PVT Private RallyPoint Member 4397625 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>please remove n/a? 2019-02-24T16:19:02-05:00 PVT Private RallyPoint Member 4397625 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>please remove n/a? 2019-02-24T16:19:02-05:00 2019-02-24T16:19:02-05:00 1LT Private RallyPoint Member 4397628 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I did exactly that! As I enlisted as a 35F, I was able to use the AIT to get an AAS in Intelligence Operations, and come back to finish my 4 year degree on time.<br /><br />You just have to have a plan and stick to it, make sure you apply for and register classes on time. Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 24 at 2019 4:20 PM 2019-02-24T16:20:42-05:00 2019-02-24T16:20:42-05:00 CAPT Kevin B. 4397707 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Your parents are dubious that you&#39;ll get distracted with the MIL thing and not complete college. How much do they know about your &quot;master plan&quot;? Whatever choice you make, it needs to be the one you want. If it doesn&#39;t align with your parents view of reality, it&#39;s your choice as to how much investment you make to alleviate or ignore their concerns. No magic pill. Relationships require investment. Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Feb 24 at 2019 4:52 PM 2019-02-24T16:52:25-05:00 2019-02-24T16:52:25-05:00 SPC David S. 4397747 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Hey Kristen may I ask your MOS as you may be able to receive some college credit for your AIT training, If this is the case this might take some of the pressure off as you would end up with some college credits - so hopefully you can tell your parents that you&#39;re not taking a semester off just doing it in an unconventional way. I&#39;d talk to your recruiter as they may be a better source as to finding out - regardless best of luck<br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="https://www.gijobs.com/translate-military-training-into-college-credits/">https://www.gijobs.com/translate-military-training-into-college-credits/</a> <br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="https://jst.doded.mil/smart/signIn.do">https://jst.doded.mil/smart/signIn.do</a><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Barnes/CCAF/">https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Barnes/CCAF/</a> <div class="pta-link-card answers-template-image type-default"> <div class="pta-link-card-picture"> <img src="https://d26horl2n8pviu.cloudfront.net/link_data_pictures/images/000/368/300/qrc/books-classroom-close-up-289737.jpg?1551046044"> </div> <div class="pta-link-card-content"> <p class="pta-link-card-title"> <a target="blank" href="https://www.gijobs.com/translate-military-training-into-college-credits/">How to Translate Your Military Training Into College Credits</a> </p> <p class="pta-link-card-description">Many veterans heading to schoolcan get college credit for their military training and experience, including leadership development courses. Coupled with classes they may have completed during active duty, this could give some student veterans a big head start on their post-military education. We&#39;ll outline how you can translate your military training into college credits.</p> </div> <div class="clearfix"></div> </div> Response by SPC David S. made Feb 24 at 2019 5:07 PM 2019-02-24T17:07:25-05:00 2019-02-24T17:07:25-05:00 LTC Jason Mackay 4397886 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Downsides (parents perspective)<br />- degree plan de-synched: Many colleges have their degree plans layed down in semesters where certain classes are only in the fall or spring. If you start in the spring, you could be out of synch on pre-reqs and their required courses and their follow on required courses. Mitigation: see if that is the case. Your parents may be keyed in on this. I saw this in my MBA and my Civil Engineering programs. <br />- starting in the Spring may throw off graduation timing (see above)<br />- raging Mom Anxiety: you&#39;ll got Basic and AIT then they&#39;ll twist around your contract so you are put on Active Duty then send you to fight somewhere all by yourself in some random foxhole in Syria. If your family has limited exposure to contemporary military service, they don&#39;t understand how it all works, especially Moms. When you don&#39;t understand you randomly fill in blanks with what ever you think it is, based in fact, heresay, rumor, and wild ass imagination. The more blanks the more imagination. mitigation: you have to walk them through your plan. The research you&#39;ve conducted and where you&#39;re trying to go. Decide your red line for heeding advice and forging ahead on your own. <br />- Simmering Dad concern: something will happen to my little girl. Don&#39;t know what, but something will. See above. It could