Oh God, I was an idiot. My recruiter said I qualified for everything. I told him I wanted to be an Airborne Infantryman. He repeated, Everything, could write my own ticket. So I decided… To double down on an Airborne School and Infantry contract. If I could go back in time I’d give that man a beer, slap myself, and forge my own signature on a military intelligence analyst contract. I’d have loved that job, learning languages, embassy postings (travel), and being all up in everyone’s tea. But no 17 year old Maggoty had to be a dumbass.
I’d have loved that job, learning languages,
Former linguist here… I’d recommend not joining as a linguist on your first enlistment. Go in on something simple: admin, truck driver, something with a short tech school. Then re-enlist as a linguist.
For prior service students in a Cat IV language, Monterey is pretty much a ~2 year, paid vacation. You’ll have free time to attend college classes, take a part time job, or something else that will benefit you in the long run.
For initial entry students, it’s a 2-year, officially condoned and mandated hazing ritual.
Lmao, I have similar story but it actually worked out in the end for me. When I signed up for the Air Force I did really well on my ASVAB, but I told my recruiter that I wanted to leave as soon as possible because I just wanted to go already. Well she signed me up for open general, meaning the AF would pick my job for me. So I left for boot camp with no job and was assigned Cyber Security Analyst. Which was super lucky because I could have also been a cook or a cop or something
