Recommend military for 18 year old girl?

For an 18 year old girl, would you ever recommend the military instead of university?

I'm thinking of keeping her closer to home. My daughter is a very bright honors HS student, but does not make friends readily with anyone but boys, and is a recovering drug addict. She's "clean", but not all that "serene"...

I'm afraid of the drugs, sexual harassment, and rapes there that I've read about, and also I suspect that in reality most enlistees probably never finish college during that time.

What's the good and the bad about the military for young women?

Your thoughts, please.

Thanks!

tell ya daughter congrats on not doing drugs no more.i belive the miltary is a great thing for her it will teach her disiplne and will add structure to her life .the main thiung is to tell her to stay off drugs its sad but ya seem like a loveing parent who will help her i hope my post wasnt dumb

Without getting too wrapped up in current politics, strictly speaking, I'm a firm believer in the type of stucture that the military can provide and instill. That being said, I believe a young female will almost always have more of a challenge in any type of environment be it a party school or basic training when compared to her male counterparts. :shrug:

-DF

Hrmm... it's a tought world out there for girls and for parents of girls.

The military-related rapes get a lot of press (esp from the generally liberal media wanting to attack ANYTHING related to conservative issues including the military in general) but I almost can assure you that far more rapes go on on larger college campuses.

I have two little girls, 9 and 4 years old, and the absolute worst thing I can even envision would be someone hurting them.

Good luck...

I would recommend the military before college (to use the benefits to pay for college) to provide a structured life and sense of responsibility prior to college...not instead of. If she enjoys the lifestyle and excels, she can attend college and attend OCS later if she'd like to make a career of it.

The military conducts random drug screenings often. I was tested twice just during AIT.

The prior drug use may be an obstacle to enlistment. If you have questions, please feel free to PM me. She may also want to consider the National Guard (I'm in the NG) and while I am not a recruiter, I have access to them and did a great deal of research before I enlisted so have a lot of information on waivers, etc.

Cheers...

JM-99

I think they have drugs in the military, too.

I doubt the military is going to accept an 18 year old 'recovering drug addict'.

Hopefully they are not quite that desperate.

Nonetheless, Sorry to hear of her (& your) problems, and I wish you both good luck and a good life from now on.

greenlight said:

I think they have drugs in the military, too.

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Yeah, but when they go positive on a drug test there are consequences. And I can attest that they indeed DO drug testing. Often.

Drugs are almost everywhere...ESPECIALLY COLLEGE.

If she wants to join the military, she'll quit the drugs for good. If not, she'll ultimately be separated from the military.

JM-99

Silviron said:

I'm afraid that the military isn't going to accept an 18 year old 'recovering drug addict'.

They aren't quite that desperate.

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Actually, it depends on the drugs and other circumstances. I know for a long time that childhood prescription use of Prozac was an automatic disqualifier for the longest time, but someone with a couple of marijuana convictions and/or admission of use could get right in.

So...if she's interested, she needs to talk to an actual recruiter...and be honest with them about such things. They will have the current enlistment criteria for that FY with the most recent information.

JM-99

Now that I think of it more, I may have been wrong in general....

What I deleted here was true for me, but may not have been true for everyone.

Because, what I enlisted for required a Secret clearance just to get into training, and most people had at least a Top Secret / Crypto before their first real assignment.

Maybe regular enlistees were not held to such high standards.

So, I bow to someone who has more current and more general knowledge on the subject.

Flightsintx,

What a great question, I've been in the Military now for over 18 years (Navy). And I can tell you first hand that there are alot of younger people going to and finishing college in the Military, The part where your daughter is a recovering drug addict would probably require a waiver for her to enlist but only a recruiter could answer that question.

I'm a firm believer that the military teaches people how to live on there own after leaving school helps instill values (or reinforces them) and gives them a feeling of self worth. Some of the best and brightest people that I've worked with are women sailors.

I would definantly recommend the Military (to be exact the Airforce or the Navy)

Doug

cratz2 said:

I have two little girls, 9 and 4 years old, and the absolute worst thing I can even envision would be someone hurting them.

