Hello lamborghini-talk,

Let me start by saying I'm a 20 year old guy who's contemplating what I want to do in my life. I'm a huge exotic car fan and one of my biggest dreams is owning an exotic. More importantly though I want to be happy and successful. I've finished one year of college(mechanical engineering major) and don't feel like I'm doing much. This semester I've decided to stay home and figure out what I want to do.

I loved my first year of school in many ways. I made plenty of friends, I got to meet and hang out with lots of successful people, and I matured in many ways. I maintained a 3.0 gpa and thoroughly enjoyed all except for a few classes while in school.

Still, I have a dilemma. I come from a family with somewhat of a military background. Many of the men in my family have served and I have friends who do as well. While I was at school studying and taking tests I had friends who were jumping out of planes or taking defense intelligence classes. I never felt like I was living my life fully while at school no matter how much I did.

Currently, I've spoken to a few recruiters about enlisting in jobs. I'm interested in jobs like air traffic control, intelligence, and nuclear sciences. I've read on them thoroughly for months as well as talked to recruiters.

I'm wondering if anybody on the forum has been prior enlisted/officer and if it has helped their success/happiness in life. The reason I'm asking on here is because obviously many members on the forum are not just financially set but successful in general. I've been lucky enough in life to be surrounded by many people just like you and have talked to a fair amount of them about it but I'm looking for a third party perspective. What do members here think of the military as a way to help yourself in life?



* To prior service and others please don't think I want to use the military as a stepping stone to only help myself. The military has been on my mind since I was young. I'm just a confused 20 year old who cannot figure out what I want to do.

stay in school and get better grades

3.0 is what i consider as ****ty grades. most top recruiters of real jobs in private sector are looking for 3.5 or higher.

no offense to those that are in arm forces but do you really want to be with everyone that is loss in their life and joined the force because they don't know what to do with their lives? also, those in the military get orders from politicians. no thanks.

Yeah, big decision point in life for you. First, an exotic car isn't a goal, its the result of meeting goals.

I am a Mechanical Engineer. The job prospects for you in this are amazing. Within 5-7 years, we will lose 15% of our workforce to retirement. We literally can't get qualified Engineers in the door. So if you have the aptitude, it can be a great career. Go look at salary dot com.

I have nothing against the military, for alot of guys its a good step. But if you have the aptitude and drive to be an Engineer, enlisting now will be counterproductive. The armed forces had a program that paid for junior and senior year college if you committed to be an officer for 4 years of active duty. My cousin did this, did his time, went back to civilian status but stayed in the reserves. Now he is a Commander in the Naval reserves and a practicing Electrical Engineer.

Disagree somewhat with the other poster on grades. Getting out of an Engineering program with a 3.0 is quite an accomplishment. My GPA was a 3.3, and I was in the top 15%.

This is pretty true. Although I wouldn't call a 3.0 in an Engineering Degree an 'accomplishment' anymore, most recruiters have a 3.0 cutoff as opposed to the 3.5+ of most industries. I am noticing though that the cutoffs are going up in engineering.

Regardless, we need more people in STEM. Salaries are great. Upward mobility looks the best it ever has due to the aging workforce. Also, even if you don't want to stay in Math and Science forever a STEM degree works as a better platform for advanced degrees (MBA, Law School, Med School, etc) than the 'easier' subjects.

Hmm, it would be WAAAAYYYY better to finish college and then enlist. You'd come in with some rank, instead of Private errr Parts.

And hmm 3.0 sounds QUITE a bit low, sorry man.

And wasn't Roy Katz in the military? I apologize if I am mistaken Roy.

Without knowing anything else and the ability to do so, I'd say stay in school, knock that degree out, keep that option on the table, then start making decisions. There are probably a lot of enlisted guys out there who rode the pain train that would agree with me. Locate the officer recruiters for your region and get their laydown on commissioning programs that might even apply to you right now. That being said, take all opinions -- recruiters, civilians who haven't served, me, everyone -- with a grain of salt. This is the big-boy time that you've always looked forward to. Remember to keep driving your own show and don't let it drive you.

Judging by your interests, I'm guessing that you're looking at the Navy. Of course I'm going to recommend becoming an officer over enlisting. The pay, the future, quality of life, etc., etc. Your path could be easy, or it could get miserable really fast on the enlisted side. The division between officer and enlisted is the most stark in Naval service, probably because of hundreds of years of discipline in confined quarters (boats). If you got into a nuke power program, officer or enlisted, the school would still be twice as difficult as college and plenty of folks fail academically. Although the pay as a civilian working in that field could be very comfortable, in some cases supportive of an exotic car habit. There isn't as much money in intelligence if you go in that direction -- not terrible, just not big dollars routinely. If you end up in the military for 4-10 years, that might be enough time away from engineering to loose currency in the field if that concerns you. A 10 year+ O-4 (Lieutenant Commander/Major) is a low six-figure guy at this point. Include the bonuses that you get in some fields like nuclear power or aviation on top of that, and you're doing ok. Not getting rich, but certainly not starving. The military is an excellent starting point for a life in ATC, albeit an enlisted track only. Senior FAA controllers today are low six figure types, which might mean an exotic car could strain the budget with life's costs since we're theorizing about life in 10-20 years where all of this could change.

