What advantage is there to joining the military after highschool instead of going to college immediately after graduating?

Experience, money for college and discipline.

Numerous good arguments for either way. I did military and then college....my life interest changed 180 while on active duty. I was going to be a marketing major and went into medicine and ministry instead......I could have been happy doing almost anything, but am happy I did what. I did.

In my social circles, a bunch of the "Oh he/she is going to do great in college" kids got to college, got hammered, partied like there was no tomorrow and ended up being asked to leave. The class valedictorian didn't even make it to the Christmas break. He recovered nicely, but only after 5 or 6 years of tarring roofs in Tucson during the day and tending bar at nights.

I think the biggest advantage veterans have when they go to college is a serious appreciation of the opportunity they have.

OH!!!!!!!!!!!! there is one thing I did get out of the military that took me WAY TOO LONG to learn as a civilian.

There is soooooo much people just don't care about. Soooooo many things in life don't matter. Not every thing is a big deal. Fudging is OK. Most people don't care. Don't lie, but only answer the question asked. Don't be fixated on doing the right thing if it costs you the right thing for you.

I went too long in life worried about all the little things. Then I entered the USAR and right out of the gate found out that no one can survive a single day if that were the case. The system FORCES you to just blow things off. There is not enough TIME, there is not enough COMPETENCE in the system to do everything on the up and up.

If you are a PFC trying to get an admin thing done per the regulations and official policy and there is a SGT across the desk from you blocking that task and the SGT is ignorant of policy and regs then you do what the SGT wants, and just move on in life.

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In Basic I came to the army having learned many of these skills. One day a PVT in my cycle lost a blank ammo from his magazine (we were given three and had to account for them). We could do two things.
1) Tell the Drills, and face the consequences
2) Walk down the hall during Fire Guard and swipe an extra one from the supplies of an entire extra platoon not being utilized, and no one would be the wiser.

Option #2 was chosen, and that 18 year old PVT got an intro to those kinds of solutions much sooner in life than I did. The 18 y/o version of myself would have fessed up to the Drills.

Do both, I’m currently in the Texas Army National Guard and with our op tempo it has been a great learning experience for the youth enlisting into our program to learn how to be true multitaskers. I enlisted my oldest son into the Texas Army National Guard when he turned 17 as a Jr in high school, his whole mentality changed overnight from being a child with attitudes to meeting and speaking to Battalion commanders and High enlisted personnel. His hate of education changed over night by talking to all these experienced personal other than myself. He graduated early from high school and since he was a split option meaning he completed basic training his JR / SR yr summer I sent him to AIT in February upon graduating from AIT and returning home I volunteered him for the COVID mission that had just began, he did 7 months of that and then went on to providing security at the presidential inauguration in Washington for two weeks opened his eyes more, and now he’s currently on the COVID vaccination mission here in Texas and doing online college courses in the evening. In span of a year he’s gained experience, met senators, Congressmen and women, high ranking commanders who gave him great advice this kid now has requested help in enrolling into college programs that he does online while on mission. And All this from a kid who hated high school and was behind on his studies. The power to do both is awesome. Sorry for the rambling.

Lots of great responses here, to summarize so far:
Pros to join after high school: maturity, skillset development, and GI Bill seem to be the most common.

However, depending on the person, there may be an advantage to going to college first, especially if their goal is to be an officer or one of those cool guy MOS. Wait too long, and you retire as a LTC.

The military will pay for a free degree while you get paid to work and see the world and meet new people.

college is expensive, entering your career field immediately and gaining real world experience, The pay and benefits are better than an job while going to college, if you change your mind about what you want to do you have experience that can transfer over( leadership, discipline etc) And you probably are in better shape after high school than you would be after college. That why is wish I joined after higher school at least SGT

You’ll be showing up to that college admissions office with a brand new Camaro at 29% APR

1. You're already at good physical health (or should be)
2. Minimal debt
3. Fewer bad habits to break
4. You're still used to following orders rather than giving them
5. Depending on your mos, you may get your training and education "for free", as well as job experience
6. Its far easier to transition into military life straight out of high school, than after you've been living as your own boss
7. You can try out the job you're interested in to see if you would like it. If you don't, it didn't cost you a dime and you can try something else
8. An opportunity to "sow your oats" before settling down
9. An immediate income, with no living costs to speak of
10. A chance to simply mature and learn as you go