Did you join or want to join the military mainly for the prestige and benefits?

[Anonymous]

obviously to serve your country, but I did used to think about being an officer, and if I joined, I would’ve had friends for life, women like a man in uniform, and I feel like it’s easy for those guys to find spouses, would’ve done some adventurous things, and for future career prospects, like I want to run for office, having military experience is a big plus. I think what I should’ve done is do the track where they pay for your college and then you owe them six years as an officer. It seemed pretty reasonable. Of course I’d be sacrificing time with my family at home, but yeah.

[Just_Ken]

I joined at 16. Completed my A levels, Btecs and trained as an electrician in army, got tickets for all sorts of vechiles. Saw deployment in Iraq, Afghanistan, Cyprus, the falklands and Bosnia.

Infantry soldier is a skill in itself but it doesn't translate to civilian life that well so try to have an education and or trade before you leave. Use every opportunity given and make things happen. Also on being an infantry soldier, its a hard station but its hard on the body. A lot of my mates that were in for 10 years ended up retiring early with back or leg injuries, early arthritis in their joints and ended up working as security guards for minimum wage.

Any schemes going to help you get a mortgage at a low rate take it. I did. Ended up buying my grandmother's home for her and have two more I rent out. My grandmother lives in it but its in my name, of course whenever she dies probably in the next ten years there will be drama as the vultures in the family will feel entitled to it.

The US Airforce might be your best bet, they are very much like the RAF in that they look after their personel a lot better.

[slatyb]

No, the pay is terrible and it's risky and it's no easier for them to find a partner. You have to compare any benefits after service with the money you could have made working in the private sector.

[Asker]

being an officer isn’t terrible pay

[msc545]

It's not great, but you're right, it's not terrible. That's not the problem either. The problem is the moral injury that you will sustain.

[slatyb]

Terrible is relative to one's career plans. If the goal is to maximize total earnings over ten years, you need to compare the pay in service against the pay you would receive starting a professional career at the same time. A delay of several years before starting a professional career can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars at retirement.

[slatyb]

Here's an example: suppose you attend school to be an engineer, then have a four year service obligation. So instead of starting your career at, say, $100K/year, you are an officer making $90K/year, with some annual pay increases. So:

ROTC+Service No Service Difference
0 -100K -100K
80K 100K -80K
85K 110K -55K
90K 120K -25K
95K 130K +10K
--- End of Service --
100K 140K +50K
...
after twenty years, those four years of lost experience will have cost you one or two million

[msc545]

Also keep in mind, if you wind up in combat, you can very easily get killed or maimed. Being maimed includes lovely things like literally getting your balls and penis blown off, which has happened to several of my patients who were blown up by mines. Those parts are not replaceable. The terrible psychiatric injuries these guys suffer are also not particularly fixable.

[msc545]

Yeah, I don't think so. My country commits far too much genocide for me to be comfortable with this kind of thing. The last reasonable, justifiable war was World War II. After that, it's all been crimes. I'm not a criminal, and I don't want to participate. Thanks for asking.

[strateguy632]

i didn't