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.
I wasn’t going to post, but I feel obligated if only to help balance out the chickens little who insist your daughter is doomed if she enlists and the military is filled with terrible sinister people. If those things are true, if there is nothing worth raising your right hand to swear to defend, then the republic itself is doomed. I don’t believe that for a second, none of us should.
As for advice, encourage your daughter to make her own decision on job training and career path. Everyone joins for their own reasons, some to pay for college, some to learn a skill or get an “in” somewhere, some to get paid to fire big guns for a living or jump out of airplanes. Some choices are better reasoned than others, but as long as she serves honorably, she will have a better shot at life than the 99% of today’s youth that never did.
ping
No military has ever recovered after being taken over by the homo-fascists.
If she has interest in law enforcement, the Air Force may not be a great choice. They are overstaffed on Security personnel. They are kicking some out right now. ROTC can be taken in college, even if a student didn’t take it in High School. Best of luck.... :)
I would have her look at joining a national guard unit as an MP or Medic. Have her stay at home and use that to pay for her local community college associates degree. If that is not enough to cover the cost of the degree, then use grants, scholarships and then loans to cover the balance.
After she has her 2 year degree, look into the ROTC program at a nearby state college. Some guard / reserve programs combined with ROTC can pay for the full ride.
Lastly, have her take a speed reading course and a typing course over the summer before she graduates high school. This will cut the high school and college work load in half.
Don’t. She will only become cannon fodder for a corrupt and dying nation if she does join.
We are only living the illusion of prosperity and liberty.
She will not be allowed to simply live and let live she will be made to endorse, support, embrace and encourage perverted principles that I hope are foreign to her.
I see nothing to reverse the rot we are now in. I doubt 2014 elections will be enough if they do anything positive at all.
Just so you know - if a service academy is interested in her, but feels she needs some academic “buffing up” before entering, they sometimes offer a “prep school, military based” to high school graduates to get them ready for the really heavy academic load they will carry at a service academy.
The military academies are not just interested in grades, but extra curricular activities, such as participation on sports teams - not necessarily as a star, but one who diligently showed up for practice, and was a team player.
They look at the whole person, and it sounds like your daughter has a good chance. But, she has to want it. The entrance boards at the academies do a pretty good job at trying to screen out overly pushy parents, because they know the kids won’t make it through that first hard summer of training.
My son is a WP grad, and came out of a very small rural high school, with no advanced placement courses offered. He did very well at WP, and was one of the top five cadets who ran the entire academy his firstie year.
But, he really wanted to go there, even though he was seriously worried that he might not cut it. He hung in there, persevered, and learned to be a leader.
That was back between 1986 and 1990. I wonder what advice he would give today. He sits on the board in our state to interview the academy hopefuls, and says he sees so many really motivated applicants coming from the rural schools.
Also, you can take your daughter on a visit to the academies, and she can stay a day, attending class, or even an overnight stay, to get a feel for the life there. I highly recommend that!
Women are the new men.
After wearing the uniform for 29 years, and having retired 21 years ago, today’s military is far, far different, and the leadership, i.e. 0bama, has watered it down so much, this military does not resemble the military in which I was proud to serve. I cannot support anyone going into a military with a president who stomps on the Constitution military members swear to support and defend... Take it for what it’s worth, but things are going to have to change drastically.
I attended the Naval Academy, my oldest son attended the Naval Academy, and my oldest daughter attended the Air Force Academy.
I think the academies are looking for motivated, well-rounded individuals. It is important to make very good grades but not necessarily a 4.0. The student should demonstrate motivation by taking a few AP courses. SAT scores are important but they are not looking for a perfect 1600, around 1300 or a little less would be competitive. Service academies are looking for evidence of leadership— president of SGA/clubs, Boy Scouts, team captains, etc. If an individual has a desire to attend an academy, it is wise to build a resume now. Also, investigation is a must and attending summer seminar is highly recommended.
I would investigate all the opportunities that may be available by researching each service recruiting site. I don’t know if any of these programs are presently available but over the years, the services offered great deals for:
1) paying for college and nursing school
2) paying for nurse anethesists
3) paying for college as a Navy Nuclear Power officer
Good luck.
I would never be a pushy parent in this case especially. The military would have to be her choice 100%.
I like the idea of visiting and attending a class.
My daughter has really started coming into her own this year. I don’t think the military would have even been on her radar (ha) before this year.
tell her to go into something that is in demand in the civilian world. contracting , medical, emerg mgt is good. I spent 22 yrs in the AF, dirtboy. tell her to go in for 6 and then get out, the military will not be a good place for a career. retirement is changing as is medical care.
We know a boy (man I should say!) who did just that— joined the national guard and became an MP. He finished his MP training last year and is now home going to school. I see positive changes in him, although still typical 20 year old in many respects.
Advice? Yes. Tell her to join the Army or the Air Force, not the Navy. I have two daughters in the Navy. They would say the same thing.
I felt the same way when my 15 year old told me she wanted to go to West Point. By the time high school was over she no longer wished to do that but instead went to North Georgia State College and University (now called University of North Georgia). In those days (not that long ago) all the men had to be in ROTC and part of the corps.
I do not feel bad that she didn’t go into the military. In today’s military if you love your country you are not respected or valued (I read the stories). I do not trust the O admin to oversee the use of our military. I would not encourage anyone to go into the service these days.
I hate that it has come to that
FYI, the Navy used to have a program for young people referred to as “kiddie cruisers.” Join at 17 when you graduate from high school and exit the Navy on your 21st birthday with full benefits as if you had served 4 years.
I don’t know what this is worth now since I don’t know what benefits exist now, but perhaps this is something that you and she might want to look into.
My g-granddaughter started Navy JROTC when she entered high school and graduates this spring as Commander of the unit. Before that she led the armed drill team and participated in orienteering, community service and many other duties.
We were all excited that she was on a path to a Navy career, but she is now having second thoughts — as are we -— considering who is presently commander in chief.
However, if she should decide to enlist, we would be very, very proud. Oh yes, she is very pretty and is already taking college courses while finishing high school.
No experience with a daughter in the mil...
I will say this, Being a FMF Corpsman is great training, and if worth their salt, being a Corpsman with the Corp, is hands down the best job in the Navy (I retired as a FMF Corpsman, but my first 4 years was as a Marine) hold the jokes please....
The services have changed (retired 19 years this year) but still the best place to gain vastly diverse experiences.
I would have her check out the Navy or Marines...
Share? The truth is that they are on the whole completely unqualified physically and psychologically for the armed forces. Double standards abound so that girls and the left can try to pretend that displacing men with women hasn’t caused reduced combat readiness and many other problems in the armed forces.
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