If you could offer advice to a prospective military recruit (regardless of service) about joining and planning a career, what would you say?

I'm not military, but as someone who has run the attraction and military recruiting strategies for major companies for last several years, and who has a daughter currently contemplating the military, I have some observations and advice for sure.

Observations/Things to consider:
- We ask kids to make decisions for the rest of their life (both college and military) before their brain is fully developed and before they have the ability to truly understand the impact of long-term decisions, i.e. consequential thinking.
- Military recruiters may over-exaggerate the portability and experience of certain jobs to translate over to the civilian world. I've seen too many kids join and be disappointed that a) their job wasn't what they thought it was going to be b) they were just assigned a job they had no interest in c) their job isn't something that has the portable training or experience they were told it would.

Advice:
1) Seek out military members to interview about their experience. Ask hard questions to understand their "why," how it turned out and if the person they are talking to (and their families) feel like it was worth it on the other side. Ask them to tell you the reasons why they think you shouldn't join the military and then discuss why you still think you should. This is the same thing I encourage employers to do with some of their not as fun jobs - show the ugly side and see if people are still interested. If they are - they are much more likely to be successful vs. people who are sold one thing and end up doing something they hate. Dis-engaged employees impact the efficiency of your team - whether military or corporate.

2) Ask yourself why you are joining and have a good answer. Translated: Have a goal - don't just join without a plan if at all possible.

- Do you simply have a strong desire to serve your country?
- Are you trying to get away from your parents and avoid college?
- Are you joining with the intent to be a lifer? If so, what's your end goal?
- Are you joining to get some training and a head start on a specific career and plan to use your GI Bill to attend college after?
- Do you want to be in leadership? If so, have you fully evaluated your options re ROTC and OCS vs. going enlisted first?

3) It's YOUR responsibility to understand what jobs are possible in each area of service and do your homework because of the military recruiters who exaggerate the transition probability of certain jobs. Do your own research, extensively, to understand:
- what the real career path is?
- does the experience and training you receive truly give you the option to submit for life experience or transferable training towards your college degree if you're planning to go to college after? (have heard from too many people that they are told it does, only to find out it doesn't, and they have to start from scratch once they get out).

Everyone wants to join the military to kick down doors and take names. Sometimes though, you have to look at the big picture. What are you going to do after the military. Most people want to put the military in their rear view when they get out. I try to stress to people to pick and MOS that you can turn into a career whether or not you stay in the military.

I've been out of the military for 2 years, but I'm still doing my MOS because for one I liked and enjoyed doing it, and for two I'm damn good at it.

I hear a lot of people when they get out say things like "well I'm going to school" or "I'm going to work on my friend's uncle's roofing company". A lot of kids these days don't have an actual plan when they get out. But the military invested all this money teaching us a trade, so why not utilize that knowledge.

Every Marine I see, I tell them the same thing. It doesn't matter if you are getting out 20 years from now or 20 minutes from now, learn as much as you can until you get out so you can use this knowledge on the outside when you are out.

Since Carrie Corbin brought up the aspect that the frontal lobe isn't fully activated yet, I'll expand it to always work towards the long game. The long game is you're going to want or have to stop working someday. If you're interested in something, try it out. BUT, make sure you put your best effort into it, lest the reason you can't hold a job is you're just a lazy A. Look for the good aspects of what's going on around you. Work hard to rise above the nitnoid distractions. I'm sure I speak for most vets that whatever reasons we had in joining, time morphs how we think about how we felt way back when. Whatever I thought about "patriotic" back then changed when the pain came. Guess times have changed a lot in the recruiting world when the recruiter took me to a strip bar. They stretch the limits because their performance is graded on right body count at the right time.

For kids looking to come in, I'd stay away from topics like leadership, unit skills, etc. as that goes right over their head. I will tell them that the process of boot camp, A School, and first couple assignments should change them into full blown responsible adults. Then they can see more of what the future possibilities are from that point and then can work on heading in a suitable direction. This process typically takes a much shorter time than working the School of Hard Knocks on the outside. All of a sudden you're 35 and look where you're at and where can you go. Life is what you make of it. You just have to decide to take the blue pill or the red pill.