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[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Felt this belongs in life advice if not tell me and will move to GD.

I've recently realized that aerospace engineering isn't something I think would interest me very much so I'm probably going with option two in life time career stuff and that is nuclear engineering.
Civilian reactor work is apparently pretty boring but pays good. Military work is much less boring and has some great benefits but it is said to be the most stressful job on the navy (only branch that uses nuclear reactors IIRC), I could get over the stress but one difficult but would be the 6 months A school in which they train nuclear engineers 4 years worth of college education in 6 months. Not to mention boot camp, military life (not that bad actually), and deployments.
I know it's not that bad because I have a lot of relatives in the military (two close relatives, one just retired 30 years in the other just joined).

So I'll just put a pros cons list and talk about it here I guess.

Pros-
Good pay
Free housing
Free education ((the 6 months is a few credits off bachelors degree and military will pay for my college while I'm in so I can finish a 4 year (or however long I choose) degree in my field))
Travel the world
Get out of this small town I hate so much

Cons-
Constantly moving
6-9 month deployments where I won't see family for the full deployment
Meh food
Boot camp
A-school
Stress
--------------

I have also debated ROTC in college (not sure if being an officer is required for nuclear engineers or not)

Whatever you guys have to say about it.

[~Neri]

I personally recommend not joining the military. As far as I know, I'm allergic to getting shot at. Also the stress is apparently awful. And bootcamp sounds horrible.

[Orange Wizard]

I'd advise against it, but I don't live in a country where military service is glorified to an absurd degree.

I hear that education is a nightmare to pay for in Glorious People's Murican States of USA Republic, so that might be worth considering.

If you can handle stress, travel, and boot camp well enough (and you desperately want an education in the US instead of going elsewhere like a sensible person) and aren't concerned about the possibility of being riddled with bullets, I would say the pros outweigh the cons.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

....
I'll clearify in thinking about the Navy as a nuclear engineer.
I'll be in the belly of the most protected thing that floats in this planets seas.
And my close relative graduated from navy bout camp not too long ago and said it wasn't that bad, was acctualy pretty fun. Not at all like presented in the movies. Just a lot of running and strict schedualing

[Orange Wizard]

Sounds like you've already rationalised your decision.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Ya.....
I have a few things keeping me back
That being my GF not at all liking the idea, the emotional toll it would put on my parents, not seeing friends or relatives for long periods of time, and no facial hair or long hair in general
((Btw if I decide to join there will be a before and after picture of me posted. The before will be grown out beard and hair with half my face painted blue and the after will be when I go to A school)

[Rolan7]

I'd advise against it, but I don't live in a country where military service is glorified to an absurd degree.

I hear that education is a nightmare to pay for in Glorious People's Murican States of USA Republic, so that might be worth considering.

If you can handle stress, travel, and boot camp well enough (and you desperately want an education in the US instead of going elsewhere like a sensible person) and aren't concerned about the possibility of being riddled with bullets, I would say the pros outweigh the cons.

Depends on a lot.  In my immediate family, someone tried to join up (USA) and received a lot of crap for it.  Including from me, at the time.  It's glorified *and* vilified, yet another highly polarized issue.

In my extended family, there are several people serving.  I don't agree with their politics, like... at all.  I don't think they'd ever talk to me if they really knew me.  But I'm glad they're serving the country, and I respect them for putting their lives on the line for... us.  It's an honorable thing to do, if you can handle it.  No shame if you can't, at least from me.

[~Neri]

....
I'll clearify in thinking about the Navy as a nuclear engineer.
I'll be in the belly of the most protected thing that floats in this planets seas.
And my close relative graduated from navy bout camp not too long ago and said it wasn't that bad, was acctualy pretty fun. Not at all like presented in the movies. Just a lot of running and strict schedualing

As a note, boats are sitting targets to anyone with enough missiles or a really small boat with explosives.

[Orange Wizard]

Torpedoes, son. Everyone's got torpedoes. Even the NZ Navy has torpedoes. We don't have any ships to launch them, though.

...

It's glorified *and* vilified, yet another highly polarized issue.

