While many high school students pack their bags for dorm rooms and lecture halls, others lace up boots and prepare for basic training, choosing discipline over debt and purpose over parties. For some, the military isn’t a last resort; it’s a first choice. Some of these students are seniors Vincent Laurent and Cody Foster. They are willing to give up some of the best years of their lives to serve their country. When asked why they were joining, Cody said, “It runs in my family; my older brother was in the army. And my dad was in the Air Force.” Cody plans on joining the Air Force and trying to be a pilot. He recognizes the challenges and the extreme stress that he will feel because of this job, but he wants to do it anyway. He is also going to use the free college money like most veterans do. Cody doesn’t know what he is going to do in college yet, but he says that he has ample time to figure it out.
Vincent, on the other hand, is joining the National Guard. When asked about why he wants to join, he said, “to pay for school, the benefits. Going to use the military background to get into law enforcement.” Vinnie says that he wants to join the DEA after his military service. He wants to become a Military Policeman. He wants to use this experience as a way to be more proven on his DEA application. Since 3-letter organizations look at people with military first, this will help Vincent secure this job. Vincent is going to use this along with his future degree in Criminal Justice. Vincent has an amazing plan that is bound to succeed because of his future military service.
As someone who is also joining the military, I think it is the smartest decision for any 18-year-old to make. You can get your whole college paid for and many more benefits. You can get up to $50,000 in enlistment bonuses if you join the Army. In the Navy, they offer up to a $70,000 enlistment bonus if you do Nuclear Engineering. Even if you don’t want to be in that long, you can sign 2 years in the infantry for the army, and still get a lot of the same benefits. A lot of people say they don’t know what they want to do in life. If you ask these people what they are gonna do about they say go to college and figure it out from there. To me, that’s a waste of money. You could go join the military for no money and figure out what you want to do. Then go to college basically for free. It sounds like a legitimate life hack if you think about it. The military has endless jobs that anyone can do. The military is a life that, if you have just a little bit of discipline and determination, you can make work for you!