Separation date from the military is fast approaching. All you want to do is to get over the remaining days on your contract in order to spend time with your family, but the pressure to re-enlist has become relentless. What will you do? My enlistment decision was due to the economy meltdown in 2008 through 2009 when I lost my job as a Tuxedo rental representative at the Men’s Wear House. I struggled to secure another job, but all to no avail. Unemployment benefits expired, and I had no choice than to accept the job offer I turned down in 2003 when I first arrived the United States from Nigeria.
Upon arrival at the basic training, I immediately regretted my decision of enlistment. The Navy sends its new recruits to Great Lakes, Illinois for
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Unfortunately, there were no other jobs available for me due to my ASVAB score status; ASVAB is the “Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery”, and it is a test that must be taken before enlistment in the Military. The test comprises of many sections such as health science, mechanical, technical, computer science….. The ASVAB score awarded to a person helps the military with job placements. The fact that there were no other jobs available did not stop me from dropping the job I was sent to Lackland to …show more content…
San Diego was always the duty station of my choice. I arrived on the ship as an undesignated seaman due to job availability. After a couple of years onboard, I was able to join the logistic team. The time I spent on the ship went by quick, even though it was accompanied by rough days. During my four and a half years on board the ship, I was deployed twice with the first deployment lasting seven months and the other one lasted eight months with only a five-month break between them. The deployments and another series of events were what took me into the dilemma of re-enlisting or not. Leaving your family behind while deployed is one of the biggest challenges facing military members. In my case I left my wife and two daughters for too long while I was deployed; I missed a lot of precious moments that occurred in my daughters’ lives.
In March 2014, I was about 90 days till the end of my first enlistment and pressure became stronger from my command. On the day I had to make the decision, whether to re-enlist or not, I ran into my commanding officer in the middle of the passageway just before the mess deck. Mess deck is sailors’ language for the dining room. Next to my commanding officer was my division officer and around the mess deck were few sailors hanging around waiting to get some chow
Another possible recommendation is discharge from the military from a General with honorable conditions (which is the lowest) to a Dishonorable discharge (which is the highest, and worst you can get). Getting a dishonorable discharge means you can’t get a job (if you do get a job it won’t be a good one), no benefits, or etc. Getting a general or other than honorable (OTH) you may lose health benefits, educational benefits, and etc.
As I walked through the snow with aching, raw feet, the blood, making a trail behind me, I soon began to realize how Valley Forge and this whole war in it’s entirety was driving me to the point where I wanted to quit. It was the winter of 1777 and the American Army was forced to set up camp 18 miles outside of Philadelphia, we called it Valley Forge. The question that keeps popping up in my mind while I sit miserably in my hut is, am I going to re-enlist? I am not going to re-enlist for 3 reasons; death and illness, harsh conditions, and the lack of support and supplies.
Even through all of the difficult situations I had faced at Valley Forge, I would still re-enlist and come back for another term. I know that there will be people who will oppose to my idea of re-enlisting because the experiences at Valley Forge had given us reasons to quit but behind the hardship of the situations, I know that Valley Forge had also given us reasons to stay.
Imagine it’s the year of 1777 in cold Philadelphia at Valley Forge. It smells like fresh log from the huts. You see injured men and people starving for food. People crying from the pain and in the corner of your eye you see General Washington making Revolutionary War attack plans. We are here to fight for our freedom. The enlistment is over and you and the rest of the soldiers at Valley Forge have to decide whether or not you are going to quit. If I were you I would quit because of the lack of supplies, family issues, and illness/death.
I had a hearty breakfast, a badly needed shower, and donned my service dress khaki’s for the first time. I proceeded to the ceremony site where I was joined by my wife, family and friends. The ceremony progressed, niceties were said by many, and the Commanding Officer stressed “the importance of role of a Chief Petty Officer in the Navy”. Finally, the time came to don the anchors of a Chief Petty Officer. My wife, along with my sponsor, joined me on stage to pin the coveted anchors on my collars and don the combination cover of a
As I was waiting in formation for physical training to start, I expected the session would last for about half an hour. As I started the jumping jacks, sit-ups and push-ups. The session kept going for a very long time. I had no idea when it would end. There were five instructors who kept yelling at our platoon of 25 men. They ridiculed and hara...
