This post is inspired by a recent thread in which someone mentioned wanting to leave his cushy IB position at 26 to join the military as a junior officer. Apologies if it's in the wrong forum, moderators.
As someone who recently got out, it baffles me. To anyone in the same boat, I don't recommend leaving your job to join the military unless you've given it much, much, much thought & positively weighed the outcomes. Talk to some vets, find some friends who served, don't believe the Sunday football promos or war movies.
I went in as a super patriotic kid fresh out of college. I come from a military family and I never even thought of another option. I still love my country but it's a lot more nuanced. People think being in the military is experiencing a daily diet of the best parts of American Sniper mixed with Rambo.
Instead, you'll find that you do more of counselling your 18 yo new recruit from Idaho who just found out via Snapchat that his fiancee is cheating on him with some frat kid. It'll be sitting down with the kid till 2:00 Am trying to comfort him and still having to wake up at 5:00 AM. It'll be seeing some messed up sh8t in certain parts of the world. Anyone who's been deployed to Afghanistan & gone on a patrol knows what I mean. Something in your soul is irremediably touched/harmed when a 9 year old kid with dead and sad eyes tries to proposition you for you-know-what. When you're promised a posting to a certain base but it's changed last minute because someone's kid got the job instead, something in your desire to even be there will falter.
Also, everyone seems to think they'll become SEALS right away. It's so tough to become an elite soldier after a life of leisure living the good life on Wall Street that if you have the fortitude, determination and mental toughness to do that, I have no doubt in my mind you should just keep going on Wall Street: you'll make MD without a doubt.
I know this sound defeatist and like I hated my time in the military. I didn't. I liked some parts of it. I miss not having to wonder whether someone would be butthurt by simple directions. I'm still close to all the friends I made and some are truly like brothers. But if you have a great job, great career and think of joining the military to adorn your prestige obsessed path, think twice.
Wow man, sorry you had to deal with that. Seeing little kids having to suffer just because they were born in a bad situation... the world sucks sometimes. Thanks for your service.
A bunch of folks from my fraternity days hit me up all the time about quitting their consulting/banking/legal job to join up. Here's what I tell them. If you're quitting your corporate job at age 26-29 to go to OCS or enlist you're pretty much locked into the military for life at that point since you'll sign a 4-6 year contract. So you'll come out the other end between ages 30-35 and as shitty as it sounds, the opportunities post-military start to dry up at that age. You have to view this as a permanent career move and be content that this may be your life for the next 20+ years with little exit opps. You'll also more than likely hate military life for the first 12-18 months post training while you're adjusting and the fact you left a cushy job will make it harder. I joined at age 22 after working for a year post undergrad and that transition was tough, if you're joining at age 26+ it'll be 10x harder. I've had a mostly positive experience in the service but ignoring the negative aspects of it when communicating it to potential officer candidates/recruits doesn't do them or in the military any service.