Should I join the Millitary now or wait till I’m 18?

10 comments

1. Sign up when you’re ready to do so. I feel like if you’re asking the question, you might not yet be ready. The military isn’t going away, so you can start working and if in 2,3 months you want to join it you can. Or in 2,3 years if you want to join it you can.

   If you haven’t already, speak to the recruitment of the service you want to join. They will help you understand what the job consists of, and that will help you decide what to do.

2. What are you doing now instead?

3. What are you doing now and what do you intend to do in the military?

4. Ex mil here, don’t rush lad. Enjoy being a kid while you can. Don’t feel obligated to join at 18 either. Unless you have a specific career path planned out, there really is no rush.

5. Ex-mil here too, listen to the other guy, take your time.

   Really think on this, *why* do you want to join the military? And what exactly do you want to do?

   What is your current situation?

6. I joined at 26, wish I’d joined sooner due to earlier career progression. However, spend some time enjoying your youth, the military will take a lot of your time.

7. Considering you don’t even say which of the forces you want to join never mind what kind of role you’re hoping for, you shouldn’t be joining anything before you talk to a recruiter or several. Speak to them, they’re the professionals, they’ll be able to explain career paths and such. It’s a big commitment though, so I’d say if you’re unsure atm it’s probably a sign you’re not ready yet.

8. You do you. If you want to do the medical checks now, just to make sure that when you’re ready to join you can, do that. If you wanna join today, go for it.

   My younger brother joined the Navy as soon as he finished school at 16. He loved it. Loads of other young ones (16/17) joined alongside him, and he made tonnes of friends.

   However, he does admit that whilst he was physically able to do it all. Waiting another year or two would have made it a bit easier for him, as he only had like 6 months in the gym to train before he finished school (local gym didn’t allow under 16s in).

9. I seem to recall there was research done that linked earlier joining up (for the army) with more likely adverse mental health outcomes post deployment.

   I’ve never been in any armed force, but met some troubled veterans (and some happy ones). I’d suggest you also spend some time thinking of what you’d do career-wise if you were injured out of service.

   Getting any gcse / A-levels in order rather than doing the very basic ones the military offers might be good future-proofing.

   Depending on what role you are interested in, doing further study before joining might allow you to start at a higher rank etc.

   I’d also look carefully at what negative experiences some former military people report, to make sure you make a fully informed decision.

10. Armed forces was the term when I were lad. I see many younger folk using military to ape the Yanks.