Positive twists during troubling times is illuminated best through my experience with joining the United States Coast Guard. As hyperbolic as it sounds, it seemed that the universe itself does everything in its power to keep me from serving. From the start, I had difficulty getting into the service through means beyond my control. When I stepped into that recruiting office after graduating from high school trying to find a purpose and shook my recruiter’s hand, I knew something was bound to go wrong; my
Around mid-July 2012, I received notification of my selection to attend the CGSC resident course. My tentative report date to Fort Leavenworth Kansas was 4 January 2013 according to the Request for Orders (RFO) email that I received from my branch. Although I had high aspirations of attending CGSC, the timing of this move was not the way I had personally planned the next couple of years of my military career. I had just took command in May of 2012 of the Ranger Support Company (RSC) of 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, a position that I had worked very hard to obtain. Additional, I was preparing for a combat deployment as commander of the RSC. Having previously deploying twice with the 3rd Ranger Battalion in a staff position, this depl...
The benefits of the military have grown excessively, the military offers so many good benefits that it is almost a crim not to take advantage of them. The Military is an excellent career choice that presents its soldiers with outstanding benefits and experiences.
Being a part of the military was a part of my dreams since my childhood, and my dreams came true when I became a midshipman in the Turkish Naval High School. I managed to be an international midshipman in the USNA when I prevailed among all of my classmates. I was successful, but inefficient and exhausted. In other words, I was putting effort in academics and leadership, and in everything more than normal. What I realized is that “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom” (Karelitz). My mistake was not knowing myself, my surroundings, where I was, and my purpose exactly which led me into exhaustion, and demotivation.
Living the “military life” is very different from any other lifestyle. It is one, that that at times, is controlled by others. Military families are always on someone else’s time. Plans are impossible to make and everything is spur of the moment. Some don’t have the foresight to see that it is a temporary situation. There is a whole life to live after the military. Not only is it not a bad way to live, but if one can roll with the tide, it may just end up being a pretty good
Being a soldier was a really tough life. In the end I hated doing the same thing day after day with no change in sight, I despised the leaders that didn 't take care of their subordinates, and most importantly, I couldn 't lead my soldiers from the front anymore. I 'll be the first one to say that joining the army was the best thing to happen to me. I have grown so much as a person and the lessons I learned are invaluable. In the end I realized the negative factors outweighed any possible benefit I might receive from continued service. It was time for me to
I grew up in a small town and after I graduated high school I wanted more in life than a 9 to 5 job; I wanted to see the world. I had a few friends that had joined the military and had come home to visit with exciting stories about their experiences. I noticed a change in a few of them; they seemed to walk a little taller, maybe act a bit more mature. This, along with the intrigue of life outside of my small town, drew me to consider joining the military. I met a recruiter in Lakeland Florida in July of 1989 and a few months later on September 26th I raised my right hand and took the Oath of Enlistment. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.
The day I finally signed up to join the military I knew I was taking a risk in my life. I believe it is important to take risks in life to move into bigger and better things. My first huge decision I made in my life was to join the United States Air Force. My uncle was the main person who put the idea in my head but my dad and my friends thought otherwise. My parents were divorced when I was young and I didn’t have the privilege like my friends to sit down and talk their decisions through with their parents. My father was excluded from the draft after he got in a car accident and I didn’t think he was very fond me joining the service. The main reason I chose to go into the military was make the decision to serve the country. The major decision in my opinion to join the military is to have the privilege to serve your own country. I think it is great for young men and woman to have ambition to serve and it can change a person into very motivated individual. My uncle and my mother were both very supportive and thought that it would be a great decision in my life. My mother knew it would be hard to see me go but was excited of the idea of coming to visit me in Texas. I knew it was taking a big risk being on my own but I was ready for a change in my life.
Immediately after graduating high school I was not ready to attend college. I had little direction and was unsure what career I wanted to pursue. The majority of my concern stemmed from the cost of college tuition. My parents shared this concern and asked that I pursue other options. I had never considered the military until a close friend suggested the Coast Guard after laughing off my extravagant plan to become a lifeguard on the beaches of California at age eighteen. I was yearning to leave Ohio for California. Six months later, newly graduated from boot camp I left for the USCGC Sherman, a 378-ft high endurance cutter out of Alameda, Ca.