# Infantry



## Thaedes (28 May 2003)

Hey there folks, I‘m a 19 year old male finishing high school.  When I graduate, my marks wont be good enough to get into University right away, (i‘d probably have to do a year of college then get accepted).  My problems in school and lack of marks has nothing to do with me being stupid, or slow.  Just a result of me being extrodinarily effecient at procrastinating.

I‘ve been feeling an immense pressure to get post secondary education, and I wonder if it is really what I want.  All throughout my life I was always absorbed in military games, always wanted to be a soldier.  My question is for anyone in the military, and especially other people in the Infatry.  Is the societal stereotypes placed on Infantry really hard to deal with?  In relation to your family.  Do you ever feel like a failure in society because you didn‘t go get the highly valued university degree‘s or whatnot?

Whats life in the Infantry really like?  How is the pay?  what options are available for progressing through ranks and what future careers could you explore?

Anyones comments are great, 
thanks folks.


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## Sundborg (28 May 2003)

Well there is an Infantry Forum, maybe throw this question in there would be the best.


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## Jungle (28 May 2003)

> Do you ever feel like a failure in society because you didn‘t go get the highly valued university degree‘s or whatnot?


WTF have you been smoking ??? Since when does someone need a degree to be considered as successful in society ? Personally, I think getting a degree in "political science" or "litterature" (to name a few) is absolutely useless to the military... I think it is very selfish to study for years in a useless subject and have it paid for by the military. I have enough experience in this Army to know that education and intelligence do not necessarily come together.
Try saving a life, you will never feel like a failure again... As for the Infantry question: try a search on this board.


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## nULL (29 May 2003)

Well, seems that you and I are in kind of the same boat. I was 17 years old when I finished high school, and the army was the farthest thing in my mind. All I wanted to do was go into computer science at the local university, get my degree (in 4 years) and go on to get an exciting job, have a wife, children, and all that jazz. I wasn‘t in the best physical shape (**** , I hated the outdoors) and I thought that getting a degree in computer science would be the logical thing to do because during high school, I used to program some pretty amusing computer games.

Well, it didn‘t QUITE work out that way.

I went into computer science, but really, really hated it; think "boring" then multiply it by ten. I mean, how much fun can you have programming "multidimensional arrays" for the rest of your life? When the prof in one of my classes told me that this is what we‘d be doing for the rest of our lives, I knew it was time to bail before I got in too deep. I passed all my courses, but got out of the degree program. I spent the next semester dabbling in some introductory commerce classes before realizing that the only good thing about money...is spending it; because learning about it sucked hard. 

About half way through my second semester, I was doing a search on google, and ended up dropping into this forum. I was mildly interested to see what real soldiers were like, and I admit, I was a tad surprised. 

I realize this post is probably getting a tad boring to read, so I‘ll sum it up here; I ended up hanging around this forum regularly, never posting, just reading the comments. And, about a month ago, I decided to join the infantry reserves when I go down to Victoria in January. (I‘ll be nineteen by that time too!) I started hiking and camping, discovered the outdoors isn‘t actually that bad, and while heavily working out sucks after all this time, I‘ve never felt better...it turns out my pectoral muscles are still alive! I‘m actually pretty psyched up to do this, and feel like I have "drive" again.

You‘re probably wondering what this has to do with you. Well, I was browsing these forums, like I usually do, when I saw your post and recognized that you were in much the same position I was last year. So here‘s some friendly advice about post secondary, which could just pertain to me, so take it with a pinch of salt...

1.) Don‘t go into university just because your parents and high school advisors told you that you would **** up your life if you didn‘t get a degree. You won‘t. Go into university because you want to learn more about something you are interested in. If you go in and lack direction, you WILL fail. And even if you don‘t fail, you‘ll hate it. 

2.) Don‘t expect that your work ethic will get better either. You said you procrastinated? Another bad trait; you‘ll be given more opportunities to do so, and the penalties for doing so will be as high, if not higher.

3.) Don‘t do something optional (like university) that you don‘t WANT to do. You can only fake motivation and gung-ho spirit for so long. I mean, that first 2 months of computer science, I was all for it; but come November, I wanted to take those bloody Unix programming workstations and use them to bludgeon my prof to death. Take a year off, travel, work, do something...

                                 ...that you like.

As for your military related questions, I‘ll leave those to someone more knowledgeable, though I‘ll be interested in hearing a few of the answers myself.


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## WINDWOLF (29 May 2003)

THAD, REMEMEBER THAT IT IS YOUR LIFE TO LIVE. GOOD OR BAD,ONLY YOU CAN MAKE THE CHOICE TO JOIN.MIL LIFE IS FULL OF REWARDING CHOICES & THE
BEST OF PEOPLE. IT IS TOUGH & DEMANDING BUT YOUR YOUNG & STRONG, SO IT SHOULD BE RIGHT UP YOUR ALLEY.JUST A COUPLE OF POINTS TO REMEMBER.

