Originally Posted by
revchuck
I'm definitely prejudiced, being retired military, but I believe going into the military between high school and college is a good path for someone not sure of what they want to do. It gives them life skills that work well in college and afterwards
In some cases.
On the other hand it can screw you up for life; the guys I served with who came back from Nam were, in the majority, pretty altered. As are more than a few of the kids coming back from our latest "Adventures in Places We Don't Really Get".
Sign on the line and you're basically a warm body that they can do with as they please; don't think you're exempted from being sent to somewhere to be shot at despite what the recruiter is going to tell you. And for all the "Support Our Troops" bumper sticker sales and pablum laced propaganda politicians would rather cut your pension than give up a weapons system nobody needs.
That said you get to throw hand grenades and shoot cool guns, and if you're lucky throw tear gas at people and fly around in *****in helicopters with guys who like to hover over topless sunbathers on house boats. At least I did.