I was active duty army for 4 years. I was infantry, saw a bunch of combat, got out on medical with a blown knee from repeatedly banging the shit out of it in Iraq. If I could go back I wouldn't change a thing, but I also recommend against enlisting in any military branch 99% of the time it comes up.
I read what Fred Reed (above) had to say about the military not long after I joined. It was probably Christmas 2005. At the time, I thought being in the military was great. I was 6 months in and clueless. I didn't believe what he wrote then, but over the years I always remembered his essay and damn if he wasn't right about pretty much everything.
The only thing I disagreed on was combat. No, it's not awesome watching someone you know get their legs blown off by an RPG, or seeing a driver half crushed under his flipped Bradley, dying as soon as the Bradley is lifted and his insides are no longer held in by the armor plate in his guts. But nothing tests a man like war. It's very difficult for me to explain, but of my time in the army my deployment was by far the best part. I don't miss combat so much anymore, but I still get the itch when I watch war movies. A funny thing is I hardly remember the actual fighting, or the men I killed and the men I saw die. I can remember them if I think about it, but the memories that flip through my mind unbidden are the good ones.
The reality of being in the military is you will be lied to constantly, and in all likelihood your entire chain of command won't give two shits about you. If you're lucky you'll have a few decent NCOs, but you can bet money the officers and upper enlisted in your unit will be dumb as fuck and not worthy of your respect. It's not a meritocracy, and you will be passed over for promotions for guys who are less capable than you, but who suck dick the best, or have the right skin color, or hell maybe they just have kids and "need the extra money".
You'll work with the best and worst people you'll ever meet.
If you're lower enlisted, you will get shit on for every tiny mistake you make, while the NCOs and officers will get free passes because the commanders don't want a stain on their unit. Heaven forbid you work with women, but if you do get ready to do your job and theirs too because as soon as a deployment rolls around most of them will fuck every half hard dick in the barracks to get pregnant and skate out of deploying.
Your medical records will be lost every six months. If you do get hurt or sick, your unit and the medical personnel will think you're a lying piece of shit trying to goldbrick. By the time they take you seriously, your injury or illness will have gotten much worse. The treatment you do get will be subpar in one area or another; if you can, get treated by civilians. Depending on how common your injury is, it might be ignored entirely. Hearing loss was no longer a recognized disability when I was getting out, for example, because every asshole in combat arms had hearing loss and the federal government can't afford all those disability payments.
If you have money problems, there's about a 10% chance you'll have helpful people the S1 shop (personnel). If you don't, well, you're fucked unless you can get someone with some rank to stop playing solitaire for a few minutes to help you out.
Garrison sucks. It's boring as shit. Since the wars are pretty much wound down, it's only going to get worse. Expect to spend a lot of time doing police call around the company building or barracks. You'll also go to five or six formations a day where nothing is said except "next formation at 1130 hours", for which you will be expected to show up at 1100 hours, only to be yelled at by your first sergeant for standing around the company HQ.
If you do get deployed to a combat zone, you can look forward to rules of engagement and escalation of force requirements so convoluted that you'll get to choose between letting the enemy just kill you, and breaking the rules and risking jail time if the wrong person sees you. Public relations is much more important than your life, you see.
If you're accused of a crime, expect to be assumed guilty by your chain of command.
Obviously the above is an enlisted perspective. As an officer you'd be doing paperwork. And more paperwork. Being an officer is basically all politics. The only cool officer jobs are in aviation and special operations, IMO.
Anyway, that's just my experience. YMMV. It's not all bad, just keep in mind for every ounce of cool stuff you do there's a pound of steaming bullshit to choke down.
I read what Fred Reed (above) had to say about the military not long after I joined. It was probably Christmas 2005. At the time, I thought being in the military was great. I was 6 months in and clueless. I didn't believe what he wrote then, but over the years I always remembered his essay and damn if he wasn't right about pretty much everything.
The only thing I disagreed on was combat. No, it's not awesome watching someone you know get their legs blown off by an RPG, or seeing a driver half crushed under his flipped Bradley, dying as soon as the Bradley is lifted and his insides are no longer held in by the armor plate in his guts. But nothing tests a man like war. It's very difficult for me to explain, but of my time in the army my deployment was by far the best part. I don't miss combat so much anymore, but I still get the itch when I watch war movies. A funny thing is I hardly remember the actual fighting, or the men I killed and the men I saw die. I can remember them if I think about it, but the memories that flip through my mind unbidden are the good ones.
The reality of being in the military is you will be lied to constantly, and in all likelihood your entire chain of command won't give two shits about you. If you're lucky you'll have a few decent NCOs, but you can bet money the officers and upper enlisted in your unit will be dumb as fuck and not worthy of your respect. It's not a meritocracy, and you will be passed over for promotions for guys who are less capable than you, but who suck dick the best, or have the right skin color, or hell maybe they just have kids and "need the extra money".
You'll work with the best and worst people you'll ever meet.
If you're lower enlisted, you will get shit on for every tiny mistake you make, while the NCOs and officers will get free passes because the commanders don't want a stain on their unit. Heaven forbid you work with women, but if you do get ready to do your job and theirs too because as soon as a deployment rolls around most of them will fuck every half hard dick in the barracks to get pregnant and skate out of deploying.
Your medical records will be lost every six months. If you do get hurt or sick, your unit and the medical personnel will think you're a lying piece of shit trying to goldbrick. By the time they take you seriously, your injury or illness will have gotten much worse. The treatment you do get will be subpar in one area or another; if you can, get treated by civilians. Depending on how common your injury is, it might be ignored entirely. Hearing loss was no longer a recognized disability when I was getting out, for example, because every asshole in combat arms had hearing loss and the federal government can't afford all those disability payments.
If you have money problems, there's about a 10% chance you'll have helpful people the S1 shop (personnel). If you don't, well, you're fucked unless you can get someone with some rank to stop playing solitaire for a few minutes to help you out.
Garrison sucks. It's boring as shit. Since the wars are pretty much wound down, it's only going to get worse. Expect to spend a lot of time doing police call around the company building or barracks. You'll also go to five or six formations a day where nothing is said except "next formation at 1130 hours", for which you will be expected to show up at 1100 hours, only to be yelled at by your first sergeant for standing around the company HQ.
If you do get deployed to a combat zone, you can look forward to rules of engagement and escalation of force requirements so convoluted that you'll get to choose between letting the enemy just kill you, and breaking the rules and risking jail time if the wrong person sees you. Public relations is much more important than your life, you see.
If you're accused of a crime, expect to be assumed guilty by your chain of command.
Obviously the above is an enlisted perspective. As an officer you'd be doing paperwork. And more paperwork. Being an officer is basically all politics. The only cool officer jobs are in aviation and special operations, IMO.
Anyway, that's just my experience. YMMV. It's not all bad, just keep in mind for every ounce of cool stuff you do there's a pound of steaming bullshit to choke down.