Why did you decide to enlist vs. going the officer route?
Marauder06,
I am going to take this opportunity to respond to your question and address an issue that cback0220 raised that I find disturbing:
I made mention of my education background not to be arrogant as cback0220 perceived me to be. If I have come across as arrogant, please, forgive me. It was not my intent. Rather, I made mention of my education background with the intent to demonstrate that I am not just another Cheeto eating teenager who played a military video game and decided that the profession looked "cool." To that end, I have nothing but the utmost respect for service members. I take this matter seriously.
I realize that my decision to enlist despite having gone to college is unconventional. There are a confluence of factors that led me to pursue enlistment rather than OCS. These factors are as follows and are listed in no particular order:
- I am not convinced that a four college degree somehow qualifies you to be or confers upon you the ability to be a leader in combat.
- I am not convinced that you can effectively led others if you have not first been in their shoes.
- I believe that time on the enlisted side would be invaluable if I ever do decide to become an officer
- As I understand it, its easier to enlist and drop an OCS packet down road than it is to do the reverse, go to OCS and decommission down the road in an attempt to get on the E side
- As I understand it, you can get a shot at making it to the 75th in more timely manner if you enlist via the 11x option 40 contract verses getting there via the officer route
- I have met a few secret squirrels and all have said that the Es are the true assaulters and thus have more fun
- I hear that Es don't have to deal with as much bureaucracy as the Os
I hope this answers your question. I do realize that everything that I have stated above is not necessarily accurate. But, I haven't passed through the fire yet. And thus I can only go off what others who have passed though the fire tell me.
Very Respectfully,
D3
