Any Navy folks around here?

[JW513]

My plan after school was to go into the service... I didn't want to go right after high school, so I worked and a couple years later my mom got real sick... Sorta changed my course, during that same period, this elderly couple that I met a month before graduating high school, started to depend more and more on me.. 10 years later, they are still around, and I do everything for them, grocery's, Dr appointments, medicine, everything... I even deal with his attorney who recently  started to handle things for them because of his dementia the wife being from Greece and not speaking good english.  I just turned 28, i've done good, have about $60,000 saved up, a huge collection of guitars and a decent amount of blacksmithing equipment (that hasn't been getting used lately), i've got a lot of friends and family so over all I can't complain... But I still have the desire to serve.  Its going to be hard to leave everything, especially the older people who have no family here, I'm their family.   I met with a recruiter 2 years ago, but I backed out because of reasons I just talked about. But its time to xxxx or get off the pot. I run a construction company with my Dad and brother, so I'd love to get into the Construction Battalion, and be a Seabee. Just wondering if there was anyone here who's been in the Navy, or the service in general.  My uncle was in for 9 years and both my grandfathers.  

[JHCC]

My grandfather was in the Navy (even graduated from Annapolis) and my uncle served as well, although neither made a career of it. My dad was in NROTC, but dropped out when his (then-undiagnosed) dyslexia couldn't handle the complex spatial mechanics of training and firing a fixed gun at a moving target.

Seabees are definitely very cool.

[ThomasPowers]

My Grandfather was a Marine in WWII at a little dust up known as Iwo Jima, he's still around!  My Brother in Law was a Captain in the Army Rangers.  There are some things in life where there are just no good times to do them. You just have to do them anyway and make it the correct time to have done so.  (A common example is having kids; you will never have enough time or enough money to have kids; yet we all have made do anyway!)  Have you talked over your plan with the Elder Couple and their Lawyer so they can make plans?

[anvil]

Yup,,, 3 years, 9 months, 27 days, 15 minutes and 32 seconds.

Got an early out to go to college.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

My Great Grandfather served U.S 23 Ohio under Rutherford B Hayes American Civil War. My Grandfather served U.S. Army under Gen. Blackjack Pershing, Mexican campaign chasing Poncho Villa. My father was denied enlistment WWII due to his work in a defense plant making bearings for the B24 B25 bomber engines.  Myself U.S.C.G EN3, Vietnam Era 1964-1970 one of the best & worst times of my life. My youngest son U.S Navy early 1980s really helped him to mature and go on to get a degree in engineering.

[JW513]

You are 100% right, it's never a good time... That is pretty awesome about your grandfather...  Both my grandfathers where in the Navy, my dads dad was Naval Reserve after a few years in the Army.. My uncle was in for 9 years and his son is currently a  Captain and helicopter pilot in the USMC.  I haven't spoken with them or their lawyer yet but that's coming.

[Steve Sells]

Nice thing about the navy, by time you leave, you will be real good with a mop; and Marines everywhere will thank you for the ride

[ThomasPowers]

My adopted youngest sister's current boyfriend was an engineer in the service in Afghanistan; we had an nice discussion on Bangalore torpedos  last visit...also "fun" uses of explosives.

I wish you good luck with your future however it goes!

[LeeJustice]

I dropped out of high school in my senior year.  I was bored with school.  I was smart enough to know that my future as a high school dropout could be not so good so I decided upon enlistment.  My Mom had to sign a waiver because I was not yet 18.  Happy 18th birthday in boot camp, Great Lakes Naval training center in January.

I got some much needed discipline and training, the most important of which is attention to detail.  They drilled that into our heads over and over.  That lesson has served me well in my life ever since.  I got to a ship homeported in Italy, as it was the Sixth fleet flagship.  So I saw quite a bit of the world and had some good times with my shipmates.

I made rank quite fast, E-5 in three years' time.  I have to admit that sometimes I was a bit of a jerk.  There were some older guys, late 20's or maybe even 30, that had gone the college route but still found it hard to make it in the civilian world, so they enlisted.  So I, at the age of like 20, outranked these other fellas.  Sometime I would say something like "Shut up Grandpa and swab the deck."  We were friends nevertheless.  So keep in mind that you will likely be working for some cocky people who are junior to you in age.  Not trying to discourage you, just to ready you.

Also be aware that they have a clever spin on the job descriptions.  The job that I was going to have offered "Working in clean, air-conditioned spaces."  Well, for the first year or two, it was clean because that was my work.  Not all of it, but more, since I was junior.  And air-conditioned meant that it was COLD.  We most often wore jackets in our workspace because all the electronics had to be kept cool.  They also promised mostly thinking/mental type work rather than physical labor.  Later that translated into what we would call "Sweating the load."  Worrying about stuff that really warranted very little worry.

I left after four years' active duty and did another six in the active reserves.  The GI bill really helped to pay for my college education.  I certainly was better prepared for excelling in my studies.

It seems to me that you have it pretty well together, so discipline and maturity you already have.  The will to be patriotic and serve is admirable.  I wish you the best and that you enjoy the camaraderie should you go that route.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I graduated high school and couldn’t wait to get out of my little hometown so I signed up to go as fast as I could, I had a hard head and a stubborn streak so I only made it to e4 in four years ( I got busted back down several times ) but the navy eventually got me straightened out, smarter, stronger and taught me lessons that serve me well to this day. I got hurt a few times and I lost some good friends but overall I would be willing do it all over again, the experience and lessons learned helped me out in the civilian world with getting jobs and eventually helped me start my own business, I personally haven’t really used a lot of the benefits but there are plenty to my understanding and I have several friends who have got their college payed for using the sgli bill or the post 911 bill. In the end after living and working around the country I eventually ended up were i began in the little home of town that I hated lol, and now this is my home and I appreciate it much more. I think it’s awesome if you want to join and serve your country, everyone has different experiences some good some bad but I believe you will benefit positively from the experience no matter what job you do or were you go in any branch of the military.