I declared a few pages back that I was swearing off this thread. But some things — sadly, very sadly — are an irresistible force. Like turning our heads to witness a car wreck.
@MichaelT2022, like just about everyone here, I say this with respect and good intentions: You are not ready for — or are in good position to — join an officer-accession program or take on debt to attend a four-year college. And I’m not sure enlisting is right for you either — at least in the next year or two.
You need a year or two to mature, to become a young adult, to live outside your father’s constraints, to make some real-life but low-risk decisions, and to test your conviction to be a Marine. And the best place for that is community college. Many very successful people have begun adulthood on this path. There is no shame in it, only opportunity for growth if taken seriously.
Unless he is abusive in some way, you will need and want your father’s love and support and presence for the rest of your life — whether you join the military or not, but especially if you do. It’s not worth defying and alienating him to do something — enlist in the Marines — that you don’t seem cut out for at this time and even seem fearful of. The Marines declare “every man a rifleman,” yet you’ve stated your desire to avoid combat, your preference for a behind-the-lines job, your lack of physical fitness, your fear of getting hurt at boot camp. I agree with those who say, in your current state and with your approach, you’d likely get chewed up and spit out. That’s just not worth ruining your relationship with your father.
You’ve been too close, too involved, too invested, too obsessed with this looming decision of how to join the military. You desperately need the perspective of someone who has stepped away from it all to clear their head. So go to community college for a year or two, experience what it means to be an adult, and then re-engage in the possibility of a military path — and whether it’s still what you want, how badly you want it, and whether there are paths you hadn’t yet considered.
One or two years from now, the Marines will still be there. As will be the Army and Air Force and Navy and Coast Guard. As well as non-military paths that may not seem right at this time, but could very well be correct.
The choice du jour — du minute? — seems to be Norwich with $40,000 debt. No one with your level of indecisiveness and vacillation should take on that kind of debt. It merely seems like the best of some poor options right now. Just don’t do it!
Who knows. Maybe you’ll someday become a general or an admiral. Or a sergeant major or a master chief petty officer. Or have a shorter and less distinguished — but nonetheless successful and honorable — military career. But it ain’t gonna happen on the path you’re on. Invest less time in publicly waffling on SAF, spend more time developing your maturity.
And with that, I’m officially out.
