Originally Posted by
ghilis101
even if you serve only ONE day in the military you will have my respect for serving your country.
I think people get caught up in the notion that if you dont make the military a career you didnt do enough, or on the other end of that, if youre only doing the minimum time, get out and go to the airlines, then youre less than honorable. Im not sure why people have a problem with that. If you take that oath, do your time, and get out, then you have served honorably and nobody can criticize your decision.
I agree.
The best advice I've been told by a former boss is to always thank an enlisted Marine for his service when he is getting out, he did more than 95% of the rest of America was willing to do (same could be said for any service, not USMC specific here). The only thing you really need to do though, is make sure the Marine has a plan for what he will do when he gets out. College, a specific job lined up, etc. Too many times guys get out with no plan and find themselves back at home, with nothing to do but work at McDonald's or bounce at the local gentleman's club.
On the Officer side, oh nelly, its an entirely different story. I can't add anymore that hasn't been said already in this thread.