We see it all the time in here and I agree with you. People need to realize that the choices they make, even when younger, have an impact on the rest of their lives.
You always hear the stories of “when I was younger, I got 3 DUI’s” or “when I was 20, I got arrested for stealing a car.” These people were old enough to know the consequences of their actions, yet chose to ignore them.
Many think that doing drugs, drinking, committing crimes, etc is funny and being “rebellious” when they are younger and even though people try to tell them, they just tell those people to get lost. Then, years later, they are prevented from fulfilling their “lifelong dream” because of their own stupidity.
I have no sympathy for them.

Some people may have always wanted to join but didn’t do it right away because of circumstances preventing it when they got out of school. I know a gentleman who is about to turn 39 and is just joining now, with a child who is a high school senior and another who is in college. It was his dream but starting a family prevented it at first. He didn’t do anything that disqualified him from enlistment but it shows that just because you want to join doesn’t mean you are able to right away.
Some people out there succumbed to peer pressure and smoked weed. After getting caught by the law, they ended up being disqualified from enlistment since the Army isn’t waiving drug convictions at this time. Others who did worse shouldn’t have done so and are regretting it now. I’ve seen kids who aren’t even old enough to join yet who already disqualified themselves from enlistment. Some of them mistakenly assume we will take anybody and don’t think of the consequences of their actions.

Maybe they thought that doing stupid things is a prerequisite to admission to the military organization.

I have to disagree. Yes their are those people that do those kind of things, but there are people who see a greater purpose… or dreamed about joining the military. For example, I am in IT, I like it… but for some reason, I want to join the military.
My dream was to join the airforce, but my eyes prohibit me from joining them. So I am left with infantry, navy and armour. But still, I have the need to join. And I am still considering it.

Because the simple fact of the matter is they screwed up badly in the civilian world and want a fresh start in the military. Most will need some type of waiver and you need to show strong motivation to join to get a waiver.
When someone over 21 came into my office and said joining the Navy was a “lifelong Dream” the first question out of my mouth was who are you running from ?
Nothing wrong with wanting a second chance, but I wish people would have been honest upfront instead of trying to BS me. I knew way better.

There’s a lot of reasons to wait to join. Not least of which is to get your education. Other reasons include the fact that you adjust better to military service when you are more mature, and that if you wait until you are close to drinking age you won’t have to be 19 year old combat veteran who is pissed off because he still isn’t old enough to drink, despite having risked his life in Iraq or Afghanistan!
GI Bill is great, but pretty hard to take classes ON Active Duty. By the time you get OFF Active Duty you might have kids to support, and you might not be able to afford feeding and clothing them at the same time you go to school full time. You’d probably have to take a job as well, and working, going to school full time, AND raising kids is tough. It’s perfectly doable, but not easy. And remember, there’s a time limit on those education benefits, once the expiration date has passed, you are done.
It’s not a bad idea to get some education BEFORE you join the military.
Other people might have considered the military, tried a civilian job instead, and then decided that they would regret it if they never served in their lives, so they enlist a little later. Not really a big deal.
Now the ones who do completely stupid things and then act all shocked when they can’t enlist: yeah, that’s not very smart.

I’m 16. Number one. It is my lifelong dream. I’m going to join when I turn 18. However, let’s say I got a scholarship to MIT. Would I go? Probably yes. I could help the military more as an educated person than not. Let’s say I wanted to do special forces or something and decided to take off a year or 2 or 3 to get prepared physically and mentally for it. Would you tell them that wasn’t their life long dream or would you understand they are dedicated solely to that and want to be prepared for it. There’s a lot of different things that could happen. Divorces, children, and a lot of different circumstances. I wouldn’t be so quick to judge people you don’t know. That is ignorant. I however, don’t mind, because I will be joining at 18.

no. it was never their dream if they did not join fresh out of high school. esp to wait until they are 28. my boyfriend stayed out of trouble his whole life so he could join. and he did. right after high school. he graduated in june. and is now there since early october. if people join at 28 it was never their dream they are just liars.

Why do people like you always ***** about stuff to which you know nothing about. Do you know their situation? no. I love the civilians who have never served giving their opinion like they have a clue. Quit bitching pussy and thank them for their service.

Depends on the people… some are bullshitters and others just had some unfortunate circumstances which prevented them from enlisting out of school.