Knowing what you know now, would you change anything about your military career path, or your life, if you could?

2017-05-25T01:11:25-04:00

I have always wondered, if I could back in time, would I change anything. While I have made plenty of bad decisions, I am always worried that if I changed one thing, everything from that point on (the change) would be different... So, for me, the answer would be no... I would not change a thing.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made May 25 at 2017 1:15 AM

2017-05-25T01:15:13-04:00

I would have gone Air Force hah

Response by PVT Angelo Velez made May 25 at 2017 1:16 AM

2017-05-25T01:16:49-04:00

That's a tough question for me. Going through Infantry OSUT back in August 2015 to November 2015 and unfortunately getting kicked out due to being immature was the worst thing that happened to me ever and that was when I just turned 18. Now I'm 19, a junior in college and I'll be graduating next year in May at 20 years old with a degree in finance and re-enlisting in the army or going navy since I found recruiters that are willing to work with me. The Army did motivate to get my lazy ass up and not blow off my summers and graduate as fast as possible. Had I not gone to Infantry OSUT, I would of did a regular 4 years in college with Army ROTC and gone officer instead of graduating in two and a half years. I don't know yet, we'll have to see in a few years but for now, I had some great life experiences and lessons learned so I'd lean towards the side of no, for now that is.

Response by LTC Stephen F. made May 25 at 2017 3:15 AM

2017-05-25T03:15:40-04:00

To be honest, I don't think it would make any sense to change the good, the bad or the ugly about my military career path COL Charles Williams. We do not have any visibility about the long term implications of any changes in our past especially when we were young soldiers.
Images: 1975 graduation from BCT Fort Leonard Wood; 1981-August at range 24 at Grafenwöhr [2LT]; 2003-march 12 Walter Reed AMC recovering from mitral valve repair; 2004-05 Demobilization award at the Pentagon with my darling wife [LTC].

Response by SGT Robert George made May 25 at 2017 3:25 AM

2017-05-25T03:25:15-04:00

You have a very good point Sir; My life is full of activity's that I wouldn't change a thing !!!

Response by CMSgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 25 at 2017 4:10 AM

2017-05-25T04:10:50-04:00

I would have liked to finish my degree earlier in my career and pursued OTS. But, I only think about that when I get my retirement check each month. Had I done that, I probably wouldn't have met my wife of 25 years...no regrets.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made May 25 at 2017 4:43 AM

2017-05-25T04:43:36-04:00

I would've gone active duty from the start. I stayed in the ARNG for a woman (not the one I'm married to) and it's been a regret for the majority of my career. I'm AGR now, which is great, but I can't help but feel like I missed an opportunity. I also may not have gone the Officer route. Admittedly I do not find the staff life as nearly as fulfilling as being on the line leading troops.

Finally, I would've went to the Mountain Warfare Course I was offered. A young PFC Goenner stupidly decided because he didn't get a badge to wear he didn't want to go. Over 10 years later I'm now trying to get a slot in the course.

Response by SPC Brian Mason made May 25 at 2017 4:45 AM

2017-05-25T04:45:46-04:00

No. I love(d) being a Medic.
As much as I hated Fort Drum, I was with some of the best trained soldiers I worked with. 10th MTN is a highly, often deployed unit. In my experience, these kinds of units offer experience that other bases/units do not. I certainly would NOT change my MOS.

Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made May 25 at 2017 5:39 AM

2017-05-25T05:39:22-04:00

I am quite happy with the path I took, made a lot of friends, saw a lot of this great country, and had a great time while doing it.

Response by SCPO Jason McLaughlin made May 25 at 2017 6:02 AM

2017-05-25T06:02:29-04:00

Nope. Any changes to the time continuum would have a ripple effect, and I would not have met my wife of 17 years, not watched my son graduate 8th grade on Monday, or have watched my 9yo daughter in her first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament take on four 11yo boys and end up with 2 silver medals (gi and no-gi).

Things turned out pretty awesome....

Response by COL Mikel J. Burroughs made May 25 at 2017 6:27 AM

2017-05-25T06:27:56-04:00

COL Charles Williams I'm sure that everyone wishes they did this or did that. Bottomline, Charles I loved my career and the choices I made. I wouldn't change anything. It was all a great experience. Sure there were some great days, good days, bad days, and ugly days, but that is part of being an NCO or a Commissioned Officer. I truly loved all my Command time at the Company, Battalion, and Brigade Level the most. You can keep the staff puke time, but it important and I understand the need to be in the weeds throughout your career. It is what it is and it was what it was! No regrets! Great question Charles!

