Hello. I'm now a senior in high school. I plan on joining the USMC or Army immediately after graduation. I'm posting this because I think I may be enlisting for the wrong reason. Perhaps experienced military personnel of these forums can offer advice. I do not feel I have a meaningful future as a civilian. I have suffered from depression for years and life has lost significance. I have fallen into an outlook of nihilism and lost interest in future endeavors. I think the majority of students applying to colleges at this time of their life have an interest in some field of academics. I have none. I have never had a social life beyond being bullied. I do not enjoy interacting with other people. However, I am entirely capable of working with them. The point I am getting at is I cannot have fun anymore. Even video games, which once dominated all of my free time, have become boring. Nothing can entertain me or make me feel "good" about living, atleast, for any extended period of time. However, my performance in school has made me realize I am good at focusing on the task at hand, atleast in comparison to my peers. I can do work even if I do not find it interesting or meaningful. Working takes my mind off less constructive thoughts. I can also discipline myself very well to accomplish a goal. I am fit and can now run marathons. I am willing to sacrafice myself performing the most dangerous of professions for the good of others, if the situation required. I think other people will be able to enjoy the future, and I will not. Thank you for reading this, and thank you for any insight you can provide.

Enlisting because you're depressed is bad reasoning indeed, and what you're describing is a textbook depressive state. If you've seen anybody about it, the military might not even take you. Just having seen therapists was enough for the Navy to give me a psych evaluation and disqualify me from enlistment "based on a pattern of depression." Now all I ever did was go through MEPS, so I can't give you a serviceman's perspective, but I wouldn't look to the armed forces as a solution to your problems. It can be a good stepping stone to college, or a good career, but it's not therapy and it's not likely to 'fix' you.

When there's a war on? I figure they'll take him, not look after him properly, and if he ends up in combat not taking good psych care of him and letting him end up with a mean case of PTSD or even a suicide...

If you've seen anybody about it, the military might not even take you. Just having seen therapists was enough for the Navy to give me a psych evaluation and disqualify me from enlistment "based on a pattern of depression." This is one of several reasons I have not seen any therapists or psychiatrists. The other reason is no amount of discussion will "fix" my problem. I also have no interest in becoming dependent on a medication.

be in very good physical condition if you join the Corps.

When there's a war on? I figure they'll take him, not look after him properly, and if he ends up in combat not taking good psych care of him and letting him end up with a mean case of PTSD or even a suicide... I tried to enlist in early 04, well into both wars, and I had a perfect ASVAB score. You might try keeping your politics to yourself. This is not the place for hyperbolic assumptions.

Its crazy, its like. Like the US Military doesnt want to spend thousands of dollars training someone Thousands equipping them Thousands sending them to war Just to have them freak out and either kill themselves or do something stupid that gets themself or someone else killed to. But yeah, from what I hear, Military as a whole, not to mention basic training, and war, can be a very stressful enviroment. Not exactly the best if you're suffering depression

I'm a rational and stoic person. I would never take my life or put someone else in harms way. I just don't see a point in my future, and therefore I'm willing to take risks others may not be comfortable taking.

I'm a rational and stoic person. I would never take my life or put someone else in harms way. But you've no problem taking someone else's life? Because that's what you're going to be trained to do.

If you did decide to join the military, did you have any idea what you'd want to do? Because some jobs, such as Infantry, have a much higher rate of killing/being killed than other jobs, such as Plumber.

However, my performance in school has made me realize I am good at focusing on the task at hand, atleast in comparison to my peers. I can do work even if I do not find it interesting or meaningful. Working takes my mind off less constructive thoughts. I can also discipline myself very well to accomplish a goal. I am fit and can now run marathons. These qualities do not qualify you for a job the military alone. Hell, without knowing your academic record, I could recommend a whole host of jobs that you'd be great at - the trades being chief amongst them. I am willing to sacrafice myself performing the most dangerous of professions for the good of others, if the situation required. I think other people will be able to enjoy the future, and I will not. This suggests to me that you do want to join for the wrong reasons. The military will not give your life a meaning which it is currently lacking. Instead of being a depressed student, you'll just be a depressed soldier. What's worse - the high-stress military environment could put further emotional pressures on you. Joining at the moment seems like a bad idea. I do not enjoy interacting with other people. The military is one of the most social and interactive professions. You'll be entrusting your life to others, after all, and they'll be entrusting theirs to you. If you don't enjoy interacting will other people, you're going to spend a lot of time not enjoying yourself - and considering the high-impact nature of the interaction, you might downright hate it. First things first, I'd recommend talking to someone about your depression - a school councillor, a psychiatrist, a depression hotline, etc. Your own health should be your first priority - you should address the harmful symptoms before you worry about the root cause. Secondly, if you're serious about doing good, you don't need to join the military. Volunteer for a local community outreach group, an animal welfare group, or an NGO. You can help people in an environment where you're able to walk away if you're not coping/enjoying yourself, and it may give you some ideas as for what you want to do when you leave school. At this stage, it also sounds like the idea of the military is attractive because it's very passive - you sign up, and then you don't have to take any responsibility for the big, scary choices you would have otherwise had to face. "I can't think of anything better to do" is not a compelling reason for enlisting. Talk to career councillors, older friends/relatives, people from the community, and try to engage with your future. Don't trap yourself into thinking that college/academia is the only option.

