Military and College

juillet
Fri, 02 Jun 2017 05:53:00 +0000

1. Recon Scout Sniper is an enlisted position in the military, so you don't need a college degree to get that position. You need to advance to lance corporal (third rank up in the USMC), but there are a whole lot of other requirements. It's hard to qualify. If you go ROTC, you may not be able to get an enlisted MOS, because you'd be a commissioned officer. As others said, I'd talk to an officer recruiter or an ROTC coordinator/leader about options.

2. I'm sure it's true that there are a lot of people with college degrees in the enlisted ranks because they were unaware there were other options, but I also know it's true there are a lot of enlisted personnel with college degrees **by choice**. Sometimes it's because the job they wanted was an enlisted-only job. Other times, it's because they finished their degree in the service and decided to advance through enlisted leadership rather than go officer.

As a matter of fact, when my husband was enlisted in the Air Force, I actually learned that MOST of his chain of command in the upper ranks had college degrees or above, and it was actually quite difficult to get promoted up the chain after a certain point if you didn’t have one. The current Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force has an MBA. The current Sergeant Major of the Army has a BS in history, and the current Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps has an MA in cybersecurity policy.

1. There are lots of different ways to join the military. You could do the military first and then leave and attend college full-time; you could serve while you are in college (in the Reserves or National Guard) and activate at graduation; you could do ROTC in college and get commissioned at graduation; you could take a leave of absence after a few years of college, do military service, and then return.

2. Frankly, the Scout Sniper MOS does not seem like the kind of thing you do for 4-5 years before leaving and returning. First, you have to get to lance corporal, which is E-3 in the USMC. That will take you at least 15 months (6 months to E-2 and then an additional 9 to E-3). Lance corporal is simply the lowest rank at which you can be selected for the Scout Snipers; I have no idea what rank or TIG people are on average. If you are selected, you then have to complete the course. Wikipedia says attrition is usually around 60% and can be much higher. The course is 8.5 weeks. So let's say that you're a fast puppy and you make lance corporal in 15 months, then get selected for the course 6 months later, and finish about 2 months later. Now you're at nearly 2 years in. The USMC puts a LOT of time and effort and money into training snipers. I doubt they want people who will be snipers for 2-3 years and then leave!

No, joining the military won’t prevent you from getting into top schools. My husband, an Air Force veteran, graduated from the Columbia School of General Studies last year. He served four years in the AF enlisted. Many of these universities have programs and special scholarships for veterans. You can combine the GI Bill with the Yellow Ribbon program at many colleges to cover full costs.

However, you need to think long and hard about what you actually want to do. You can serve in the military after you finish college, and you may find that an officer position is really what you want long-term. (Maybe not, but maybe so.) It is often very hard to leave the perks of working full-time and serving in the military to return to college - my husband struggled with readjusting to the unstructured time and completely different work style of college coming straight from the military, but I have had other students who had few outward problems and even thrived.

There are lots of different ways to get things done!