1-  IF YOUR JOIN, GIVE IT 100%.
2-  CHOOSE A MOC THAT IFS YOUR MIND SET,DO NOT FALL INTO THE FIRST THING THAT LOOKS INTERESTING.
3-  UNDER STAND THAT YOU ARE A CANADIAN, & WE HAVE A REP TO UPHOLD.YOU WILL BE PART OF A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER FAILED.
4-  BE A SPONGE, SOAK UP EVERY THING YOU CAN,YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN IT WILL COME IN HANDY & THE BOYS WILL TEACH YOU IF THEY FEEL YOU ARE WILLING TO LEARN.

5- PEOPLE ARE THE SAME ALL OVER THE WORLD, YOU GET THE SAME A-HOLES IN THE MIL AS ON CIVIE STREET
LEARN TO LIVE WITH THEM & BE BETTER FOR IT.

6-PAY IS GOOD & THE TRAVEL IS BETTER. BE PREPAIRED TO MOVE AROUND ALOT.

THESE ARE JUST MY SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO APPROACH
SERVING. IN THE END, THATS WHAT WE DO. SERVE.


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## Etown (29 May 2003)

Thades, 

First off this probably should be in the recruiting section of the board. (Perhaps a Mod could move it). It also seems to me like you are asking two seperate questions here. Should I go to university? Should I join the army? Things will be far more clear if you don‘t look at it as an ultimatum. 

As far as university goes I never went, but still managed to rack up an impressive list of career accomplishments (check the "someone to talk to..." post). You are right, there is a lot of pressure to get a degree, my parents even told me that if I didn‘t go to university right after high school they weren‘t going to pay for it. How‘s that for pressure? You‘ll learn later that your family really just wants to see you do the best that you can and be happy doing it. I had the hardest time telling my mother I wanted to join the army but the response that I got was so supportive that I don‘t know why I was ever worried. 

As far as the decision to join the army goes, that one has just as much pressure associated with it. Despite my mothers support she still refers to the reg force NCMs as "a bunch of guys who can barely form a sentence". Canadian perception of the armed forces is poor, but you can‘t let that be the basis for your decision, if you do you will always regret it. The best advice I can give to anyone is do what feels right. Don‘t worry about what other people think. What do they know? 

Most importantly, you are still young. You can spend the next five years of your life picking mushrooms and then decide to get a degree. Despite what you are led to believe in high school what you decide to do now will not be what you do forever. It just doesn‘t work that way anymore.


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## WINDWOLF (29 May 2003)

thaedes:
i agree with etown. serving is not a requirement but a chose. you have to be able to decide if you serve & for how long. like they say , it,s not just a job,it is a committment or something like that.we who have served believe in ourselves,our brothers in arms & our country.

when i told my father @ 17 that i had just joined the PPCLI, he came unglued. he had this vison of me taking over the family buisness. did not ask if this was what i wanted,just assumed. the firefight over this lasted for nearly 5 years.

his mind was changed when i came home from my second tour of cyprus in a full body cast. i zigged when i should have zagged & paid a price. shapnel in my lower back & a ringing in my ears that to this day has not gone away.he cound not understand why i was willing to pay a price for my beliefs? this from a man who lived thru the v-bombing of london. my sargent phoned one night to see how i was doing & they ended up taking for 2 hours over this. in the end he agreed to dis-agree about sending young men to un posts but told me he was proud of my unit & our willingness to serve canada. the point to this ramble is that as etown said, do what you do. do not let others decide for you. you are a man, men do,boys watch


  :warstory:      .


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## Thaedes (30 May 2003)

Thanks for the posts and comments folks.



> WTF have you been smoking ??? Since when does someone need a degree to be considered as successful in society ? Personally, I think getting a degree in "political science" or "litterature" (to name a few) is absolutely useless to the military... I think it is very selfish to study for years in a useless subject and have it paid for by the military. I have enough experience in this Army to know that education and intelligence do not necessarily come together.
> Try saving a life, you will never feel like a failure again...


Jungle, you misunderstand me.  I never stated that I believed you needed a degree to be successful in society, I merely asked the question because from my own personal observations I‘ve been getting a strong sense of condescension towards NCO‘s and especially Infantry because they did not go on to pursue post secondary education.

I believe that you all adequately addressed my questions, but I‘m happy to say that my decision on joining the Infantry solidified  not long after I posted this thread.  I realize its no easy-street, but I don‘t want easy-street.  I want a challange, and a challange that I believe will motivate me to perform better in all faucets of my life.



> 3- UNDER STAND THAT YOU ARE A CANADIAN, & WE HAVE A REP TO UPHOLD.YOU WILL BE PART OF A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER FAILED.


Interesting point of view WINDWOLF.  I believe myself to be fully capable of fullfilling the roll of an Infantry Soldier 110%, and I plan to.  But what I do is not for all of Canada, or all of Canada‘s reputation.  In the end, a reputation is a fickle thing, as easy to change as a change in direction of the wind is.  In the end, all we can do is give it our all, our best, and if others choose to give us the reputation of effective unfailing men & women so be it.  But that is not what will guide my hands or actions when I‘m on the job.  Failing is a part of life, whats more important then not failing is the ability to get right back up and never give into a failure.  To have an indomintable spirit I believe is important.

Seriously though guys, Thanks for the posts.  With guys like you in the reg forces, in the reserves, and those who are civillians supporting those in the military - we have a real good thing going here.


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