Son ponders university vs. military

My oldest son, AJ, turns 18 this year and graduates from Palmer High next year. Like parents everywhere with children this age, the conversation in our house frequently centers on “what are you going to do after you graduate?”

In our home, we give our kids the summer after they graduate high school to goof off. But come fall, they’re only allowed to stay in the house if they’re going to University of Alaska Anchorage. This brings up an interesting topic — school or military? AJ is bombarded with opinions from family members and friends telling him to go to this or that college or to join this or that branch of the military. But the one part of this conversation that concerns me is the notion that university training is viewed as a superior choice to military service.

From a father’s point of view, I want my son to do what’s best for him. If he’s not 100 percent dedicated to more years of study, then I don’t see the sense in going to college where his grades may suffer for it. When he talks about the military, I tell him it depends on what he wants to get out of it. Does he want to join the military to learn a trade, use the GI Bill, or perhaps make it a career?

Many years ago when I joined the U.S. Army my decision was made out of desperation. As a young man struggling to support myself and with no clear direction, the Army provided me with an income, security and an opportunity to refocus my life. But I never took advantage of all the military had to offer regarding a chance to learn a trade I could use upon rejoining the civilian world. I don’t want AJ to make the same mistake.

Since leaving the Army, I have had the opportunity to work alongside many men and women with both college degrees and military training. As a supervisor, I have hired young people from both sides. Frankly, I have seen advantages to both. But there seems to be this prevailing notion that a college degree is superior to military experience.

I have a younger brother who joined the U.S. Air Force and learned to be a firefighter. He gained several qualifications such as how to fight fires on a flight line or a nuclear environment. Several months before he left the service, he had several different fire departments offering him jobs. He left the Air Force and immediately went to work for a city fire department with automatic seniority due to his military service and qualifications. He’s still there today making a nice living.

Another younger brother is currently a U.S. Army Ranger. In only seven years he has made rank that many in the service only see after 20 years. He can look forward to a nice retirement if he stays in. If he chooses to get out, he can use the skills he has learned as a stepping-stone for private contract security firms, DEA, FBI, ATF or any SWAT team in the country. In any case, he has the potential to also make a nice living.

Finally, my father-in-law retired after 20 years in the Navy, then retired again from the city of Seattle and does quite well with his “double-dipping” retirement.

No matter what branch or job someone had in the military there are skills learned such as leadership, working as part of a team and respect for rank that translate very well to almost any workplace. In these aspects, the person with military experience has a substantial advantage over a new college graduate who has a degree but rarely any experience. As a supervisor, I also frequently saw a remarkable difference in the degree of maturity with my recent college graduates versus those that had just left military service. Sometimes it seemed as though there just wasn’t a lot of “growing up” during that time between leaving high school and graduating from college.

By now it may appear I’m claiming that joining the military is superior. Not so. I hope to see most (if not all) of my six children get a college degree. Should AJ choose to join the military, I would hope that he uses the GI Bill to get a university education, too.

A college degree is a valuable tool, but I disagree that college is always a better option. In addition to the experience and skills you get in the military, you get the GI Bill, Veterans Benefits Administration benefits and several other lifelong advantages. You get the honor and respect for having served your nation. In the end, it comes down to a young man or woman’s frame of mind when he or she gets out of high school and what they want for themselves.

So we’ll see what my oldest son does. For now, he seems pretty dedicated to joining the Army and becoming a Ranger. He gets excellent grades, runs cross-country, track and is a top state wrestler. He helps coach the local junior high wrestling team. But what I’m most proud of is the compliments we get from teachers and friends about his work ethic and manners.

When my son talks to me about “going Ranger,” I make sure to ask what his motivations are and what he wants to get out of it. The military has police, fire, medical, air-traffic controller, mechanic and every other trade that exists in the civilian world, so why go combat arms? Why does he want to go Army instead of go to school? His mother and I quiz him, and so far I’m impressed with his reasoning.

Ben Compton is a Palmer resident and publishes his column under the tagline “Compton’s Corner,” the same title used by his grandmother, Phyllis Compton, a longtime Frontiersman columnist.