The Military Option: Military First, Life Later

I will put a disclaimer on this post this post is not political. It is meant to serve as another option to college, trade life, or life in general. Take it or leave it.

The military is another option to college. Once you serve a certain number of years part or most of your college education is paid for through the GI Bill. In addition, the military can train recruits for the trades, aviation, and medical fields. The best part? Training and most of the fees are paid for. A lot of my juniors shy away from the military option because the first thing that pops into peoples minds is "I will see war." 

While its true at any given time, a conflict could happen the chances are low that a person depending on where they serve will see active combat. Even if you are deployed, depending on your role you may be able to attend classes via online. My graduate school Grand Canyon University offers virtual courses and one of the students in my doctoral residencies was active duty and deployed in Afghanistan. While doctoral residencies are meant to be in person, he was able to participate by ZOOMing into class and as far as I know he passed.

The military offers courses on base. Having lived around the military bases in North Carolina, I know that the community colleges, local universities, and even others set up courses for our military personnel to attend. I know a few who took advantage of this route and the good thing for spouses, they could attend these classes at reduced rates. 

Getting back to the military option, I highly suggest that if you can not afford to go to college or civilian life think about getting a job while in the military.  I have friends who were Marines and now serve as commercial airline pilots. The same for friends who were in the army who now are truck drivers or engineers with one of the nuclear plants in the country.

My dad served in Vietnam and while he did not finish college, he did learn clerical and business skills while serving in the Navy. Those skills transferred over to civilian life and he went into the trades as a HVAC salesman and technician. He made more in that field than my mom ever did as a teacher with a Master's degree. 

The military also allows the opportunity to grow in the legal field. There are so many options and some stay in the military until they are able to recover. In fact, there is nothing wrong with the military as an alternative to college, trades, or civilian life.

Just another route to think about.

The Need for Trades

 Before I go any further into my college series, I want to point out alternatives. For years, schools have pushed the college path without stating the alternatives. When I started teaching, I was on this bandwagon because it was all I knew. However, I now advocate for the trades and push for them more so than I do the military or college.

The need for trades has grown in the past two decades due to retirements. My dad was a tradesman selling HVAC and heating/air conditioning units both commercially/domestically. He made more money in his working lifetime than my mom ever did teaching with a Masters. He had no college debt (nor did Mom), enjoyed working with people, and made a decent living.

The trades do take a mental and physical toll on people. However, with an apprenticeship a tradesman or tradeswoman could easily make a good fortune, even if they are taking courses at the same time. The downside of the trades injury are long hours, physical injuries, and it can be a dirty job.  I advocate for those jobs because you could apprentice and then when you earn the license you have little to no student loan debt. Furthermore, a lot of people consider the trades to be beneath them. This needs to stop because trades people can earn a decent amount of money and again no debt.

The demand for trades will only continue to grow but schools are pushing the college path still. This NEEDS to stop. There are students who do not want to go to college or in the military. We need to stop telling high schoolers that its one or the other after graduation.

 Now you can go to a community college and learn a trade.  This is done primarily in rural counties and counties that may not have a trade school. I know the community college I went to in North Carolina had the trades. There were also places that advertised in the newspaper that they would train apprentices and students in the trades. 

In Michigan, there are currently trade schools near the urban areas (Detroit, Grand Rapids, Saginaw, Bay City, etc.) that students can enroll in. Another good thing about Michigan is the RESA's/Intermediate School Districts that had trades programs. I know other states such as Arizona, Texas, and Ohio have these programs out there. I went to a RESA in Michigan before moving down to North Carolina my senior year and we had a trades program. These students are tough and are usually hired right after graduating high school. I have taught juniors before and they have gone on after their senior year right into a trade.

My dad told me flat out that the best thing for anyone considering the trades is to see out those currently in the field to learn.  

It needs to happen. Push for the Trades.