I want to spend the rest of my life in the Army?

Mr. Lee

you need to try, length of service before retirement goes by rank, not a bad why to go since they brought back the 50 percent retirement half pay for the rest of your life

Heart of Darkness

Focus on school, be active in sports and other school organizations, join an organization such as the Boy Scouts. If your school offers JROTC, give it a shot. Get into a good college, take ROTC as an elective, and see if you're interested.

I'm not trying to change your mind, just remember that people change as they get older.

As far as the "rest of your life" thing, I'd hold off on that and check it out before you tell anyone else that.

I enjoyed my time in the Army, but my body took one hell of a beating!

Dean M

Doing 20 is a hard task in the military, believe me, I am on year 19 and so ready for vacation. If you can do more than 20 years, I commend you, but first, worry about basic and AIT, than worry about the rest of your life. One step at a time my friend.

connie m

first thing- lose the negativity. if you don't believe you can do it - who will.
once you join the military you become a private. what we used to call a buck private- no stripes- you earn those as you go.

before you join you will take a test called the AFVAB- Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery which tells the military which vocation (job) you show the most ability in . based on that test you will be offered a "job" (your "mos") in the ability you are most likely to succeed in. later on in your career you can change your "mos" based on the needs of the service and any openings in the new "mos"(they'll teach you all you need to know about it in basic training.)

as it stands today the retirement age is 72, however that could easily change by the time you're ready for retirement

R.OT.C. wil help you a lot in determing your military future.

Yea you should definitely do the ROTC program. That way you also get a education as well as becoming a 2nd Lieutenant. The Army ROTC program wants people to know that ROTC members are students first and a cadet second. In terms of how smart you may or may not be don't be so negative. Many of the cadets in my battalion aren't rocket scientists at all, the ROTC isn't just for the "smart". In my battalion you just have to maintain above a certain G.P.A (I think it is a 2.5 but I'm not positive). Oh and if you think that being an ROTC member would require you to major in a particular subject (like math or science in the Navy ROTC), don't worry about it. The Army just wants to make sure you are educated for when you will be leading troops in the future :)! Hope you find this helpful, message me if you have any other questions!

Mrsjvb

max retirement age is 65. period. that being said something called High Year Tenure can derail that. if you do not get promoted within the allotted time you will be kicked out. at MOST they will let you stay in for 20 years under HYT before kicking you out so you can retire.

No, you can't stay in that long, if you are enlisted. The only way we can is if you become a general. And there is no guarantee that you will. There are very few positions for a general.

The Army is for the young.

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