Anonymous wrote:Both my husband and I did ROTC in college and served in the military. Best years of my professional life.

Oldest is currently in ROTC, others will follow.

Nice!

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Anonymous wrote:Understand there is a huge difference in quality of life and jobs if you are enlisted vs. officer so those saying they have degrees and officers are in a different situation than OP. OP, college first, then military.

This. I’d be fine with my kids joining after getting a four degree. I’m 42 and have a bunch of friends who did that, men and women. They were pilots, doctors, engineers, etc in the military and are now retiring after 20 years of service with excellent benefits. Those who are slightly older finished a few years ago and quickly got hired in the civilian world making great money.

What $ is great money?

I haven't asked to see pay stubs, but enough to put kids through private schools and full pay college, buy a home and nice cars in a well-heeled neighborhood, and have a spouse who works p/t or not at all. One of the guys works with my husband in the same position (senior level IT) and makes $250k.

My experience in my family is the same. My brother in law paid for exclusive private school in Milan Italy for his daughters while in the military. He paid full college pay at NYU for the daughters (he was peeved because they could have gone to Texas for very little money), has a spouse (My sister working only part time) and makes the good money listed above.

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Anonymous wrote:Understand there is a huge difference in quality of life and jobs if you are enlisted vs. officer so those saying they have degrees and officers are in a different situation than OP. OP, college first, then military.

This. I’d be fine with my kids joining after getting a four degree. I’m 42 and have a bunch of friends who did that, men and women. They were pilots, doctors, engineers, etc in the military and are now retiring after 20 years of service with excellent benefits. Those who are slightly older finished a few years ago and quickly got hired in the civilian world making great money.

What $ is great money?

I haven't asked to see pay stubs, but enough to put kids through private schools and full pay college, buy a home and nice cars in a well-heeled neighborhood, and have a spouse who works p/t or not at all. One of the guys works with my husband in the same position (senior level IT) and makes $250k.

A lot of guys get master's degrees while in the military or they get MBAs and enter the business world after their service.

Anonymous wrote:My DD plans to do ROTC in college so we’re supportive.

There's a big difference between someone who does ROTC and joins after college as an officer vs. someone who enlists out of high school in terms of their experience in the military and opportunities in and out of the military.

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Anonymous wrote:Understand there is a huge difference in quality of life and jobs if you are enlisted vs. officer so those saying they have degrees and officers are in a different situation than OP. OP, college first, then military.

This. I’d be fine with my kids joining after getting a four degree. I’m 42 and have a bunch of friends who did that, men and women. They were pilots, doctors, engineers, etc in the military and are now retiring after 20 years of service with excellent benefits. Those who are slightly older finished a few years ago and quickly got hired in the civilian world making great money.

What $ is great money?

I haven't asked to see pay stubs, but enough to put kids through private schools and full pay college, buy a home and nice cars in a well-heeled neighborhood, and have a spouse who works p/t or not at all. One of the guys works with my husband in the same position (senior level IT) and makes $250k.

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Anonymous wrote:Oh another military bashing thread, how lovely.

Military is the weapon of the government. Bashing U.S. government. I have no desire to have my child invade, bomb, drone kill people in another country.

When I served I never can close to doing anything like that. Military bases are like small cities, they have nearly every career imaginable.

Head in the sand. WHY do all of those little cities exist? To support the "trigger pullers" (miitary jargon)

They exist so you and millions of other people can enjoy many freedoms that otherwise would have been destroyed by enemies of the US.

I prefer people with brains solve disagreements between countries, not people with guns.

There is big emphasis in the military to work with people in other countries. My sister (US Marine) met and worked worked with military personnel at former Soviet bloc countries who all want to join Nato.
No countries ever want to join the Soviet bloc. There are requirements to joining Nato. Sixty years ago she would never have met with military that were in Soviet block countries.

Well of course they do! They want to be the part of the most dominant economic Empire in the world! They are not stupid. And it was called Warsaw Pact. Why would they want to join the losers in the economic, military and political game?

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Anonymous wrote:Oh another military bashing thread, how lovely.

Military is the weapon of the government. Bashing U.S. government. I have no desire to have my child invade, bomb, drone kill people in another country.

When I served I never can close to doing anything like that. Military bases are like small cities, they have nearly every career imaginable.

Head in the sand. WHY do all of those little cities exist? To support the "trigger pullers" (miitary jargon)

They exist so you and millions of other people can enjoy many freedoms that otherwise would have been destroyed by enemies of the US.

