ReadyCaringProud

first of all i want to express the fact that i am speaking just from my experiences and not from an official position. so my experiences may not be the same as other officers, especially other branches of the military. when i was deciding whether to join or not i tried to talk to as many different people as possible to get as many points of view as possible. what may be the status quo on my floor may be very different even within the same facility. as you change floors, sections, and facilities you will see experiences that vary but still have very much in common. use your recruiter as a knowledge base (thats their job) and ask them to accompany you to visit military facilities and walk around and speak to the people who are working the floors. my recruiter took me to different floors i thought i might be interested in at walter reed, introduced me and politely stepped out of the conversation and let me talk to other officers about their experiences and feelings. this worked great for me because it reaffirmed pretty much everything i was being told and i didn't have to worry 'am i just being fed this by a person whose sole job is to get me to sign up?' i would suggest it for everyone who thinks that they may want to join but is still uneasy (rightfully so) about the commitment.

I am an ANC officer at WRAMC. I had 7 years in the USAR before coming onto active duty as a 2LT. If you would like to talk feel free to PM me.