My son is about to join the army

jajoine wrote:

Current soldier wrote:

I enlisted with a college degree in mathematics and a nice professional job not long after 9/11. For me it was a simple decision - it was my duty as a young man to serve at least one combat tour during the war. I planned on doing just that and getting out but found I loved the life and am still here. I wanted to do my small part to avenge the 3,000 who died that terrible day.

Let your son choose whatever branch he wants. The infantry is NOT the "dregs of the Army" or anything else people have stated here. I served in the infantry by choice because I wanted to FIGHT the war, not just sit on a FOB somewhere and pretend I defended the country. This is also a major reason why I decided against going OCS. As an officer there is no guarantee of a specific branch; I could have ended up doing just what I did not want to do, namely sit on a FOB. Instead I had the opportunity to truly experience the war in Iraq. Not always a good thing to say the least, but I would not trade one second of the experience for a commission/bigger paycheck and a POG life. And despite what a lot of people think, the infantry is not just a bunch of dumb guys who barely scored minimum on the ASVAB. I had a 138 and did not even have the highest score in my platoon; a young PFC had a 139. Lots of guys in the infantry score very high and choose 11B anyway because they want to fight. There is a bond in the infantry that few others will ever know. I wonder what "war stories" some of the support people will tell years from now about their "combat" in the Middle East; how they endured a year of DFAC food? No alcohol? Terribly slow internet? The diarrhea mud in the fall and the oppressive heat of the summer? Nobody will be interested in that talk. They'll want to hear about the action. Patton said it best; "Thirty years from now when you're sitting by your fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks, 'What did you do in the great World War Two?' You won't have to cough and say, 'Well, your granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana.'" Probably not his exact words but it hits the nail on the head. I'm glad I have the experiences (good and bad) even if I have never discussed the bad with anyone who wasn't over there. Maybe someday I will.

Going officer will certainly give him additional options once he gets out(especially if he gets out after only a few years). However, he needs to decide what he values most - a commission or the job he desires. If he really wants to go infantry he is 100% certain to get it if he enlists; if he goes officer, infantry is more difficult to get. The higher he ranks in his OCS class the greater the branch options available. Again, he must decide what is most important to him. Also, like someone else said, OCS is the way to go because Green to Gold is pretty difficult to get regardless of what the recruiter may say.

I would not recommend going to see the recruiter if I were you; let him come home with the information and then you can discuss it. He is a grown man about to enter a very "manly" experience at Basic Training, especially if he goes infantry. Cut the umbilical cord and let him decide his course of action. Support him whatever he decides, even if you are personally against it.

And whoever was cutting up college grads as "Hanging out in college and drinking beer for four years" obviously never went to college. Sorry, Animal House and Revenge of the Nerds are not realistic.

What a great post. Rarely see see many of these currently on this site. I did not serve, but have tremendous respect for those who did and especially those like the previous poster. I was very close to enlisting/OCS after graduating college, as I did not have much direction. I always had respect for the military and thought I desired that lifestyle. I too felt a civic duty.

My parents were heavily against it and would have done anything to stop me. I did not end up joining and have since found a different direction. However, to this day, I still feel some regret for not making my own decision and experiencing this. I have now vowed to support my son in any decision he makes regarding the military when he becomes over the age of 18.

Don't get me wrong, I most certainly will try to advise him to make the best long term decision, but ultimately the decision must be his alone.

Current Sailor wrote:

jajoine wrote:

What a great post. Rarely see see many of these currently on this site. I did not serve, but have tremendous respect for those who did and especially those like the previous poster. I was very close to enlisting/OCS after graduating college, as I did not have much direction. I always had respect for the military and thought I desired that lifestyle. I too felt a civic duty.

My parents were heavily against it and would have done anything to stop me. I did not end up joining and have since found a different direction. However, to this day, I still feel some regret for not making my own decision and experiencing this. I have now vowed to support my son in any decision he makes regarding the military when he becomes over the age of 18.

Don't get me wrong, I most certainly will try to advise him to make the best long term decision, but ultimately the decision must be his alone.

No, it wasn't a great post, because not only did he denigrate the service of anyone not in direct combat roles, he spent a lot of sentences doing it. Total DB stuff. I wonder, "Current Soldier," do you often/ever tell all of those non-direct-combat types that you think they suck? Your insecurity and rudeness is considerable...and unfortunately, not terribly rare. You should be ashamed.

Current soldier wrote:

I enlisted with a college degree in mathematics and a nice professional job not long after 9/11. For me it was a simple decision - it was my duty as a young man to serve at least one combat tour during the war. I planned on doing just that and getting out but found I loved the life and am still here. I wanted to do my small part to avenge the 3,000 who died that terrible day.

Let your son choose whatever branch he wants. The infantry is NOT the "dregs of the Army" or anything else people have stated here. I served in the infantry by choice because I wanted to FIGHT the war, not just sit on a FOB somewhere and pretend I defended the country. This is also a major reason why I decided against going OCS. As an officer there is no guarantee of a specific branch; I could have ended up doing just what I did not want to do, namely sit on a FOB. Instead I had the opportunity to truly experience the war in Iraq. Not always a good thing to say the least, but I would not trade one second of the experience for a commission/bigger paycheck and a POG life. And despite what a lot of people think, the infantry is not just a bunch of dumb guys who barely scored minimum on the ASVAB. I had a 138 and did not even have the highest score in my platoon; a young PFC had a 139. Lots of guys in the infantry score very high and choose 11B anyway because they want to fight. There is a bond in the infantry that few others will ever know. I wonder what "war stories" some of the support people will tell years from now about their "combat" in the Middle East; how they endured a year of DFAC food? No alcohol? Terribly slow internet? The diarrhea mud in the fall and the oppressive heat of the summer? Nobody will be interested in that talk. They'll want to hear about the action. Patton said it best; "Thirty years from now when you're sitting by your fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks, 'What did you do in the great World War Two?' You won't have to cough and say, 'Well, your granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana.'" Probably not his exact words but it hits the nail on the head. I'm glad I have the experiences (good and bad) even if I have never discussed the bad with anyone who wasn't over there. Maybe someday I will.

