Talk me out of joining the military. [View All]

[landeaugriffin]

I'm male, 22, from Illinois, about to graduate college with a bachelor's degree, and have no immediate plans for the future. I don't know what I want to do for a career, I don't have any "real" job skills, and I'm in desperate need of excitement and adventure. I want to see the world, I want to experience incredible things.

Also, I have some profound need to suffer. Sounds weird? Let me explain. I've grown-up middle class and my parents have paid for most things. I've worked plenty of crappy jobs, but overall, I've had that parental safety net and things have always been mostly comfortable. Call it guilt, or curiousity - but I want to rough it. I want to test myself against challenge and difficulty and adversity. I've never been pushed to the limits and I don't want to go through life without ever being sure of just what I'm "made" of, or what I could've been turned into.


This isn't a trolling thread. It is honest. I just got enough posts to ask, because honestly, I have the nagging feeling the military will suck...but no one I speak with can give me real reasons why. They say I'm "crazy" and foolish and that the military is all bullshit.

Well it probably is...but college has been a lot of nonsense too...and from what I can tell, the business world won't be much better.


I know the pay sucks, but I'd be doing it for the experience. I know you get treated like garbage, but I've come to expect that from most every civilian job too. I know they will "own" me, but if my parents cut me loose...my job and the paychecks will "own" me too. If they don't cut me loose from their financial aid...well then they own me. I know it will be dangerous, but honestly, I don't care. I have no girlfriend or kids or close friends. I know I'll be used for questionable reasons, but that goes for every U.S. citizen. Our tax money, our democracy, and our begrudging acceptance of this war are all the ways we are complicit - I'll just be doing it more up-close and personal than most. I'm leaning towards the infantry of some sort, for the most "ridiculous" experience possible. I just am sick of this humdrum, plodding civilian life and am worried about going through life wondering why I never took the hard road - to see what I'm made of, to learn more about life, and to really find myself.


I know it sounds like my mind is all made up, but it isn't. Those are my whys. Please give me something convincing to the contrary. Paint me a picture of why I'll despise it. I can't tell if I'll be making a fundamental mistake here, b/c like I said - everyone I ask says it will be shitty and not worth it, but can't give specifics as to why. I do oppose the wars, but I feel like whether I fight or not makes little difference. They'll continue, things won't change much, and I might as well stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the guys stuck over there, and suffer as they do.

Thanks for any replies.