Recruiter Questions

[longfisher]

Frank, if you have already pre-paid her college tuition or have the cash stashed, what's the rush to join up and get it all paid for by the Navy.

High school kids, no matter how smart she is academic-wise, are not street-wise or worldly. They're easily influenced.

I just don't see the problem with her taking advantage of the college you already paid or saved for, picking up a few more years of maturity, learning a bit more about life and then making a decision to join the services if she wants to do that after graduation.

She could get into OCS, no problem and become a reserve Naval Officer easily, about 90 days. And, because the Navy didn't pay for her college her service commitment would be less, probably only 2 active duty and 4 Ready Reserve for a total of 6.

That would make a lot more sense than chucking all your preparations now and plunging into the unknown on the basis of a lot of promises which you have the wisdom to already doubt. Besides, there's a couple of shooting wars going on already and probably another coming down the pike.

Tell her to play it safe, grow up a little more, have a more mature outlook when she makes her decision, opt for fewer years of obligations so if she finds she doesn't like it she can bail sooners...

...and then hope like all getout that she ends up married to the man of her dreams by then and is then intent of starting a family after graduation, instead.

One more thing. I have a neighbor whose daughter was in essentially the same situation as your daughter but she was not really college material. The Marine recruiter told her a bunch of B.S. about being able to be in intelligence as an MOS instead of the infantry. What he didn't tell her was that she'd be assigned to an infantry unit to do FIELD INTELLIGENCE gathering.

That was around Xmas of 2008. She been in Afghanistan dodging IED's and humping her ass off since about 8 months ago. And, her letters and calls home show that she's scared to death given the carnage she's seen already.

Her Dad is a mental mess, as a result. Worried stiff.

Take home message, don't trust them. Your daughter is too precious. Your sanity is too valuable. Let her grow up a bit more.

LongFisher

[Captain Michael Buffington]

Frank, if you have already pre-paid her college tuition or have the cash stashed, what's the rush to join up and get it all paid for by the Navy.

High school kids, no matter how smart she is academic-wise, are not street-wise or worldly. They're easily influenced.

I just don't see the problem with her taking advantage of the college you already paid or saved for, picking up a few more years of maturity, learning a bit more about life and then making a decision to join the services if she wants to do that after graduation.

She could get into OCS, no problem and become a reserve Naval Officer easily, about 90 days. And, because the Navy didn't pay for her college her service commitment would be less, probably only 2 active duty and 4 Ready Reserve for a total of 6.

That would make a lot more sense than chucking all your preparations now and plunging into the unknown on the basis of a lot of promises which you have the wisdom to already doubt. Besides, there's a couple of shooting wars going on already and probably another coming down the pike.

Tell her to play it safe, grow up a little more, have a more mature outlook when she makes her decision, opt for fewer years of obligations so if she finds she doesn't like it she can bail sooners...

...and then hope like all getout that she ends up married to the man of her dreams by then and is then intent of starting a family after graduation, instead.

One more thing. I have a neighbor whose daughter was in essentially the same situation as your daughter but she was not really college material. The Marine recruiter told her a bunch of B.S. about being able to be in intelligence as an MOS instead of the infantry. What he didn't tell her was that she'd be assigned to an infantry unit to do FIELD INTELLIGENCE gathering.

That was around Xmas of 2008. She been in Afghanistan dodging IED's and humping her ass off since about 8 months ago. And, her letters and calls home show that she's scared to death given the carnage she's seen already.

Her Dad is a mental mess, as a result. Worried stiff.

Take home message, don't trust them. Your daughter is too precious. Your sanity is too valuable. Let her grow up a bit more.

LongFisher

DongLicker is dead on as usual

Mike

[nautiduck]

I thought it was an 8 year commitment with ready reserve and that was only for enlisted. As an officer arent you susceptable to call back any time "for the needs of the service"? I maybe wrong I was never an officer.

