I had a recruiter call yesterday and invited me for a interview. I went and learned about the benifits, and took the asvab test. I got a 76, whatever that means. He said it was good. Compared to other people who took it, it's a pretty good score.
For some reason, the marines have been very interested in me. Ever since my Junior year, I've gotten calls and advertisements through the mail relating to the marines. Now they've sent someone in person. My recruiter told me that the marines have already spent 6,000 to 8,000 dollars on me already. That's more than 40% of my father's yearly income. For my family, that's a
huge amount of money.
The screening process is very selective. You must not have any felonies, not even tried any drug, have a GPA of over 2.5, took two AP classes at the same time in any year, not have any medical conditions, not had any surgeries, not have braces or any surgical pins, be 17 or older, be graduating and not fail any grade even once, not have a GED or drop out, and score more than a 50 on the asvab. Even then, they only seek students whom they personally believe can succeed in the marines.
Only a select few get pulled out and talked to in person. Especially in my school. There has only been a total of three who meets all qualifications out of 1,600 students. The average asvab score is 35, despite it being a rather moderately easy test. In my opinion, anyways.
Only two got picked by the air force, and those two are going to the air force academy.
They're offering to give me free college
while I serve the marines. I'll be able to work off my four years at the same time I'm earning my bachelors.
The amount of money my family has saved for me for college is in the negatives. If I even want to think about going to college on my own, I'll be forced to use student loans, and the time I pay it off, it'll be triple the original price. I basically have nothing to go to college with, and I can't learn computer animation without going to college.
My passion and desire to do animation is great enough, that joining the marines seems very tempting.
But my father is opposed to the very idea. He says that the army is a bunch of lying, stealing crooks who only want more cannon fodder or bullet catchers for their military. My recruit says that I won't be sent to active duty or a war zone due to the fact that I'm the only male who can carry on my family name unless I choose to go. My father says this is a lie, and I'll be eventually be forced to be sent to battle.
I for one, refuse to go to battle. I don't want to take the life of another human. The very idea horrifies me. I also don't want to sign my own life away to an organization who deals with war and fighting. If I do join, the chance that I'll be shipped away will always be there.
My recruiter says that if I so choose, after boot camp, I can do a job relating to computers. Repair, programming, ect. I can just do computer related stuff for those four years of service.
Another thing that I won't like is the boot camp. I'm not exactly physically fit. I can barely run a fourth of a mile, let alone one and a half in 13 minutes. I also can't even imagine what boot camp will even be like. My recruiter says they'll start out small and eventually get up to speed. It's three months of boot camp before the four years of service.
http://www.marines.com/main/index/making_marines/recruit_training/marine-bootcampI've been researching the marines and what I should expect, and quite frankly, it seems like some tough stuff.
http://www.airforce.com/opportunities/enlisted/basic-training/Sure as hell makes the air force boot camp look like an afternoon at a playground. Not only that, the air force is only two months, compared to three at the marines.
I'm currently trying to find some information on the marines vs the air force. I have no idea what the air force has to offer. I have little to no interest in aeronautics or piloting anything that doesn't touch the ground. If it goes in the air or water, I don't have any interest in it, or being on it.
But getting into the marines is a guarentee if I so choose to go there. The marines want me to go there, and they will (and have) spend several thousand to do so.