I'm a rational and stoic person. I would never take my life or put someone else in harms way. I just don't see a point in my future, and therefore I'm willing to take risks others may not be comfortable taking. I think they'd actually prefer to have a guy that is interested in maintaining a future life than one that has given up over something as petty as high school. Wait until after you're out of high school to make this decision, or go see a shrink.

I have never had a social life beyond being bullied. As well as all the other "this is a super bad idea" comments, you are going to get bullied by everyone in the forces. Your leaders, your peers, everyone. Do you really want that? See a councellor, not a suicide note writer with "Recruiter" on his name tag. Please.

People with pre-existing mental conditions have much, much higher rates of PTSD. I would advise against going into a profession where others will depend on you for their lives until you are mentally sound and healthy. I also felt worthless after high school. But it turned out, I just really fucking hated high school. Things improved almost immediately after it was over.

If you've seen anybody about it, the military might not even take you. Just having seen therapists was enough for the Navy to give me a psych evaluation and disqualify me from enlistment "based on a pattern of depression." This is one of several reasons I have not seen any therapists or psychiatrists. The other reason is no amount of discussion will "fix" my problem. I also have no interest in becoming dependent on a medication. I was severly depressed in high school. I never took medication for it. Talking helped. You should realize that when you say things like "nothing will 'fix' my problem" that is your illness talking.

I'm a rational and stoic person. I would never take my life or put someone else in harms way. I just don't see a point in my future, and therefore I'm willing to take risks others may not be comfortable taking. This is just a dolled up suicide wish. Just try going to a professional for six months and then re-evaluate whether you want to go into the military.

Yeah uh seriously don't go for it. Even if you disagree that it's the worst environment you could possibly put yourself in right now, the Army will likely agree with the assessment made in this thread. There's a very good chance that after a 20 minute conversation about why you want to join they'll screen you right out. And what are you going to do then? Wait until you're mentally sound before you try to join, if you really want to, because at least then they MIGHT accept you.

This is really the worst possible reason to join the military.

If you've seen anybody about it, the military might not even take you. Just having seen therapists was enough for the Navy to give me a psych evaluation and disqualify me from enlistment "based on a pattern of depression." This is one of several reasons I have not seen any therapists or psychiatrists. The other reason is no amount of discussion will "fix" my problem. I also have no interest in becoming dependent on a medication. I was severly depressed in high school. I never took medication for it. Talking helped. You should realize that when you say things like "nothing will 'fix' my problem" that is your illness talking. Same situation here. This man speaks wisdom. The reason it seems hopeless is because depression makes everything seem hopeless.

I admire your stoicism and selflessness but as someone else mentioned, all the military is going to do is bully you. They break you down mentally and build you back up to be a team player. It is an incredibly social job, and you'll be talking incessantly. If you're in a vehicle on a patrol you may be talking occasionally to people in the vehicle to pass the time; if you're at base you'll be talking to people to pass the time; when you're in a firefight you'll be taking commands from someone and talking, etc. It just doesn't seem like the right fit for you. I can relate to you wanting to join the military soley to gain meaning to your life and do a job that others are unwilling to do.. but it isn't the best thing for you. I have a feeling you aren't able to find out what it is that's the right thing for you to do, so you need to find someone to talk to, as so many other people in this thread have mentioned.

