Attached is my list, honestly, I could go all day about how angry and disappointed I am with the Army. It’s almost as if they try so hard to make people not want to stay in. I used to drink the Cool-Aid and think it was so great. It was, I had good experiences, experiences I will never have anywhere else, I’ve also had some of my worst experiences. I’ve seen some of the best leaders, good friends of mine, leave the Army because there was no place for them and they were off to greater things. Now it is my time, I never thought it would come. Sometimes you have to make that leap in order to grow.
Hopefully this list list serves as something for people to consider when thinking about joining the military or just staying in. You might hear “Just do your 20”, but i’ve also heard “If you haven’t made it past 10 years it is when you decide whether its best you don’t stick through with it. I was so excited to take my course in Arizona to reclass from Combat Engineer to UH-60 Blackhawk Mechanic.
I’ve been treated like scum for not being an E-5 in the combat arms world, but doing this reclass school and getting talked down to by an E-5 who was also a student just was the last straw. Another kid in the classroom who was on active duty kept showing up late and this E-5 (Who was also a student) was shouting at the whole class telling us “If we don’t stop messing up and being late i’d be happy to meet you all at 0530 every morning for a PT” Session.
Now I was an E-5 and I took a demotion just to escape combat arms because I loved the Army and wanted to do my 20 years. I didn’t want to be demoted for this very reason. I didn’t want to be talked down to by someone and have to take it just because of rank. Nobody deserves to be threatened with punishment because one person in the group is messing up. No matter where you go in the Army, there will always be a small eggplant individual with a big rank to tell you that you are below them and power trip over you and you just have to respect that. This is the biggest lesson I’ve learned from the Army and I will not tolerate it.
You get to keep your benefits no matter what if you’ve served active duty or a full guard contract. There are always resources. If you haven’t joined or are thinking of joining, at least the Air Force and Space Force treat their people like human beings and don’t tell you to do one thing, then flip on you and punish you for doing what you’re told. They don’t tell you to be at a place at 0900 and then say if you aren’t there by 0835 you are late. From my understanding at least. I definitely recommend joining the military, but join a branch that respects you and just join for a 3 year contract, do active duty and not reserves, because when you are done with just three years you get paid the post 9/11 GI bill which is amazing!