Going officer will certainly give him additional options once he gets out(especially if he gets out after only a few years). However, he needs to decide what he values most - a commission or the job he desires. If he really wants to go infantry he is 100% certain to get it if he enlists; if he goes officer, infantry is more difficult to get. The higher he ranks in his OCS class the greater the branch options available. Again, he must decide what is most important to him. Also, like someone else said, OCS is the way to go because Green to Gold is pretty difficult to get regardless of what the recruiter may say.

I would not recommend going to see the recruiter if I were you; let him come home with the information and then you can discuss it. He is a grown man about to enter a very "manly" experience at Basic Training, especially if he goes infantry. Cut the umbilical cord and let him decide his course of action. Support him whatever he decides, even if you are personally against it.

And whoever was cutting up college grads as "Hanging out in college and drinking beer for four years" obviously never went to college. Sorry, Animal House and Revenge of the Nerds are not realistic.

joalturn wrote:

Current soldier wrote:

I enlisted with a college degree in mathematics and a nice professional job not long after 9/11. For me it was a simple decision - it was my duty as a young man to serve at least one combat tour during the war. I planned on doing just that and getting out but found I loved the life and am still here. I wanted to do my small part to avenge the 3,000 who died that terrible day.

Let your son choose whatever branch he wants. The infantry is NOT the "dregs of the Army" or anything else people have stated here. I served in the infantry by choice because I wanted to FIGHT the war, not just sit on a FOB somewhere and pretend I defended the country. This is also a major reason why I decided against going OCS. As an officer there is no guarantee of a specific branch; I could have ended up doing just what I did not want to do, namely sit on a FOB. Instead I had the opportunity to truly experience the war in Iraq. Not always a good thing to say the least, but I would not trade one second of the experience for a commission/bigger paycheck and a POG life. And despite what a lot of people think, the infantry is not just a bunch of dumb guys who barely scored minimum on the ASVAB. I had a 138 and did not even have the highest score in my platoon; a young PFC had a 139. Lots of guys in the infantry score very high and choose 11B anyway because they want to fight. There is a bond in the infantry that few others will ever know. I wonder what "war stories" some of the support people will tell years from now about their "combat" in the Middle East; how they endured a year of DFAC food? No alcohol? Terribly slow internet? The diarrhea mud in the fall and the oppressive heat of the summer? Nobody will be interested in that talk. They'll want to hear about the action. Patton said it best; "Thirty years from now when you're sitting by your fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks, 'What did you do in the great World War Two?' You won't have to cough and say, 'Well, your granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana.'" Probably not his exact words but it hits the nail on the head. I'm glad I have the experiences (good and bad) even if I have never discussed the bad with anyone who wasn't over there. Maybe someday I will.

Going officer will certainly give him additional options once he gets out(especially if he gets out after only a few years). However, he needs to decide what he values most - a commission or the job he desires. If he really wants to go infantry he is 100% certain to get it if he enlists; if he goes officer, infantry is more difficult to get. The higher he ranks in his OCS class the greater the branch options available. Again, he must decide what is most important to him. Also, like someone else said, OCS is the way to go because Green to Gold is pretty difficult to get regardless of what the recruiter may say.

I would not recommend going to see the recruiter if I were you; let him come home with the information and then you can discuss it. He is a grown man about to enter a very "manly" experience at Basic Training, especially if he goes infantry. Cut the umbilical cord and let him decide his course of action. Support him whatever he decides, even if you are personally against it.

And whoever was cutting up college grads as "Hanging out in college and drinking beer for four years" obviously never went to college. Sorry, Animal House and Revenge of the Nerds are not realistic.

Let's be clear though. This isn't the Bush era. This isn't the Surge. This isn't Iraq 2006. We are now a garrison/peacetime Army. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily; it means we're not losing as many quality soldiers to some terrorists thousands of miles away.

But selling infantry in 2017 by reminiscing over your glory days a decade ago is extremely misleading. Nowadays you're lucky to get deployed, and even luckier to make it to a combat zone, and even LUCKIER to see action. The only ones who are truly seeing combat are SF guys. Even Rangers are in garrison mode. I've met multiple people who were in Ranger Batt for 1.5-2 years without getting a deployment.

My point is that if he wants to be an infantryman, then be prepared to not be an infantryman. Maybe something will change under Trump. But right now, there are little to no combat opportunities, and your son may end up going YEARS without doing what he joined to do. This isn't an opinion. I see it every day. Dudes want to get deployed, but after doing 2-3 years with nothing to show for it and looking at a foggy future where their combat dreams aren't guaranteed, guys are walking away.

No one wants to be a slick sleeve E5 or E6, but it's the new normal. Be prepared for that.

Source: Line medic in the 82nd.