Response by CPT Lawrence Cable made May 25 at 2017 7:27 AM

2017-05-25T07:27:05-04:00

Well, it would have worked out better if I had joined at 18, but just considering when I went in at age 26, I should have went in on a Option 40 while I was young, dumb and tough enough to get through it. I would still do the OCS route, but I think I would put that off until I had done a full six and pulled some serious NCO time. And the big one is not to have gone inactive after 13+years.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made May 25 at 2017 8:03 AM

2017-05-25T08:03:20-04:00

Knowing what I know now I'd have gone to flight school when my window to do so was still open.

Response by MSgt Steven Holt, NRP, CCEMT-P made May 25 at 2017 8:31 AM

2017-05-25T08:31:05-04:00

Fantastic question COL Charles Williams! While I have some regrets about my life and career, I wouldn't change anything because those events are what helped mold me into the person I am today.

Response by SSgt Ryan Sylvester made May 25 at 2017 8:58 AM

2017-05-25T08:58:58-04:00

Not necessarily with my career itself, but... if I could have changed going in married, I would. She's the ex-wife now, and don't get me wrong, she's a great person and all (we figured out too late that we were better friends than a couple), but there were a number of decisions about my career that was based from that relationship.

I definitely would not have taken the early reassignment option as a first-term airman, and would have stayed at Peterson AFB for the full 3 years of the assignment. Even with dwindling responsibilities like network threat analysis, I still would have been the Base COMPUSEC Manager and gotten way more experience in that role. Could have still gone eventually to the special duty I picked up and been there less time, but who knows... my career would probably have gone a bit different at that point.

Response by SFC William Stephens A. Jr., 3 MSM, JSCM made May 25 at 2017 9:27 AM

2017-05-25T09:27:58-04:00

If would of taken that 5th combat tour to Afghanistan/Middle East and hid the PTSD I have today would be alive today and would be a great CSM in todays ARMY that I always dreamed of or would I of ended up in a box?

I think I made the right choice! I'm DON CIV and I great kid and great life to share with her. Who needs more deployments. I had problem, and I had fix it.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made May 25 at 2017 9:53 AM

2017-05-25T09:53:36-04:00

This is somewhat of a contradiction of an answer, but it's not that I would go back and change things but I would certainly do SOME things better than what I had done.

Response by SP5 Robert Ruck made May 25 at 2017 10:25 AM

2017-05-25T10:25:16-04:00

I don't look back and second guess myself. To me it is a futile gesture as nothing can be changed anyway.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made May 25 at 2017 10:35 AM

2017-05-25T10:35:23-04:00

I sometimes think if I could I would go back and stop myself from getting back with my ex husband after an incident happened. If I did I wouldn't have my daughter - but then she wouldn't be going through her medical issues. But then I think if I could go back I wouldn't stop that but I would have changed how I handled our relationship, probably wouldn't have married him when I did (knowing neither of us were at a place for it at the time) and definitely not have let him manipulate my kindness and allowed the abuse that happened physically, emotionally and financially. Sometimes I have thought if I could I would go back to when he was a teenager and just stop him from using drugs ever. But then that would change my life too. But would it have changed his and mine for the better? I don't know. Would he have eventually still became an addict? I don't know - he had always wanted to join the Navy but he chose the path of drugs and crime. When I got back together with him years later I had no idea he was as bad of an addict nor with meth as he was until it was really too late. Plus people like that know how to manipulate and take advantage of people with good hearts. I guess lessons learned hard.

I have wanted to go back and stop my mom from having the affair she did and she wouldn't be in the abusive relationship she is now but then my youngest brother wouldn't exist nor his kids. Or maybe stop her after she got pregnant. Then there were times I wanted to go back and stop my parents from getting married because my dad never should have married my mom (he had gotten repeated warnings from people about her being crazy, the priest told them she was too immature and so on). And yeah I wouldn't exist nor my brothers but my dad wouldn't have wasted most of his life with her and going through what he did.

Sometimes I wish time travel existed just to see how things really happened in the past. I would love to see how my dad and mom were as kids. My dad told me - and I'm sure it's pretty on point how he was and I've heard about my mom but it would be fun to see them as kids or see my grandparents as kids. Or see how things really happened in history.

