I stumbled upon this forum in my search for any information to help me in my choice.

First I'll give you some background. I am an eighteen year old electronics technology major at Texas State Technical College. I am a few weeks from the end of the summer semester and will have about 40 credit hours when this semester finishes. The longer I am in school the less I am interested in office life I am no doubt spiraling toward.

I have been thinking about dropping out of college to enlist in the army (or some form of military). I'm not really worried about money or any of that but I want to do something with my life that I enjoy and has a purpose.

Any insight or stories of the army would be very appreciated. Especially those involving Cavalry Scouts because that is the area I am most interested.

Thanks

Maybe CavScout will see this and let you know. You can drop out of college but you may not be able to drop out of the military as easily.

Make sure you can make a commitment and stick with it.

why not join the ROTC program at the school, get your commision upon graduation and join the military through that route.

Or look at transfering to one of the service academies.

My school is on the community college level and is considered a technical school. No ROTC option here.

Complete what you started, get that under your belt, before embarking on a military adventure.

Textj, take this from an old retired army grunt, FINISH COLLAGE first then if you still want to join the military, check them all see what they have to offer that best suits you then make an informed decision. Be smart about this.

I'll second the "FINISH COLLAGE"-- only I'll tell ya to "finish college" because I suck at pasting things together.....

Sorry, Coachman, I love ya, but maybe you should have finished COLLEGE.

I should have went but I chose not to, went to Vietnam instead, so I guess I did go to the school of hard knocks. Now I am a dumb ASS truckdriver

Wouldn't that be "numb" ass truck driver?

Yep numb and dumb

Stick with college and then see, look around in your field and see what options there are. You may think that there is only an office job out there for you because that what everyone else is doing. Find an industry you like and see what kind of jobs they offer. I am a techie with a CIS degree, looking at my masters soon, I love motorcycles so I am constantly hunting the job boards of the the Big 4 in the US an a few europe, I may be in an office, but I WILL LOVE IT lol.

If you quit college you make the greatest mistake of your life so far. I would switch to a college with ROTC training, get a degree (it doesn't have to be electronics) and enter as a LT. In ROTC opt for the combat arms (Infantry, Armor, Artillery). Then you can really be a leader. Retirement (if make the 20 years) as a Lieutenant Colone is almost guaranteed. I spent 4 years in the USAF as a jet engine mechanic. I loved the job but wanted something more challenging like you. I got out, entered UofW, took ROTC (they spared me the first 2 years because I was a Veteran), became an Armor LT and retired after 16 years as a MAJ (the 4 years USAF count also).

I'll respect every post about finishing college and in return respect mine about letting the lad drop out if he feels he's wasting his time. Too many times people pay this big college machine billions of dollars and are in a totally different feild making better money. I personally dropped out of school and I'm making as much or if not more than my friends and wife who went to college. I understand that it won't happen to everbody. But ones success does not come from being a college graduate. I comes from ones own personal drive to be somebody, hard work and dedication. I say if he feels he'll be better off as a Soldier go for it!! Be all you can be in our Army of one.And if you still feel you want to hit the books,hell the Army has TONS of college programs. Hooahh,oh, and one other thing if you prefer hotel accomadations you have to go Airforce,lol. Good luck with your decision.

I agree with a lot of the others here. if you get college under your belt and complete what you started then you will not have to worry about it and it will give you a chance to think about what you want to do. I joined right out of high school and it was a half way bad decision. I got out of basic and guess where i ended up? But anyways it sound slike you know what you want to do, so go for it!

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