However, the officers I know who are very well off financially did it like anyone else did -- with some other side interest, business, or investment plan; i.e. not on income alone because you can only go so far. I'm sure they're out there, but I really don't know any enlisted folks who are close to being well-off or have serious prospects of it if relying on their military experience. That's certainly a combination of factors and statistics beyond simply having enlisted, but you get the point. I did meet a guy, who looked too old to be working on a carrier deck, who finished his residency [M.D.] and enlisted in the Navy to "see the world" because he was miserable...go figure. He sure as hell got an adventure...and 150 degrees F in the middle of the Persian Gulf with tie-down chains over his shoulders. Mind you, he was one out of a million probability-wise, but there nonetheless. I even researched if his background checked out, and it did.

Which leads me to my last point, living. He'll never forget those days sweating his balls off on the other side of the world launching strikes into the jeehawd. There's more to life than money. Only you can assess what it's worth to you. You could become a billionaire, but I've done things in the military that no amount of money can buy and I'll die knowing that I did as much as I could with life. As a 20yo, you're in the ideal position to do that if that's a priority for you. I bought a Lamborghini, but it's just one thing that decorates the cake. You've heard the deal...tomorrow is never guaranteed.

This paints the picture that the military is filled with lost souls, which it isn't. Most 20yo's don't know what to do with their lives, so you're surrounded whether you're in the military or not. If anything, joining the military gives people an entirely new perspective on life and the world, leaving their high school friends behind to languish in mediocrity (blind to it because they might not know anything different). Take that one step further, and being a civilian isn't some magical utopian existence where you breath freedom all day long and are so wildly independent to ride the jetsream of creative thought and innovation -- that mental agility is incongruent with military life. Politicians are also no different than the rest of the f'ing morons you might work for in business or industry. Point being, we're all people, with the same flaws. Even being your own boss means having to deal with people and restrictions that aren't ideal, and you're still a slave to someone. The question is, you only have one life that you know about right now...what are you going to do with it? I can tell you for sure that Naval Aviation for my example is replete with the most focused and ambitious personalities on Earth that are so rare that any 20yo off the street has a better chance of playing for the NFL than flying a Hornet. I was 4 when I made up my mind and told my parents what was going to happen with me.

Thanks for the response shark! I have seriously considered the ROTC route and have talked with the officers in charge about this as well. Also, I appreciate the comment on my gpa, ha. I worked hard for a 3.0. I do understand what djantlive, Just_Hayes, and Ravill are saying. I know it has to to be higher and I studied alongside the same kids who got 3.5s and 4.0s. Sometimes you just have those few tests that kill you.

That said, I completely understand that the profession needs new people filling slots and it's a great time to get into it so I will definitely take it into account.

Wow Singleseat I very much appreciate this response. I see that you were obviously a hornet pilot which is awesome. Hearing from a BTDT is a huge help.

The reason I've considered enlisting is for a few reasons that I didn't all mention before.
First of all, like I said, sometimes I don't feel like I'm doing enough. Maybe it's a personal problem but I feel like I could be doing more to better myself and those around me.

Second, my father was prior enlisted in special operations. He is now very successful in business and attributes lots of his success to how the military changed him. He isn't necessarily pushing for me to enlist as he was prior but now has a doctorate but he tells me all the time of how the military helped his life and he thinks if I can't figure my life out there's nothing wrong with trying it out.(I'd like to point out that I've talked to him about it obviously and that is exactly why I'm asking you gentlemen. It's nice to get an unbiased, honest opinion. Also, my decision isn't based off of what he wants me to do but his input obviously is going to affect my decision)

Third, I owe almost 30k in loans from last year alone. I am getting helps from my parents on the interest which is awesome but it really hit me at the end of the year and I saw the amount. I completely understand almost everybody has them but they really get put in perspective when you see the numbers at a young age.

As far as talking to officers, I have talked to the ROTC Officer in Charge for both our programs, Air Force and Army. I've considered the Air Force route more than Army as far as ROTC goes(Navy over others as far as enlisted). The problem is that the military is cutting on everything and ROTC is only giving money to very few people(at least in the AF).

I haven't looked at the pay charts in a while but an O-4 making around 100k in 10 years does make things sound better. Plus benefits, bonuses, and eventually retirement pay.

In the end it's not necessarily about the money but about what I succeeded to get done in my life and I guess that's why I'm considering enlisting. Friends of mine are loving the military and doing more than I am at school. On the flip side I can wait a few years and commission as an officer with a degree
and you've given me great reasons to do so and I appreciate that, it's exactly what I'm looking for. I honestly am very much undecided and I don't have time to waste my life yet that's what I'm doing while not deciding.

Thanks for the input you've helped a lot SingleSeat, as well as everybody else.

Yup, reading SingleSeat's posts like that makes me smile too.

Naval Aviation is a subset of aviation that is one of my other dreams. Too bad I get motion sickness in the small planes and I'm already in my mid 30's too damn old!

Excellent post, SingleSeat.

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2008 Gallardo Superleggera / Mango-flavored
2008 528i / Licorice-flavored