The Military... What Made You Stay?

I had no clue how I was going to make money whole going to college, I enjoyed it, and I got orders to Okinawa! Glad I stayed in!

I was an enlisted Soldier, ready to get out after my first enlistment and then I was deployed. My deployment was a lame sham show to a rear location, and the only way to stay/extend to do a different mission was to re-up. At that point, six years already passed, and it wasn't much, so six more for a nice tax free bonus didn't hurt.

Three tours later, I realized I could do more and became an officer. I hit 17 years in April, and I don't know where the time went, but I love it. I cannot do everything, but I can try, and I want to be here to lead Soldiers and accomplish the mission.

As SGM said, if not me, who?

I was not serving in a skill that i was good at and I had no marketable skills for civilian world.

And, I wanted to completed my degree. The military was making that possible.

I had more there than in civilian life.

I joined out of patriotism before 9/11. After two years of training, I finally reached my first duty station at NSA Hawaii. The rotating shift work killed me and I did not adapt well. It was a now retired Senior Chief who talked me into staying in. I reenlisted and got accepted to a special duty assignment at DTRA. I spent 7 years there, finished my degree, and then separated. Unemployed ever since. When you are in, you will complain about it. When you are out, your service will be one of the most treasured experiences of your life.

I did 21 in the Air Force.

The reason I joined the Air Force was because I was not cutting it in college. No Discipline, at least that is what I figured out many years later. I was using the AF as a fall back because I didn't want to be that guy living with or off his parents. I wanted direction.

I joined for 4 thinking, "We shall see." Those first 4 were something else. I seen true leadership, I seen mentoring and all these other things displayed that I really didn't have clue were but I wanted to learn. So I stayed. I had a good job that I liked and just started to watch and learn. It also helped my first duty station was Luke AFB, outside Phoenix, AZ.
I was hooked, and stayed. Loved every minute of it good and bad. More importantly, I took away discipline and a set of core values that I use. It was a great experience for me.