by Neil Dalson

Created on: September 11, 2008

Thus far, I've given just short of three years in the service, and may or may not be the best source for an argument here. However, I am a primary source for the career benefits in action, and I will provide my opinions based on this in order to provide an understanding why military service is not the best option.

I've seen semantics come into this debate as I read the articles more than anything else. The word "best" seems to take a good beating. The argument being, that while the military can assist in career building, it's not the only and/or most capable route. The issue is that this is a broad question that needs a very simple answer. That's a big no.

It does provide discipline, and it does provide basic leadership training, however, these are qualities that can be received in the world just as well. The only career the military can get you a jump start on, is a military career. Beyond that, the unfortunate news is that most soldiers actually have a lot of difficulty getting a civilian job. The army gives them training, but not real world certification. The army gives us discipline, but often at the cost of independent thought and decision making abilities. A great many soldiers come in and leave ready to take direction and work, with no direction to go.

There is so much adaption from one life to the other that you essentially start from the beginning. For those soldiers who do get out and find a job, they often become dissatisfied with organization, skill sets, discipline of their co workers, and the steadiness of it. There are exceptions, but this is the norm.

It should be noted that while there are people who draw great lessons from the service, there's 3 for every one that didn't. The better jumpstart to a career is simply education. For all the talk about how easy it is to get a degree in the military, it's actually more difficult. For example, you are a deployed soldier, trying to finish my bachelor's. Sure, it's free, but you're doing most of it on the internet, the educational center is inconveniently distant from where you live and work, and whats more, you simply don't have the time of day. There are horror stories about taking five years to finish an associate's. It sounds ludicrous and it is, but for a devoted soldier to get his or her education completed in the same time frame as everyone in the real world, he or she would have to become a much less devoted soldier.

The bottom line is this; there is no all encompassing career starter, and if there was the military has far too low a margin of success in this day and age to be it.

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