Response by MCPO Roger Collins made May 25 at 2017 11:17 AM

2017-05-25T11:17:38-04:00

No.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 25 at 2017 11:44 AM

2017-05-25T11:44:38-04:00

COL Charles Williams whew...you got an eternity, sir? Hindsight is always 20/20 & there are several things i would DEFINITELY change. Would i still marry my first wife? Yes. If i didn't, I wouldn't have my daughter. But there are so many other things I would change...lol

Response by SFC Dave Beran made May 25 at 2017 12:37 PM

2017-05-25T12:37:02-04:00

Sure. Not telling what though.

Response by SSG Warren Swan made May 25 at 2017 6:09 PM

2017-05-25T18:09:31-04:00

Had I had one more go knowing what I know now, at B-More MEPS, I would've left when they said I was ineligible for 11B with the Airborne option with that $1500 signing bonus(flatfeet). But what I got was perfect, I loved it as I do both of my MOS's, but 95B is special.....everyone hates us, until it's your ass in a sling and you need us. 74B is too. Wanna talk to mama before Jody does? Get with me....I might help ya being I don't have to worry about time limits on morale calls or loss of internet privileges.

STILL WOULDN'T BE A MEMBER OF THE KEVIN COSTER SWIMMING GROUP.

Response by SGT Rob Saylor made May 25 at 2017 8:22 PM

2017-05-25T20:22:40-04:00

If I could do it over, when I reenlisted I would have stayed at Fort Carson, done the obligatory tour in Korea and come right back to Carson. Absolutely loved my unit there. And the CoC actually cared about their troops. But I chose a tour in Germany. After three years in that so called "unit", the cya attitudes and the whole "gotta know whose back to scratch" bullshit had me ready to punch the next crooked E-7 that looked my way. So when I came down on orders for recruiting, I asked myself if I could look a potential recruit in the eye and honestly tell him I didn't regret joining. At that point in time the answer was no. Branch wouldn't delete my orders so one dec statement later it was on to civilian life.

Response by CPO Emmett (Bud) Carpenter made May 25 at 2017 9:30 PM

2017-05-25T21:30:32-04:00

Response by SGT Tony Clifford made May 25 at 2017 11:17 PM

2017-05-25T23:17:35-04:00

There's always the question in the back of people's mind saying, "what if?" In truth, I don't want to undo the past. Everything I've done has brought me where I am. Are there things I regret? Sure. But the mistakes and triumphs of my past slowly built the man I am. Undoing even one of those mistakes would change who I am and would unlearn the wisdom I've gained. I say try to be at peace with your past and don't waste to much time pondering, "what if?"

Response by SGM Erik Marquez made May 26 at 2017 10:13 AM

2017-05-26T10:13:09-04:00

COL Charles Williams "I am always worried that if I changed one thing, everything from that point on (the change) would be different."
And there is the paradox and unknown that keeps us sane.
Otherwise thoughts of....If I had taken that Flight Warrant officer spot I had locked in 1989, would I have not sent a man to his death in 2007? Or would the man that served in that position had sent 3, and 3 would have died that day?

Perhaps the 1SG that would have had my company the day a patrol member in 2008 stepped on a crush wire IED, might have not stayed up all night working on service and support tasks to fuel and arm the company, get COMMS up with a very distant BN some 35K away..and that 1SG would have been on that patrol, spotted the IED signs and saved that SM from having his upper torso and head disintegrated...or maybe that 1SG would not have built a Helo pad from material "acquired" and machines "borrowed" and there would have been not Dust-off capability for the injured?

If I had accepted the profile and non deployment status I earned for an injury and not deployed...Would the 1SG in my job 2008 had seen a sign that no one else did, heard some words no one else did and stopped one of my SM from blowing his brains out while on patrol? Or would that SM have saved that one, but not provide for security and resources to build a patrol base 35k from the nearest support unit and that remote patrol base got overrun after a truck bomb breach the wall..killing dozens of SM?

If I had not reenlisted that last time...would the BN ops Sergeant Major that had my job in 2010 done a better job and the the CDR not lost both legs? Would the patrol returning from the hospital that got hit have chosen a different route, different route prep, timings and that patrol not been hit, loosing yet another SM? Or would that BN Ops SGM have been a ROAD guy and things would have been worse, more dead, more injured.

There are many more what if's ......but thankfully we have to live with only the life we had, not the life we might have had...One is bad enough, the other would be mentally incapacitating.

Response by MAJ Keira Brennan made May 26 at 2017 9:41 PM

2017-05-26T21:41:12-04:00

Nice to see a FULL BIRD with a Good Conduct Medal!

