Thinking about joining the military while in middle of college?

Student Lounge College Life
1

I’m from a military family and I have always been wanted to be either in the navy, air force or army. I’m currently a freshman in college, college is getting expensive for my family and I’m not from a rich family, so I was thinking of joining the military as a part-tim. I’m thinking about taking a semester or a yr off and joining the military for a semester or a yr and come back go to college to finish my degree. After i graduate, I would go back and finish my time in the military. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Does anyone know of the process for this, whats it called or what i need to do? Any info helps please thank you!

2

Do you want to be an officer or enlisted? The answer to that will help you determine your options.
Investigate the Army/Navy/Air Force Reserve and the National Guard for info about part-time service. But realize that “part-time” could inconveniently become full-time if you’re needed to support a military operation.
ROTC is another route. Lucrative, but very competitive, scholarships are available.
Take your time researching because Uncle Sam doesn’t allow do-overs once you sign on the dotted line.

3

I want to be a officer in the military.
I’m going to look into more stuff and probably call them and talk to them about it as well.

4

Well, you have to have a bachelor’s degree to be an officer, so you couldn’t do that right away - you’d have to be enlisted.

  1. Does your college have an ROTC detachment, or a cross-town agreement with one? There are three-year ROTC scholarships that current freshmen are eligible for, although at this point you may have missed the deadline. You can still participate in ROTC even if you aren’t on scholarship, although that wouldn’t help your money issues. You’d do military classes and training 2-3 times a week and spend your summers doing additional training; after you graduate, you’d serve as an officer for around 4 years.

  2. Enlist in the Reserves for a branch. If you enlisted, you would possibly have to take off for a semester or a year to serve full-time at first for your training. Basic training is 8-10 weeks depending on branch, which is about one-half to two-thirds a semester. After that, depending on what job you choose, your training might take a few weeks or months. So that might be a way to serve full-time for a semester or a year and then return to school while serving as a Reservist. (As a Reservist, though, you could also be deployed at any time.) After you served your time as an enlisted Reservist you might be able to opt into some programs to get a commission once you finish your bachelor’s.

  3. Check out the National Guard. National Guard varies by state but they have a lot of flexibility, and they specifically target college students. Some NG programs have funding to help pay for students’ schooling.