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Do both. Go get a job and work through college. It won't be as fun, but you'll not have that $30-40k loan to pay back in the end. Take 3 classes at a time if you have to or live on scholarship funds.

College is only there if you need it, if you want to do something that doesn't require it and you can get your foot in the door otherwise then go straight for it. Down the road they might want you to have a degree, but you can cross that bridge when you get there. If you want to do something that requires a degree GO TO COMMUNITY COLLEGE. Its so much cheaper, at least here, it isn't funny. After CC transfer to a university and get the bachelors or masters or whatever you need. Also, if you're unsure of what you want to do then community college is also recomended.

That said, having gone straight from high school to college myself I am unaware of how difficult it might be to get into college after not been in school for awhile. Take your salt.

Trade school is good as well. Down here the job of air conditioning repairman might not be a glorious job, but you will have work and people will love you when you show up. Someone said be a plumber, also much appreciated job if you don't mind dealing with a lot of crap.

Luco wrote:. Someone said be a plumber, also much appreciated job if you don't mind dealing with a lot of crap.

I see what you did there. @ op what are your skills/hobbies it would help for our recommendation, for instance if you love cars going into college may not be the best thing, however if you love history or teaching then college is obviously a must.

DickBandit wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:Actually, I agree with him regarding the killing thing. Ultimately, every job in the military boils down to either killing directly, or supporting the warfighter so that he can kill more effectively, regardless of whether or not you yourself are directly involved in it, but a lot of jobs in the civilian world do eventually boil down to that too.

Believe me, no. No it isn't.

The only guys that supported us (infantryman) and were actually worth a gak were medics. That's it. The other "support" jobs I had to put up with on a daily basis (Supply, Finance, COOKS *oh dear god*, Truck drivers....) gave me horrible headaches. Their lack of organization and military bearing gave me an AWFUL headache.

Ultimately all those guys lacking in military bearing and giving you headaches were still there to support you and the total force in getting the mission done. Whether you like it or not, that is the truth. Thats the officer corps perspective at least.

chaos0xomega wrote:

djphranq wrote:I still think you should join the USMC... Aside from the killing, they can groom you into become a little more efficient and functional and then that can help you with further pursuits. Plus women love men in uniform.

and if what I've heard is true, then the Department of Homeland Security will mark you as a potential terrorist when you're out! (Don't ask, something about DHS saying every retired Marine is a potential terrorist or something like that).

Thats even cooler... chicks like guys a little dangerous. Winning.

ChrisWWII wrote:Let's stop feeding the troll guys. We can open up another thread to discuss the morality of joining the military, but let's focus on helping the OP first.

the op was asking about what he should do after high school and a lot of people suggested the military. the question of whether or not this is a good idea is entirely relevant to the topic at hand.

Okay...what do carpenters do in the army, also what do Nucler biological and Chemical personnel do, what do plumbers and electricians do, and hell what do cooks do. Needless to say not every job in the military is about killing, and if you want to draw abstracts you can say highway construction crews are killers because, it allows soldiers to drive to train to 'kill', also they provide the terrain in which car crashes happen.......Point being OP if you seriously have no clue what to do I would say work for a year or two, or enlist for a 2 year stint, you may find what you love or hate in a carreer, either way it will hopefully be educational.

I would suspect carpenters plumbers and electricians construct housing and headquarters for soldiers who go on to do... guess what. every job in the military is centred around killing because that is it's primary purpose, that is, unashamedly what it is for and what it has always been for. I honestly can't see why that is a controversial statement, surely it was common knowledge?

Yes, that is common knowledge to most sensible people...

Kragura wrote:

ChrisWWII wrote:Let's stop feeding the troll guys. We can open up another thread to discuss the morality of joining the military, but let's focus on helping the OP first.

the op was asking about what he should do after high school and a lot of people suggested the military. the question of whether or not this is a good idea is entirely relevant to the topic at hand.

