I joined the Navy in '82 after being a bum for a couple of years. While I was in DEP, got my first real job and met my future wife, so it looked like a bad move for awhile.
Spent 6 years in (Advanced Electronics required a 6 year hitch), did some overdue growing up, had a hell of a time, saw some things...
Not a momments regret...
Comrade Bork
I was 18 when I joined the Navy in 1975 - to get into Aviation. F14's on CV-64. yeah, baby! I don't regret a bit of it.
I first put on the Air Force uniform in September 1951 at the Univeristy of Arkansas two weeks after my 17th birthday. My motives were patriotism and desire to fly airplanes. AFROTC commission and active duty 1955. Regular Air Force 1961. The outline of my career is linked to my name. Retired from the Air Force in October 1985. Absolutely no regrets.
I believe most young people should volunteer for one tour of military service (enlisted or commissioned) -- to find out what they are made of, to grow up and earn some self-respect, and to repay a bit of the debt we all owe this country -- and then decide whether they will continue in the military or go into a civilian career.
I was nineteen when I went into the Navy. It was 1965. During my tour there was Vietnam, the explosion of the drug culture and the Black Power movement. I did not choose to re-up. I do not regret my service, in fact I am quite proud I served. I would recommend it to anyone who feels a sense of duty.
Went Navy ROTC when I was 17. Did it mainly because I was absolutely sure I would be an admiral. Didn't work out quite that way but I don't regret it at all. I can honestly say that I got more out of than it got out of me.
No regrets, no hind sight 'wish I had done that instead'.
I would advise any young person considering joining the military to give it a great amount of deep thought before doing so. It's not for everyone.
If they did decide to join, talk to all the recruiters, see which branch will will give you the most for your time.
It's just like negotiating for a job with more than one company.
Once you're in, do what your superiors tell you, do it when they tell you to do it, and do it well.
I would adivise any one to join if they asked me. I was commisioned USNR in 1985. Four of my active duty years, I dressed like a Marine. Those were the best 4 years of my service.
They paid for my school and I got to shoot nearly every weapon in the USMC armory. It just doesn't get much better. I was medical, if a group of marines looked like they were having fun, I just asked to join and they always let me jump right in. I can SPI rig, fast rope, and have more good stories than I can remember thanks to the USMC.
Thanks devil dogs.
Volunteered for the Marines my senior year of college in 1965. Became a heart-breaker and a life-taker. Regrets? Only that I did not extend for a second tour in Vietnam. Got out when the party was over.
What be motovate? Does it have to do with dirt bikes or something?
Just axing, yo.
My draft papers were on the kitchen table in my mother's hands when I got home from school 4 days later, she was crying. My dad was disappointed but he didn't give me one of his famous lectures. He said, "You had your chance, now it's time to make a decision, a decision that will be the most important of your life. What are you going to do, son"?
After a long night of drinking, pacing, and thinking and 2 hours sleep I went down to breakfast. It was a quiet breakfast with my family until I spoke. I looked at my dad and said, "I'm going to enlist today Dad, I'm going to enlist in the Army, and I'm going to be a 101st Airborne Ranger, just like you were in WWII". Mom broke down, dad hugged her and gave me the strangest look I'd ever seen. It was pride mixed with WTF are you doing? My little brother, as always, said the wrong thing, "Timmy, are you going to get killed"?. The rest is long and not interesting, needless to say, my brother had said the wrong thing, as was his forte.
When I got back from the recruiters office I had lots of paper. I left home at eight in the morning, I got back at 4 in the afternoon. I had been to people and places that were very special to me. I walked into the house and went to the kitchen, there was my father at the kitchen table. A slightly less that a full bottle of scotch and two glasses, his half full. I didn't even ask where my mother and brother was, I knew dad wanted to talk to me.
He poured me a half a glass of scotch and put 2 cubes of ice in it (why I remember those 2 ice cubes, I'll never know. Maybe because it's the first drink my Dad ever fixed me, and he was a professional bartender. He was famous for a full glass of scotch and ONLY 2 ice cubes). We talked about war, the Airborne, killing the enemy, the spirit of the Corps, the pride, the sacrifice until it was dark and that bottle of scotch was gone.