be worse than Raging Mom Anxiety depending on their service experience or perception of service. <br />- Precious Resources: after your parents get by your safety and health, a college education is a financial outlay they may have sweated over or planned for for you since you were little. They may see enlisting as a threat to that dream. Mitigation: talk them through your plan. Reaffirm your commitment. Explain how what you are doing helps the Joint goal of earning a degree. You had talked in other posts about pursuing SMP and a Commission. Talk them through that, especially if you see AD as a career choice. It is a much better pursuit than an upaid internship somewhere over a summer. If you are going Guard, talk about the benefits available for education. <br />- <a class="dark-link bold-link" role="profile-hover" data-qtip-container="body" data-id="565751" data-source-page-controller="question_response_contents" href="/profiles/565751-510x-civil-engineer-corps-i-e-seabee-officer">CAPT Kevin B.</a> mentions the MIL distraction thing...they fear that too. <br />Upside<br />- depending on your MOS and your degree program, you may return with college credit. It might just be for physical education, but it&#39;s something. Look at <a class="dark-link bold-link" role="profile-hover" data-qtip-container="body" data-id="302316" data-source-page-controller="question_response_contents" href="/profiles/302316-75b-personnel-administration-specialist">SPC David S.</a> post.<br />- you will grow up Some. You&#39;ve enlisted. You&#39;ve gone off to basic and AIT. Confident, in shape, and ready to take on the world. <br />- you&#39;ve set conditions to be a SMP cadet and since you attended AIT, you have a fall back plan in case you don&#39;t pursue a commission. You have an MOSQ. You could stay in the reserves/guard or go Active Duty after you graduate. <br />- you&#39;ll have an opportunity to build some savings from your ADT time and then have your Drill pay to supplement your other savings etc. <br />- if you really like serving in the Army, this will be a great springboard. If you don&#39;t, you finish what you started and go on about your life. <br />more to follow.... Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Feb 24 at 2019 5:53 PM 2019-02-24T17:53:43-05:00 2019-02-24T17:53:43-05:00 2LT Private RallyPoint Member 4398155 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I was in your shoes when I was 18. I might anger some people here but what I&#39;m going to say I just my though process and my friends. I was 18 heavily into spec-ops, COD played part in that. I wanted to be a SEAL at the time but my pushed against the idea. I have some friends who did join and did combat.i listened to them and got my degree. <br /><br />along the way I meet Veterans who were in combat, had injuries and suffered from PTSD or injuries like amputations. to say the least that scared away from thinking about combat and thats exactly how parents view the military, they look at the bad outcomes.<br /><br />fast forward to now, i have my B.A and no job in sight all of them want 5 years of XP plus additional years of training with specific softwares, worst part is student loans. so I told them that exactly and added that the military is the only place where 1.i will be given job.2.trained for my job and 3.paid while training so they came around. their mind was really put at ease when they spoke with my recruiting commander on my enlistment ceremony the army holds for the families. I&#39;m an 09S)commissioned officer candidate, I will go to BCT as E-4, get paid as a E-5 in OCS and become a O-2, yes an O-2 when I finish OCS. <br /> as for navy I went on cruise and couldn&#39;t get out of bed because of sea sickness. Good thing I didn&#39;t join the navy, I know that this biased but that how I get around the question why not navy. <br /><br />So personally I say don&#39;t skip school do 2 semesters so you can come in with some credits and a higer rank and try to see if you can go BCT and AIT in the summer. also MOS is super important specially in easing you parents so please do good on the ASVAB and pick a job your intrested in. <br /><br />also ROTC is another great option or west point .