Son Wants to Join Marines - What Say You?

Anti-stance wrote: In reply to Rusted_Busted_Spit: It's like college but the faculty drinks a lot also.

So it is exactly like college.

Not quite. None of my teachers/professors would have a couple of kegs waiting for us after taking a test. But we did have kegs after a fun run instead of going to work.

You join the Army, Navy, or Air force. You are a Marine.

Hungary Bill wrote: I've given a lot of thought to the decisions I've made in my life. Joining the Navy was the smartest move I've ever made, and I could go on all day as to "why" if given even half a chance.

+1 for the decision of joining the Navy having been one of the best decisions I ever made ...

as an officer or enlisted he should be better for the experience, whether he makes a career or not ... as to the going to school to have something when he gets out ... he can always go to school after service ... when I went back after the Navy I noticed that many many students straight out of HS never made it through their first try at a college education, whereas the returning service personnel seemed to do quite a bit better ... maybe we had a chance to grow up a bit + see just how it was living on our own ( sorta ) the Navy was a bit like a half-way house as far as living away from mommy and daddy ...

Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote: When I was on Active Duty I was in the Air Defence Artillery ( ADA). The running joke was that it stood for Alcoholics Defending America. Its kind of like being in college, but without the studying and having to stay in shape.

Every service with an acronym that has an 'A' in it works the word alcohol into there somehow.

THAT should tell you something.

Yeah, its not a branch specific thing. It's just an age thing in general.

I just remembered I've got a book called "Making the Corp" I bought from Amazon a few years ago. I thought it was pretty good. You might want to buy a copy for him.

honestly, if I had not been 4F.. I would have joined. Not the Marines (I had a Grandfather who was a drill sargent (25 years) and not the Navy (father was in for 12) and I have heard too many of their horror stories. Like was what was posted on page one.. I would have gone Coast Guard. I prefer their emphasis over saving lives than taking them..

I say tell him to pick another branch. And I'm sure I'll catch flack for saying this, but the Marine Corp is an underfunded, overromantized, PR machine. I've worked with Marines and have nothing against them personally, but on the whole I think the Marine Corp is a pointless "branch".

If he wants to join and serve, all well and good. But I would seriously try to steer him towards any of the other branches.

As a Navy vet I always recommended AF to anyone I knew. That said, I made E-6 in just over 4 years and my Navy training is what got me into my field. The training I got in the Nuclear Field is second to none, anywhere.

I will go out on a limb here and not recommend an Academy. One of the biggest personal benefits to be gained as a member of the armed services is the ability to look past a lot of cultural/racial and various other stereotypes and recognize that the guy next to you has value as someone who is going to save your life, regardless of his otherness. He is your brother, whether he is the same ethnicity or not. For some reason the "Ring Tappers" from the Academy seem to usually carry an undeserved sense of superiority, and they never get what I see as the biggest cultural benefit from service.

I wouldn't recommend to a friend that he become one of those people.

oldopelguy wrote: I will go out on a limb here and not recommend an Academy. One of the biggest personal benefits to be gained as a member of the armed services is the ability to look past a lot of cultural/racial and various other stereotypes and recognize that the guy next to you has value as someone who is going to save your life, regardless of his otherness. He is your brother, whether he is the same ethnicity or not. For some reason the "Ring Tappers" from the Academy seem to usually carry an undeserved sense of superiority, and they never get what I see as the biggest cultural benefit from service. I wouldn't recommend to a friend that he become one of those people.

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Update - First I want to thank all of you for your input! Although I didn't respond specifically to a lot of what has been said, I did read through the thread with my son Steve.
He met with an ROTC recruiter about 2 weeks ago. I also talked with his high school guidance counselor (who's hot, BTW!) and she subsequently talked with him last Friday. In the meantime, I've had him talk with various people about the military, college and careers in general. Well yesterday he came to me and told me that he has decided to not join the military in any way, and instead is going to go to college! With all my respect for our troops, I am one happy father! Broke, too, now that I have to pay for two kids to go to college, but at least he's got a much better chance of staying alive, and that's all I care about.
Anyone interested in a TVR or a Mustang???