The day I left to report for duty was a real circus. My mother cried, my brother just wandered around not knowing what to do, and my dad just stood there like a great stone statue, nothing to say, and no where to move. When I boarded the bus mom was a bucket of tears, Bennie (my brother) was crying, cause mom was, and my dad grabbed me in a hug I had never felt before and said, "you come back here alive, DO YOU HEAR ME"? Then he pushed me back, with his hands on my shoulders and I saw he was crying. That's the first, and only time, I ever saw my father cry. He wasn't sobbing but the tears were running down his cheeks.
Last part of your question: did I believe in it. Answer: without a fragment of a doubt, and that's the way we fought, without a fragment of a doubt. The war in Vietnam was won by the troops on the ground. It was lost by the chickenshit politicians in the democratic party. We will not lose this one, not as long as I am drawing breath. Those troops will never feel what I felt. They will feel pride and the glory of victory and the freeing of an oppressed people. No shame, and NO SPIT. Not as long as this old Ranger breaths on God's green earth.
Happy New Year, and God Bless our troops and the United States of America!
Timy
I joined the USMC at age 18. I had graduated high school at 17 and asked my dad to sign for me and refused. At 18 I enlisted in the USMC for 4 years - my dad told me I was a fool and he was gonna have to bury me. How's that for a show of support? (my dad never was good with words, but I knew he was worried about my welfare). I wanted to serve my country in uniform, but not in the Navy as most all my family had been in, and not in the Army because I saw all the boots in downtown Louisville as I grew up, (Army boot camp was in Ft Knox not far from there).
I decided on the Marines because they had the reputation of being the toughest, so I wanted to prove that I had what it took. I digress...
I listened to Hanoi John Kerry on TV as he testified LIED before Senate committee (it was daytime drama, they actually preempted the soaps for that TRAITOR!), the day I shipped to boot camp. I was appalled by his comments and didn't know what to think as I got on the plane to MCRD San Diego. I had followed Lt. Calley's trial for the My Lai massacre just a few weeks prior. I digress... again.
I was an airdale Jarhead and got sent to Cherry Point, NC. Can you spell B-O-R-I-N-G? After 2 moths there I volunteered for Vietnam and was on my way! The first terrorist attack by the Islamofascistjihadists (the Berlin massacre of the Israeli Olympic team), occured while I was flying over the pole to Asia.
Was warmly welcomed to Vietnam by the VC with a rocket attack just hours after arriving in country. Woke up in the middle of it with a helluva hangover (from drinking all night in Japan during a layover), and crawled under the cot till everything settled down - missed a direct hit on the bunker where I should have been. (One "Get of jail FREE" card wasted there for sure!) I digress once more... dangit!
OK, where was I?? Oh yeah, left Bien Hoa for "The Rose Garden" in Thailand, (Nam Phong). Can you say HOT AND HUMID? Finally left there in 1974 for Iwakuni, Japan where I spent the next 3 years. Since I have digressed so much let me summarize the remainder of my USMC career: I stayed in the Marines for 22 years and retired as a Gunnery Sergeant!
Regrets? I had a few, but then again too few to mention... I did what I had to do, I did it all, without pretension.. I've laughed... Oops, there I go singing "My Way" again - sorry about that, I digressed AGAIN!
Would I recommend military service to a young person? Well, to me the Marine Corps was the best thing that ever happened, (next to my sons being born). But I am lucky in that I served 22 years and came out with almost all the parts I went in with. Some are not that fortunate. I believe that EVERY VETERAN deserves the thanks of the citizens of this country - they earned it with their service and sacrifice!
My twin sons are about to follow in my footsteps as they ship off to Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego January 9, 2006. I hope their career is as interesting as mine was!
Semper Fi!
I was 25 when I joined the Michigan National Guard. Joined for the educational benefits and to contribute to national defense. Ultimately came away with something far more valuable than just the pay and benefits.
I just scrolled through the posts – I wonder what the response would be on the DU site.
Joined at 18 after dropping out of HS twice. Needed to make some changes cause I was on the fast track to Attica, and I just really didn't like the thought of saying "Honey, I cleaned the cell" for 7-10 years
Stayed over 21 years, and don't regret it one minute. Was and Air Force cop for the whole time, and now work for the State of TX as a cop. The military got me on the right track
I was 19. I got drafted.