I just thought that I would tell you quickly how my experience was joining the Air Force when I was 17. I enlisted the first day of my senior year of high school, without my mother or father knowing. I will never, ever regret making that choice, however it is not always without consequences, but neither is college, or life for that matter. The one thing I will tell you, is that the Air Force gives you a lot of pride, and they really take care of their people. They believe that retention is the key, and in order to have retention they have to keep you happy. They spend far more in a lot of cases on training you than some of the other branches do, and some do, so I am not knocking any other branch, but they have a very serious investment. Where ever we went, we always, had the best. We always had better food, better accommodations, and happier people. The Air Force will change you, but for the better. The Air Force will alos be strict, and sometimes more strick than your parents. If you don't clean you room in the air force, you are going to basically get grounded with chores. If you bounce checks, or party too much, you are going to have to sit down with your First Sergeant, or Chief, and explain why, and possibly get ordered to fix things. You have to answer for where you are, when, and why most of the time outside of a 50 mile radius. Having that said, within 6 months of going to basic training, (BMT), I was landing in Italy, after have been assigned to a base in Mountain Home Idaho, on the other side of the country where I grew up. My first year in I served as a crew member on a British AWACS radar aircraft over Bosnia, Croatia, and Hungary. I worked with, and made long lasting friendships with Italian, Spanish, British, and German troops, who were all my age. My days off were spent walking through Venice, Milan, Florence, Austria, Germany, and the ALPS. I spet the rest of my career traveling the world, and seeing so many different cultures. Some places were bad, but I learned about the world from them, and about people, and life. I was injured, and I am not the same physically and I have limitations and scars, but mentally, I have lived a thousand times over, and I would never, for anything in the world give up my experience in the military. One day I would be here, the next morning I would be on a plane landing in Europe, were I would have breakfast, again, then to the middle east, where I would have breakfast again. I have watched the sun set around the globe, and I have swum in the North Atlantic Ocean , the Pacific Ocean, the Adriatic Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Mediterranean. I have watched the sun set half way around the world, and watched it rise on the other side. You will never regret what you get out of the Air Force, and your parents will always love us. If your parents do not agree, well just remind them of the bible, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.( John 3:16)" I wish you the best, and your have your world to explore!