Okay, that's interesting. Most of your cultural exports are along the lines of "miltry servis is teh bestist", so I'm sure you can understand the error.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

You really havnt studied US navy ships have you? The things are floating fortresses.
They have guns designed to shoot missles and the jets on a carrier ((what I would work on)) can fire a middle at target miles from their own vision and hit it accurately. Safety in this field is not a problem at all.


I don't much care about the politics, Navy mostly deals with supply lines and aid missions anyways, carriers might be more toward war zones but even then I'm not a combatant I'm the guy keeping the ship running.

Also this is a job that transfers into civilian life well.

[Rolan7]

Eh, yeah... I know how we look to the rest of the world.  I'd say that's because the "other side" is more assertive and vocal.
But the awful thing about us is, everything is binary.  We're generous, they're greedy.  We love peace, they love war.  It's always us vs them.
And we're lazy, they're productive.  We're Chamberlains, they're willing to fight for justice.

The real issue is that we polarize literally everything into 2 sides, mostly thanks to our awful voting system.  A vote for anything else is literally wasted.  If we had the capacity for coalition governments, things would be different...  But those in power have no reason to disturb the status-quo.  Which is why we're voting less, and less.

On the plus side, cheap shitty beer wooo.

Edit: Like, specifically, I have conservative views on a couple issues.  And absolutely no way to express them through voting.  Plus, whenever I bring them up with my father, for example, I'm suddenly the evil conservative.  Even though I'm generally quite progressive.  It's completely antagonistic and unproductive.

[NullForceOmega]

As a ex-member of the US Army, (I have no hands-on experience with the navy, however several of my fellow privates were transfers from the Navy and my uncle was a Navy Captain), I can state that the level of stress you will be under in basic training is different than anything you could have possibly experienced in your life.  Strict schedules, regular PT, being shouted at (this is simply how military commands are issued during training), being absolutely forced to function as part of a unit, these are all things you will be subjected to from the moment you arrive.  Once you adapt however, the military life is oddly fulfilling, you have a clear purpose to everything you do, there is no concern about 'being accepted' (caveat: ONLY if you can actually adapt to military life, some people never do).  I say, if you think you can handle it, go for it, the worst that happens is that you wash out or get killed (and you really have no control over either).

Edit: Just so you are absolutely clear on this point: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS NON-COMBATANT IN THE US MILITARY.

[acetech09]

It's glorified *and* vilified, yet another highly polarized issue.

Okay, that's interesting. Most of your cultural exports are along the lines of "miltry servis is teh bestist", so I'm sure you can understand the error.

It's honorable and glorified to serve to protect everyone else, but none of your family or friends think you should be out there.




In regards to the OP, and military service in general - independent of any moral or nationalistic reasons, the US armed forces can give you opportunities you won't have anywhere else: education, discipline, life experience, etc. I think it should come down to what options you have outside the military.

I considered joining the armed forces at some point, likely aircraft machining/maintenance. However, while I was looking into that, the robotics company I was starting took off, and now I'm glad I didn't pursue the military earlier.

[~Neri]

You really havnt studied US navy ships have you? The things are floating fortresses.
They have guns designed to shoot missles and the jets on a carrier ((what I would work on)) can fire a middle at target miles from their own vision and hit it accurately. Safety in this field is not a problem at all.


I don't much care about the politics, Navy mostly deals with supply lines and aid missions anyways, carriers might be more toward war zones but even then I'm not a combatant I'm the guy keeping the ship running.

Also this is a job that transfers into civilian life well.

I most certainly have done research. It has antimissile/antiair capabilities. However, there are only so many guns. And firing enough missiles at once will easily overwhelm it. Mind you, any second world country should have enough missiles available to them to do this if they really wanted to start a war. A very small boat could easily do this as well. It would be a suicide run, but a couple small boats full of high explosives could easily get close enough to sink a carrier.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Sorry..
I would be less likely to be thrown into the battle field than say a guy specifically trained for combat.
If I go in, I'm going in as nuclear engineer which means I keep the ship running, also since I would be in a very specific and hard to find people for job field I think it would be less likely for me to be in combat, ya if the carrier get attacked I might have to but not a likely scenario at all (have you seem a Navy battle group, most empowering thiing I have ever seen.

My close relative said navy basic training wasn't all that bad.
I toured an army base a couple weeks ago and they have us a quick run down of their basic training and yelled at us. (AFJROTC field trip)
Wasn't that bad.