<br /><br />hope this helps Response by 2LT Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 24 at 2019 7:44 PM 2019-02-24T19:44:26-05:00 2019-02-24T19:44:26-05:00 SSG Carlos Madden 4399478 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I was in this same situation. Starting a semester later than your peers is not going to be a big deal in the long run. College isn&#39;t like high school. There are people of all ages at different stages of their education. Response by SSG Carlos Madden made Feb 25 at 2019 10:22 AM 2019-02-25T10:22:20-05:00 2019-02-25T10:22:20-05:00 WO1 Private RallyPoint Member 4399780 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Are you planning to enlist into the Reserve? That would be your way to come back to the civilian life and complete your schooling. Active Duty has TA, which you can begin using immediately after AIT, but you are more so looking at online, rather than in classroom instruction. Response by WO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 25 at 2019 12:13 PM 2019-02-25T12:13:50-05:00 2019-02-25T12:13:50-05:00 Capt Daniel Goodman 4400560 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>You need to elaborate a good deal more for all of us to try to help you adequately, honest...what major are you doing? What year are you in? Did you do an associates yet? What are your grades, GPAs, and specific aims? What type of work are you trying for? What MOS range would you want? Have you looked at other svcs? Do you want senior enlisted? Warrant? Commissioned? Do you have flight interests? Clinical interests, in which case you should most definitely look at Jr and Sr COSTEP through USPHS, look at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.usphs.gov">http://www.usphs.gov</a>, if you want clinical, and call their recruiters, [login to see] , OK? Have you given thought to doing an ROTC or USMC platoon leaders course (PLC) instead? Please understand, I&#39;m not suggesting you not go, however, there are a whole slew of possibilities you&#39;re not mentioning, honest...e.g., have you considered going Guard, as most state schools allow tuition waiver for drilling Guard members? Would you want Reserve in one of the svcs at all? There&#39;s Guard Tech or Reserve Tech, where you&#39;re full time working, in uniform paid as a state or Federal civil servant, respectively, then drill on weekends or during drill periods, OK? Let me send this, then I&#39;ll send you more stuff as well, OK? <div class="pta-link-card answers-template-image type-default"> <div class="pta-link-card-picture"> </div> <div class="pta-link-card-content"> <p class="pta-link-card-title"> <a target="blank" href="http://www.usphs.gov">www.usphs.gov</a> </p> <p class="pta-link-card-description"></p> </div> <div class="clearfix"></div> </div> Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Feb 25 at 2019 5:10 PM 2019-02-25T17:10:12-05:00 2019-02-25T17:10:12-05:00 Capt Daniel Goodman 4400581 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sgaus.org">http://www.sgaus.org</a><br /><br />Depending on what state you&#39;re in, look at this, and see if there&#39;s what&#39;s termed a state defense force (SDF) in your state...many use that to try out the waters, to see if day to day svc life is for them, our dentist went NY Guard (NYG), not NY ARNG, found it was for him, then went NY ARNG, at my suggestions, NYG let him go once NY ARNG picked him up, OK? Many don&#39;t know SDFs exist, I looked at goin NYG, however, I&#39;m total perm disabled, though I did look at it quite seriously, they&#39;re real militaries, just not Federal, you&#39;re typically not sent out of your state, I&#39;m not saying they&#39;re the exact equivalent of a Federal svc, I&#39;m merely making you aware they exist, that&#39;s all I&#39;m saying, OK? As I said, not all states have them, it&#39;d depend where you are, of course, so trust me, at least just look at the site, and see if there&#39;s one in your state, OK? There are also YouTube videos on SDFs, as well, look them up also, if you go Federal, you&#39;d likely be releasable, also, I should think...had I known SDFs and the NYG existed before I went Army ROTC and USAF OTS thereafter, I&#39;d have given trying that first quite serious thought...they&#39;re the state military supplements to the Natl Guard, general Army (ARNG), sometimes Air (ANG), also assisting with Reserve units, I&#39;ve seen, mainlty for disaster relief, they were called out for Hurricane Sandy by us, as well as during 9/11, as well, you might possibly find them an interesting initial alternative, should you have an interest in other possibilities, as well, I can of course try to send you material on those also, whenever you&#39;d want, no rush, OK? <div class="pta-link-card answers-template-image type-default"> <div class="pta-link-card-picture"> <img src="https://d26horl2n8pviu.cloudfront.net/link_data_pictures/images/000/368/604/qrc/ga-1240x360.jpg?1551133052"> </div> <div class="pta-link-card-content"> <p class="pta-link-card-title"> <a target="blank" href="http://www.sgaus.org">SGAUS – State Guard Association of the United States</a> </p> <p class="pta-link-card-description">State Guard Association of the United States</p> </div> <div class="clearfix"></div> </div> Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Feb 25 at 2019 5:17 PM 2019-02-25T17:17:33-05:00 2019-02-25T17:17:33-05:00 Capt Daniel Goodman 4400587 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div><a target="_blank" href="http://www.ocsfoundation.org">http://www.ocsfoundation.org</a><br /><br />You&#39;ll find the forum pages on this site of interest, I think...it&#39;s not all-inclusive, it doesn&#39;t cover Army WOCS for warrants, or direct commission indoc OIS programs, which are yet another possibility, however, the site is actually quite good, honest, OK? <div class="pta-link-card answers-template-image type-default"> <div class="pta-link-card-picture"> <img src="https://d26horl2n8pviu.cloudfront.net/link_data_pictures/images/000/368/606/qrc/banner.jpg?1551133131"> </div> <div class="pta-link-card-content"> <p class="pta-link-card-title"> <a target="blank" href="http://www.ocsfoundation.org">OCS Foundation</a> </p> <p class="pta-link-card-description">SERVICES FOR: Candidates Alumni Officer Families</p> </div> <div class="clearfix"></div> </div> Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Feb 25 at 2019 5:18 PM 2019-02-25T17:18:52-05:00 2019-02-25T17:18:52-05:00 Capt Daniel Goodman 4400633 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Also, please try to understand: Doing this properly takes serious time, effort, and research...you&#39;ve obviously got a good deal of time, honest...I&#39;m merely saying that, due to impulsiveness on my part, and as my Dad had conditioned myself and my next younger brother to go in, we did so, each in our own ways, he was USMMA Kings Point, I commissioned him in USNR when he finished while I was in USAF...I wound up on the wrong installation, doing the wrong kind of work, for the wrong people, for all the wrong reasons...now, I&#39;m glad I did it, I just wish I&#39;d taken more time, and been far more properly prepared...the greatest problem I&#39;ve observed of those who seek to go in is having zero clue what&#39;s actually expected day-to-day...I wasn&#39;t prior enlisted when I went in, many others I trained with at USAF OTS, which was at Lackland in TX at the time, it&#39;s at Maxwell in AL now, were prior enlisted, they adapted far more readily...however, I didn&#39;t listen to a recruiter for USAF OTS who explicitly told me I was in the wrong office for what I&#39;d wanted, which was to have been on the clinical side, I was trained for what I was given, it just was nothing I expected, or initially wanted...as a result I practically needed my head slammed into pavement to accept reality, and realize that, when one goes into a svc, things often take on, seemingly, a life of their own, and rarely end up the way one initially hopes and/or expects...the operative term in &quot;service&quot; is &quot;serve&quot;...you&#39;re NOT there to principally satisfy your personal ambitions, if you can, great, fine, dandy...if you&#39;re not, oh, well...that&#39;s the honest truth, I never worked with a finer group of people, I was under both active duty as well as civil service...you likely haven&#39;t had many bosses, in a service, you&#39;re done working, when you&#39;re done, and not until you&#39;re done, and anyone who tells you that you&#39;re not going to have to stay quite often till 3 AM, as I often had to, is, in my view, totally in la-la land...it&#39;s grimly serious, slogging, day-to-day work, on top of which you&#39;re going to be most likely having to go to school part time outside of your office or assignment, in addition to trying to have some semblance of a normal life...I&#39;m trying to tell you those things to try to educate you, NOT to dissuade you, OK? What I told you was what I saw of it, I&#39;ll entirely grant not everyone has that occur to them, however, it DID happen to me, OK? Should you care to chat further, just ask, I&#39;ll try to elaborate as much as I possibly can? Also, does your college have an ROTC at all? Would you care to try for USMC platoon leaders course (PLC), which is less well known, as another possibility? And, as I&#39;d said, if you&#39;re at all interested in anything clinical, please trust me and at least look at the USPHS website I sent, and/or call their recruiters, I think you might well find their stuff of considerable interest as well, most generally haven&#39;t heard of USPHS COSTEP, OK? Elaborate also, as I&#39;d mentioned, so we can all try to help you in greater and more coherent depth, OK? Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Feb 25 at 2019 5:31 PM 2019-02-25T17:31:26-05:00 2019-02-25T17:31:26-05:00 Capt Daniel Goodman 4400648 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>And another very real thing to consider, I did read the other stuff mentioned to you here, honest...your family is a VERY big part of doing this, I assure you...I can assure you of that from very real, and very serious experience. If they&#39;re asking you to think this through, while I understand your eagerness, and desire to be involved, please do trust that I&#39;ve most definitely been there, done that (BTDT)...our Dad was Navy, my Mom&#39;s Dad was briefly USMC, an uncle was one of Gen. Eisenhower&#39;s radio operators, he was there when the Germans surrendered, and helped send the victory Telex, and actually swiped a copy my cousins still have, my wife&#39;s Dad was Army getting a Bronze State with valor in WW2, her stepdad was Navy WW2 and Korea surface combat, my late brother in law was USAF SAC enlisted noncombat in during Vietnam, one of my Mom&#39;s cousins was Army armor at the Fulda Gap in Germany during the 50s in the Cold War, my brother was USMMA and USNR, as I&#39;d mentioned, one good friend was Navy 6-yr nuclear power enlisted who had to switch to 6-yr electronics because of his own self-caused aggravation, another friend was Navy OCS, and had his share of aggravation on a Perry-class fast frigate as junior damage control ofcr (DCO)...I&#39;ve had friends and acquaintances who went to SUNY Maritime College, I very nearly applied there also, for which not doing I kick myself on a fairly regular basis...I may not have seen everything, however, I&#39;ve seen a good deal, I assure you...you have time, that&#39;s all I&#39;m trying to explain, and, that SDF option I&#39;d sent you that website for could be a quite good way for you to see if the life is for you, and at least halfway acclimate, before going Federal, that&#39;s all I&#39;m suggesting, honest, OK? Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Feb 25 at 2019 5:39 PM 2019-02-25T17:39:48-05:00 2019-02-25T17:39:48-05:00 Capt Daniel Goodman 4400662 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>And also, which other svcs have you looked at? Have you considered any others? If so, what programs? Did you ever do any stuff like Civil Air Patrol (CAP), JROTC, or Navy Sea Cadets in high school at all? Do you have family who were in, whom you could also chat with, or friends of your family? That&#39;s also something most definitely to consider as well, if you have, honest, OK? I did, and I still manages to bollix up a good deal of what I did, because of overeagerness...my brother often wishes he&#39;d gone to a civilian school...once again, I&#39;m not saying that to dissuade you, as I&#39;d explained, my sole object is to try to inform and educate you, promise, to try to help you consider possibilities, and the very real wisdom of taking time to adequately consider that you&#39;re seeking to do, OK? There are certain life-altering decisions in human existence...getting married, for me, was one......getting my clinical doctorate before my total perm disability yet another...however, all those absolutely pale before going into a svc, it&#39;s the single most consequential thing you&#39;ll likely ever do, honest...that&#39;s why taking time to adequately consider it properly, and, MOST importantly, research it ADEQUATELY, AND WITHOUT UNDUE HASTE, is, I assure you, ABSOLUTELY PARAMOUNT, promise, honest, OK? Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Feb 25 at 2019 5:46 PM 2019-02-25T17:46:53-05:00 2019-02-25T17:46:53-05:00 Capt Daniel Goodman 4400674 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>And for what it&#39;s worth, you did actually ask a quite thought-provoking question, certainly, phrased in a most interesting way, as well.... Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Feb 25 at 2019 5:50 PM 2019-02-25T17:50:51-05:00 2019-02-25T17:50:51-05:00 CPT Lawrence Cable 4403542 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Ok, let me be the real trouble maker. Go Active Duty for four years, get some world, life and job experience and then let the Military put you through college. You may be an exception, but the majority of college students attend without a clear plan of where they want to be or do when they get out, except for getting that magical job that a degree is supposed to get you. I will freely confess to being one of them. You parents grew up in a world were everything is supposedly cured by a College Degree and you just have to have one to be happy and a success. It&#39;s not particularly true. <br />I&#39;ve never worked a day in my degree field since I graduated and I joined AFTER I had a degree. <br />It will certainly pull a lot of the financial pressure of you to attend school. Response by CPT Lawrence Cable made Feb 26 at 2019 4:38 PM 2019-02-26T16:38:01-05:00 2019-02-26T16:38:01-05:00 SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member 4403620 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>You will be on orders for BCT and AIT. The school has no choice but to let you go. Now this may mess up your graduation date, but missing a couple semesters should not be a big problem. Ask your school&#39;s career counselor options for making up lost semesters. You are not the first person to have something halt their schooling. Response by SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 26 at 2019 5:00 PM 2019-02-26T17:00:44-05:00 2019-02-26T17:00:44-05:00 2019-02-24T16:19:02-05:00