Congrats to you and her! Does she have any interest in attending a service academy or is she enlisting out of high school or will she go ROTC in college and join after graduation?
talk her out of it. they are purging out real Christians now. don’t let her join up.
I come from a military family from mom to brothers dad and uncle. I had a chance to go to Annapolis and become a Marine pilot. I still regret not going but my career anyway worked out. She’ll need some long hard thinking and research into what she wants and what branch. I think Air Force first, Navy second, Coast Guard third, Marines and lastly Army.
The military is no place for a woman....
How blessed you are!!!!!
I tried to join the Army when I was 18 - even dressed for the occasion- 4 inch hot pink stilettos, a blue jean mini skirt, Flashdance torn t-shirt and blonde curls cascading past my waist.
I stood in front of the Army recruiter, an ebony black gentleman with gold wire spectacles perched on the end of his nose, who was reading something and didn’t acknowlege me for several minutes. Without moving any other muscle, he raised his eyelids, looked up and barked, “Kin ah hep ya?” I tossed my blonde hair over my shoulder and proudly announced that I was there to join the Army. He flicked his eyes from my shoes to the top of my head, looked back at what he was reading and absentmindedly said, “Little gull, you bettah talk to yo daddy ‘bout dat.”
Thus ended any hopes I had of a military career.
Active Duty/Retiree ping.
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.
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 I pray that Obama’s entire legacy will be repealed within the first hundred days after America is freed, but in any case I expect his contamination of our military to be swept away quickly.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.
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
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.
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
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.