Posted on May 1, 2015
MSG Morgan Fiszel, CPCM, CFCM
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What is more impressive and useful, a Bachelor's degree and above or tabs and badges? Justify response.
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Responses: 35
SSG Arnie Jones
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Active Duty will not last for ever. Badges are great for later on war stories. But your education will get you further in life.
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SGT Anthony Rossi
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It depends on who's looking at them. Are you referring to impact inside or outside the service.
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MAJ Clinical Psychology
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No need to choose one or the other, but the degree is undoubtedly more broadly applicable. A badge/tab is essentially like one course out of many in a degree, even if it is a vastly more interesting and hooah course than most.
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1SG David Lopez
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A college degree helps a person when they exit the military, it helps while you are in the military. Tabs/badges are gut tests/accomplishments while in the military, although they probably will not mean anything to civilian employers. What the civilan employer cares about is what do you bring to the table now. A college degree and military experience should make you marketable, but you still have to be a go-getter. Get the college classes as much as possible while you are in the military. What you do now will set the pattern for the rest of your life. The best advice I ever heard was, "Don't take it easy!"
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1LT Nick Kidwell
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Tabs and badges because they take a GREAT deal more Army-related effort.

In my experience, any Yayhoo with a bit of perseverance can get a BS degree...
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CPL Brendan Hayes
CPL Brendan Hayes
>1 y
To be honest, meeting someone and finding out they have a degree usually gets a response of, "Oh...ok." Meeting someone who has earned wings or a tab gets more of a, "Awesome, your next drink is on me." Maybe it's because I have a couple of degrees but no wings or tabs. :D
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1LT Nick Kidwell
1LT Nick Kidwell
>1 y
CPL Brendan Hayes - I'm simply keeping it in the context in which I read the original post.

Otherwise, you're preaching to the choir. Read my profile and you'll see what I mean.
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MSG Dan Castaneda
MSG Dan Castaneda
>1 y
CPL Brendan Hayes - I disagree. If you have a Trident or a SF tab, they will open more doors for you than a degree. Regardless if you next boss has ever served. He has an idea what kind of man it takes to earn one.
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CPL Brendan Hayes
CPL Brendan Hayes
>1 y
MSG Dan Castaneda - I am speaking from my personal experience. Many of the civilians I have dealt with get their ideas of the military from Jason Bourne movies or Lee Child books. The assumption that goes along with a tab or trident from civilians is often that of slight discomfort. Granted, I'm not from the Special Ops community, but based on the responses I get from civilians when I tell them I am a veteran (artillery) I get the feeling that most of them have no clue. They know that the individual is tough, but they don't get that it is more than just physical toughness.
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