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Thread: Step-son is considering joining the military

  1. #1
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    Step-son is considering joining the military

    As the title states my step-son is considering joining the military straight out of high school, specifically the Air Force.

    A little background on the situation. I have never served in the military but my wife served in the Air Force. She has always encouraged the children to go to college and then join the military if they wanted to. My step-son however has continued to under perform in school and needs to mature up considerably before he will do well in college. He is very intelligent and his Freshmen thru Juniour year performed well in school for the most part. He had a 3.9 GPA. His senior year his grade plummeted on all of the college level courses because the teachers would not spoon feed him the info and held him accountable for late work. He know routinely gets D's. He applied to and was accepted into all of his colleges and received scholarships for all of them as well, however all of those decisions were based on his transcript that didn't include his Senior year. Beyond school he is always late, he has no interest in driving, he lacks motivation, addicted to video games, etc in general he has seemed to have reverted to a 13 year old in an 18 year old body. We have talked to him about his future and laid things out and told him if he doesn't change he will waste his talents and we are not going to stand for a man child living with us. He seems genuinely interested in joining the Air Force which his Mom and I agree would be a great thing for him. He has taken his ASVAB and scored an 81 on it. In addition he is athletic and does work hard in physical activities so I am not worried about the physical aspects of miltary life for him. We are taking him to a recruiter on Wednesday, so my question is this:

    For all of those who have served if you were starting over as an 18 year old what would you look out for, ask for, etc if talking to the recruiter? What steps would you take to make the experience the best you could?

    Thanks everybody in advance.

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  2. #2
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    I did not serve, but my brother does (Navy EOD) and several other family members have joined recently.

    The only thing I would caution is he needs to consider if he would be happy in ANY job in the military. I know sailors with college degrees scraping paint off ships because they had the wrong attitude and thought they were special. They weren't special and chipping paint is probably good for them to grow up and learn. But that is a real possibility. They own you, you don't really have a say.

    My brother put years in on a ship in the middle of nowhere before they let him try out for something the recruiter had promised from the beginning. He had to excel had the shitty job for 4 years to get recommended for the job he really wanted.

  3. #3
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    I served in the Army. I did artillery and medical admin. One of the biggest mistakes I made in my life was turning down a job offer to be my own replacement at Evans Hospital on Ft. Carson.

    The biggest thing I would suggest is that your stepson make sure they put him in a career specialty that translates to an actual civilian job. If he goes into a specialty that requires a clearance it can open employment doors in the civilian world too.
    Last edited by Cypher; 03-25-2019 at 04:08 PM.

  4. #4
    Modding this sack of shit BehindBlueI's's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jamautry View Post

    For all of those who have served if you were starting over as an 18 year old what would you look out for, ask for, etc if talking to the recruiter? What steps would you take to make the experience the best you could?

    Thanks everybody in advance.

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
    I joined the Army right out of high school. I was bored to death with school, couldn't imagine going to college for another 4 years of sitting at a desk and really had no idea what I wanted to do with my life long term. The local economy was almost entirely factory work or construction.

    I had a lot of people telling me to pick a career in the military that would translate over into the civilian world. I said "fuck that, I want to do something I'll never get a chance to do again." I've never regretted it. I got to blow things up, drive a tank, blow things up, learn how to set booby traps, blow things up, shoot big guns, and blow things up. Plus, they let me blow things up.

    The military won't let you starve. They'll house you. They'll get you Motrin...I mean they'll get you medical care. It's perfect for people with no to limited life skills, immature teens, and people who have no idea what they want out of life. So, my advise is for him to figure out his long term goals and focus on the best path to get there. Does he want to travel? Ask about guaranteed duty assignment. Treat the military as an apprenticeship? Figure out what jobs actually translate over (because, frankly, many don't). Maximize money for college? See if there are bonuses for certain jobs in certain branches. Get promoted and maybe make a career of it? Shortage MOS's tend to get promoted faster, but see what current promotion points are in the various jobs. Shop your options. If he wants Air Force, fine, but at least talk to the other recruiters.
    Sorta around sometimes for some of your shitty mod needs.

  5. #5
    It sounds like he has a lack of motivation for some reason and the way he is currently acting if it continued would honestly make him a drain on any unit he is assigned to... Its not just about PT. Let him know that contrary to what the public believes, the .mil is not where lackluster youth go to figure themselves out. That time is past... If he does not perform then they will send him out the door with a quickness, most likely with a discharge type that doesnt look good on future applications elsewhere... If he wants to work and perform.... then welcome to the service, glad to have you. We are having trouble meeting recruiting goals...mostly due to the above mentioned issues.

  6. #6
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    Thanks everyone. I appreciate you taken the time to answer. Keep them coming.

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  7. #7
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    FWIW. I have not served. I have had some experience with boys in my Troop going to the military direct from high school.

