What are your thoughts?

02198v__

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Hi all, just to preface, the purpose of this post is gathering your thoughts and opinions on my situation and what you would do if you were in my shoes and if you have seen similar experiences or have been through the same experience. This is not me asking what are my chances, this is purely an opinion post.

I graduated in 2021 with an engineering degree and was in the AFROTC program for 4.5 years out of the 5 years I was in school. I was an AS400, a scholarship cadet, and was set to commission in the spring of 2021 but was dealt some bad cards as soon as the new commander showed up in 2018 when I finished field training. Long story short, the commander initiated two investigations against me, one that I won with overwhelming support from character statements and he said (and I kid you not) "I just wanted you to own up to your mistakes which is why I started this disenrollment investigation", even my Captain was fully against it... Anyway, the second one was because he believed I violated the honor code, and some cadets in my commissioning class that I had bad relations with lied during the investigation and I was dropped from the program with a 3 marked on my DD785. (I still have screenshots of their texts lol)

Fast-forwarding, I have a job at a prime defense contractor, same level as Lockheed and Boeing. Amazing pay and I am currently working towards my Master's that is fully reimbursed and I am on track to make quite a bit in the next year due to a promotion. But whenever I see some of my friends from Field Training post about their achievements as a pilot, in the Space Force, or just traveling, I can't help but to feel a little envious because I was one semester away from achieving a childhood goal of mine. And I always think, what if I had just transferred schools after the first DI because of toxic leadership, would it have been different?

With that being said, should I still try for OTS/OCS for Air Force or another branch? Or should I stick to what I have now? I don't care what my odds are. Just want to see what you all think! Let me know the pros and cons that are running through your head after reading this!
 
Do you want to serve on AD in the USAF? Rather than make bucks as a high paid civilian?

Forget the envy you have of your former college mates. That would be a silly reason for serving.

If you want to serve then you can certainly try to serve. Will your previous honor issues stop you from being commissioned——that to me would be the key issue.

The last person I answered a similar question for , and then took my advice, this advice was about which units he might like, was dead within a month. KIA in his first and only firefight.


An adult working in a serious field and close to a masters should not need to depend on strangers on the Internet to answer a question such as ——should I join the US military.


Except for that honor issue and whether that will be a big obstacle or not.

Good Luck
 
Do you want to serve on AD in the USAF? Rather than make bucks as a high paid civilian?

Forget the envy you have of your former college mates. That would be a silly reason for serving.

If you want to serve then you can certainly try to serve. Will your previous honor issues stop you from being commissioned——that to me would be the key issue.

The last person I answered a similar question for , and then took my advice, this advice was about which units he might like, was dead within a month. KIA in his first and only firefight.


An adult working in a serious field and close to a masters should not need to depend on strangers on the Internet to answer a question such as ——should I join the US military.


Except for that honor issue and whether that will be a big obstacle or not.

Good Luck
Thank you for the reply!

I didn't go into much detail, and just wrote a very high level view on what my situation was and what goes through my mind. Everyone who knows me personally knows the passion I hold for mentoring and leadership. And to add on to that, I grew up in a military environment with my dad serving in the Air Force for 20+ years, he's definitely one of the main drivers on why I did AFROTC in the first place. Again, very high level, but I guess it's good to give you and any other reader an idea on another reason why I wanted to commission and do active duty.

As far as depending on strangers from the internet to answer a question like this. I definitely just wanted to see someone else's opinion and will not base my decision on others. It's never a bad idea to get a second opinion on anything in life; learning from others' experiences and hearing advice (good or bad) is something I value greatly. At the end of the day, it's ultimately my choice to move forward with whatever I am thinking of doing.

Thank you again for your input, I really do appreciate it!
 
No one should be telling you that you should join. They are not giving up the high paying job. They will not face the dangers you might face. They will not be the ones coming home potentially in a body bag. (This is also why I tell HS kids not to beg and pester their parents to support their decision to join the military)

If my HS or college age kids in the family asked me if they should join my answer would be no. if they have to ask the question then the answer from me would be no.

But if they come to me and said they want to join——then I can give hours worth of biased and unbiased advice good and bad.

I can even give advice on combat arms mos or rate——but I’d never suggest that is what they should want.

Your college mates, your dad, the military environment you grew up in——not very good reasons for wanting to go on AD IMO.

I wish you luck in this decision
 
No one should be telling you that you should join. They are not giving up the high paying job. They will not face the dangers you might face. They will not be the ones coming home potentially in a body bag. (This is also why I tell HS kids not to beg and pester their parents to support their decision to join the military)

If my HS or college age kids in the family asked me if they should join my answer would be no. if they have to ask the question then the answer from me would be no.

But if they come to me and said they want to join——then I can give hours worth of biased and unbiased advice good and bad.

Your college mates, your dad, the military environment you grew up in——not very good reasons for wanting to go on AD IMO.

I wish you luck in this decision
This is a very good take. And it is nice to see someone who is talking about it in a very realistic perspective. Because yes, from living in a military family (especially living overseas) and seeing all of my friends who have commissioned post about the positives and their achievements. I will admit, I romanticized it a bit in my view and I rarely considered the negatives, especially from what you just described at a top level.

I guess the grass isn't always greener on the other side. I did tell myself I'll see where my career progresses by the age of 30, and if I am not satisfied with the work I am doing and where I am at, I would weigh my options. But by then, I probably would have forgotten about my AFROTC experience, it's probably just because I just graduated last year that I am still on this.

Thank you again for your reply!
 
One thing I will say about getting old.

There will be dozens of roads not taken in your life. And when you get my age you may regret not taking some of those roads. That is human nature.

Even with the most successful lives and careers you will at the end ponder about the many things you never did in life but wonder about or wish you might have.
 
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