Okay...what do carpenters do in the army, also what do Nucler biological and Chemical personnel do, what do plumbers and electricians do, and hell what do cooks do. Needless to say not every job in the military is about killing, and if you want to draw abstracts you can say highway construction crews are killers because, it allows soldiers to drive to train to 'kill', also they provide the terrain in which car crashes happen.......Point being OP if you seriously have no clue what to do I would say work for a year or two, or enlist for a 2 year stint, you may find what you love or hate in a carreer, either way it will hopefully be educational.

I would suspect carpenters plumbers and electricians construct housing and headquarters for soldiers who go on to do... guess what. every job in the military is centred around killing because that is it's primary purpose, that is, unashamedly what it is for and what it has always been for. I honestly can't see why that is a controversial statement, surely it was common knowledge?

My point is that not all jobs are about killing in the military, do they perhaps make it easier sure, but again, taxes also enable Soldiers to do their job, and thats what it is a job to all the GI's I have met, they don't take 'pleasure' in doing what needs to be done, they just do it and carry on with living.(as a note my father was Army, my grandfather was an army lifer, and I have several aunts uncles and cousins that were in the military)

Wardragoon wrote:...enable Soldiers to do their job, and thats what it is a job to all the GI's I have met, they don't take 'pleasure' in doing what needs to be done, they just do it and carry on with living....

Well, most of them, anyway. I've definitely met soldiers who enjoyed killing people, or at least acted as though they did.

Wardragoon wrote:

Kragura wrote:

ChrisWWII wrote:Let's stop feeding the troll guys. We can open up another thread to discuss the morality of joining the military, but let's focus on helping the OP first.

the op was asking about what he should do after high school and a lot of people suggested the military. the question of whether or not this is a good idea is entirely relevant to the topic at hand.

Okay...what do carpenters do in the army, also what do Nucler biological and Chemical personnel do, what do plumbers and electricians do, and hell what do cooks do. Needless to say not every job in the military is about killing, and if you want to draw abstracts you can say highway construction crews are killers because, it allows soldiers to drive to train to 'kill', also they provide the terrain in which car crashes happen.......Point being OP if you seriously have no clue what to do I would say work for a year or two, or enlist for a 2 year stint, you may find what you love or hate in a carreer, either way it will hopefully be educational.

I would suspect carpenters plumbers and electricians construct housing and headquarters for soldiers who go on to do... guess what. every job in the military is centred around killing because that is it's primary purpose, that is, unashamedly what it is for and what it has always been for. I honestly can't see why that is a controversial statement, surely it was common knowledge?

My point is that not all jobs are about killing in the military, do they perhaps make it easier sure

These two things aren't a coincidence you know, like I said before it's an institution designed for killing, none of the possible jobs you could take in it are not centred around this purpose, why on earth would there be any? And so we go back to my original post where I say that unless you can justify killing* then the military probably isn't for you. (or rather the OP)

*Or facilitating Killing.

Kragura wrote:

Wardragoon wrote:

Kragura wrote:

ChrisWWII wrote:Let's stop feeding the troll guys. We can open up another thread to discuss the morality of joining the military, but let's focus on helping the OP first.

the op was asking about what he should do after high school and a lot of people suggested the military. the question of whether or not this is a good idea is entirely relevant to the topic at hand.

Okay...what do carpenters do in the army, also what do Nucler biological and Chemical personnel do, what do plumbers and electricians do, and hell what do cooks do. Needless to say not every job in the military is about killing, and if you want to draw abstracts you can say highway construction crews are killers because, it allows soldiers to drive to train to 'kill', also they provide the terrain in which car crashes happen.......Point being OP if you seriously have no clue what to do I would say work for a year or two, or enlist for a 2 year stint, you may find what you love or hate in a carreer, either way it will hopefully be educational.

I would suspect carpenters plumbers and electricians construct housing and headquarters for soldiers who go on to do... guess what. every job in the military is centred around killing because that is it's primary purpose, that is, unashamedly what it is for and what it has always been for. I honestly can't see why that is a controversial statement, surely it was common knowledge?

My point is that not all jobs are about killing in the military, do they perhaps make it easier sure

These two things aren't a coincidence you know, like I said before it's an institution designed for killing, none of the possible jobs you could take in it are not centred around this purpose, why on earth would there be any? And so we go back to my original post where I say that unless you can justify killing* then the military probably isn't for you. (or rather the OP)

*Or facilitating Killing.

