Posted on 04/07/2014 5:35:52 PM PDT by MacMattico
Wow. My daughter is 16, an A student and interested in possibly joining the military. While this fills me with great pride, and my family has a history of male members in the navy and Marine Corp, this kind of blew my mind. Not in a bad way, I guess it's just amazing, wonderful and scary all at the same time coming from MY daughter!
I was wondering if anybody would like to share any and everything they know about their daughter or females in general in the military. At this point she is thinking of an eventual career in something like Energency Management, perhaps law or intelligence, or a medical field. In other words undecided, but we have a family history of Veterans that went into Emergency Management and Firefighting, so maybe that's what she sees as "the family business"! It's a lot to take in all at once for a mom, but what should she be doing now if this were her eventual goal? She is a Varsity athlete, good student, and keeps out of trouble. Thanks so much! And while I will of course ask within the family, I appreciate outside opinions.
Active Duty/Retiree ping.
In regards to Physically defending herself, fwiw she became a black belt in karate at age 13, has sparred with my marine corp brother, has shot all different types of guns and weaponry that shall remain nameless because we live in NY. This is a concern as a mom-- she was on the homecoming court last year. This says to me as a mom that while I have always thought of her as pretty, so do her peers. Maybe a dumb question but how are very pretty girls treated in the military?
She could go to college first and go in as an officer. If she plays her cards right, she can have the military pay for extensive graduate education, including a medical degree, and can have a fine career as a military physician. The guy who lives across the street from me is a Navy doctor—an endocrinologist, I believe—and he’s doing quite well financially. No, he’s not rich, but extremely comfortable, and unlike most doctors nowadays he doesn’t have a dime in educational loans to pay back.
Take a close look at the number of unwed mothers in the military. Personally my experience is that it is a bad place for a young woman, especially one who is attractive and/or naive.
I don’t know. IIRC cousin never talked about ROTC in high school. She went to a private HS. But I would recommend AMAP of it. Our HS had ROTC and quite a few were in it
Age 16? In just over two years, the communist thug will be on his way out of our White House. I would ignore the naysayers who think a drug-addled loser with temporary power is a consideration for your daughter’s service in our military. I pray that Obama’s entire legacy will be repealed within the first hundred days after America is freed, but in any case I expect his contamination of our military to be swept away quickly.
I would strongly advise ROTC/USMA/USNA/USAFA if her grades, interest, and aptitude are compatible with college and the commissioning options (pay is much higher, work no harder). The key is whether she can finish two semesters of calculus for any of those paths. If she works hard at math, starting now, can she do that? As for which service, it’s more about her than about what we recommend. Does she like the sea? Navy (my service) is great, but not if you get seasick. Does she have the reflexes and motivation to be a pilot, or does she think maintaining planes would be fun? USAF is a good choice if you think flying is cool, bad option if you are bored by the idea. Same for Army and sleeping in the mud - is that summer camp or misery?
Which branch is and ought to be her choice. All the options can be great. [I left the Marines out, but not for any particular reason; she should look at what they do too. Semper Fi!]
Your daughter sounds like a gem. :) And we need good people in the military. But I advise you to look up rates of sexual abuse (rape and other) in the armed forces. I’ve read recently that as many as a quarter of all women in the armed forces have been raped. (The rate of male-on-male rape is also much higher than in our general population.) Check that out before making decisions.
No,but is filling our armed forces with liberals the answer going forward?
I don’t think the responses are that shocking. The military is a great place to have a child out of wedlock. There is a good sized underclass within the military, especially in the Army, from my experience anyway. Long gone are the days when the average regular family sent their kids into the service, which is sad. Look at our leaders...how many have kids on active duty (and I don’t mean a quick JAG tour, George P.).
I think it's admirable that your daughter wants to serve in the military.
Gotta ask: Is she aware of just how crappily our military is being treated by the current pResident and that the damage he's done to our military will take YEARS to fix and put back to normal??
Obama’s military??
I would advise against it
Ahh, don’t believe the ‘all is lost’ mamby pamba whiners. The military is doing just fine in spite of social engineering. Most of the ‘special people’ avoid military service like the plague anyways. With good grades and a good ASVAB score she’ll have her pick of good MOSs. If she chooses right she’ll be with decent, honorable and level-headed people. Just make sure she picks a highly qualified field to make the most of her education and opportunities.
Ms. Kansas 2013 and US Army
Go to www.duckduckgo.com and run the search terms “ ms. Kansas army “ Be sure and check out www.military.com link for her own words.
You need to open your eyes. Our armed forces are today only filled with liberals.
What do I mean by this? I agree: the vast majority of servicemen and women are conservative by inclination and conservative in politics. Now caps: BUT THEY CANT EXPRESS IT!
They are forced to toe the liberal line, from sodomy to feminism. If they have the temerity to resist based on their conservative principles, their career will end.
So, yes, America's finest institution is at this point in time a monolithic progressive institution.
Yes, I am concerned about sexual assault in the military.
I have noticed the uptick of pregnant, unwed females in the military but knowing some of these girls also tells me that would have happened military or not.
As for the Service Academies, I’m not sure if she has the math and science grades that would get her in. She is a sophomore that has taken Earth Science (A-), Biology (B+), Algebra (B+) and Geometry (B so far, WILL be brought up). Other courses,including electives, are all high A’s.
She meets those requirements, although obviously hasn’t taken a military entrance exam yet. She researched the physical fitness entrance requirements and could pass now.
Mac, I have to agree with Marko. I spent 20 years in the Air Force. With the way things are today, I have really discouraged my 21 year old son (3rd year in college) from joining the military. My opinion is that the Feds are programming the military to kill Americans. They already did at Waco, but I think it will get worse. Being career Air Force myself, it saddens me to say this, but I must be honest.
And the ROE are suicidal.
I am a female and served in the US Coast Guard. This was back in the late eighties. I also have a niece who is currently serving in the USCG.
Plus my husband did over twenty in the Coast Guard.
It is obvious you love your daughter and want the best for her. If this were the early nineties I would tell you to do what you can to discourage it. I went through some major sexual harassment while in. It was quite common.
Some of the people she would be serving/training with are not what you would want around a daughter. Sorry if that is offensive to some, but in my opinion it is the truth. That includes officers.
In today’s social and political climate, I would say do anything to discourage her. I wouldn’t want my son anywhere near it.
It is very noble to want to serve your country. I appreciate those that do. But if she was my daughter, I would do my best to steer her in another direction.
Our neighbor has two sons in the USAF. They really enjoy jet engine mechanics. Tough work, but that experience will make for a good career later in life. I spent almost 40 years in the Army and National Guard as a mechanic and supervisor. Maintenance is a great field.
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