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Assuming you would consider letting your children join the military, this sounds confusing to me. I would not want my children join the military because in a conflict the chance is high that they will get hurt.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not against the military in general or think that we don't need them.

Marc

Spending 4 years in the military, probably the closest to being a civilian is the Air Force. Navy spends months at sea, Marines are the first when SHTF, Army would probably be my second choice if I had to do it over again.

My ex-girlfriend is in the Army. I asked her about women in the military, and the whole experience as she's described it to me sounds very positive. However, she spent a year in Iraq, and described it as more of a screw-fest than anything else. (Which upset me a lot, because while she was providing "moral support" for some lucky male soldier, a close friend of mine was getting killed in an ambush. But I digress.) She didn't say anything about drugs, so I asked my co-workers (1 former Army, 2 former Marines) about drugs in the military. They said that if you want to get away from drugs, the military is the wrong place to go... but of course neither is college, so that doesn't mean anything.

...so whatever that third-hand information is worth.

Oh, my university (Virginia Tech) has a Corps of Cadets, which provides students with a college education in a more structured military-style atmosphere. IIRC, Texas A&M has a similar program. Maybe that would be a good option?

Most importantly, how does your daughter feel about the military? What are her goals for after high school? If she isn't sure, the military may be a better option than just paying for her to be in college while she tries to figure out what she wants to do with her life (speaking from experience, my first year of college was a complete waste).

However things end up, I wish you and your daughter the best of luck.

vtunderground said:

Oh, my university (Virginia Tech) has a Corps of Cadets, which provides students with a college education in a more structured military-style atmosphere. IIRC, Texas A&M has a similar program. Maybe that would be a good option?

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Oh, now that's funny..."Texas A&M has a similar program", eh? That's classic...did you know our Corps of Cadets has been around since 1876? It's not like y'all have been around that much longer...what -- maybe 4 years?

Just some good-natured ribbing between schools...but I did laugh outloud when I read that.

JM-99
(...who was a member of the aforementioned Fightin' Texas Aggie Corps of Cadets...WHOOP!)

If she wants to stay clean and do college or the military, then she will be able to find the help to do it. If she doesn't want to for herself then neither atmosphere will keep her away from negative influences.

I live in a military town and almost without exception my interaction and friendship with military people is positive. There are some very good people in the military. But the same could be said of college

It all boils down to what you want to do, and who you end up hanging around with.

If she needs a little more support and supervision then I'd recommend that you look into some smaller local colleges. She can even live at home the first year and see how things go. She can always transfer those credits elsewhere and go to a bigger school in a year or 2 if things go well.

Thanks, all. Good feedback!

Kids have no idea how drugs can f-up their lives. She can enlist in the Navy but never be an officer, she can never be in the FBI or DEA, she'd have very slim chances of getting into a police academy in most major cities. All this even without ever getting arrested.

I'm now inclined to let her enlist.

Pat

No, definitely not at this time. Serving your country is a great idea, but why not serve peacefully?

First, is ready for school, mentally, emotionally, and with maturity. If she is ready to go for school with gusto, expecting to make A's or as high a gpa as she can achieve, and can do so consistently, you and she are lucky. The group of people she hangs out with will largely determine her choice to use or not use drugs.

If she is not ready for school and she goes anyway, you will waste a lot of money.

If she is not ready for school and opts for the military, this is a good choice too. Her MOS can be critical. Get into a field that she can use in the civilian world, like computers, communications, or accounting. Choose MOS carefully as engineering can mean mine sweeping. Her MOS can determine where she will be for her 4 years. If she stays state side or where college courses are offered while she is in, she can take courses while in the service. The Army paid for 3/4 the cost of my college classes while stationed in Columbia, SC. The structure and discipline the Army provided changed my GPA from the C-D range to the A range. I graduated with a 3.63. The less free time I had made me more focused with that time. Taking classes while in the service will leave more of the GI bill for a Masters Degree, if she so chooses. If she chooses the service, get more out of it than just 4 years of serving. Have you thought about a military school? It requires more than 4 years active and 4 years inactive. Have a candid father/daughter talk. At one duty station, ALL of the females in the barracks were pregnant at the same time. But that can happen anywhere people have a lot of idle time and no real goals that they are focused on. Hope this helps.