Response by CW3 Private RallyPoint Member made May 27 at 2017 4:06 PM

2017-05-27T16:06:26-04:00

Do all that hooah stuff earlier so no regrets later. TSP all special pay/bonus and college earlier. No reason you can't have a masters and a good chunk saved up after a career.

Response by Sgt Tylor Dewett made May 27 at 2017 4:23 PM

2017-05-27T16:23:25-04:00

dont drink, stay a full year on your first deployment tour.

Response by Sgt Dale Briggs made May 27 at 2017 5:11 PM

2017-05-27T17:11:20-04:00

No. I set out to go into the Air Firce, all they had open was Police and Firefighter. Looking back can you imagine the experience gained then retiring from a City FD. I'd be retired twice over by now. But the Marine guy got to me one day when the AF guy wasn't in. So in 4 years I was jump qualified, I've jumped out of C130 /C141/Huey's, I've called in Naval Guns, never got to call in tac air. AF is a job, Marines was an experience.

Response by SSgt Dan Moquin made May 27 at 2017 5:12 PM

2017-05-27T17:12:09-04:00

I would choose to stay in Japan for another year at least. Instead after 15 months in Turkey, followed by three years in Japan, I was to impatient to get back stateside. Worst decision I made. Laughlin AFB, Tx.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 27 at 2017 7:46 PM

2017-05-27T19:46:53-04:00

I would not have put my daughter into a Catholic school. My daughter was very gifted. So when we moved to a state where education was not as good, we made an effort to put her into a school with a higher expectation. That was great, but the Catholic kids sucked, the teachers were not much better. Everyone knew she was not catholic because she did not have to attend all of their religious courses. It cost me 2k a year. It took an emotional toll on my girl. She started there in 7th grade. We had no real clue it was as bad as it was until her junior year. We did however let her move to public school for her senior year. You know you done wrong when your daughter does not want to graduate with her class.

Career wise, I sometimes wish I would have joined the Marines or the Army, because I don't feel like I put myself out there. But, more than ever after listening to others on this site, Air Force was easily the best place to be. I loved aircraft anyway.

Response by TSgt Kerry Hardy made May 27 at 2017 9:03 PM

2017-05-27T21:03:51-04:00

DO NOT GO IN USAF AS OPEN GENERAL!!!!!

Response by PFC Griff Schoen made May 28 at 2017 6:13 AM

2017-05-28T06:13:48-04:00

I would have changed my MOS from the outset. Dad never wanted me in combat arms but I wouldn't listen. I enjoyed my time as an engineer but I had many other options available based on my ASVAB. Additionally, I would have looked into the other branches. I never gave marines, navy, air force or coast guard a first look, much less a second.

That being said, I'm confident I never would have met my wife of 20 years and had our 2 awesome sons.

Each decision shapes our future.

I still regret not thinking things through and listening to my dad during enlistment but I wouldn't go back in time and change it.

Response by SSG Katherine Likely made May 28 at 2017 7:15 AM

2017-05-28T07:15:58-04:00

i would curb my tongue, put more starch in my uniform. Apply for warrant officer earlier and take extra missions.

Response by Cpl Justin Goolsby made Jun 5 at 2017 6:43 PM

2017-06-05T18:43:42-04:00

You bring up a very valid point. If I changed one thing, would everything else be different. Quite possibly yes. If there was one thing I could have done differently, it would have been to enlist earlier while I was still young. But if that were the case, I probably wouldn't have dated my wife in college and I might not have the beautiful daughters I have today.

So if given the choice, I would probably say no as well. I love the Marine Corps, but I also love the daughters I've been blessed with.

Response by TSgt Trevor Vander made Jun 21 at 2017 10:47 AM

2017-06-21T10:47:39-04:00

Easy, I would have taken the Air Force Academy invite I was offered while a 1 stripe Airman working at Cheyenne Mountain!!!!!! I turned the opportunity that was offered to me due to my test scores, and work ethic by a board of CMSgt's and turned it down due to having to attend Prep school - backwoods La education - and would loose my car for 2 years due to the way the Academy works!

Response by SN Greg Wright made Jul 4 at 2017 11:47 PM

2017-07-04T23:47:15-04:00

I would have stayed in.

Response by SSG Pete Fleming made Jul 5 at 2017 1:16 AM

2017-07-05T01:16:19-04:00

Yes, but if I did, what about the good things would they change as well...???

Response by SSgt Dee O'Connor made Sep 27 at 2019 3:16 AM

2019-09-27T03:16:17-04:00

I feel our past, our good and bad decisions make us whom we become. Never look back, look forward