[Capt. kapoc]

Deep, i'm active navy higher in the enlisted ranks if you have questions or concerns give me a ring (757) 373-2338

Mike

[Deep C]

She's cooled down after thinking this out on her own. She's success driven. The almighty dollar kind and saw this really as a job offer. Unfortunately the carrot dangled at the end of the string wasn't starting pay as he stated. Rather its what she could get as an 0-6 (admiral) at the end of four years at that rank. Still havn't been able to dig up "walk away" after a year "free" school...
She's been sucked in on advertising stuff before and been burnt. It happens to kids in particular as they havn't developed that sense of distrust yet. I let her get burnt a couple times on "too good to be true things" and she understands no free lunch. I'm pretty sure thats what cooled her down on this. Better to let her figure it out on her own than for me to go in beating my chest and telling her what choice to make.

[Big Jay]

She's cooled down after thinking this out on her own. She's success driven. The almighty dollar kind and saw this really as a job offer. Unfortunately the carrot dangled at the end of the string wasn't starting pay as he stated. Rather its what she could get as an 0-6 (admiral) at the end of four years at that rank. Still havn't been able to dig up "walk away" after a year "free" school...
She's been sucked in on advertising stuff before and been burnt. It happens to kids in particular as they havn't developed that sense of distrust yet. I let her get burnt a couple times on "too good to be true things" and she understands no free lunch. I'm pretty sure thats what cooled her down on this. Better to let her figure it out on her own than for me to go in beating my chest and telling her what choice to make.

Look...I am living breathing proof of someone who was sucked into a similar trap. I graduated with a BS in Business Finance from one of the better business schools in the NE. I had the double punch of being the son of someone in the business for 25 years and also coming into the "peak" of the Financial Career fad. I had hopes and dreams of sitting in my corner office banking $250k a year.

Then I realized a few things:

- Being a salesman is something you need to LOVE. If you do not love it...you will not be good at it. You have to take pride in every aspect of your career. This goes for any career.

- Money will eventually become secondary on two conditions:

1) You are able to sustain yourself on the income provided
2) You really do love your job.

- You need to be proud of what you do. I admire my father for his success but I'm not proud of "making a sale". You need to feel that what you're doing has an impact or purpose in the world.

I saw a paycheck. A status. Then I found myself walking down the halls of my building staring into office after office. Each one filled with people I could never see myself being associated with.

This is not to dissuade her from the Navy...but...having been through it in the other direction:

It's not pretty when you sign away a portion of your life to something you may not love. At least I can leave.

It actually sounds like she'd be a better fit for my job actually. If she sees dollar signs and what have you, the whole prospect of "Setting your own salary! " that my job preaches seems like it would be more for her.

[longfisher]

I thought it was an 8 year commitment with ready reserve and that was only for enlisted. As an officer arent you susceptable to call back any time "for the needs of the service"? I maybe wrong I was never an officer.

...about the term of the commitment in today's military, so, you might be right Naughty.

It was six when I was in and to the best of my knowledge it still is if you go through OCS. But if you have different information, that's fine. Just let us know, OK?

Yes, it's true that a commission allows the military to call you back after your active and inactive years are completed. It's extremely rare and, in general, it's only highly skilled specialists who are called back. This happened in Korea, especially for pilots.

It almost happened with my Dad after WWII, when Korea blew up. His specialty was JAG. But I guess they found they needed lawyers less than they thought or they just found enough. He didn't go.

There's a sure fire way to get out of it, though. That is to resign your commission after your service terminates. Very few do due to ego, I guess. I haven't. But it's not due to ego. My MOS was infantry. So, I was not a specialist of any sort. So, the probability of being called up is remote.

Besides, I made the mistake of believing what I was told by the lying government almost 40 years ago and putting my life on the line for lies. I already foolishly served this corrupt empire. I'm sure as Hell not going to do so again, no matter how much pressure they might put on me. Ain't gonna happen.

LongFisher

[longfisher]

It's eight years now.

LongFisher