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Are you glad you served when you did, or would you have preferred serving at an earlier, (or later) time? What outfit? Why did you enlist, or were you inducted (drafted)?
Please share and let us know how it shaped/changed your life.
To answer simply, no and yes, to a point.
I served 4 years, active, in the USCG from 1977 to 1981
Most of that time was in SAR at Yaquina Bay (Newport).
At the time there were multiple reasons why I enlisted:
I could not seem to find a job that I could keep for more than a few months. Without a college degree and no long term experience at any skilled job, no one would hire me for anything except temp labor jobs and mostly none of those paid much above minimum wage (about $3/hr IIRC). I had a family to support and I just wasn't making it. I figured that at least in the military I could get on my feet financially and have a steady job for 4 years. Once out I could also show that I had training and experience and then employers would hire me (yeah, right - it took a college degree to do that).
I also hoped for a job where hard work and merit would count for something. At first it seemed like that may be true, but when slowly came to understand that this wasn't true - at least not in my experience. That there was a lot of politics, and a lot of hypocrisy, and a lot of people who played mind games. There seemed to me to be three types of people: immature kids who enlisted on a whim, lifers who screwed with the people under them because they had power over them, and a few people who were serious about doing the best they could.
After about 2.5 years I had enough and could not wait to get out - counting down the days - I saved up my leave and at the end I took the full 90 days terminal leave to get out 3 months early, dreading that they would call me back off leave in an emergency (they never did) and then for years dreading they would call me back while I was inactive reserve (never did).
Towards the end the senior enlisted more or less avoided me because I could give as good as I got verbally and I was not afraid to point out their stupidity and hypocrisy. I had a bad attitude - they had soured me and I let everyone I served with know who had soured me and why I was that way.
Even without that experience, the military just wasn't for me - I hated being in a position of not being able to walk away from it. I don't quit things easily - been at the same job now for 7 years (a record for me) and sometimes my mouth gets me in trouble, but as long as I see that I can walk away from it all if I really feel I need to, then that takes some of the pressure off.
After the military I learned that most employers don't give a hoot about your military experience, even if it is relevant to the job. So I got my degrees and stumbled into the tech sector and I have been there ever since. If there is any place that gives a **** about skill and ability, it seems to be the tech sector - to a point. People don't always listen, and that often frustrates me - after all, they supposedly hire me for my experience and knowledge and then often ignore what I say (only to be proven right later), but at least they don't jerk me around too much and it pays well enough...
The other reason I went into the USCG was that I hoped I would be able to help people in SAR, and for about 2.5 years I occasionally would, but then the "war on drugs" became their primary mission instead of SAR, and I saw the writing on the wall.
Even if I had wanted to stay in, I had injured my ears in training and got to the point where I would get seasick before we were a few hours into a mission - especially on the 52' MLB. Having been on a shore station my first 4 years, I knew they would eventually put me on a ship and that I would not make it thru the first week at sea.
So between that and being soured on the military in general, I went back to being a civilian and did not look back.
To me, the good things I got out of that experience was a spark of confidence in myself (not given - I earned it despite them trying to drag me down) and the GI Bill which put me thru college. From there on I just kept pushing my way thru life despite having people in the military and my ex-wife's family saying I would fail. **** them! They failed, I went on and did okay despite their BS (two of the people who tried to pull me down have since committed suicide).
Yes, I am a bit bitter about it - in part because of the way they unfairly treated me sometimes despite my playing by their rules and trying to do the best I could (even after I saw thru their BS). I do have good memories and I am proud of the good I did, and that the USCG still does and I cheer them on when I see them rescue someone - but no, if I had it to do over again, I would not do it. It wasn't for me at all. I respect others who have served, and I am glad that many seemed to have gotten more out of it than I did, but I have seen the bad side of the military too.
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