I prefer people with brains solve disagreements between countries, not people with guns.

There is big emphasis in the military to work with people in other countries. My sister (US Marine) met and worked worked with military personnel at former Soviet bloc countries who all want to join Nato.
No countries ever want to join the Soviet bloc. There are requirements to joining Nato. Sixty years ago she would never have met with military that were in Soviet block countries.

Anonymous wrote:Disappointed. I didn’t pay for college for a military career. He could have done rotc or a service academy if that were the goal and saved me thousands.

+1! I’d be livid that they didn’t do ROTC.

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Anonymous wrote:Oh another military bashing thread, how lovely.

Military is the weapon of the government. Bashing U.S. government. I have no desire to have my child invade, bomb, drone kill people in another country.

When I served I never can close to doing anything like that. Military bases are like small cities, they have nearly every career imaginable.

Head in the sand. WHY do all of those little cities exist? To support the "trigger pullers" (miitary jargon)

They exist so you and millions of other people can enjoy many freedoms that otherwise would have been destroyed by enemies of the US.

I prefer people with brains solve disagreements between countries, not people with guns.

So you think that recent college graduates should not join? Does that even make any sense?

If you are concerned with using technology as opposed to combat to solve problems then one would think that you would hope and pray that more college grads would join our military forces. The more solutions that we can develop, the more options that we have.

Very proud

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Anonymous wrote:Oh another military bashing thread, how lovely.

Military is the weapon of the government. Bashing U.S. government. I have no desire to have my child invade, bomb, drone kill people in another country.

When I served I never can close to doing anything like that. Military bases are like small cities, they have nearly every career imaginable.

Head in the sand. WHY do all of those little cities exist? To support the "trigger pullers" (miitary jargon)

They exist so you and millions of other people can enjoy many freedoms that otherwise would have been destroyed by enemies of the US.

They exist so that millions of people can have cheap oil and other products, so that the U.S. can exploits other countries and secure the markets the way it benefits the U.S. most. They exist so that the conglomerates can subjugate other nations and exploit them. They exist so that we can have cheap products in our stores. They exist so that the U.S.can prevent other countries from making trade deals that will limit the U.S. profits or allow other countries to dictate trade agreements. They exist to threaten violence to those countries that might be aligning with the "enemies" of the United States. Russia and China, for example. They exist to enforce the U.S. economic and political dominance in the world.
Seriously? How uneducated are you? Next thing you'll tell us is that the British Empire existed to bring civilization to India??

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Anonymous wrote:Oh another military bashing thread, how lovely.

Military is the weapon of the government. Bashing U.S. government. I have no desire to have my child invade, bomb, drone kill people in another country.

When I served I never can close to doing anything like that. Military bases are like small cities, they have nearly every career imaginable.

Head in the sand. WHY do all of those little cities exist? To support the "trigger pullers" (miitary jargon)

They exist so you and millions of other people can enjoy many freedoms that otherwise would have been destroyed by enemies of the US.

I prefer people with brains solve disagreements between countries, not people with guns.

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Anonymous wrote:Oh another military bashing thread, how lovely.

Military is the weapon of the government. Bashing U.S. government. I have no desire to have my child invade, bomb, drone kill people in another country.

When I served I never can close to doing anything like that. Military bases are like small cities, they have nearly every career imaginable.

I wonder what is the purpose of the military then? You don't feel guilty that you only cooked a meal for a person who operates the drone that kills people in Pakistan, Iraq, etc...?

I’d be shocked. We are a very pacifist family. I’d definitely try to steer his adventurous desires in another direction—doctors/engineers without borders, peace corps, etc. At the end of the day, I realize I have no control over a 22 year old, but I would hope he’d make a different choice.

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Anonymous wrote:Oh another military bashing thread, how lovely.

Sorry but this is how many Americans feel. You may not like to hear it, but that does not change how they feel.

They have a right, especially since taxpayers support EVERY service member's salary, benefits, equipment, etc.

No, this anti military stance is the outlier. Even among moderates and democrats. It’s the DC bubble.

We might be a bubble, but the U.S. military is a weapon of the U.S. empire. It invades, bombs, occupies and subjugates other smaller nations to bend them to their will and exploits them for their profit. If you think it is some world peace keeping apparatus, you are not educated enough to understand the power structure of the world. But, do not worry, U.S. is on its last leg of tyranny of the others. And that is a good thing. For that thing, and only for that thing, Trump is not bad for this country. Of course, he will cause mass violence in the country, so in the end this small attempt of no overseas wars won't really matter.