I can not comment on saying that you possess any sort of mental condition, or that there is something wrong with you. All I am familiar with is my own personal experience, and when I was 17 and had completed high school, I felt that I had no purpose. My peers were all off to pursue higher education, but that was mainly due to the fact that their parents expected it of them, and paid the bills for it to happen. Practically no one knew what they were going to school for, and for a guy like me who had no idea how to even pay for it, well... I felt very lost. So I joined the Army. I feel safe in saying that the military is completely what you make of it. Plenty of people join all of the branches searching for a purpose, and then come out of it just as empty as when they came in. But it is there, if you choose to look hard enough. For me, personally, I thrived in the environment of an Army unit; the shared ethics of hard work, team work, and the high encouragement of assuming leadership all meshed with my personality perfectly. You will be given responsibility, and you will be relied upon. Even as a private in Basic Training, you will be given the chance to assume a leadership role. Upon arriving at your first duty station, you will have responsibility thrust upon you again. This environment may help you and you may thrive in it, or you could realize that it is completely not what you want. I volunteered for a deployment and spent 15 months in the Middle East. I learned more in my year "over there" than I have at any other point in my life. I served underneath, and with, the most honorable men and women, and I learned a lot. That experience changed me, and I felt like I had grown so much in a single year. In conclusion, the Army did help me to gain a sense of direction and purpose: I am completing my first academic year of higher education, with my goal being to earn a bachelors degree in political science, and use it to earn a commission as an officer. I love soldiers, I love being a soldier, and I have found that it is definitely what I want to do for the next few years of my life. If you do decide to enlist into the Army, feel absolutely free to contact me if you have any questions, or would like any help. I am a former Retention NCO (a recruiter who gets currently serving soldiers to stay in) and my girlfriend is a brand new Army recruiter herself. The recruiting world is around me all day.

Well I do have some goals for the Air Force ROTC, even if it is unrealistic. I graduated from college in May 2007, but I'm going back to work on a second bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering while attending the Air Force ROTC. After a really bad internship experience in December, I was starting to question my abilities and the quality of the degree I chose. I started to read articles about the new Cyber Command branch of the Air Force, and noticed that a lot of Engineering students were getting internships that had web programming knowledge (PHP MySQL, AJAX.) I got a good internship in May, good enough that I was confident in my degree all over again, but I am still enthusiastic about the Air Force. I'm a little nervous because I'm not that athletic, but I meet some of the requirements. (42 pushups, 52 situps.) If I keep working at it, I think I can just barely make the 1.5 miles in 12 minutes goal. I know that whether or not I meet that goal in August, they're gonna whoop my ass at the crack of dawn Monday, Wednsday and Friday, but that's just the way it is. But I'm making it a goal to be permitted to attend the network security camp in the future. Check out their powerpoint syllabus. It looks like good shit. I'm making it a goal to go there. http://ace.syr.edu/ That's MY goal. If I went in like "ololol I want to be a pilot because planes are cool" I probably wouldn't last.

I think they'd actually prefer to have a guy that is interested in maintaining a future life than one that has given up over something as petty as high school. I did not share my personal history. Past events which have led me to this conclusion extend beyond my experience with public education.

When there's a war on? I figure they'll take him, not look after him properly, and if he ends up in combat not taking good psych care of him and letting him end up with a mean case of PTSD or even a suicide... And what the hell are you basing that on? Are you in the military, or are you just talking shit? Stick to what you know. Anyways, my suggestion to you, RSmith is to find out what you like. I mean, there must be some class or field you enjoy, so try that out for a bit. If you're near a local community college, most can set you up with ROTC programs, which is a great way to go into any service. I'd really suggest just taking a class or two, and talking with the ROTC people. I, personally am Air Force ROTC, less than a year from commissioning actually. I know their perspective is not a recruiting one, its more of "If you want to join, we want you to." but they're not going to make ridiculous promises like some enlistment recruiters will. Honestly, take a college class or a technical class or two and see what interests you. If you've been diagnosed with some form of depression, you're going to have a very hard time getting into any service branch. That being said, if you fight long and hard enough there is an exception to every rule. That, and every branch has different limits. However, I can tell you that mental....issues (problems? I don't know) tend to disqualify people quickly. You need to be off any kind of medication for 6 months or a year in order to go through Air Force Field Training (think basic for ROTC cadets). tl, dr, Figure out what you like, talk to some ROTC people for real opinions and options, don't enlist. Also, PM me if you've got any more questions, I'd be happy to help and/or find some military folk in your area to talk to you, if you want.

When there's a war on? I figure they'll take him, not look after him properly, and if he ends up in combat not taking good psych care of him and letting him end up with a mean case of PTSD or even a suicide... I tried to enlist in early 04, well into both wars, and I had a perfect ASVAB score. You might try keeping your politics to yourself. This is not the place for hyperbolic assumptions. I think his assumption that "no amount of talking will help his state" is the most grievous of the thread.