[logjam]

Don't join the military. I did. I was successful there, but I regret it. It was the worst mistake I ever made.

People who are often incompetent, if not downright malevolent, will be making decisions that affect you in profound ways, often in direct contradiction to your own ethics, and despite your own competence.

While that may be true in other fields, when you're in the military, you're stuck with the morons around you.

There are ways to get the kinds of benefits you seek, without getting involved in the kind of shameful nonsense that so often is part and parcel of the current U.S. military.

[jshen]

another vet seconds this

[walesmd]

I wouldn't say it was the worst mistake I ever made - but I can't wait to get out.

Don't do it.

[thebigshane]

I would recommend it to most people but not this crowd. I think state-side orders (like those you would get in the Coast Guard and Air Force) would jive well with starting a small business, but I think the military requires more sacrifices than most free-thinking hackers would be willing to make.

[jshen]

it depends how you define sacrifice. If by sacrifice you mean having random evenings taken away from you because your 1st sgt had a hair up his as and made you clean the floors for 3 hours then yes.

I had no problems with valid sacrifice, and I spent a year in Bosnia sleeping in a tent with no heat, but it was the arbitrary power that people had over me that made me hate it. Ever cut grass in the pouring rain? Ever sweep a parking lot in the pouring rain?

On top of that I hated that I accomplished absolutely nothing day in and day out. Today we clean the motor pool, tomorrow we have an inspection of our clean motor pool, the next day we do pretty much nothing again, etc, etc, etc