Because many of the jobs its cheaper to have military personnel do rather than the local equivelent, as I have stated carpenters and plumbers, most make more than your average E-3(Corporal or Specialist in the US Army IIRC) of 20000(sloppy on the math) a year, wherein your average plumber in 2009 made $49870, same goes for MPs who are essentially just cops, just with an army paycheck. Put simply you(OP) can choose jobs that are scarcely related to the fighting aspect. But you seem to have the thought that the military goes around killing wantonly, and I have found it impossible to dissuade them otherwise, so have fun with your trolling.

Wardragoon wrote:
Because many of the jobs its cheaper to have military personnel do rather than the local equivelent, as I have stated carpenters and plumbers, most make more than your average E-3(Corporal or Specialist in the US Army IIRC) of 20000(sloppy on the math) a year, wherein your average plumber in 2009 made $49870, same goes for MPs who are essentially just cops, just with an army paycheck. Put simply you(OP) can choose jobs that are scarcely related to the fighting aspect. But you seem to have the thought that the military goes around killing wantonly, and I have found it impossible to dissuade them otherwise, so have fun with your trolling.

If op thinks money is justification for him being responsible for death, then he's fine to do what he wants. and I wouldn't say they kill wantonly, they generally have a good idea of who it's alight to kill.

Samus_aran115 wrote:

Kasrkai wrote:

Sasori wrote:

Kragura wrote:Well I'll probably be the only one to say this on this board but unless your okay with killing people*. Don't go military.

(Which I sincerely hope you are not)

Yes, because every job in the military is all about killing.

If you don't know what your talking about, keep your ignorance to yourself, instead of posting this garbage.

I don't know about you, but the American military sucks. Not as in skill, just overall.

Please, just GTFO.... Any particular reason why it "sucks"?

The Air Force made some promises... and broke them. It's a rather personal situation.

4M2A wrote:If X doesn't like Y he is entitled to state his opinion. Many people have said Y is great without any backing evidence, why does he have to prove it if you don't? He may have had a bad time and that is good enough backing for his statement. many of the people who say Y is good are only using their own experiences. His opinion is as valid as yours is

Universal explanation.

Wardragoon wrote:

Because many of the jobs its cheaper to have military personnel do rather than the local equivelent, as I have stated carpenters and plumbers, most make more than your average E-3(Corporal or Specialist in the US Army IIRC) of 20000(sloppy on the math) a year, wherein your average plumber in 2009 made $49870, same goes for MPs who are essentially just cops, just with an army paycheck. Put simply you(OP) can choose jobs that are scarcely related to the fighting aspect. But you seem to have the thought that the military goes around killing wantonly, and I have found it impossible to dissuade them otherwise, so have fun with your trolling.

Actually, tis cheaper to get the outside help. The salary might be cheaper for military personnel, but once you factor in all the added costs like tricare, GI bill, housing, etc. its much cheaper to get the contractor. Not only that, but you usually end up having to continue paying personnel post separation, as in they retain a lot of their benefits, such as tricare, etc. plus if they do 20 years, they get half their base pay every year for life, etc. The lifetime costs of getting a contractor are much cheaper.

Have you considered the exciting world of gun running?

Or piracy. Not that pansy-wack daisy-duke online thievery, I'm talking about getting a sailboat and a cutlass and showing those Somalis how it's done!

Monster Rain wrote:Or piracy. Not that pansy-wack daisy-duke online thievery, I'm talking about getting a sailboat and a cutlass and showing those Somalis how it's done!

Hey cut out the middle man and combine the two! Avast yee scurvy dogs!

I'll be taking them guns, and selling them to some other land-lubber!

Arrrrr!

Monster Rain wrote:Or piracy. Not that pansy-wack daisy-duke online thievery, I'm talking about getting a sailboat and a cutlass and showing those Somalis how it's done!

....Hell you have one clueless crewmember ready to sign on (I mean me not Monster)