. 2. If you are talking about fatality, the military is safer than the trucking industry. 3. I know that feeling; maybe boot camp could be a fitness goal?