hippie struggling in the military

My name is Ryan and I joined to military to pay for college to do whati truly love, helping people. I want to bea paramedic but worth the year and a half I've had in the military I've felt lost, alone and unproductive. I know what's right and it's feels impossible to makea difference surrounded by people with completely opposite views. I'm hoping someone here is going through a similar or had gone through a similar situation.

 

I have not gone through your experience, but I would suggest looking into many of the professions the military has to offer. A lot of them have to do with helping people. Try to focus on your own journey instead of worrying about the people around you. Don't let your ideals get in the way of your professional advancement, no matter how hard it seems at the moment.

 

Welcome

 

hello and welcome!

sorry that you are struggling so much in the military. getting out of the military as soon as you can sounds like a good idea. I'm afraid that I don't have any specific advice, just try and make the best of it I guess.

Mother's Love and some other folks on here might be able to give you more specific info on what to do.

I must disagree. Whether your ideals or your professional advancement should come first depends on your priorities.

 

No, sacrifice your ideals and you sacrifice a part of your human-ness.

 

you should do something within the military to furthur your personal goals. if you are in, you are stuck for awhile, but learn from it. you learn to work together, you live frugally and save your money for when you get out. take the time, while paying into your GI bill to decide exactly what courses you will need/ want to further your personal goals.

getting out early is not easy to do gracefully. i was in the navy for 7 months. i dont get my GI bill, i didnt pay in long enough. i cant get any va benefits. but is was a general discharge, under honorable conditions. so im no better of worse off, but my experience was good. i was in an electrical field.

there are lots of ways to be productive. people can have any views they want. listen actively to what others say, the more you understand about people, the better down the road. "i will have to think about that." "thats an interesting view to me." you dont have to be combative. the job is frankly easy. you do your job. you do online research when you can, read books and write notes and plans for the future. my contract was supposed to be 8 years minimum, not a 4 year stint. so you have to take into consideration how long you've signed for. 4 years can be a long time, or a short time. knowing what you want to get out of it will keep you on a good path. you can save a lot of money in 4 years, and buy land when you get out. a house or a farm, or a rental property. you can do a lot more with that money saved up, if you dont waste it while you are in. people are people. you can learn a lot.

 

I agree with this advice.

My ex-husband was a marine while we were married. His MOS helped him further his career in finance. As wacky as this sounds, he was an ammo-tech and counted inventory of munitions. He hated being in the military, but he used his job as reason to be thankful for training etc that would help him in the future.

Also he went to school all 4 years he was enlisted. So maybe consider doing that, so that you can get into the profession you desire once you EAS?

I know in the marines, the less "moto" you are, the more you're ostracized. There are others like you that you could befriend.

But again, the best advice I can give is to further your education while you're in the military. This way, you can feel like you're advancing your personal goals outside of the military, and have a great starting point once you do get out.

One of my girlfriends from high school joined the marines. She talked to docs and let them know how depressed she was and unmotivated to do anything. They discharged her for bipolar disorder and severe depression (she actually found her father hanged due to suicide when she was 8 so she is legit depressed in life). If you're really THAT unsatisfied and unmotivated / depressed by being around the military - its possible that they would discharge you because you pose a significant threat to the unit when deployed. But in order to avoid penalty, jail or prosecution for trying to get out before your contract is up…you would need to show significant signs of depression and the involuntary inability to perform.

Good luck!!