Author Topic: Is the military a good career choice? (Read 8903 times)

CatholicinFL · « **on:** September 12, 2013, 09:52:52 AM »

Hi, as you can see I'm new. I have been looking for advice everywhere on what to do with my life as I am graduating next year. I have always planned on joining the Air Force but because of recent events(i.e. Syria, gαy marriage, ect.) I am thinking that the military is not what it once was and if I were to go to war would I be justified? I have been considering something like firefighter or EMT or even the coast guard instead of the Air Force. I want a job that is not the 'corporate slave' type but that is also morally good. My father and I talk about it and we both agreed that a combat job in the military would be wrong, but would a combat medic job be bad or some other support type job?

Since I am new I will give you a bit of backround. I am homeschooled, I live on a farm with goats and chickens, I serve Mass, I am the oldest of 10, I used to play Lacrosse as a Goalie, and thats about it.

sedetrad · « **Reply #1 on:** September 12, 2013, 10:00:42 AM »

I would recommend becoming a navy nurse. If you are bright and do well , the navy will put you through nurse practitioner or physicians assistant school. You will also be able to attain good government jobs more readily than your peers after your service.

sedetrad · « **Reply #2 on:** September 12, 2013, 10:02:00 AM »

Honestly, the military is the best gig going for any young man that doesn't have appropriate connections to obtain employment after college.

Iuvenalis · « **Reply #3 on:** September 12, 2013, 10:30:49 AM »

Even as a noncombatant, the military is a sea of immorality, sex, even drugs, and women in the service are implicitly encouraged to be (and often are) whorish.

You should not seek a wife there unless you find quite the exception.

The military is not interested in your desire to access *Catholic* sacraments or clergy. You will, at least, have access to a 'chaplain' who may or may not be a Catholic, and they need not even provide you with Catholic 'Mass', and will tell you your spiritual needs are accommodated by the offering of a non-denominational "Christian" service.

This may or many not happen, but be aware it is a possibility. This particularly complicated confessions as well.

Lastly, you will have to endure immoral men in your unit, who will be the norm, as well as an insistence you tolerate now-open ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖity.

These things would be true of almost any job, although the military magnifies these issues of immoral, unCatholic coworkers by also controlling where you live and in what situation you live (until you decide to get your own apartment off base).

So, it can be endured. You'll have to endure the world eventually anyway, but the military is different from being a waiter at a Chili's while you work your way through a community college, because you can go *home* at the end of the day instead of rooming with degenerates (possibly, although there are good people who are not Godless in the military). You can attend Mass on Sunday if you work at a restuarant, retail store, fast food, etc. The military you may get deployed and have to rely on the Mass options (or lack thereof possibly) available where they deploy you.

So, it has pluses and minuses. You will certainly make more money in the military from a lifestyle perspective than you will working entry level jobs while you go to a junior college.

Another option is a skilled trade apprenticeship. People say these require connections, and while knowing someone in a trade union helps, you can get an apprenticeship through diligence, especially since most entrants into apprenticeships "washout", that is, they do not finish because they are unmotivated or uninterested.

You can literally call unions and/or go to their websites to inquire about apprenticeships, or ask a local licensed tradesman (depending on the state you live in) if they'll take an apprentice or know someone who is.

There are more than plumbing, electrician and carpenter.

There are millwright, elevator mechanic (the highest paid bar none), structural steel, various portworkers like the longshoreman, boilermakers, etc all of which have unions and training programs.

Good luck, and pray for St. Joseph's intercession. Set yourself up to be able to afford a family by getting a skill.

BTNYC · « **Reply #4 on:** September 12, 2013, 10:55:09 AM »

Quote from: CatholicinFL

Hi, as you can see I'm new. I have been looking for advice everywhere on what to do with my life as I am graduating next year. I have always planned on joining the Air Force but because of recent events(i.e. Syria, gαy marriage, ect.) I am thinking that the military is not what it once was and if I were to go to war would I be justified? I have been considering something like firefighter or EMT or even the coast guard instead of the Air Force. I want a job that is not the 'corporate slave' type but that is also morally good. My father and I talk about it and we both agreed that a combat job in the military would be wrong, but would a combat medic job be bad or some other support type job?

Since I am new I will give you a bit of backround. I am homeschooled, I live on a farm with goats and chickens, I serve Mass, I am the oldest of 10, I used to play Lacrosse as a Goalie, and thats about it.

In addition to the excellent points made by Iuvenalis, I would like to add this:

It's not so much that the military is not what it once was, as it is that the military has now arrived at the logical end of what it has always been: the strong arm of the world's first totally secular, post-Christian, Masonic-Enlightenment Empire. From its very inception, throwing off the yoke of its legitimate (though heretical) soverign for the benefit (and at the behest) of the Colonies' wealthiest citizens, right up to the impending conflict with Syria, the US Military has never - not ever - been engaged in what could be termed by any intellectually honest Catholic a "just war." Lest you become a pawn in the ungodly machinations of Internationalists, stay as far away from the Military as you can.

I second Iuvenalis' advice about pursuing a trade. I regret not having done so myself, the four years I spent at a secular university were a monumental waste of time and money.