    Your stepson does not sound like he is ready to go to college. The burning question in my mind is why? The slide from 3.9 to D's, IMHO, is more than Sr college prep classes and not turning work in on time. Not trying to be the bearer of DOOM/GLOOM, those schools that accepted him and awarded scholarships based on the six semester transcript are going to want to see the Sr year grades. Some "Senioritis" is expected. Dropping from 3.9 to sub 3.0 I presume with D's may cause them to reassess admission and/or scholarship awards.

    If he is drug free, the military sounds like a viable option. Air Force and Coast Guard would be the two I would look at if it were me based what you have said. The 81 ASVAB is well over their respective minimums. I would drug test him before we go to a recruiter. I am deeply troubled by the grade drop and would really want to know why. The recruiters may want to know why as well.

    If it were my son:

    he would sign NOTHING on the first visit.

    he would angle for a job that has a signing bonus.

    he would get everything in WRITING. If it is not in writing, it does not exist.

    If he signs up, we would shoot for a depart date as close to graduation as possible so as to avoid anything that might derail the plan.

    I would like for him to be recruited by someone we liked and trusted consistent with my knowledge that it his/her job to recruit. If I/we got a bad feeling about a particular recruiter, we would go elsewhere and talk with somebody else.

    Best of luck.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by rcbusmc24 View Post
    It sounds like he has a lack of motivation for some reason and the way he is currently acting if it continued would honestly make him a drain on any unit he is assigned to... Its not just about PT. Let him know that contrary to what the public believes, the .mil is not where lackluster youth go to figure themselves out. That time is past... If he does not perform then they will send him out the door with a quickness, most likely with a discharge type that doesnt look good on future applications elsewhere... If he wants to work and perform.... then welcome to the service, glad to have you. We are having trouble meeting recruiting goals...mostly due to the above mentioned issues.
    I hear where you are coming from. I will say that when he is told do something he will do it and do it well, the problem is he is not performing well under his own self discipline. This is the issue with college. When supervised he does well so I don't believe he will be a drain on a unit. What I am hoping for as he gets promoted and is given added responsibility he his self discipline will grow.

    I will add he has had a part time job after school for the past year and has performed well at it. He also does not get into any trouble at school or home with the exception of being late.

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    Last edited by jamautry; 03-25-2019 at 04:41 PM.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by BehindBlueI's View Post
    I joined the Army right out of high school. I was bored to death with school, couldn't imagine going to college for another 4 years of sitting at a desk...

    I've never regretted it. Plus, they let me blow things up.
    Quite similar

    Joined while IN high school; was a "double-volunteer". Was raised in the post-WWII by father and uncles and almost all contemporary adult men who were all WWII veterans, and identified Shinola from 100 yards. And were unabashedly willing to make the distinction. When I was in single digits I played with a type 99 Arisaka that my uncle "took" from the man who shot at him.

    I received much more from my service than I contributed, and I highly encourage a return to the DI Board of Education for all prospective youth.

    But educate and remind him: the best men's names are in gardens of stone.

    Regarding USAF to the OP, if he is "athletic", investigate Combat Control and ParaRescue (PJ's). Them guys are harder than woodpecker lips.
    Last edited by Gray01; 03-25-2019 at 05:02 PM.

  10. #10
    Member TGS's Avatar
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    College sounds like a terrible idea for him right now.

    Sounds like .mil is the way to go. If I could have done it over again, I think I probably would have tried Air Force. USMC was not a great match for me.

    If he's smart, he should be able to get slotted into a good MOS. If he lacks any aspirations or motivations for specific career fields, then try to get an MOS with a TS clearance, like Intel or a higher-end comms MOS. There's a good career path out of the military with that even as enlisted, and if he decides to not do intel after the military then the skills still translate over very well to many other career fields in business while also looking shit-hot on a resume. The TS clearance itself is worth about $100k to employers on the outside, so he'll be very attractive for private sector jobs requiring a TS compared to more qualified individuals that lack a clearance. Some of the communicator jobs are very skilled and in-demand on the outside, as well. On a joint training exercise between my agency and a Marine FAST Platoon, our comms unit literally handed a Marine radio guy an application on the spot for a 6-figure job because he happened to be qual'd on all the systems we use, was getting out in 9 months, and we literally can't find enough qualified people for that unit due to how competitive the pay is between the various agencies hiring such people; we recently lost our key player, and the program is a shit-show now.

    Consider that the Army probably has more places for him to go/available jobs, but the Air Force tends to treat people better. With that, there's some "Dream" careers that you have to rotate out of in the Air Force. For instance, K9 handlers. You do one tour and you're done, and never have a dog again. In the Army, you're a K9 handler until you promote out of being a handler, and then you manage handlers (or someone else). Probably the biggest gripe from USAF K9 handlers I work with. I know that's just one job, but it's an aspect to look into if some job catches his eye.

    In the end, it's only 4 years. Yeah, it can suck if you fuck up or just end up on the wrong side of the system for reasons outside your control, but fuck it. He can literally do anything short of a felony and still do whatever he wants in life afterwards.
    Last edited by TGS; 03-25-2019 at 05:24 PM.
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