MILITARYFAGS PLS HELP

Engineering in the military =/= engineering as a civilian.

You will literally be a hesco barrier building bitch, out stuck repairing AC. But keys be honest,you won't even be repairing AC. you'll be stuck just watching a contractor repair ac. On interesting days you'll lay concrete and asphalt.

If you want to be an engineer in the armed forces,you might as well be a real construction worker that contracts to war zones that way you'll make 6 figures.

>>31365175
ROTC? No obligations to join until junior year unless you get a scholarship or some shit

>>31365175
I am in the Army. Listen to me.

Only join the armed forces if you actually want to join the armed forces. It is not a fallback plan. Whatever personal factors caused you to fail in your life will follow you into the military, and be magnified by the stresses of military life.

If there is anything at all that you would rather do, do that. Maybe work for a while, save up some money working a shit job, and then take a permanent vacation to another location. Do your community college, do literally anything else.
Once you sign that dotted line and raise your right hand, it will be all you will be doing for at least 4 years. Your total obligation will be 8 years, so you won't be able to really do your own thing for nearly a decade.

Only join the military if you have felt drawn to the military or felt like you should join the military for years. If everything you've ever thought about doing has been in the context of the military, and you try to find ways to fit your interests into some military related job in some way, then go military.

tldr: If you've thought about the military for years, do it because you will forever regret not doing it. If you've only thought about the military after exhausting other options, do not join, because you will be a prisoner.

If you're only interested in the engineering aspect, I wouldn't bother. If you're at all into the military, it's a pretty good experience for a young man, but obviously it comes with a lot of bullshit. Reserves are an option, and are a fucking cakewalk if you want to go that route.

>>31365175

Engineers in the civilian world are people who use math to solve practical problems. Like building an engine.

Engineers in the military get their name from "seige engineers" people whining the past made siege engines like catapults. Military engineers do things like dig holes for machine guns, or clear routes of mines. They don't actually learn any math or anything like a civilian engineer.

If you want to be an engineer then go to college. If you want to be the schmuck who goes out with the intention of blowing up landmines and hoping that you don't get killed be a military engineer.

TL;RD: You are retarded and engineer can mean more than one thing.

>>31365230
Are you referring to 12B when you describe that? Is there anything else you would recommend instead?

>>31365252
What's this? how do I find out more about it?

>>31365318
I have thought about joining the military a few times throughout my life. I have always been playing vidya and hitting the bong instead of being active or studying, so I always pushed it to the back of my mind. Now that I'm 23, making pizzas, living at home, and thinking about fall term, it's dawning on me that I might not have another chance to join. I could describe it as balancing the timing, desire, and options available to me, does that make sense?

>>31365413
Google "Army ROTC". All military branches have ROTC of some sort (the Marines are part of Navy ROTC). http://www.goarmy.com/rotc.html

A lot of colleges have ROTC opportunities. Here's your classes. http://www.goarmy.com/rotc/courses-and-colleges/curriculum.html

>>31365413
Im saying don't join. Become a construction worker or contractor

>>31365567
Why not?

>>31365318
When did you join?

>>31365413
As a former 12B, no. In my 8 years I never drove a forklift, filled heskos, built buildings or any type of construction work.

In 2 deployments to Afghanistan and 1 to Iraq, I cleared routes. We drove around for hours, sometimes several days, looking for roadside bombs, unexploded ordinance, mines and ambushes. We escorted Construction Engineers to do construction outside the wire. Once we got to tag along with some 3ID guys and assist breaching a compound, which was pretty tits, and cleared a suspected area of mines (a time consuming and tedious task, that has the added bonus of being incredibly stressful)

You'll learn a lot about explosives, small unit tactics, expedient and deliberate obstacles, and a bunch of other conventional war stuff. Take this with a grain of salt, as I got out in 2012, and have no idea what the climate or training is like now, but when I was in when I was in, training focused on combat readiness. It is a POG job but it's still combat arms. I had a lot of fun doing it, and would recommend it.

It will not translate into civilian life at all, and from what you've said in the thread I wouldn't recommend you doing it. Like another anon said, you'll feel like a prisoner, and it will reflect in your day to day performance. You need to sit down and think if the military is actually right for you. Don't put yourself, your peers, and your leaders through the shitty existence of a dirtbag soldier because you feel like you're out of options. You want to do it, without a doubt? Go for it, have fun blowing things up.