Quote:
Originally Posted by Vinterland  At what age did you join and for what reasons? Did you go to college?
Any regrets? |
I joined when I was 21, they sent me to school for nursing. When I got out I resumed college and went on to study more nursing .....
Regrets? Not about joining. I'm not quite 5'2" and my basic training class was the first with co-ed basic training. males and females doing the same thing. The guys low crawled thru the mud ... we were required to do the same. They threw hand grenades .... then it was our turn .. It was a time in military history in which the military was trying to gage the female's ability to function in the military the same as males. It was right after the whole women's lib movement and such. It was a lot of work but a lot of character building in the process. Since we were the first going thru the whole co-ed thing there were lots of statistical things they compared on us. We were always checked on by the high "muck-mucks" to see how we were doing. I have always been a maverick and ready for any adventure or new challenge so I enjoyed most of it. 4am wake up calls sucked, marching in the cold December rain in South Carolina with an M16 and a full pack wasn't fun but finding that I could over come obstacles made it all worth while. It made me a stronger person. There have been times when I have been over whelmed with the crap that life throws at you and when ever I have had a "boo hooed, whoa is me I won't survive this" attitude, thinking I can't make it thru something ..... I remind myself of other times when I thought I wasn't going to survive and tell myself how stupid I am, etc. Sounds like I am psycho "talking" to myself but you knew what I mean .... the military, like anything else is what you bring to it and what you take from it.
At times I regret not staying in longer but then my life would be so very different and as of today I am happy with my life, check with me tomorrow I might not feel the same LOL.
I think, like the Swiss, everyone should be required to do some military training. What are your feelings on that?