If you knew back then what you know now, what changes would you have made while in the military?

Two exwives - would of done better without them, or at least less headache & heartache

i would've stayed single...i would've stayed in...i would've saved more money...i would've finished my degree...and i would've kicked every single one of those jerk offs in the balls who sexually harassed and assaulted me period

Started college earlier.

I would have invested in silver bullion when it was $2 an ounce, maybe even some gold.

I served from 93-04 and I would have still served. Joining the Army was the best decision I ever made. Not staying in for 20 was one of the top 10 worst decisions I've ever made.

My time was truly well spent in the military. I served in three branches. I would have advised my younger self to stick with active duty for the entire career in one branch, the US Air Force. Also, I should have saved more of my money but what has been done is now gone. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!

I would have required my Navy recruiter to take a polygraph test before I signed up for 8 years!!!

I never would have threatened my SJA and Assistant SJA (two of my three reporting seniors, as a half defense counsel and half legal assistance attorney-the other was the Senior Defense Counsel, a Lt. Col. who was located at Camp Pendleton and rarely observed me as one of his part-time defense counsels) with a State Bar Complaint, for pushing forward on a Administrative Discharge Board (prosecutors are required to investigate exculpatory evidence during a prosecution and to notify and turn over to defense counsel exculpatory evidence during a criminal prosecution) for a Career Marine Staff Sergeant with a prior spotless record in the Marine Corps, including two meritorious promotions (His Warrant Officer Supervisor said he was one of the hardest working and best Marines whom he had ever worked with or who had worked for the Warrant Officer) in light of last minute, exculpatory evidence, that the Marine Staff Sergeant was NOT guilty of stealing anything of value when he plead guilty to one count of receipt of stolen Property in State Court here in California. His entire Administrative Discharge Board was based upon that one civilian conviction, and therefore was the sole reason the Marine Corps had sent him to an Administrative Separation Board.

I would have just kept my mouth shut, and wrote up the complaint with my evidence of their misconduct and let them and the Marine Corps deal with my formal and official allegations. Making that verbal threat (even though it was legit) was the beginning of the end of my short Marine Corps career.

When you get older and hopefully wiser, you learn to maneuver through minefields, avoid the Rocks and Shoals, and you learn that if you observe official misconduct by office holders, you never verbalize your complaint, you reduce everything to an objective writing, supporting everything you allege with as much documentary evidence as possible (affidavits, declarations, official records, etc.).

You also may write out your allegations of malfeasance when you are "Hot" as Lincoln said, but you mail or hit send, when you are cool. Even then, you have to be willing to face reprisals as a Whistle Blower, like Major James Weirick, who filed an IG Complaint in March 2013, against the then Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Amos, and informed the Defense Counsel for one of the "Taliban urination" prosecution cases Marines, that Commandant Amos had committed UCI ("Unlawful Command Influence") when he told Lt. Gen Waldhauser in an in-person meeting, who was then the Convening Authority for the Taliban Urination cases, that he wanted the Marines involved, "crushed." Weirick ultimately retired as a Lt. Col. but was retaliated against for blowing the Whistle on Commandant Amos, including being investigated, having his security clearance suspended, email account or privileges suspended, promotion unlawfully witheld (that happened to me-only the Secretary of the Navy has the authority to withhold a promotion, once it has been approved, like Lt. Col. Select Weirick, I had been selected for promotion to captain, but had not pinned it on, when I made my allegations), removed from his position as an assistant SJA, and was ordered to surrender his personal firearm, and also ordered to undergo a psych screening, among other things.

"According to the Marine Corps, Weirick was relieved due to e-mail harassment of Peter Delorier, a civilian attorney and advisor to the CMC, and one of the individuals he named in his complaint to the IG.

The Marine Corps relieved Maj. Weirick of his post, ordered him to relinquish his personal firearms, and ordered him to report to Navy officials for a “psychiatric evaluation.”

The Marine Corps’ concern about the content and tone of Weirick’s emails to Delorier appears to bet the heart of their move to force Weirick into a psychiatric eval. According to the Marine Corps Times reporting, Weirick sent a series of emails in which he refers to himself in the third person – a peculiar construction which indicates that Weirick’s methods may have become… unsound, believes Jason Van Steenwyk, the author of this article. “He can’t offer you protection from Weirick. That protection can’t be offered by anyone. Ever,” Weirick wrote, referring to Delorier’s boss.

The emails led Marine Corps officials to issue a restraining order barring Maj. Weirick from communicating with Gen. Amos, Delorier, and several other people, and prohibits Weirick from coming within 500 feet of them."
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/archives/2013/08/19/whistle-blower-alleges-reprisal-by-marine-brass-says-he-won/78541570/

The above illustration is another reason to be very careful regarding the content of official military email communications, as we have been discussing. I am sure Lt. Col. Weirick (ret.) regrets sending some of those emails, and their contents and the way he drafted them, the way I regret having verbally threatening my immediate Superiors with a State Bar Complaint. I personally and professionally know a medically retired (Iraq combat/IED injury) retired Marine Lt. Col. JAG who was one of Weirick's former supervisor's and mentors, and he told me that Weirick's peculiar habit of speaking in the third person is part of his "schtick" and he was known by his peers in the JAG Community of the Marine Corps to refer to himself in the third person as "The Weirick." I guess it was something like Pilots calling themselves by their Call Signs or Nicknames, but it doesn't translate well, especially when people are reviewing your professional email communications and trying to figure out if you are unhinged or have become emotionally unstable.

Most Military lawyers do their "combat" in a courtroom or by by trying to stay true to what they know is the right thing to do, by the Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen who are their clients or when, like Major Weirick, they discover wrongdoing by senior, even flag level officers, and feel duty bound to report it.

I was so proud of Major Weirick, when I learned about him, and I found out that there are still JAGS in the Marine Corps that put honor before their careers or self-advancement or even self-preservation. He had insider information about the Commandant that he could have sat on, and no one would ever have known. Like me, he didn't do everything perfectly, but he did the best with what he had, and where he was at, in his position as a Deputy SJA of a Major Marine Corps Command. Major Weirick, unlike me, was a career Marine Officer who had succeeded in numerous assignments and billets, and had the respect and acknowledgment of his peer group and had MOS credibility that he had earned in more than ten years of service. Because of that, I think it was even more remarkable that he did what he did, and I see him head and shoulders above anything I might have done in my very short time as a Marine JAG in active duty.

He had every reason to "keep quiet"but he did the right thing as he understood it, at a terrible cost to his career, and I am sure it will take him years like it did me, to heal from the devastation of leaving a culture and an Organization that you had believed in with all your heart and soul.

MAJ Ken Landgren COL Mikel J. Burroughs CDR Michael Goldschmidt CPT (Join to see) SMSgt Thor Merich

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2015/12/20/federal-judge-ordered-pentagon-to-unseal-secret-files-on-former-marine-commandant-james-amos/76676004/

I would have not gotten married the first time, I would have retired instead of Getting out after 6.

I would have stayed on active duty. I also would've stayed single. Overall though I'm happy with my experiences. I had the BEST times it's made me who I am today.

Would have joined the Coast Guard, get skipper qualified and run my own charter business in the Caribbean!