Were There Any Benefits...

I was in from '72 to '75. Got a bachelor's degree and a master's degree on the GI bill. Also learned a whole lot about people and how diverse they are while I was in. My eyes were opened both in good ways and bad ways.

 

I was in for 8 years up until 2 years ago. The army saved my life. I am a different person now. I am very glad I joined.

 

I was 18 years old and a late bloomer besides. The army helped me be more responsible and gave me a sense of "finding my place" in the world. I still did LOTS AND LOTS of partying and (it was the 1970's) sleeping around LOL (ah, those were the pre-AIDS days), but I did get my college degree thanks to my Uncle Sam (for all the good it has done me - *none*) LOL.

Mostly it kept me out of trouble, which I might possibly have been in if I had not joined. And it gave me an opportunity to get out of my bad homelife situation, which I was very grateful for both then and now.

donsgal

 

What did I get from serving?

Wow;

I was trained in a career-field that had high demand, and I got a few job offers from civilian companies over the years. Head-hunters look for folks with training and experience.

I had the opportunity to attend college. I only completed one college course during my first enlistment. Then I got out, and spent four years in college all on the GI bill. When I went back in, then I begin using the T.A. benefits to pay for college courses, and I did a great deal more. I finished my first B.S. and got my M.A.

I moved around a lot, I saw and experienced a wide variety of cultures. West coast, east coast, UK, Europe, and Mid-East.

I was taught to focus myself to get things done.

I was taught to plan and to lay out my plans in steps of minor goals toward accomplishment.

I was taught how to budget my money, to avoid debt, and how to live very frugally.

I was taught how to file taxes, and trained how to keep my AGI low enough that I would not pay income taxes.

I was encouraged to invest, and invest I did. We collected apartment buildings, over-seas and on both coasts here stateside.

I got my pension at 42 years old, and I retired.

How many folks in their mid-40's do you know who have already retired?

 

I joined in 1965 with an 8th grade education. I quit high school in the ninth.
I came out in 1970 with two years of college and 26 diplomas from different army courses. I went through a few more courses in Junior college on the GI bill before starting my own business in 1986. I just retired in Jun., 2007 and feel quite confident I could not have been nearly as successful had I not had the Army training behind me.

That, and all the friends I made and all the traveling around the world I did, that would not have been possible without the Army.